Hiawatha, yes your tip proved to be right on the money with regards to the elk season change. I for one think and hope guys opt to go in the E/O season. I know I have talked with a lot of dejected elk hunters in the past few years and think it just might be the thing that will spread the hunters out a bit. My feeling is more guys mean less animals for everyone, cram 3/4 of the elk hunters into one week, the pressure is bound to impact the harvest overall. It should also help animals, farmers and I believe it may help with the rut being more normalized if the cows were thinned somewhat. I think the competition for bulls is a lot less than previous years. Speaking from deer terms(I think I can assume it will hold true for elk, as well), this causes a less defined rutting period, less ranging of the bulls and more immature bulls doing the breeding. I am not sure if you noticed this last year but I saw a lot of small groups and less herds like previous years. In fact all 3 bulls we harvested were with a small group of cow and none were herd bulls. Although that can be an indicator of rut being finished, I still thing the sheer amount of girls has impacted the rut in some way or form. Also we hunted in archery supposedly when the rut had started in the area last year, never did see the 10 plus cow/calf with a few sats. or rag horns and the herd bull in tow. I am by far no expert when it comes to elk and rut, so just an educated guess if you will.

Congrats on your bull, they are all trophies. A memory you can re-live and re-tell for years to come. BTW out of curosity did you cow call him and if so what week was he taken? The reason I ask is I feel we made a huge mistake the first 2 days last fall by bugling like usual, all 3 bulls we harvested were doing cow talk and they took awhile to show their nose. I am thinking if faced with the same rut situation as last fall to leave the bugles alone and stick to cow calling.

As to moose I only hope it isn't a year or 2 to late, I really wish they would have dropped the reg. rifle season altogether. I also personally think it is a huge mistake putting additional pressure on the bulls in the forest, it hasn't worked in the past but I know they had to throw a bone so not everyone is truly p'd off! The best thing is they put the reg. rifle in probably the worst time for hunting bull moose, directly following the rut...so they get a small golf clap from me on that note! I will be applying for the moose draw this fall, been in super pool A for the past 5 years and been 8 since I was last drawn...although it will most likely be about the same odds as winning the lottery this fall. I just love hunting these beasts and especially during the call..simply amazing in a word!!!

Should be another good year, the deer look awesome. Now we only have to hurry up and wait[][:'(]!!