How to Best Hunt Elk in Montana

For many hunters, drawing a Montana elk tag is appealing because of the long seasons that come with it. A general tag gives you a six-week archery season and a five-week rifle season. In recent years, the FWP has even added a nine-day traditional muzzleloader hunt. There is no shortage of opportunity in the Big Sky State, but success does not come easy.

Each season feels different, and elk rarely stay in the same place from one phase to the next. Where you find bulls in September or early October often looks nothing like where you will find them once rifle season begins. Weather becomes a significant factor, and heavy hunting pressure can turn what once looked like an elk mecca into an elk ghost town almost overnight. Understanding these shifts and knowing how to approach both parts of the season goes a long way toward stacking the odds in your favor.

EARLY SEASON ARCHERY: SEPTEMBER THROUGH EARLY OCTOBER

Archery season in Montana is similar to much of the West, where warm temperatures, dry country and steady hunting pressure are the norm. Early in the season, elk are usually still in their summer haunts, and as the days go on, they get pushed deeper into cover as more hunters take to the woods. Look for north-facing slopes with plenty of shade, water and feed. Even so, rifle shots have not yet started ringing out, which means elk can still be found in open country during the early and late hours of the day. Being able to glass them during these windows gives you a better chance to move in and make a play. Once you locate them, the next step is slipping into the thicker cover to hunt them as they head to bed or in the bedding areas where they try to escape both hunting pressure and the September heat.

No matter where bowhunters chase elk, many plan on hunting bugling bulls. Montana bulls definitely bugle, but expecting a rut fest every day is a mistake. With the amount of pressure these elk see, bulls often stay quieter until the peak of the rut. They may still be vocal, but many days require you to get in tight and make them talk to you. As the archery season goes on, bugling usually increases, but so does the chance of running into call-shy bulls that have already heard plenty of hunters.

CALLING OR NOT CALLING

Speaking of calling, it is worth diving into that a bit. If you have hunted Montana, you know calling can be incredible one day and a complete waste of time the next. Online videos make it look like bulls are constantly charging into bugles and cow calls. When it does happen, it is one of the biggest adrenaline rushes in elk hunting. The truth is that in most general Montana units, this is rarely the reality you will find yourself in.

I wouldn't say ditch your calls altogether but I would encourage you to use them sparingly until the right moment presents itself. Locator bugles often work, but trying to get into a back-and-forth bugle match with a bull usually sends him the other way. In many situations, you are better off using soft cow talk while working through areas where elk are already present.

Spot-and-stalk can be effective if you can see a bedded herd, and intercepting elk between bedding and feeding areas is another solid approach. If you can get where elk already want to be, your calling usually becomes more effective than when you try to pull them off a route or away from a destination they are committed to.

OCTOBER BOWHUNTING

When the calendar turns to October, bowhunting elk becomes much more challenging. Bulls have heard every call in the book and calling them in can feel nearly impossible. By this point, they are worn down from the rut, and the larger, mature bulls often begin to drift away from the main herds, only swinging back to check for cows that come into estrus late. Smaller bulls tend to stick close to the herd and are reluctant to leave the cows they finally have access to while the big bulls recover.

Even with the challenges, October bowhunting is still worth the effort if you approach it the right way. Finding a secluded bull and making a stalk can be a great play. If that style is not for you, you can move in close to these bulls and use subtle cow calls once you are inside their comfort zone. The same approach works if bulls are still with the main herds. Get as close as you can without being detected, then give them your best calling. Calling opportunities may be fewer and the action harder to find, but October is unpredictable. I have been in some absolute rut fests during this phase, and when it does turn on, the action can be intense.

RUT-TO-RIFLE TRANSITION

By the end of the archery season, elk have spent six weeks being called to and pursued by countless hunters. This level of pressure changes their behavior and often pushes them into pockets that may not look as appealing or obvious to most hunters.

These pockets can be thicker, steeper pieces of terrain, but they are not always far from where elk spent the earlier part of the fall. Going into rifle season, it pays to look for places that are away from easy access points or well-used trails. Elk may still be visible in some areas during the overlap between archery and rifle seasons, but once the orange army shows up and bullets start flying, they have a way of disappearing fast.

