Early Archery Seasons?

[tdcour]

Does anyone have any spots they like to hunt for early bow seasons? When I say early, I mean the first week of September and prior. Early to mid-August would be best. Our season here in SD doesn't start until Sept. 22 and by then I'm pretty swamped with the crop harvest. I'm looking to find somewhere I can hunt maybe not every year, but every two or three years that has a pretty good hunt. I'm not afraid to walk several miles (right now on our spot and stalk hunts we average 10-12 miles a day). I mainly want a good hunt. Something I can bring meat back home and have a good time, but also seeing some good animals is a plus. Anywhere from 140" and up would be perfectly fine with me. I can try and help with some South Dakota questions if anyone needs info on some of those hunts.

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

MT has general deer and elk archery season opening the first week of September every year.

 

[tdcour]

I'm not sure if MT would fit my schedule very well... I'd only be able to get out a few days before we start to get busy with harvest and its a pretty expensive non-res tag for only a few days. I would say it would be a good after harvest place to go, but that is usually when I start hitting the South Dakota public land pretty hard. A lot easier to get more days in the field when the hunting ground is only 3 hours away... cheaper too! What is the deer pressure like in MT after the archery season? I typically miss the entire month of October, but I'm guessing it varies widely by what unit you are trying to hunt?

 

[Bitterroot Bulls]

Other than a few areas, archery hunting is predominantly for elk in MT.

There are also some nice early archery deer hunts in ID, CO, and UT. You could hunt a few excellent CO units archery every year, or every other year, and thy start the last week of August.

 

[Elkhunter96]

Utah opens mid August for archery deer and elk. Not the best general season hunting, but better than nothing. For elk, try the Uinta mountains. For deer, southern and the middle of the state is better.

 

[tdcour]

Utah opens mid August for archery deer and elk. Not the best general season hunting, but better than nothing. For elk, try the Uinta mountains. For deer, southern and the middle of the state is better.

Any help on the Uinta mountains (where they are located)? I'm assuming they aren't a unit name because I can't find it anywhere. Lots of public land to hunt? I don't have any experience elk hunting so it would be a pretty cool trip to go on! What is the difficulty on arrowing a bull in the Unita mountains... or anywhere for that matter in August? Just try to find some water? I'm guessing they don't rut until September sometime?

 

[tdcour]

Other than a few areas, archery hunting is predominantly for elk in MT.

There are also some nice early archery deer hunts in ID, CO, and UT. You could hunt a few excellent CO units archery every year, or every other year, and thy start the last week of August.

I'll have to take another look at CO. Its the closest and that means I may be able to sneak out a little later in September due to less travel time depending where I ended up going. Thanks for the help!

 

[RUTTIN]

I live in Kamas Utah, which is called the gateway to the Uintahs. Find Highway 150 that goes from Kamas, to Evanston Wyoming. Everything along that road is what we call any bull area, if you can get off of the roads and into the backcountry you have a pretty good chance at getting into elk. Most years the bulls are just starting to rut the last week of the hunt.

 

[BigSurArcher]

California Blacktails start the first Saturday in July!

Pretty sure NV has the earliest archery Mule Deer seasons. Usually around August 10th. Idaho is August 31st.

 

[Elkhunter96]

Lots of public land in the north east corner of Utah. I like to hunt the north slope side out of a small town called Manila, it is alpine mountain country and the elk herd has been getting better numbers. Send me a private message if you would like more specifics. Not a trophy hunt, but it is beautiful country with enough elk for a hard hunter. Lots and lots of back country trails and it is easy to get away from other hunters. I missed a small bull there last year, the last year I was a Utah resident.

 

[tdcour]

California Blacktails start the first Saturday in July!

Pretty sure NV has the earliest archery Mule Deer seasons. Usually around August 10th. Idaho is August 31st.

Those are some pretty long trips from South Dakota, but I definitely have them on a "to do" list at least once!

 

[tdcour]

I live in Kamas Utah, which is called the gateway to the Uintahs. Find Highway 150 that goes from Kamas, to Evanston Wyoming. Everything along that road is what we call any bull area, if you can get off of the roads and into the backcountry you have a pretty good chance at getting into elk. Most years the bulls are just starting to rut the last week of the hunt.

What is the early season mule deer action like in the Uintahs? Are the Wasatch mountains a pretty good hunt early season for deer or elk? Again, not too concerned about shooting a monster (this is always a plus). I'm more concerned about having a great hunt and hopefully putting something down with my bow. Just getting something with a bow is a trophy for me!

 

[Elkhunter96]

The deer are very low in population. IMHO, the elk hunting is better. Success rates are still fairly low, it is bow hunting on public land.

 

[RUTTIN]

Exactly what Elkhunter96 said, the deer numbers are suffering in the Northern part of the state in my opinion, elk on the other hand are doing a lot better, but as stated above is still a hard hunt on public land with a bow. I always have a deer tag in my pocket while I am bow hunting elk so that if the opportunity presents itself I can go after a deer. The Wasatch mountains can be great for seeing lots of elk and big bulls but is a spike only area for elk. Myself I like to wait until November to bow hunt mule deer on the Wasatch Front.

 

[mnhunter]

Wyoming opens on 1 september for most of the state. IMO Archery hunting the general areas is better than rifle, and the tags there are still relatively inexpensive.

 

[tdcour]

Wyoming opens on 1 september for most of the state. IMO Archery hunting the general areas is better than rifle, and the tags there are still relatively inexpensive.

Would that be for elk or deer, or both? I haven't looked at Wyoming too much yet... I still have a lot of research to do I guess!

 

[tdcour]

Exactly what Elkhunter96 said, the deer numbers are suffering in the Northern part of the state in my opinion, elk on the other hand are doing a lot better, but as stated above is still a hard hunt on public land with a bow. I always have a deer tag in my pocket while I am bow hunting elk so that if the opportunity presents itself I can go after a deer. The Wasatch mountains can be great for seeing lots of elk and big bulls but is a spike only area for elk. Myself I like to wait until November to bow hunt mule deer on the Wasatch Front.

I'm having trouble figuring out the spike or any bull areas from the Utah Application Guide Book. They have a general bull and limited entry bull map, but down where they have the hunts listed, I only see Limited-Entry and Premium Limited-Entry. So are the units listed as spike bulls only always spike bulls even if it is a limited entry hunt? What is the difference between general bull and limited entry, just revolve around season and draw odds or what you can harvest?

 

[mnhunter]

It is for Deer & Elk. Antelope opens in August. I went out to WY during the archery season for the first time last year, and the amount of bucks I saw compared to during the rifle season was amazing. It was like a frat party out there

 

[tdcour]

Nice! I've never been able to experience something like that! Did you have any luck getting one tagged? What part of the state were you in, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[RUTTIN]

Travis, limited entry tags give you the opportunity to kill any bull on the spike only units, archery dates are the same as the general tag. If you get a general archery elk tag you can hunt on any unit in Utah, just have to shoot a spike or cow on a spike only unit, or you can shoot any elk (cows, bulls) on a any bull unit.