By Brad Harris

Planning your elk-hunting trip at the right time is the key to stacking the deck in your favor. It does not guarantee success but it can offer at least a greater degree of confidence that the elk will be active and more vulnerable. For instance, I like to plan my archery elk hunts during the dark of the moon, nearest the peak of the rut. If this time frame comes complete with cool temperatures and a steady prevailing wind it is a gift for hunters like me.

With September fast approaching I had planned a trip with my good friend and outfitter Ray Milligan of Milligan Brand Outfitting in Chama, New Mexico. I have hunted with Ray numerous times and have had great success on bulls in his areas. Unfortunately some things had come up and I had to change my plans. I was going to cancel my trip but Ray had a last minute cancellation and graciously allowed me to come earlier in the season.

Joined by my good friend Stan Benne we struck out for Chama a full two weeks earlier than our original plans. It would be very hot, dry and the moon full. All the ingredients I did not wish for were now a part of the mix and I could do nothing about it. Conditions like these do not bother many hunters but for the way I like to hunt elk it was a potential nightmare. You see I like to go after Elk. I like to hunt bugling bulls that are busy herding or looking for cows or warding off intruders. I like to hear the piercing screams and aggressive grunts of rut crazed bulls and I love the ground level interaction when I am calling to a vocal bull.

It's this type of elk hunting challenge that has kept me going to the mountains the past 25 years. The cool temperatures, the dark moon and the late September rut make my kind of elk hunting more productive because elk are more active under these conditions. The conditions we were now faced with were not conducive to aggressive hunting tactics. Actually they were well suited for hunting treestands over waterholes. Ray had six bowhunters in camp and all but Stan and I were waterhole hunting.

After the first two days of hunting it became painfully obvious that there was a small window of opportunity to kill a bull the last hour of light. The conditions simply dictated the elk movements. They were up all night, in there bedding areas by first light and not moving until the last hour of the fading evening sun. Although the bulls were very vocal once they reached their feet in the evening you had little time to maneuver for a shot before legal shooting hour was upon you.

By day three Stan had decided to take up the waterhole hunting. The fact that the other 4 hunters in camp had tagged good bulls over waterholes made his decision easy to make. Me, well I will live and die by run and gun elk hunting. At least I had figured out that it was a one-hour evening hunt and I needed to concentrate my efforts on that. My game plan was simple, put elk to bed in the morning back off and formulate a plan of attach for the short evening hunt.

Once my plan was established I found myself in the ballgame. Three evenings in a row I had close encounters with good bulls. First was an encounter with a good 6x6 and a satellite bull that pulled from their evening beds to the Lohman Rake N Break call. At less than 25 yards the smaller bull offered all kinds of shot opportunities but the 6x6 faced me the entire time offering no clean avenue to his vitals. The following evening a good 6x5 actually left his cows to come to the Rake and Break call as if he were on a string. At 40 yards the good old mountain wind shifted and off he went. The third consecutive evening I worked a bull that had plenty of cows. Screaming and trashing trees just out of sight I moved in but was surrounded by cows and finally got caught.

With light fading fast I headed up the canyon to investigate a ghost bugle I thought I had heard while working the herd bull. Sure enough a screaming response to my cow calling came roaring down the draw. A quick set-up and there he was a 5x5 - 30 yards broadside. The Easton shaft pushed from my Golden Eagle bow found the spot and my hunt was over. The next evening, which was the last day of our hunt, Stan bagged a nice 5x5 that came to his waterhole making our camp 6 for 6 for the week. Yeah, proper planning makes all the difference in the world, but when advance planning goes array, regroup and play the cards that are dealt to you. Snatch victory from the Jaws of defeat.