Bugling Elk, what do you suck at ?

[Leveraction]

I’ll be first and say when it comes to Elk hunting and bugling elk, I don’t think there is anything I am worse at.
I suck at this.
every year I get all worked up and tell the wife I’m going Elk hunting, she smiles and says good, but inside I think she is laughing her a** off at me.
moose, not a problem.
whitetails and Mules not a problem.
Elk, they don’t exists in my world………..lol.

I recently found a real cool app call Elk Nut, with a fellow named Paul Medel and he seems to have this dialed right in.
I watch the videos , sit in front of my computer , Put my mouth on the reed exactly as the guy in the video says , record myself and play it back, compare it to other callers and actual Elk calling and wham, damm I sound good, I’m gonna have every Elk in BC running over to me. I drive to work and home with an Elk reed in my mouth listening to myself cow call, I get a new reed, got a hooch mama, you squeeze it and it’s makes different cow calls, and off I go every year with my new found knowledge and skill set in pursuit of the Elusive Ghost of the wilderness, the bull Elk.
for the many ears, I hunted with Dad in Alberta, we took our fare share of moose and whitetails but never Elk.
Dad said it’s a good thing he didn’t hunt with Dynamite as he would have blown up all of Alberta looking for Elk.

so I go out opening day ( a little Smokey/ different story ) and Find a place, no one around, park early, hike in 8 kms, find a spot overlooking the intersection of 2 valleys and try to broadcast my calls as best as I can to as big an audience as I can, thinking the bush is full of Elk.

I start out with some soft cow calls and lead into a advertising bugle ( like what Paul Medel calls them )

eeeuuuww, eeeuuuwww ……..nothing
eeeuuuwww, eeeuuuwww, nothing
wait an eternity, likely 10 minutes…….not a sound
okay, time to let the dogs out.
Uuuaaarrrggghhh, ……..nothing
wait forever , likely 7-8 minutes
Uuuaaarrrggghhh, , nothing
wait again forever………….
Uuuaaarrrggghhh, followed by 4 chuckles.

nothing,…. Even the birds stopped chirping, I’m thinking to all sit and watch me wondering what the hell is he doing.
I’m thinking if Elk have a sense of humour, they are down there in the valley bottom rolling on their backs in laughter, “ did you guys hear that guy up there playing the bag pipes”.

so this is where the problem is:
my bugle sounds like I got a cat under my arm pit and I’m biting his tail thinking I’m playing the bag pipes.

Id probably be better of learning calculus in Chinese, than learning to Elk bugle.

how is your elk bugling. ?