Got any tips for how to distinguish real Bugles from fake ones?

[Elkaddict]

2276165[/URL]]I have heard some real bad bugels out there that sounded like hunters but turned to be real bulls..
Older bulls and rag horns can produce a variety of sounds.
But usually the flutey sounding bugel with the 3 chuckels at the end of it is a hunter lol

^^^^This. I’ve laughed my ass off a couple of times at the “pathetic” bugle coming from down in the alders only to find it a real bull, apparently with laryngitis.

[emerson]

The ones that sound perfect are other hunters.

[Harvest the Land]

Awesome tips guys - was hoping this topic would drag some of you serial big bull killers out of the woodwork. Sounds like just comes down to more experience hunting them the easier it gets to distinguish (but not always - ha!).

Cheers fellas

[ACE]

Have heard a variety of 'bad bugles' from real bulls. A bugle from a reed type tube is very one dimensional, while a diaphragm/tube combination can make a variety of calls.
Was insult calling a big bull with cows for my buddy and his new movie camera. Satellite bulls around. Little squeaker call behind us turned out to be a mad bigger bull. He rammed the bushy fir tree we were hiding behind. Could have touched his antlers. Buddy got some exciting footage. We both needed to change our underwear. Calling in a closed area. Roosevelt elk.
Bulls make a variety of sound . . . .

[dapesche]

^^^^This. I’ve laughed my ass off a couple of times at the “pathetic” bugle coming from down in the alders only to find it a real bull, apparently with laryngitis.

partner and I were dressing up our bull last year (3rd week of sept) and we both heard a bugle. I called it a doug flutie but partner said we were in the middle of nowhere and it wouldn't be a hunter. He was right. A very large typical 6 pt had come into the area where I called in the bull for my partner. Buddy shot bull and it bumped over a finger ridge and died up on bench above shot location. Half the bull was dressed up when we heard a single toned, very fluty bugle. It was like a locator bugle but a half to a third of the length. We did say anything to not educate the bull and he came into about 20-30yds. He was bugling loudly with chuckles as he worked towards the smell of our bull. We're going after him this year. I got a good video of him coming in and we have some pics. I accidentally flushed my phone and I thought the images were backed up. They were not...

If I find it I'll post it.

Moral of the story is that I thought I heard a hunter and it was not. The awkward sound came from a bull that looked big than the bull we have on the ground.

[Bugle M In]

The chuckling is quite often the easiest way to know the difference.
The throaty, gaspy or airy sound also a big give away.

Watch some youtube from a few guys that teach how to bugle.
There is a fellow for Bugling Bulls that shows al sorts of calls and lip bawls.
Most guys cant do this, the lip bawls.

And, a bull up close, in the trees sounds like he is supercharged on "amplification" at times.

Bulls have roar in their sound as well that only the best guys can do.

The high pitched single notes can be hard to distinguish between elk and man, but when you hunt elk long enough, and get
elk to talk enough, you will tell the difference over time.
And i know experienced hunters, not necessarily of elk who do have a hard time knowing the difference.
If you get a great elk caller calling near by you, it can be hard to tell the difference.

Only got bugled in once by a hunter, AND it turns out i bugled him in as well.
He was a fellow who did really well in elk calling competitions.
He was more surprised by me.

Just watch some Primos elk hunting videos, and you will definitely hear the difference between man and bull.

[browningboy]

Seems like the last few years the elk almost refrain from bugling or do it at night... I'm no expert by any means but it's almost rare to hear them from my experience.

[J_T]

the ending of the bugle is the tell tale sign. A real bull will be very breathy as it is exhaling. Hunters are more fluty. Realistic chuckles are also very difficult for most callers to replicate with realism.

The hardest ones to differentiate are high pitch bugles from a distance, with no chuckles

Agree. The growl at the start of the bugle and the deep large chested in hail of air. One other method I use is: if a bull is pissed and another bull bugles, it's like on here, you don't wait until the other guy is finished, you scream and bugle overtop of the other guy. When a bull bugles and hunters aren't ready, it takes a minute or two for them to get their bugle out, prep it, stuff a reed into their mouth and reply. That time gap can be a give away.

[Bugle M In]

Once you have a bull bugling, and definitely after you have had several different bulls bugling, you will know the difference.
There are times though, where a bull, generally younger whistles and that is closer to another hunter.

[Ron.C]

One other method I use is: if a bull is pissed and another bull bugles, it's like on here, you don't wait until the other guy is finished, you scream and bugle overtop of the other guy.

This is exactly how I got my bull last year. I couldn't get a good look at his 6th point when he came in to my cow calls. He circled me and walked off. About a minute after I lost sight of him, he bugled. I grabbed my bugle tube and I screamed right back before he finished. He turned around and came straight back in giving me a good look at 18 yards and that was all it took.

As for differentiating between real elk and hunters, lots of hunters sound pretty good and at a distance can be tricky. Where the bugle is coming from may be one giveaway and excessive calling can be another. Ya, every now and then you hit that perfect day when every bull wants to scream all day long but generally speaking this isn't the case especially if you are not peak rut or its not early/late in the day.

But when you are withing a few hundred yards, you can tell when it's a real bull. It's hard to explain but you can almost feel it.

I definitely cow call more. When trying to get a bull talking, I've had real good success getting a response with a loud cow call (I use a primos hyper lip single or rocky mtn bugling temptress). When I do bugle, I try and sound like a squeally bull ( a short "high to low" portion of the call with no big wind up at the beginning and no chuckle).

Worked pretty well for me so far.