Tennessee elk bugled most from 23 September to 10 October

STEP 1 · Late September

One 2021 fall peaked from 23 September to 10 October

Metts and colleagues reported in the Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies on seven recorders at Tennessee's North Cumberland Wildlife Management Area for the single fall of 2021. The run went from 12 August through 29 October. The elk were Manitoban animals reintroduced from 2000 to 2008. Recorders kept only the opening 30 minutes from each hour. The stack totaled 28,853 bugles. The pooled daily curve was highest between 23 September and 10 October and climbed once more across 17 to 19 October.

Tower 1 held 18,728 bugles and Tower 2 held 7,927. Hunting was closed at both. Our sum for the unhunted towers is 26,655 bugles. About 92 percent of recorded bugles during the single 2021 fall for these reintroduced Manitoban elk came from the unhunted towers.

Chestnut Ridge and Tackett 1 sat in hunted units and held 1,331 and 820 bugles. Three other hunted-unit recorders held 9, 17 and 21. Metts and colleagues say the broad course agreed on hunted ground and on closed ground though elk numbers confound the comparison.

Dead batteries blanked four recorders from 30 August until 15 September. Early September is undescribed here. The authors say those missing days likely landed in a lower-bugling stretch because the 2021 peak aligned with calving dates from 2024.

Eight 2024 births were backdated with gestation of 247 days plus or minus 3 days. Mean conception date was 3 October with standard error 4.8 days and mode 26 September. Peak mating sat on 26 September through 7 October 2023. Across sites dates ran 17 September through 2 November. In the count model the peak-breeding window held more than four times the bugles of other dates. Longer days had a small positive association. Neither temperature nor rain showed a link.

Hunter success beyond the towers was thin. Metts and colleagues record 10 successful hunters on hunted ground from 15 September to 17 October 2021. They report no sign that hunter effort or off-highway vehicles altered bugling in Tennessee. Western general seasons sit outside this one reintroduced herd.

Our rule is to hunt the prime days from 23 September through 10 October. Listen once more near 17 to 19 October before calling a second cycle finished. Check your state agency for season dates.

Noyes and colleagues in The Journal of Wildlife Management followed one bull group aging into the sire role inside Starkey's 78 square kilometer fenced tract in northeast Oregon from 1989 to 1993 with average conception on 21 September for 5-year-old sires, on 3 October for 2-year-old sires and on 7 October for yearlings. Our read from this fenced tract is that one group of young bulls may still breed into early October after the late September bugling thins. The paper never counts bugles by hour.

STEP 2 · Dawn and evening

Seven recorders crested from 7 to 9 and from 6 to 8

Bugles came at every hour. Combined highs for this Manitoban herd in that 2021 set were 7 to 9 mornings and 6 to 8 evenings. Chestnut Ridge crested at midnight.

Smith and colleagues in The Journal of Wildlife Management put collars on bulls inside northeast Oregon at Starkey Experimental Forest and Range. They cite earlier work in that system for about 60 percent to 80 percent of conceptions from 15 to 30 September. Collars covered 38 males over 50 animal-years during 2009 through 2016. The fastest steps were pre-hunt in the early October deer rifle period then slowed. Breeding overlapped that period. Bulls may accept more risk while breeding.

STEP 3 · Learned avoidance

A shot after the bugle cut later walk-ins

Walsh's abstract in a Colorado Division of Wildlife research report covers mature radio-collared bulls on the Forbes Trinchera Ranch in south-central Colorado for September and October of 1988 and 1989. Crews walked in and bugled. Treatment bulls heard the shot. Control bulls heard none. Earlier harassment changed later movement toward the observer. The 1988 figure was P = 0.003 and the 1989 figure was P = 0.0001. Greatest vulnerability ran 17 September until 2 October both years. Next-day distance in 1988 did not differ at P = 0.481. The abstract states no sample size.

