Peak Elk Rut in SW WA

[AKBowman]

HUnted Willapa Hills last year during late archery. Wasn't able to connect but had a blast, lots of nice gated roads, lots of animals.

I was wondering about what time from Sept 8-20th the peak of the rut usually lands? Also should the elk be in pretty much the same areas as they were in Nov/Dec?

Thanks, hopefully will be posting some pics of my first bull this year. Heading up to AK Oct 1-10 for Archery sheep in Chugach State Park hopefully can bag an elk prior to the trip.

[jackelope]

9/21
 

we barely got  any rut activity at all last year for the bow season and we hunted mostly the last half of the season...late spring and who knows what else got them all screwed up. i think others hunting SW WA had the same results.

[stumprat]

Last years rut was very screwy down here last year.

[bucklucky]

I dont know, rut was great last year ?? Im not talking eastern Washington. I went out and dinked with a few herd bulls last year. The rut always happens about the same time every year. These were highly preassured elk also. I dont know. Every area is different I guess. Heated up the second week just as always for me. I can tell you why , its because my tag was already notched 

[couesbitten]

I generally rifle hunt the west side, so I can't really tell you when the rut peaks over there. What I can tell you, is that last year, for the second year in a row, on opening morning of the rifle hunt, I had a bull elk bugle multiple times, and he was running with cows. Some crazy stuff going on for sure.

[Wild Bill]

Last three yrs have been screwy for the rut. It vairies.
Put some leather on the ground, and stay out all day. Works like a charm, no matter what the critters do. We took 4 5x or better bulls out of 5 hunters this yr (fith hit a big boy a little high, never to be found).  Last yr we took 3 bulls out of 4 hunters, (4th hunter missed twice). Yr prior we took 4 bulls for 4 hunters.
Not bragging, but persistence and scouting never change, and the rut is a toss. 
Most people quit prior to 10:00. We do most of our killing between 11:00 and 4, same goes for late season.

[AKBowman]

Wow! Nice Job on connecting on those bulls. Thanks for the tip about staying out all day I will make sure to keep that foremost in my mind. I plan on going in twice prior to season in order to scout so hopefully will have a good idea come second week of the season.

Do you generally team up on the calling/shooting or do you all head in different directions in order to cover more ground?

[Wild Bill]

Biggest thing is to find what works for you, and everyone has a different preference.
 We use every method known to man to find em in this order: 1) spot in stalk       2) calling ( way early/late and very seldom)          3) then what we call plugging; move to a likely spot set up in a big 30- 40 yrd circle, call for about 45 min, then move on ALL DAY LONG (yes it can suck)!!!  It takes a lot of patience/ persistence, but when chips are down, it works. I've personally killed two bulls at midday in this manner. 4) when nothing is working we split up in all directions (more so to gather intel for the next day/hunt).
Just keep with it. We have hunted the same areas for all of our lives, and know where the hunters typically come from, and how the animals react. That is probably the biggest key to our success, so if your scouting doesnt help you out this yr, take notes and apply it to next yrs scouting / hunting.
I know i got off topic of peak rut, but i found myself relying on that intel sometime ago. When I finally said i was going to hunt every day as if it were a peak rut, is when I started having way more success.
WB

[Crunchy]

Last year was a fluke, the hot weather during archery elk was like no other. 

[Little Fish]

I've hunted archery elk on the West side for 2 years so my experience is limited, but at least its another data point.

In 2007 the rut seemed to be going strong when the season opened and continued that way for the entire week I hunted. Last year things were pretty quiet the first several days of the season so I pulled out and came back for the last 4/5 days of the season. During the last 4/5 days the rut seemed to be going full swing, but of course the season ended and that was that.

I certainly don't have it figured out, but my plan this year is to hunt the second half of the season on the theory that the rut starts sometime in September and the later I go the more likely it will be going strong.

[Crunchy]

I hunted down in Oregon the last week of September, and we caught the rut perfect.  I had never been so many bugling bulls.  I'm fairly sure there rut and ours would be about the same.

[coldsteel3d]

Last year was a fluke, the hot weather during archery elk was like no other.

I don't know where you were hunting but in S.W. the rut was going full swing the 8 thru the end of the month, the only problem was the fact that we had so much moisture that weyerhauser and longview timber decided to open the gates and everyone decided to drive in, park, slam their door, call, jump in and drive away.  We still went three for four. 

[Little Fish]

coldsteel3d...I was hunting around Kelso. Didn't know the gates were open to drive in traffic. A Weyerhauser truck was parked at the end of Rose Valley road at one point to make sure folks weren't driving in unless they were in route to the toutle unit.

[bucklucky]

BTW, the peak of the rut is at night when we are all sound asleep, we just get a tiny feel for it during the day 

[coldsteel3d]

the gate at the end of zillig road was open and there was a steady stream of trucks, then you were wide open to drive into weyerhauser land, in there on our mountain bikes and talked to a weyerhauser truck about getting there gates shut and locked, he said they couldn't do that and they were open only on the weekends, but their internal gates stayed open all week so anybody could just drive in.  You just had to drive in from longview timber land.