I usually Archery hunt Elk. Although there have been some cases of rifle. So most generally I am hunting pre rut to peak rut. Some states, I think Colorado is one, have special permit hunts for Black powder at the later part of the rut. Anyway, during pre rut is really the easiest time to hunt the wallows since it's fairly hot out still (to me and most Elk hot=anything above 60) and the flies are still bugging the heck out of them. After that, hunting a wallow can be some serious hit or miss. If you found an active wallow you can try it, but I've always relied on calling and herd tracking myself.