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A deep bugle cut through the pea-soup fog, stopping my hunting partner Lon Lauber and me in our tracks. We could barely see 100 yards, and the bugle seemed to originate from just beyond that distance.

A second bugle sounded off, slightly farther away this time. The bull was on the move. Lon and I took off, sprinting in the direction of the last bugle. At the edge of a shallow draw, we set up the Montana Elk Decoy. We were positioned perfectly, the sun rising behind us was just beginning to burn through the sea of fog that obscured the bull in front of us. Selflessly, Lon set up behind me, and with one cow call, the bull reversed his direction. Like an apparition, he slowly appeared, head high, searching for the cow he’d heard.

Upon spying the decoy, the bull’s whole demeanor changed. He lowered his guard, feeding as he picked his way towards our setup. At 30 yards, he turned broadside, I shot and my arrowpassed through the still unsuspecting bull.

Lon and I slapped each other on the back, giddy and grinning from our textbook bull-elk encounter. I looked at my watch. It was 7:15 in the morning on August 28^th.

“It doesn’t get any better than this,” I whispered to Lon. I’d just killed my biggest bull to date. This might sound like a private ranch hunt or a premium unit with some hard-to-draw tag, but in fact it was a public-land hunt in Colorado with an over-the-counter (OTC) tag. And it was early in the season.

Tradition has it that you’ve got to wait well into September to get into the best elk hunting. Supposedly, that’s the only time the bulls bugle. Well, I’m here to tell you that that is just not the way it is. For the better part of the last decade, I’ve bowhunted elk in Colorado and Oregon during the last week of August and then into the first week of September. Looking back through my notes, I find that all of the elk I’ve killed have been in August, before the so-called prime time.

One of the best reasons to bowhunt elk early is that they are not yet disturbed. Not too many years ago, you could head out into the mountains in mid-September and enjoy relative solitude. Today, however, with all the interest in elk, by the second and third weeks of September it can be a tad crowded in many of the best, accessible public-land elk areas. The bulls may be in the peak of the rut during that time frame, but personally I don’t like hunting spooked or nocturnal elk. What I try to do is hunt early and backpack way back in to get away from other hunters.

Elk typically begin rounding up their cows in the middle to the end of August. Often, it’s the smaller satellite bulls that gather up the loose harems of cows initially. The bigger bulls seem to know that it’ll be weeks before the cows come into heat, and they let the younger bulls gather the cows for them. Then, as the rut progresses, the dominant bulls come in and clean house. They push the younger bulls out, leaving those younger bulls to work the fringes of the herds where they desperately hope to steal back a cow or two.

Where to Look

Most elk country is big and heavily timbered. That often means that just finding the elk can be a huge chore. Early in the season, I like to focus my elk-finding efforts in the high country at the edges where the timber begins to thin out and where there is a high percentage of open, grassy meadows. Hunting this type of country allows me to put my binoculars to use. This is particularly valuable when the weather is hot and the elk are relatively quiet. You can expend a lot of energy marching through the timber trying to locate elk when the bulls aren’t bugling. Fortunately, the early-season elk herds tend to congregate in these mountain buffets where the melting winter snow pack and summer thundershowers keep the grasses and forbes green late into the summer.

One year in eastern Oregon, early in my elk-hunting days, I was on a huge ridge above a deep canyon. Smaller finger ridges dropped off the main ridge into the main canyon. For several days, I walked the main timbered ridge and out along the equally thick tops of each of the finger ridges without locating many elk. Then I stumbled onto a new plan. I’d walk out on a ridge, sit down and glass across to the open areas located just below the end of each nearby ridge. That’s where the elk were, and every one of those little open pockets seemed to contain a small herd. Lesson learned––early in the season, look for the elk to be feeding undisturbed in the open grassy area, just like they have all summer long.

Go Deep

If you’re really serious about running up your odds of tagging a bull, I think the most important thing is to get away from the hunting pressure. Sometimes you can find an overlooked spot close to a road, or a deep canyon that is just too gnarly for most of the other hunters to access. More often, you’ll need to lace up your boots, shoulder a heavy pack and go deep. And I’m not talking about just skipping in 3 or 4 miles. I mean trudge in 8 to 10 miles. Doing this is going to separate you from almost all of the other bowhunters. The advantage you’ll gain is two-pronged. First, you won’t have to contend with other hunters running the elk out of your area. If you’ve picked your area well, you will have a lot of country to hunt without having to rush through it to find the pockets of elk. Having more time will allow you to hunt more thoroughly and effectively.

Second, undisturbed elk are much easier to bowhunt. In remote areas, and early in the season, it will have been months since those elk will have even seen humans. By going in early, you’ll be the first to contact them in many months. I’ve managed to capitalize on this many times. Those early, remote elk will also be more likely to be vocal and to respond to your calls because they haven’t been hassled by hunters.

