BTW, Regular season(OTC) Elk hunting in Saskatchewan has a archery season that begins the 3rd week of august which is 2 weeks long, (1 week break), then a 2 week rifle season follows in sept. (2nd and 3rd week) and finally followed by another archery week. The primary rut phase I have seen it as early as the end of August and this year as late as I ever recall some areas not starting until the first of October. According to the biologists it falls around the 10th of Sept in the eastern portion of the province.

CE, in my experience hunting elk with the rifle is no easier than the bow, especially when you consider the number of hunters who flock to certain areas come rifle season. Do you have any idea where you want to /will hunt elk? Will you be hunting with any seasoned elk hunters? If so, ask them for some info, etc. This also can be a key in determining when the best time to go and best approach to use for hunting them! I would suggest learn all you can by way of research of internet, books, videos, etc but also start asking questions at your hunting shop and the SWF in Yorkton. As I am sure your aware your part of the province is the most popular place to hunt elk, so I am sure their are many seasoned elk hunters in the Yorkton area who may be able to give you little pointers or even might need a addition to their party. Calls are great but when they aren't responding (like this fall) you must have knowledge of their habits and try to change the outcome by being in the right places.

As far as calls to use, start off with the cow and calf sounds then work up to the bugles. I would suggest a reed blow cow/calf call and a palate diaphram (I personally like the primos brands). The squeeze calls are also good but very limited so make sure you have additional calls available for tone and sound variations. Once you have these you can look to bull sounds by way of a diaphram call/grunt tube or a reed type bugle. I am still working on all the sounds of a bull with a diaphram call but their is no doubt it produces the best results and give you way more options in terms of calls produced. That said a number of guys in our party use the Primo Terminator Bugle and it seems to work pretty well. I have a Power Lip Bugle by Elk inc, which works equally well. My suggestion is stay away from the roaring bugles instead stick with the immature bull calls and cow calls till you know what the elk are saying. Elknut videos are a great resource in this regard.

You can't learn everything in one off season, so try to pick out certain things that make sense to where you'll be hunting and then keep re-tooling. Like deer or any other game animal you have hunted every year is different, so it is very much a work in progress, be patient and become a sponge take as much as you can then go back eager for more.