Wyoming Sept 18 - 2015
Elk
Just a gentle reminder about Wyoming weather - middle of Sept. Stay prepared
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Yep, you just never know! Sometimes snows hit some years & others no snow at all. Best to be prepared for those weather changes. Here's a photo a few years back on Sept. 1st or 2nd I believe here in Idaho.
ElkNut1
Thanks for the reminder, Brad. That memory was slowly fading until now.
Had to deal with that in Wyo last season. Only lasted a couple days, though.
Did a 2014 wilderness horseback hunt in the Wind River Mtns.
Rode in on Sept. 30th for Oct. 1st rifle opener. October 1st at noon it started snowing temps dropped into the teens. Was cold as hell for 2-3 days.
Been to Wyo. many times and I have been lucky. One day though I almost froze sitting on a waterhole. I toughed it out, but it wasn't much fun.
Ya gotta just love that Snowy Elk hunting!
Not so much the 2-3 inches of mucky mud on your foot-print boots though! haha
Good luck, Robb
I will be spending the month of September in Unit 51. I'v e been told to take several things including bear spray and all of my warm clothes, just in case??
will be arriving around the Jackson area on the 13th to hunt for a planned three weeks. How does that type of weather affect the elk? Any tips?
Here's a pic from the same day!
Only lasted a day or so and then it was gone.
My experience is that a good September snow can (not always) shut them down a a bit. The good news is that the odds are extremely likely that within 5 days of a September dump you will have nice bluebird weather and they will probably be going as strong as ever. For someone doing a three week hunt, it isn't something I would account for much. Having said all that, I don't live there, so if you get contradictory information from locals, I would listen to that.
MT 2013. Late Sept. Pretty high on the suck scale. After 3 days over 8K, frozen boots, 6 miles deep waiting for the "bluebird day", I finally went lower.
After several days of hunting lower, wave #2 came in. Snowed 1-2" per hour at 6600', and expected 14-18". I finally took the que.
My experience is the day after it snows the elk shut up and the entire wilderness is quite. I have had many bulls bugling during snow storms, just not after. As mentioned, wait a day or two and it gets great again. However, it sure is beautiful.
Lol, and the bluebird day just never came, huh Z? Would you say that is more the exception than the rule? I realize there aren't really any rules in nature, but statistically?
Out of curiosity, I checked the snowfall depth analysis for 2013. The models aren't perfect, but there was a big dump on the 25/26 and by the 30th there wasn't much of anything around (some isolated locations with little depth). Another dump on the 3/4 of October. Your boots on the ground are a lot better indicator if you stuck around.
Last year (also MT) I watched a foot of snow disappear in about 36 hours. One thing is for sure, I personally wouldn't care to be living in my spike (or bivy) camp through one of those big snows, as I'm sure you probably were.
2014 dumped a foot of snow early Sept the day we got to WY. It was dry in about 4 days. Warm after that.
Last year was a week of steady rain and snow in Montana, which sucked donkey balls.
My camp on September 18th, 2015 (Wyoming Bighorns)
Good news, most of the snow had melted off by sunset.
This storm halted the rut activity for a few days in Montana last September. On the bright side the snow increased visibility and it was much easier to find fresh sign
I just missed that snow on 9/18 in the picture pav posted. We had terribly warm weather through the first two weeks of September in 45 up in the Horns and the rut was really slow. Then that snow and cold weather hit and from all reports the rut got going well for the next couple weeks on into the first part of October. I had a deer hunt on horseback down in Region G from the 20th to the 25th and the weather hit bad down there for three days before we got there and then cleared up and was great for our hunt, so I missed the bad weather on both ends.
This was day 1. Mid September, 8,200' northern CO. It kept up for several more days and we were camp/foot bound for a week because the two-track road was too greasy for our 4x4s and the snow too deep for the ATVs.
As for what elk do during and after snowstorms, in checking my diaries and recollections, they are usually very vocal and active the day before a storm, will bugle and move when it's just starting up. After a good snow dump they tend to be quiet and hang in the timber for a day or so, but not always. If it's a light snow and the sun comes out the next morning (normal) they'll be right back at their usual business.
Over the years we found certain slopes where they always go when it snows. This held true during archery and rifle seasons.
It's more of an inconvenience for the hunters. I often wonder how the super-minimalist tarp guys enjoy storms like these. On those threads, none of those guys ever reply to my question, for some reason...
I always knew I would have to deal with it one of these years and last year was the first time I hunted elk in the snow. Luckily, it didn't slow the elk down one bit and it was gone in a couple days.
It may be pretty and everything but I didn't like it at all and was glad to see it go.
midwest - "It may be pretty and everything but I didn't like it at all and was glad to see it go."
Amen Brother!
The trouble with these snows is that they are often put down some very heavy, wet snow.
Snow that brings down trees.
Be careful out there. We spoke with a camp nearby last year, and they had a tree fall right next to their tent.
Our tent, on the other hand, just had a very low-hanging ceiling.
^^^^^^ What John said.. In my photo above this, a big sharp aspen limb came through my Alaskan Guide tent on the right. Luckily I wasn't in it at the time.
And when the sun comes out its time to dry wet clothes...
John, how do you like that tent? I just picked up one.
Jaquomo, yes I also wonder how those minimalists like that weather :)
I missed the snow in the bighorns last year. I was there the week before, and the week after. . .
I will say I got a little worried about snow near the end of September while I was in. Worried enough that I drove my truck and trailer way down near the highway, and just drove back up with my ATV to hunt. . .
My only worry was that I didn't have chains, and any more than about 5 inches of snow, and I might've had a hard time getting my truck out. . .
We had that snow as we hiked in 8 miles near Cody. The hunting was unbelievable for the next three days as we tagged out on two archery bulls scoring about 295 and 325,Fred
