| If you are a beginning elk hunter, you might not be | | | | that the antlers are often stained with mud, bark and |
| aware of how strongly influenced by the time of | | | | blood by the time that you yourself sight one of |
| year that the elk are. If you are looking to hunt elk, | | | | these magnificent animals. |
| knowing what the seasons mean to them will shed | | | | A good elk hunter should be aware of the bull's |
| some light on this amazing animal and help you | | | | disposition at this point in time. During the summer, |
| understand a little bit more about why it behaves the | | | | the bulls wander the mountains in large bachelor |
| way it does. In addition to this, it will also give you a | | | | groups, which contained mature and juvenile males. |
| better idea of what you need to do and what you | | | | However, at the time of the fall equinox, when the |
| will encounter as head out. Elk are very strongly | | | | days get shorter, you'll find that the male elks start |
| responsive to the changes of the year, and just like | | | | getting a great deal more short tempered with each |
| the weather and season will bring the elk down the | | | | other. It is at this point that the bulls will start |
| mountainside, it will also prompt them to head back | | | | rounding up the cows and keeping them in harems, |
| up. During the early fall, the elk are in rut and this is | | | | which the bulls will keep as numerous as they can. |
| the best, some hunters would say, the only time to | | | | During this time, you'll find that the necks and humps |
| hunt this kind of large game. | | | | of the bulls are swollen to twice their normal size. |
| During the early fall, you will be able to hear the | | | | Their hair will be a great deal longer, darker and |
| distinctive bellow of the elk bulls as they contest for | | | | coarser and a bull elk in rut looks even larger than it |
| territory and females, a sounds that is called bugling. | | | | really is. You will find that at this time of year, the bull |
| This time of year is called the rutting season for elks. | | | | elks are extremely short tempered and should be |
| Months before, the bulls will have started to separate | | | | approached with a high degree of caution. By the end |
| from the cows, and they will start to stuff | | | | of the rutting seasons, the bull elk will have calmed |
| themselves full of fodder. Their antlers have grown | | | | down and wander back to their bachelor groups, |
| back and, and while they are still in velvet during the | | | | down about a hundred pounds from their rutting |
| summer, the lengthening of the nights and the | | | | season weight. |
| shortening of the days causes biological cues which | | | | When you are going elk hunting, remember to keep |
| cause the velvet to shed and the antlers to | | | | in mind the state of the animal and the fact that it |
| unsheathe. While the antlers of the bulls are white or | | | | will be prone to behavior dependent on the time of |
| pale gray when the velvet is first shed, they will | | | | year that you have encountered it. |
| darken when the rut comes on them. You will find | | | | |