In my younger years, it was all about the elk rut for me, and I didn’t care about hunting them with a rifle or later in the season. As I got older, I decided I wanted to extend my season and hunt elk later and more often. At that point, I started applying for more late-season elk permits in my home state of Idaho and other surrounding states. With this strategy, I have had the good fortune of still going on my annual archery elk hunts and a late-season rifle or muzzleloader hunt of my own or with friends and family nearly every year.

On some “late-season” hunts, you will still see some rutting action and hear some bugling. For example, in 2018, my buddy Matt and I dogged a herd of elk on November 10^th with a bull that was bugling excessively and chasing cows as if it were mid-September. This isn’t the norm, but you will often hear bugling and see bulls with cows late into October and even November.

That being said, calling elk shouldn’t be your go-to tactic during the late season, and other methods more often yield much better results. Here are some tips if you are heading out this season to chase some bulls after the rut winds down and bulls settle in to start preparing for the rigors of winter.

Get High and Glass

Many folks feel that drawing or attaining a rifle elk tag means an easy hunt for a big bull is in the cards. Often, this can’t be further from the truth. In many areas across the west, these hunts occur after the elk have been hunted for a month or two by bowhunters and maybe some early rifle hunters. The urge to drive around or hunt close to the road can be strong, especially with colder, shorter days. One of the best ways to find bulls to pursue is to get high and glass in the early and late hours of the day. Even if it means skipping a morning or evening hunt, get high and glass bulls to either hunt that evening or, if glassing in the evening, find bulls for the morning hunt. Once they are spotted, you’ve won half the battle. Now it is time to cover ground while the elk are bedded during the day or early in the morning with your headlamp. Either way, get yourself in a position to strike when they are out feeding early and late.

Get high and glass during peak hours.

Off Grid Bulls

This subject ties in nicely with the last topic. Bull elk quite literally run themselves ragged during the rut. They lose much of their body weight and are pretty beat up when the rut is over. So, once the rut is over, they break off alone or in small bachelor herds and look for a place to recoup their bodies for the long winter ahead. Often, these bulls will find little hidey holes off the grid, away from where the rest of the elk spend their time. It seems like when the rut is over, they want to get away from the madness and enjoy peace and quiet. Sometimes, this may be in the wide open, but often, they are in sparse timber or broken terrain where they can feed and mill for long periods of the day without being completely exposed at all times. So, utilize the get high and glass approach, but make sure you are looking in every nook and cranny because sometimes they might be in the area but hidden just out of sight in a small side canyon or draw. Also, though, I have found them far from the roads in an absolute hell hole. The bottom line is if elk are around in the form of small or large herds of cows with small bulls, the larger bulls are around too; you have to figure out where.

My buddy found this big late season bull tucked away in a off grid location.

Timber Bulls

In some areas, the bulls won’t be out where you can spot them at all because they live in thick timber, where they have places that they can feed and rest without exposing themselves to open terrain where you can spot them. If this is your scenario, you have no choice but to go into the timber with them and find them. In my opinion, this type of hunting gets better when there is snow on the ground. In this situation, it’s best to cover ground until I find fresh tracks and then slow down and be much more methodical with my travel. I wouldn’t say I am still hunting in the true sense, but my pace slows significantly from when I am covering ground just looking for sign. Move slowly and scan your surroundings constantly. Even in this situation, it pays to use your optics even in thick timber. Scan the timber as far as you can see and up close. Bedded elk can be challenging to spot, and you must look closely. Be looking for parts of elk, not always the whole elk. Also, once you spot an elk and plan to make a move, always be aware of your surroundings. It’s easy to get tunnel vision on one elk, but your hunt can quickly be spoiled by a buddy of his bedded nearby, watching his blind spot. We shouldn’t give them that much credit, but elk, like all animals, have a strong desire to live. That desire seems to strategically make them bed in spots that give them and their compadres as many advantages as possible.

Bulls in the timber can be some of the hardest late season hunts.

Tracking

Speaking of elk tracks in the snow, if you are hunting in snow that has freshly fallen, you can be in a perfect position to track a bull or herd of bulls. If the snow has fallen during the night and you cut tracks from a bull, it’s a good idea to take up that track and stick with it. More than once, I have followed a bull to its bed that I could have easily killed. However, I have never taken a bull with this method because I have passed on the bulls I have tracked. This method is effective, though, and I am confident that eventually, I will kill a great bull that I have followed to his bed.

When you have fresh snow, it's time to make tracks in their tracks.

Gear

Like any hunt, having the right gear can greatly enhance your hunts enjoyment and success. Here are a few gear pieces that have helped me on my hunts over the years.