Well, I'd have to say that the rut is "ON".

My 14 y/o son and I went up scouting last weekend, and hung a tarp to keep the rain off.

Just after midnight we heard a couple of bulls begin to sound off, and pretty soon they were only about 50 yards up the hill from us.

We couldn't see them, but could hear them and then they decided to have it out.

There were antlers clashing, hooves pounding, big grunts and shoves, as they fought for probably a minute and a half. They re-engaged several times...... all the while fighting their way down hill right toward us.

They were probably only about 20-25 yards away (we could hear every footfall, every grunt, etc) and then one of them got the upper hand hand and knocked the other bull over. We could hear him slide and then slam into brush.

The loser got up in a hurry and ran right past our camp. Couldn't have been more than 10 feet behind us. I thought he might tear our tarp down and take it with him on his way.

The winner walked out and absolutely SCREAMED at the loser as the loser was leaving the valley.

Pretty intense stuff. Way cool.

wanna adopt a 31 year old son to take hunting

Sounds like a great experience. I sat two hundred yards from my bull and his harem last year for two hours. Watching the elk games and listening to the sounds while close is awesome.
I've never been that close to a real drag out fight though.
I'm leaving for Idaho in exactly four weeks and I can't wait! I also got to listen to a pack of wolves howl away as they ate a gut pile. It was good to hear their sounds but they drove every single elk out of three drainages for two days.

well, the change in the weather must have turned them on. we were up in the section 3 lake area from wed. til sunday and heard maybe 2-3 bugles- those wimpy, squeaky, testing-out the vocal cords kind. i saw a total of 2 cows up high. my partner ran into a spike, maneuvered for a shot, and got caught by a cow he didn't see. i did have a bear cross a logging road about 15yds in front of me about a 200#er. wed. and thurs. were hot--like close to 80 in the sun, then on fri. and sat. we got about 5" of snow. all in all we didn't see nearly as many animals as last year at the same time. i have some pics of the snow at 6000 ft. but i can't figure out how to post (i'm lame, i know...)

dan, where were you?


willy

i figured it out. mind you this is september 10th. elevation is 6000 ft.

me and a friend went up to cabin creek to sight in my new rifle and hunt rabbits and grouse. and heard a elk about 30 yards away from us bugling. it gives a good shiver down the spine to hear them that close and loud. didn't see him though.

did see 5 mule deer on a hill about 1000 yards away. one big 4x5 and a 2pt and 3 does