How much snow ?

[Art Vandeley]

I drew an LE elk permit this year and I am in the scouting process. The unit has one mountain range in it and a lot of rolling hills that the elk like. Being a public land hunter, my access to the mostly private rolling hills is going to be very limited. Right now I'm seeing elk high in the mountains, at the top essentially. I'm wondering how much snow it will take to move the Bulls out of the high country? Trying to figure out if I'm wasting my time scouting the high country, as this will be a November rifle hunt. Will the big lone Bulls stay up there after the rut with 2' of snow on ground ? I have tried contacting the local biologist several times with no luck so far...

Thanks for any advise you can provide.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Not an expert by any means but I've seen bulls up high in over 2 feet of snow when all the cows and calves have already moved down. I'd still be hunting up high for bulls in November.

 

[wytex]

I tend to think they will move down with good snow, 2 + feet . A local would be the best bet for that answer. Sometimes just the hunting pressure will move them down to private.

 

[quarterhorse]

Quite often it's the hunting pressure that moves them onto private and not the snow. Hopefully this is not the case in your unit. It is surprising how much snow older bulls will tolerate before moving out if not looking for a sanctuary from hunters.

 

[Doublecluck]

As long as they can get food. Seems to me like once the the first few storms come and mid day temperatures glaze the top making it hard to get through, the next big storm after that is when we see big migrations. At least in the west madison which is where my experience comes from.

 

[Pagosa]

I personally don't have a lot of elk hunting experience in Montana, but 2' is not a lot for elk. You need to consider that a lot of elk stick to timbered areas which doesn't crust over as bad or the snow stays up in the trees. So they can roam around in 18-24 inches of snow pawing out green beargrass in late November or woody browse. In Region 3 last fall I hunted the last week and elk were still above 8000k and continued all the way up past where I could effectively hike. But there was minimal timber cover down below on the private land and they were making a long nightly journey and moving back before daylight.

 

[sbhooper]

Quite often it's the hunting pressure that moves them onto private and not the snow. Hopefully this is not the case in your unit. It is surprising how much snow older bulls will tolerate before moving out if not looking for a sanctuary from hunters.

True. I have seen this in Colorado. Hunter pressure is way more important to an elk, than the snow to a point. I saw elk quit the country with four inches of snow, but I think that it was just an addition to the already heavy hunter pressure that pushed them. Once the left, THEY LEFT. I followed a group of eight or so just to see where they went, as they were headed toward where my truck was anyway. They bee-lined for private land to the south and did not even go around hill points. They took a GPS heading and WENT! I followed them for a couple miles and never saw hide nor hair of them and they had just left. The snow was still falling and the tracks were brand new. That was an interesting learning experience.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Quite often it's the hunting pressure that moves them onto private and not the snow. Hopefully this is not the case in your unit. It is surprising how much snow older bulls will tolerate before moving out if not looking for a sanctuary from hunters.

I agree with QH on this one. My guess is, depending on how many permits are issued, that private land is going to be your biggest challenge. I see you are in Great Falls, and if this is the unit I think it is, snow will not be the determining factor as to where the elk are.

All that said, I've seen bulls hanging out one high ridges with a couple of feet of snow. As long as they can find windblown places to paw for food, two feet won't force them down. Now, put some hard crust on that snow and 18" will get them moving, so it all kind of depends.