Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: TeacherMan on October 20, 2025, 08:41:43 AM
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Over the weekend (Friday to Sunday) I counted close to 90 elk, all cows and one 1x2 in north Idaho. The first group was on private, 58 elk, that was the group that had the big spike in it. Then yesterday I had one of the coolest hunts of my life without actually harvesting an elk. From 5:24pm to 6:01pm I had over 30 cows pass me under 100 yards. I know the times exactuly because I took a ton of film of them. NOT one bull. I kept hoping one would be tailing the herd, but nothig?
Do you think the bulls are done rutting and have pulled away from the cows and are moving back up the mountain? One week ago I had a big bull bugling back at me that wouldn't leave his herd. The questions you ask yourself afterwards :chuckle:
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In a hole somewhere resting :chuckle: usually still see satellite class bulls with the herds this time of year but we're at that time where bigger bulls start dropping off and going into recovery mode. Remaining bulls could have already been harvested but maybe not enough hot cow activity left to draw in replacements... :dunno:
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Probably retreat back up to the high country to lick their wounds.
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When I used to hunt Ryderwood and Willapa Hills, we'd drop down and ride around the Whitetail Refuge and the larger bulls would always be hanging out together. Might be a little early for that yet. :dunno:
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There was a time when a lot of the big bulls were in the refuge. There were some absolute tanks in there. The game dept finally ran them all out of there . I did see a dozen or so in there a few years ago that looked as though they wanted to cross the highway and get back up on the hill. No bulls though.
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I’m hunting the unit that according to most “is ruined by wolves” south of you.
Saw one rutty herd bull with 12 cows on Saturday down way low right at end of shooting hours. Last week saw one rag horn with cows in the middle of the day down low while working and he was still acting rutty.
A couple cameras in spots the bigger bulls hang out in during the rut have dried up and it’s been cows and calves coming by. Been seeing cow and calf sign the last few days in those areas down low but zero fresh sign of bulls.
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This is heading into the classic 'sanctuary' season for big bulls. You'll still see some smaller bulls with the big herds but the bulls are now looking to hide and lick their wounds and put on some weight. They need to eat, but they no longer need to brave big open areas like they would with a huge herd. You can still catch some on edges early and late but the game is much harder now.
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I’ve been hunting deer around Ellensburg north and south side of I 90 every bull I’ve seen has cows. I wish I’d seen as many bucks as I’ve seen big bulls.
And I’ve still heard a few bugles
Of course without a permit their safe
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Had two bulls bugling with cows last weekend and then a light switch turned off. They did the disappearing act. Watched 7 cows tonight for about an hour until dark.
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This may or may not be relevant to your situation, but I spoke to a Wildlife Bio a few years ago when I was planning a goat hunt in the Olympics. We started chatting about Bull Elk and he said it was really interesting to see how the tagged Bulls behaved as hunting season started. He said there was almost no behavior change with the Elk during Archery season. During Muzzle loader season there was a very slight uptick in movement, but literally the day before Rifle season opened, sometime the night before opening morning, his tracking would show the bulls would make radicle location changes. They did one of two things. One group of elk would go find the darkest, deepest hole they could find and sit in it till the season was over. The other group would go on a migration and get the heck out of dodge, often moving many miles in a single day to transition to a new area with less hunter traffic.
I found that interesting.
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I think it’s an impossible question to give a one size fits all answer to.
I killed a bull in north Idaho last Friday that was still chasing cows, and every cow group we saw had 2-3 bulls with them still.
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Bulls that still bugle during rifle season usually dont make more than a a few days before they die of lead poisoning.
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The areas I hunt in Idaho, as soon as it cools off and the ruts over the Bulls find the areas that have no pressure and bachelor up and rest after the rut.
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Deep dark holes with lots of blow downs, staying secluded.