If a bull comes in on the first morning bugle and quits after a call paired with a shot, leave the setup. The test scored approaches only.

STEP 4 · Movement

Rifle density came with higher speed and more distance from open roads

Johnson and colleagues used Starkey locations from 10 years with 21 rifle seasons and 2 archery seasons in the Transactions of the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference. Disturbance made elk flee while mule deer hid. Away from hunts the pace hit about 11.5 feet per minute (3.5 m/min) near 6 to 8 morning and 5 to 6 evening. Midday sat near 2 meters per minute. Each extra rifle hunter per square kilometer added 1.4 meters per minute of pace with R squared 0.46. Highest rifle densities fit about 5 meters per minute against a pre-hunt 2.7 meters per minute. The archery slope was 2.2 meters per minute for every hunter in a square kilometer on two archery seasons. Only from midnight through 4 did high rifle density speed fall back near the pre-hunt line.

Distance off open roads grew about 272 feet (83 m) per added rifle hunter in a square kilometer. The intercept sits near 2,460 feet (751 m). R squared equals 0.12. Most scatter stayed unexplained.

Both the archery elk hunt and the rifle elk hunt inside the 7,768 hectare fenced main pasture were hunts of 5 days carrying 25 tags at roughly 0.32 hunters per square kilometer. Bull step rates climbed more than 10 percent from the pre-hunt period into each hunt. In late October the elk rifle hunt showed an 11 percent daytime rise and a 22 percent nighttime rise. Early in October the deer rifle hunt overlapped breeding and bull step rate was down 12 percent by day and 13 percent at night relative to the fast pre-hunt pace. Late August archery shifted location less than either rifle hunt and shifts peaked in daylight. Open roads were left alone except on nights during breeding. Canopy was preferred by day and avoided at night. Our read is the deer rifle hunt still changed where fenced Starkey bulls stood as their step rate fell.

Starkey elk could not exit the fence. Our elk and private land guide covers two Montana herds of free ranging cows. Missouri Breaks ground that public hunters could reach held 68 percent of archery fixes and 91 percent of rifle fixes. Closed ground was about 3 percent of the archery range and held 32 percent of fixes. About 9,679 archery hunter-days compared with 5,324 rifle hunter-days. Larb Hills held 50 percent of archery fixes on one large closed block. Bull collars are not in that guide. Measure closed ground when an opener goes quiet before you decide elk have left the unit.

STEP 5 · Public security

Montana cow model set archery security near 1.7 miles

A Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks report by Ranglack and colleagues in 2017 tracks 325 adult female elk in nine southwest Montana herds. Archery selection ordered inaccessible land, greener forage, canopy, distance from motorized routes and lower hunter effort. Avoidance of motorized routes grew as hunter effort grew in both seasons. Public-land archery security there is at least 13 percent canopy and at least 2,760 meters from a motorized route. The gap converts to 1.7 miles. Rifle security is at least 9 percent canopy and at least 1,535 meters or 0.95 mile and blocks of at least 5,000 acres. Collars were deployed across 2005 to 2014. The recipe describes cows and does not promise bugling.

DeVoe and colleagues in The Journal of Wildlife Management found Montana cows from August through October living on home ranges more open to hunters had stronger selection for spots well removed from motorized routes at coefficient 0.7 with P = 0.02 and R squared 0.11 while selection for higher forage quality held or increased.

STEP 6 · One ridge

Write two listening windows before a basin change

Reach a ridge while it is still dark. Separate bugles by direction in the 7 to 9 window and the 6 to 8 window. Stay inside 23 September to 10 October and repeat near 17 to 19 October if your hunt is open. A dawn that fades after hunters bugle and shoot matches the ranch result. When both windows fail and you are still closer than 1.7 miles to an open road per the Montana cow model, walk out from the road before quitting the unit. Bulls inside the Starkey fence still stood on ground nearer roads after dark while breeding. Listen again at midnight.