Rifle deer elevation

Are the deer high, low, or in between during rifle season? I bow hunt every year so I’m always hunting them high in their summer range. The mountain I hunt has a 10000 foot peak & I focus on that 9-10k elevation in August/early September during archery season & always manage to turn up bucks, big & small.

I have taken my kids rifle hunting for the past several years & we just haven’t been able to find the big guys in October like I have during the bow hunt. I realize they turn into ghosts once that velvet comes off & can be tough to find. We’ve hunted high (in the same spots I bow hunt), we’ve hunted down a level in that 6-8k range, & we’ve hunted down in their winter range. We’ve seen the most numbers of deer down in the winter range, but what we’ve seen is 95% does, fawns. Over 5 years of rifle hunting we’ve only seen a handful of bucks & they’ve all been little bucks. It’s nothing like what I see during archery season.

Most of the other hunter pressure is down low, & there are a decent amount of hunters. But we don’t hear much shooting. We’ve always gone during opening weekend, but this year we’re trying the second weekend hoping either the weather will push them down (which we really haven’t received this year) or they will move down naturally.

So I’m throwing this question out there, what elevation do you seem to find the bucks at during rifle season? And what is the determining factor that pushes them: weather, food, or rut? And how long do you think it takes them to go from their summer range to their winter range?…..a day or two, a week, several weeks? Lastly what are they eating right now? Whenever we have hunted high ALL the tree/shrub leaves are off & dried up. There is some sagebrush but not a lot. But there is a lot of scrub oak at that 7-9k elevation. Are they slurping up the fallen acorns?

Look I know finding bucks (and especially big bucks) is no easy task this time of the year. I just want to know I’m at least hunting where they are. Any insights/observations would be helpful.

Much thanks

They’re there.

October is a tough time to hunt bucks, especially older ones. Lots of hunting pressure and warm temps will have them hunkered down in thick timber where the sun won’t touch them.

If you’ve seen them in August in there, they’re still there or at least close. You just have to be sure you’re where you need to be before daylight. Once the sun comes up, focus on glassing deep into the trees, looking for feet, tails, or antler tines.

By now, there may be a few does and fawns on the winter range, but probably even more still higher. Deer are more visible when they’ve shifted to a “winter” mentality. At least that’s what I’ve noticed.

Right now they’re feeding on leaves, twigs and such. Stuff they can find in the pine trees or other thick cover. A deep snow would probably push them out of the thick stuff for a day or two.

My suggestion would be to glass, move, glass, repeat, repeat. Different angles and glassing deep into timber or brush. Just know, some of those bucks are just laying in the thick stuff where one eyeball can see the ridge where hunters are typically seen and as long as they’re seeing orange walking back and forth everyday, they probably hold tight until the hunters are gone.

I tend to agree with founder. In addition, I look for horizontal lines when glassing timber, and ear movement.

If the deer are bedded down and facing the sun on colder mornings, I've found they tend to be up high, watching for threats. Then I look for head and/or ear movement.

Elevation? 8 to 10K. Pushed by a combo of weather and pressure.

Eating....grass

I concur. I always think it’s funny that guys think deer and elk have calendars. They don’t know it’s the end of October and they should all be down low now. They react to the seasons. Years it stays warm late like this it’s still business as usual for them up there

Like everyone has said, the deer will still be up high until a major storm pushes em down. It's just a whole new ballgame when the antlers get hard. They're still there. Just hiding better. Lol.

Hey I wanted to post a follow up to my question & thank those that replied with their insights. So we ended up hunting exactly where I bow hunted (about 9500 feet). My daughter filled her tag yesterday & was super excited to kill her second buck. He’s no giant & not one of the big ones I was chasing in August, but it was such a fun hunt with 2 of my girls & new son in law. We made some awesome memories & enjoyed being together in the woods. Dead buck was icing on the cake.

There are deer that migrate without weather. I see it every year.

Love to see her smile and to her it's a big one and that's all that counts, Congratulations young lady.

JPickett said:

I concur. I always think it’s funny that guys think deer and elk have calendars. They don’t know it’s the end of October and they should all be down low now. They react to the seasons. Years it stays warm late like this it’s still business as usual for them up there

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The animals may not have calendars, but the vegetation and habitat do.

When the feed goes dormant in the fall due to length of days and colder temps, the wildlife need to follow the grocery store.