Backpacking way back in does present added challenges when you finally get an elk down. Moving 200 pounds of boned-out meat, plus antlers, cape and camp can be quite a task—especially when attempted solo. I always try to line up the services of a horse packer in advance of my hunts whenever possible. Then when I get an elk down, I climb to the top of the mountain where I can generally get cell phone service and call for reinforcements. For a few hundred dollars, I can usually get my bull and camp packed out to the trailhead, saving several days of work.

Other alternatives exist. Last fall, a few buddies and I were planning on hunting a remote section of Colorado. The only packer that had a permit to pack in that area wouldn’t go up the mountain that we wanted to hunt because it was too rugged. We solved the problem by renting four llamas. Llamas are great pack animals and are easy to work with. The animals we used were accustomed to carrying up to 75 pounds and did so well. It worked out great because they had been worked all summer on high-country fishing trips and were in top shape. Despite the grueling 4,000-foot vertical climb to our base camp, the llamas did it with minimal problems. They weren’t overly expensive to rent and offered us a lot more mobility. The downside of bringing in your own stock is that you need to be around to check up on them daily.

Spot and Stalk

By getting up into the higher, more open country, you’ll have a chance to employ another of my favorite early-season elk-hunting methods––spot and stalk. I usually start out trying to locate elk with my binoculars if the country is open enough. Elk are large animals and not all that difficult to pick out in the open. Using 10-power binoculars, I’ve spotted them from more than a mile. Even without the assistance of a spotting scope, you can often pick out whether or not there is a bull in the bunch just by watching the behavior of the herd. A bull will be wandering amongst the cows, constantly working the fringes to keep his harem intact and herding the wandering cows back into the group.

Although elk are easiest to locate early and late in the day, I’ve spotted elk at midday as well as they fed out of a strip of timber where the herd was bedded. To do that, I like to get up high on a ridge that overlooks a large drainage. I’ll glass the ridge opposite me and any finger ridges that drop off into the bottom. I will usually breeze over the entire area quickly, looking for elk that are easy to see. After I have panned over it, I’ll pick apart the country methodically. Pay special attention to the edges of strips of timber or aspen patches, particularly as the morning wears on and at midday. If the timber isn’t too dense, often times I’ve been able to pick up the animals as they feed through small openings. Go back over this type of country several times and you may catch an elk feeding through one of the open areas. It’s also important to move your vantage point occasionally as you glass any area. Each new position will give you a new perspective and new spots to glass.

To be honest, I would much rather stalk elk while they’re up and feeding than while they are bedded. Because they usually bed in the trees, getting in close and getting a shot when there is a dozen or more animals creates a pretty low-percentage opportunity.

Once you have spotted a bull you want to go after, it is simply a matter of determining the wind direction and picking a route. I always like to come from above if the wind will allow. I’ve found that animals tend to focus more on what’s below them than looking for danger from above. Also, by sitting down and sliding on your butt with your bow in your lap, you can keep a lower profile.

Calling Elk

Contrary to what many people believe, elk can be very vocal in late August. When there is inclement weather, it will really turn things on. But even if it is typical late-August weather with cool mornings and hot days, you can still call elk.

Last year was a great case in point. I started out using spot-and-stalk tactics. After I’d blown several opportunities and the elk headed into the timber, I resorted to calling and did well.

Even early in the season there is usually a brief period of bugling early in the morning and late in the evenings. When I initiate the calling during those time frames, I frequently get responses. As I continue to call, it gets the bulls worked up, and I can often pinpoint their locations and sneak closer for a shot.

I was even getting calling responses at one o’clock in the afternoon. I’ll often start with high-pitched, non-threatening bugles so as not to run anything off. When I get an answer, I switch to cow calls to try to entice the bulls in close.

Early in the season, though, the very best use of calling may be to simply locate the bulls. I’ve relied heavily on locating early bulls by enticing them to bugle. Once they bugle back at me, I can then stalk in closer and either finish the stalk or try to coax them in with a cow call. Both tactics have worked well for me on early-season bulls.

Water Hunting

If you’re hunting in arid areas, sitting on prominent water sources can be a very effective early-season tactic. Many of the places I hunt elk suffer from water shortages, and that makes this tactic appealing. I also had good luck early in the season hunting over or near active wallows. Bulls love to wade and roll in the mud of those wallows at this time of year. I don’t know if it helps to relieve pent-up frustrations or is just traditional pre-rut behavior. Four years ago, I sat on a cliff overlooking an old burn, and in one afternoon spotted 17 bulls. Five of those were hanging around an active wallow.

Early-Season Success

Whether you’re spot-and-stalk hunting, calling or hunting over water or a wallow, the last week of August should be on your elk-hunting calendar. Getting out early will get you away from the crowds and into undisturbed animals. And maybe best of all, you’ll get to experience packing your bull down the trail as the post-Labor Day bowhunters trudge up the trail. That orchestrated meeting on the trail is really fun.

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