No matter what time of the year you're hunting elk, spending time behind a good set of optics is a prerequisite to success.
Choosing the best days for your elk hunting vacation can’t be challenging. But I’ve been roaming the West chasing bugles with stick-and-string in hand for 25 years. During that elk tenure, I’ve also hunted elk many times with rifles during October and November. I’ve given over 20 elk hunting seminars and penned over 300 articles about elk hunting.
Bragging?
Not at all. I would like to share with you the seminars and articles to demonstrate that I’ve invested the time, spent hundreds of days in the field, and that my elk knowledge is sound. You work hard, and whether this is your first elk hunt or your 50th, you deserve intel you can trust and depend on.
If I pooled all the questions from my seminars, emails, and messages on social media, one question would stand out over all the rest: What are the best days to go elk hunting?
My answer: If elk season is open — rifle or bow, and you have an elk tag in your pocket, go elk hunting. I know that sounds like I’m dodging the question, but it’s true.
How to Plan for Public-Land Elk Hunting
On September 6, 2025, I fired a 340-inch herd bull up at 11:40 a.m. The weather was hot, and according to my HuntStand app, the moon phase was a Waxing Gibbous (98% full). Still, we got around a bull with cows and a couple of satellites lurking nearby. The herd bull didn’t take kindly to another bull wandering near him and his bedded harem, and he responded.
Though we didn’t kill that bull, my son could’ve arrowed a satellite bull that walked past him at less than five yards. I never saw either bull again, as I’d moved back 200 yards, hoping to pull the herd bull past my son.
The point: There is never a bad time in September, October, or November to chase elk. HuntStand’s all-new Elk Rut Map and Elk Activity Forecast work like the Whitetail Rut Map and Whitetail Activity Forecast. Built from decades of research and powered by weather, rut activity, habitat data, and more, the Elk Activity Forecast delivers hourly rut predictions up to 15 days out for elk.
Brian Murphy and Jim Heffelfinger are two world-renowned biologists. They and others developed these tools. And these all-new algorithms should be used and trusted.
The author and his friends have called in and stalked bowhunting close to many bulls between September 10 and September 17.
September Elk Hunting Is Great
While HuntStand’s Elk Activity Forecast and Elk Rut Map are practical tools, many hunters must plan their elk-cation months in advance.
If I had to pick the same seven days to bowhunt elk during September for the rest of my life, it would be September 10-September 17.
Many elk hunters share the theory that the first and last weeks of September are the two “best” weeks to bowhunt elk. While I’ve killed elk during both the first and last week, 80 percent of my archery bulls have fallen to a well-placed arrow between September 10 and September 17.
September’s first week can be hot, and bugling activity is often limited to the first few hours of the morning and the last hour of the evening. Many elk gurus argue that this week is the best week to kill a gagger bull before he gathers his ladies and becomes an official herd bull. I say that 90% of herd bulls have gathered their harems by September 1 — just some food for thought.
How to Hunt the Elk Rut: Morning, Midday, and Afternoon
September’s last week can be a banger, but elk have experienced much hunting pressure. Additionally, the big bulls still have the girls, and some satellite bulls have managed to disrupt a rut party and steal a cow or two, making it increasingly challenging to call in satellite bulls.
September 10 through September 17 is the heart of the annual elk rut. Temperatures are typically ideal for all-day rutting activity, which means you can maximize your elk-cation. During this timeframe, bulls are their most vocal, and with so many cows going into estrus, chances are good you’ll find yourself in the middle of a rut fest. Many times, during this week, I’ve had multiple bulls bugling from various drainages. If you play the thermals, wind, and the terrain, chances are good you’ll loose an arrow at a solid bull during these seven days.
Elk are large creatures and require approximately 4 gallons of water per day. Be sure to inspect all water sources in the area, no matter what time of year you're hunting. Also, heavy snow will force elk out of the high country to find better food sources.