WHERE ELK GO AFTER THE RUT

Once the rut winds down, bulls and cows settle into feeding and bedding routines again. Cows and calves often move to places with better feed. Bulls move toward timber pockets, burns with new growth or benches where they can recover. These areas are not always far from where the rut happened. The change might be only a few ridges. Understanding this helps rifle hunters focus on the right habitat instead of chasing memories of bugles from September.

EARLY IN THE RIFLE HUNT

Aside from catching a bull off guard on opening day, finding one during the first part of rifle season can be tough. Bulls are worn down from the rut and have tucked themselves into secluded pockets where they can rest and start putting weight back on for the long winter ahead.

Cow herds start growing again during this phase, no longer being broken up by bulls every day. Given the chance, cows will move into country with good feed and settle into more predictable routines. They may not always be visible, but they begin slipping back into typical feeding patterns whenever pressure allows.

HUNTING PRESSURE AND OPENING WEEK

It’s worth talking a bit more about the hunting pressure that comes with the opening week of the rifle season. When I say there are a lot of hunters, it’s hard to truly understand just how much until you’ve seen it firsthand. Montana has a rich elk hunting heritage, and both residents and nonresidents show up in full force. There will be hunters everywhere, lots of shooting and elk on the move.

This pressure often pushes elk into steep, less accessible areas. Look for burns, thick cover, steep terrain and private land; these are the spots where elk will end up. Speaking of private land, I have hunted all over the West and I’ve never seen animals gravitate to private property like they do in Montana. It’s almost uncanny how well they know the boundaries and how they use them to seek solitude. Many hunters use mapping apps to hunt along these lines and intercept elk moving to and from private land.

Once the buzz of opening weekend fades, many hunters head out, and resident hunters often return to work, making weekdays quieter. At the same time, this isn’t true in every area; weekdays after the first week are generally noticeably less busy.

During opening week, avoiding the readily accessible areas can be key. Another smart approach is to identify travel corridors or escape routes that elk use under pressure. Sometimes, simply setting up along these routes and letting other hunters push the elk can pay off big.

WEATHER AND HOT IT CHANGES THE RIFLE HUNT

When late October and November arrive, significant weather can completely change the hunt. Elk will often shrug off storms in September or early October, almost as if they can sense better weather ahead. But when late October and November storms roll in, they know snow and cold are coming, and it’s time to abandon their summer and early fall haunts and move toward transition and winter terrain.

With these storms, you can often follow tracks and sign to their next location, if you’re willing to put in the miles and do the work. Snow won’t always come during the rifle hunt, but when it does, this can be a deadly approach.

LATE NOVEMBER: SECOND RUT AND WINTER

As the rifle hunt moves into late November, elk start settling into winter patterns. With snow piling up in the high country, they are more likely to move down the mountain than up. Focus on mid-elevation terrain, south-facing slopes and the edges of private land, where the best accessible feed remains even with snow on the ground.

Finding large cow groups is a good strategy late in the season. The big bulls won’t always be in the herds, but they are usually nearby. They may swing by to check for any cows that haven’t cycled yet before returning to bachelor groups. Surprisingly, you can still hear some bugling during this period. A biologist friend explained that this is often due to yearling cows coming into estrus late after the others have been bred.

Even if you hear some bugling, calling is usually ineffective. The only calls worth making are those meant to stop an elk for a shot. The better approach is to glass the country with your optics, locate elk and move in. If glassing isn’t possible, still-hunting likely terrain can also be productive.

COLD-WEATHER BEHAVIOR

The bitter cold that can come with Montana’s elk season can be a blessing and a curse. When it gets extremely cold, elk must feed longer and more often throughout the day to gain body weight and fuel their bodies for warmth. This makes spotting them easier. With that comes your own exposure to the elements, which can be hard to handle at times. Make sure you are prepared with gear for whatever weather comes your way; it can be a matter of life or death.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Montana offers incredible elk hunting opportunities for those with a tag. The season is long, and there is more country than anyone could cover in a lifetime. From early September archery through October bow and rifle, all the way to Thanksgiving, you can hunt almost nonstop.

Success, however, requires adapting your tactics, terrain and gear to the time of year. Montana is not a place where one strategy works from September through November. Hunters who adjust to these shifts consistently find elk, no matter the season or pressure.

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