You have to know their habits if you are to call elk successfully. You also have to realize that your interactions with loud bulls most likely won’t look (or sound) like they do in so many hunting movies unless you are hunting great private ground. You will have to be tactical, delicate, and your calling will have to be timed precisely. Advice from two professional elk callers and experienced elk hunters below will enable you to bring a bull into range.
Bull Elk Have Got More Difficult To Reach
Outfitter from Montana, I focus in elk hunting. across the off-season, I have attended calling and hunting seminars all across the West. I visited Denver, Salt Lake City, and Phoenix among other locations for over thirty lectures for the International Sportsman’s Expositions over the first three months of 2004. These towns are all close to great elk-hunting grounds, and the local hunters that visited knew their way around the high country as would be expected. During these presentations, I polled the attendees asking each one the same question: “How many of you think elk are harder to call in today than they were ten years ago?” Almost everyone raised their hand wherever the place was. Having seen a few thousand hands go up last winter, I came to the conclusion that for many hunters calling was turning into a self-defeating activity.
Hunters Bugle for Much Too Long
“Are hunters calling longer than elk are calling?” the inquiry begs. I made plans to visit the elk. They are the authorities after all. I conducted my own study timing bulls bugling in the woods throughout the last two hunting seasons. In my head a theory began to take shape. But before I reached a decision, I bought an elk-hunting film and timed the bull bugles and grunts using my stopwatch in one hand and the remote in the other. What were the outcomes? Most hunters presumably know, elk bugles created by male elk are far shorter in length than For the 36 bull bugles I timed in Knight & Hale Game Calls’ Ultimate Elk Hunting film, for instance, the average duration was 3.12 seconds.
Get ready for quietly arriving bulls.
Every gobbler a turkey hunter yelps to does not come on the run, double-gobbling. Elk hunting is the same way. Though he is headed your way after you bugle or cow-call him, not every bull will declare his approaching presence. According to Tom Schulze of Sangre de Cristo Outfitters, a bull is more likely to come in silently as he becomes older.
When you believe you are dealing with a silent bull, tune in to other sounds. Listen for the sound of squirrels barking if you are somewhat certain he is arriving but have not heard him in some time. Squirrels bark at you when you cross their route; they also bark at elk that pound through their domain. Listen for the noises of an approaching bull breaking limbs underfoot as he travels, shattering a sapling or generally causing disturbance as he gets closer.
Cow Calls with Tone Downing
Elk callers have trended toward more cow-calling and less bugling during the past few years. If you overdo cow-calling, though, you could still let bulls know something is wrong. Too much is just how much? Every scenario is unique; what might be effective one time could not be the next. Sounds like one or two different cows are a definite strategy to attract more bulls. If you are hunting with a friend, divide off and gently call back and forth to each other. If you are hunting alone, walk somewhat from side to side between two calls that sound different from one another.
But the last thing you want to do is call nonstop or in varied calls sound like a whole herd of cows. Make one or two gentle cow calls if you think the distance separating you and the bull has been reduced to 500 yards. Then close. Should you and your companion keep cow-calling too aggressively and sound like ten distinct cows as a bull approaches, the bull will grow wary and may lag back.
Perfect Your Call
One call at the proper moment will achieve more than constant phoning. Be subtle; treat a bull as your cat and mouse game. Cow-call once, then stealthily approach him and maybe even veers little away. If he regularly answers you, do not call from one point of view all the time.
Don’t remain silent.
Being economical with your calling is not the same as being absolutely quiet. Especially in heavy cover, silence on your side can make a bull more wary when approaching you. When strolling through the forest, elk are not the most silence animals. They knock stuff about and break things. Combine your cow-calling with like-minded sound effects for best results. To copy feeding elk, for instance, try rolling a small boulder down a slope or dragging grass.
Don’t get carried away; simply try to picture a couple cow elk moving across the forest and copy the sound they could make as they pass. They are not stampeding; they are walking.
Timing Is Everything.
The phase of rut you are hunting directly determines the response of bulls to calling. By limiting his calling and applying the appropriate call at the appropriate moment, a hunter will increase his success. Give your calling some rhymes and explanation. Try to match your calling to elk activity where you are hunting. Not just call to find out what happened.
East West News
FAQs
Regarding quiet bulls, how do you approach them?
That is one difficult one. You have no idea where they are if they are not communicating, which would guide your next action. Having said that, I would give a call midway through the day. Some guys don’t call in the middle of the day; I do. You never know when a bull will be on his feet visiting cows or gathering water. If you know where the bull is, another choice would be to cut him off by spotting his travel corridor.
When you come upon a tenacious bull, what moves do you employ?
You should not hesitate to approach closely. To get a bull react, sometimes you have to fall into a somewhat narrow range. For hung-up animals, sneak in close then call once more. You either bring him in or bust him out. In any case, that specific bull will no longer cause you irritation.
With just one call, which would you choose to use?
I would make use of a Point Blank EFP Double diaphragm. This call will help you to create every elk sound. And a cow call would be my elk sound if I could only produce one.