October Elk Hunting Is Hard
I hope that headline doesn’t discourage those of you with an October elk stamp in your pocket, but I never want to lie to you. It’s essential when giving elk advice to call a spade a spade.
If you have an archery elk tag, a muzzleloader tag, or best of all, a first-week October rifle tag, you’re in the chips. The first week of October is similar to the last week of November in terms of whitetails. Big bulls know some cows haven’t been bred, and they are working overtime to pass on their genetics. Satellite bulls are still circling, hoping to steal an estrus cow, and the rut, though it is wrapping up, is still hot.
However, muzzleloader and first-week-of-October elk tags are hard to come by in many Western locales. Most hunters will tote a rifle sometime between the second week of October and Halloween.
How to Hunt Elk During Gun Season
While I don’t have a favorite week beginning after the seventh of October, I will pen that bulls, much like weakened-from-the-rut whitetail bucks, will look for secluded food sources.
Big bulls will leave their harems. Some will reunite with summertime boy bands. Others will remain solo. Find the steepest, darkest timber you can find with an isolated meadow or some type of pasture nearby and put your optics to work. Post-rut bulls will wander to weird places. Last year, on October 12, I discovered three bulls with antlers exceeding 330 inches living in a small, timbered drainage in the center of an open pasture.
Why were they there?
The drainage was small but full of cedars and pinion trees. The bulls had moved to a lower elevation to escape the nasty winter weather that hadn’t even hit yet, and put themselves in a location where they had loads of grass and plenty of water via a small dirt pond that was less than 200 yards from the head-end of the drainage.
Post-rut bulls will often find the gnarliest terrain around with food, water, and plenty of cover. Be sure to investigate difficult-to-access terrain.
November Elk Hunting Is a Rifle Hunter’s Best Friend
This is a shameless plug, but I really do love HuntStand. The new Elk Activity Forecast and Elk Rut Map are two things I’m incredibly excited about. I also love how accurate HuntStand’s Current, Hourly, and 10-Day weather forecasts are. I appreciate the HuntZone wind map, which shows the exact location the wind is blowing.
During November, things chill off in the high country. Pay attention to your HuntStand 10-Day weather forecast, and if snow is forecasted in feet rather than inches, go hunting. I realize this isn’t always possible, but snow will move elk, often in massive herds, out of the high country.
How to Hunt Late-Season Elk
Elk are large ungulates that require a diet. In lower elevations, food is more accessible, and warmer temperatures melt south-facing slopes faster, exposing more food and allowing for snow-free bedding.
Wind is another factor to consider in November. If winds between 15 and 20 miles per hour are forecasted with gusts to 30-plus, find elk, bed those elk, and then get the wind in your face and stalk in close. If wind mixes with fresh-fallen snow, all the better. Wind and quiet snow that doesn’t crackle underfoot make ideal conditions for stalking.
I prefer to hunt during the third week of November. Snow is almost a certainty in the mountains, and temperatures are cold, which forces elk to move to food sources earlier in the afternoon. Often, there is plenty of wind, making stalking in close quarters possible.
Post-rut bulls will often reassemble summertime boy bands. Find likely food sources and put your optics to work.
HuntStand's Monthly Satellite feature provides the most recent 3D aerial image of your hunting area, which is crucial when scouting and hunting.
Final Thoughts
Yes, you have some excellent timeframes to hunt elk. However, please don’t live and die by these timeframes. It’s cliché, but elk are where you find them when you see them. You never know unless you go. If you have a trip scheduled from September 10 through September 17, but you’re able to string together a bonanza weekend trip before your hunt, do it. You may kill an elk, and even if you don’t, you get first-hand knowledge of the area and can pin plenty of elk spots on your HuntStand app. The mountains are calling, and you must go!
Those planning to hunt elk soon, and those planning a future elk hunt, must consider a HuntStand Ultimate subscription. You’ll get everything mentioned above, and much more, by signing up for this high-impact scouting tool. You can’t afford not to get it. It’s a great investment for your elk hunting dreams.
