Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Backcountry Hunting => Topic started by: aorams on September 10, 2015, 05:46:32 PM
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Hi Forum,
We'll be hunting deer and elk at highish elevations in just a couple of days and the forecast is calling for chances of snow and rain. Temperatures are going to be between freezing and high 40's. Am I right to be excited about this!? My observations in the lowlands have been that the animals move around more when the weather is like this... Does this hold true at higher elevations also?
Thanks!
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Mule deer and elk tend to move more just before and just after a weather change, in my experience. The problem with weather in the high country is low ceilings, resulting in poor visibility.
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Every animal I've hunted black tail, moose and sheep always move a lot before they know a storm is gonna hit. They only move during a storm it seems if they cannot wait it out any longer. :twocents:
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would definitely have to agree with the other posts. We always see more movement before and after a storm. We get super excited being up in the wilderness and being able to hunt after the weather stops. last Year we woke up to rain and fog and didn't see that much movement in the morning. we ended up hanging out in the tent for a couple hours (fell asleep) and wok up to sunshine. My dad basically ran out of the tent and camp to get to his spot because he knew the deer would be moving. He ended up having a chance at the biggest buck of his life (190" or bigger from what he described) but ended up missing twice at 30 yards due to his scope fogging up (good optics in the high country are a must!). My brother bought him a weather proof scope for this year since he missed two opportunities at trophy mule deer because of his scope fogging up
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would definitely have to agree with the other posts. We always see more movement before and after a storm. We get super excited being up in the wilderness and being able to hunt after the weather stops. last Year we woke up to rain and fog and didn't see that much movement in the morning. we ended up hanging out in the tent for a couple hours (fell asleep) and wok up to sunshine. My dad basically ran out of the tent and camp to get to his spot because he knew the deer would be moving. He ended up having a chance at the biggest buck of his life (190" or bigger from what he described) but ended up missing twice at 30 yards due to his scope fogging up (good optics in the high country are a must!). My brother bought him a weather proof scope for this year since he missed two opportunities at trophy mule deer because of his scope fogging up
Completely agree! When we went Black Tail hunting on Kodiak Island back home one day we felt a little more wind and cold but nothing unusual but no deer what so ever, so this was strange as we always saw deer daily. Then the next morning we woke up to a foot of snow and sunny skies and see the hills just thick with deer. I read your story by the way about your high hunt, great story. Everyone gets bit by buck fever once in awhile.
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Thanks for your replies! Got to spend almost 10 days above tree line this year hunting deer and observing their reaction to weather changes. On two occasions it snowed, one morning a couple inches before noon. We got to walk the mountain up and down that day and it seemed like the elk and deer had completely evacuated the high country before dawn. That evening, after the snow had melted, we found tracks heading right back up the mountain. I even saw two mountain goats that were WAYYY lower than I'd ever seen them before. I imagine that the animals would want to be as comfortable as we want to be... Does this seem in line with your observations?
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It is amazing how fast they can move out. Many years ago, I was hunting a late ML permit near Grants Pass. I was seeing all kinds of deer in my headlights looking for a place to park the truck to sleep. I woke up in the morning to about four inches of fresh snow and didn't cut a track until after noon when I had a buck cross the logging road within range.
