Pennsylvania Game News - September 2020 - 21

OR MANY PENNSYLVANIANS, September has been elk season for a long,
long time. Trumpeted-in by bugling, battling bulls, the calendar's ninth month
undisputedly is the time to visit the state's elk range, and at no other time is it alive
with more activity, anticipation or splendor. People flock there. Some go time and
again. And if there's any question why, it's nothing a close encounter with a
massive, magnificent bull won't answer with a bugle to rattle your ribcage
and leave your ears ringing.
But last year, there was all-new excitement for September elk when 15
hunters were selected by lottery to take part in an inaugural two-week elk
archery season that put them right in the middle of the same action thousands
upon thousands travel countless miles just to watch from the sidelines.
This year, the September elk season is back, with nearly twice as many
tags, in nearly twice as many Elk Hunt Zones.
And while it's still a limited opportunity, with 26 hunters - 10 of them
pursuing bulls - taking part, there's no doubt the heart-pounding action in
store for them beginning Sept. 12 is something many of us will be lining up
for our chance at in years to come.

EAST VS. WEST
Prior to last year, Pennsylvania didn't have an archery-only elk season. It's
still a new concept, and when hunters think about what it takes to get close to elk
during a rut-time season in the Keystone State, they might rely on their experiences
out West, where hunters typically post at high elevations and use binoculars to glass
open areas for elk, then move in if an opportunity presents.
But in the big-timber forests that provide the primary backdrop to Pennsylvania
elk hunting, a key ingredient is missing - a wide-open field of view, said Game
Commission elk biologist Jeremy Banfield.
That's not to say elk can't be found, hunted and taken successfully in open areas.
Some of the state's hottest elk action might be found on open, former strip-mine
sites or other cleared areas that have been seeded in grasses, clover or other forage.
But seldom can a hunter see for miles, and use that vantage as an advantage.
In Pennsylvania, success depends more on starting your bowhunt where the elk
are rather than figuring it out, then getting to them.
While nailing down a winning spot poses its own challenges, Banfield said
Pennsylvania elk don't experience nearly the amount of hunting pressure as those
in western states. They're likely less rattled as a result and far less prone to becoming call-shy compared to Western elk, which might be bombarded by bogus bugles
and end up ignoring them.

ELK VS. DEER
Most archery elk hunters will be hot on whitetails' trails come the first Saturday
in October. And experience bowhunting Pennsylvania's deer woods translates to
elk in some ways, but not all.
In most areas, deer are dispersed across any fall landscape, so a hunter setting
up close to feeding sites or buck sign likely will get close to deer.
That's not the case with elk. They herd together, and are further concentrated
during the September rut, with bulls competing continually with one another

SEPTEMBER 2020

Pennsylvania Game News - September 2020

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