The End You Start From: 2026
Same hunt. Different game
60° days in December across the Rockies. Bulls wallowing in dust instead of mud. Whitetails moving at midnight in sweater weather from Michigan to Mississippi. Waterfowl delaying migration by weeks.
2025 saw one of the warmest fall seasons on record. But what separated the 10% from everyone else was – they stopped hunting memories and started hunting reality.
What 2025 taught us
A warmer season reveals truths that typical years hide – when weather doesn’t go to plan, planning becomes everything. Here’s what KUIU’s own hunters learned and leaned into.
The last light rule: Biologists called it. Hunters confirmed it. Animals started to move only a few minutes before the end of legal shooting light. Deer in Minnesota reached fields in total dark. Colorado elk hunters caught movement only in the first hour of daylight and last hour at evening. The mountain gave you 90 minutes total. Position accordingly or go home empty.
Elevation became everything: Rocky mountain hunters found elk between 9,500 and 10,900 feet through October. The tactical rule became simple: when warmer temps intersect with growing winter coats, you’ve got to hunt higher.
The new honey holes: Wyoming game and fish put it plainly: “hunters should anticipate that many game animals will be distributed near water sources if late summer/early fall conditions continue to be hot and dry.” Sitting water until the last minutes of legal light was the method of successful hunters while rovers searched countless miles of dead country.
Calling evolved, not died: Northern Idaho elk hunters experienced a lot of silence in September. But the real lesson was adaptation. Bulls that went quiet during daylight came to life at night. Savvy hunters located bugles after dark, then hunted those spots at dawn. Here, position beat persuasion.
Late season became the season: When January’s freeze-up finally arrived, three months of pent-up movement compressed into weeks. Southern waterfowl hunters went from worst November on record to “epic” after Christmas cold fronts. Persistence through the slog paid in concentrated opportunity.
The uncompromising truth
While hunting forums debated the effects of temperature, the prepared adapted. The data doesn’t lie: Idaho’s elk harvest rose 13% in 2024 despite warm conditions. Minnesota’s archery harvest was above average. The hunters who succeeded weren’t lucky – they were ready.
This challenge wasn’t just about gear (though KUIU’s layering system meant hunters could easily adapt from 80° afternoons to 30° mornings) – it was about the mindset that treats adversity as advantage. That knows the difference between hunters who stay stuck in their ways and hunters who hunt smarter and harder.
2025 proved what we’ve always known: there’s no such thing as a bad season. The 10% who take 90% of the animals don’t need predictable conditions. They need one thing – a willingness to adapt to the hunt the conditions they had not the conditions they wanted.
New realities. New tactics
Disease changed the game: Iowa’s back-to-back EHD outbreaks in 2023 and 2024 devastated herds. Mild fall conditions kept transmitting insects active longer. Smart hunters shifted units, researched outbreak maps, and adjusted expectations.
Meat care became critical: With 60-70° temperatures during prime hunting hours, the clock started ticking at the trigger pull. Successful hunters quartered immediately, packed citric acid spray to mitigate bacteria growth, and got meat to the cooler asap.
Food trumped everything: Nevada’s pine nut crop scattered big game regardless of temperature. Understanding current food sources, not just historical patterns, determined success.
Migration timing shifted: Waterfowl aren’t just late – they’re actively delaying. Some studies suggest there’s been an 18-day delay per decade. Plan for January what used to happen in November.
The work ahead
The successful hunters of 2026 won’t be those expecting typical norms. It will be the ones who learn to thrive in changing conditions. Scouting water sources in August. E-scouting elevations above 10,000 feet. Practicing shots in low light. Building the legs and lungs to reach peaks previously unnecessary.
The question of this year isn’t whether conditions will be normal – it’s whether you’ll be in position in the final minutes of legal light when that giant finally shows himself – and have enough gas in the tank to quarter your kill in the light of your headlamp.
