Seasoned Elk hunters: A couple questions

[TheObserver]

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Thank you!

[TheObserver]

I will be bowhunting blacktails locally until I leave for the Elk trip. I know some spots where I have found a good amount of Roosevelt Elk sign i'm going to call there and see if I can get a response/answers just for practice

[Husky7mm]

i don’t pay attention to bulls on my trail cams in the summer. It’s cool to see them, but the chances of them being there come hunting season, are slim to none. I get fired up when i see lots of cows on my cams throughout the summer leading up to the season. Find the cows, the bulls will be there soon enough. Probably about now, the bachelor groups should be breaking up and the bigger bulls are heading to there “staging area”. A place they will stay and hangout by themselves for the next 2 weeks or so getting ready for the rut. If you can find these guys, they are the ones you wanna be hunting. Usually very aggressive and territorial and very susceptible to calling. Once they shack up with the cows, they get tougher to hunt.

I was out last night glassing, did a little bit of calling, had one bull answer with a very timid bugle. The earliest i’ve had a bull bugle where i’m at is august 20th. Usually picks up and gets good around september 3, starts slowing down october 1st. My style of elk hunting, calling is key. I rely on calling right from september 1st through the end of the end of the season on october 20 and can usually find elk that wanna play the game thru the whole season. My advice is keep educating yourself on elk behaviour, what there going to be doing and when. Keep practicing your calling and understand when to use the right calls in the right situation. Elk hunting university @ elk101.com is an awesome source of information that is worth every penny. Definitely worth a look anyway. Good luck this year!

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[HighCountryBC]

I don’t pay attention to bulls on my trail cams in the summer. It’s cool to see them, but the chances of them being there come hunting season, are slim to none. I get fired up when I see lots of cows on my cams throughout the summer leading up to the season. Find the cows, the bulls will be there soon enough. Probably about now, the bachelor groups should be breaking up and the bigger bulls are heading to there “staging area”. A place they will stay and hangout by themselves for the next 2 weeks or so getting ready for the rut. If you can find these guys, they are the ones you wanna be hunting. Usually very aggressive and territorial and Very susceptible to calling. Once they shack up with the cows, they get tougher to hunt.

I was out last night glassing, did a little bit of calling, had one bull answer with a very timid bugle. The earliest I’ve had a bull bugle where I’m at is August 20th. Usually picks up and gets good around September 3, Starts slowing down October 1st. My style of elk hunting, calling is key. I rely on calling right from September 1st through the end of the end of the season on October 20 and can usually find elk that wanna play the game thru the whole season. My advice is keep educating yourself on elk behaviour, what there going to be doing and when. Keep practicing your calling and understand when to use the right calls in the right situation. Elk hunting university @ ELk101.com is an awesome source of information that is worth every penny. Definitely worth a look anyway. Good luck this year!

This is very good info for the OP and others creeping the thread.

Where we are in the West Koots, we get very few if any mature bulls throughout the summer months except for our alpine cams. Mostly cow/calf groups until the last week of August when the bulls start rolling in and sorting out the pecking order. Early season is a fantastic time to call in bulls before the hierarchy gets established.

[wideopenthrottle]

is there any truth to a claim i heard that satellite bulls can sometimes be the bigger bulls...that they will let a smaller bull do all the work corralling the cows up and fighting with other bulls then step in when the deed needs doing? ie dont dismiss the potential for a satellite bull to be the big daddy?

[moosinaround]

is there any truth to a claim i heard that satellite bulls can sometimes be the bigger bulls...that they will let a smaller bull do all the work corralling the cows up and fighting with other bulls then step in when the deed needs doing? ie dont dismiss the potential for a satellite bull to be the big daddy?

In my experience, Satellite bulls taste just as good as the herd bull? Cows are pretty tasty as well! Moosin

[Bullreaper]

“Satellite” bulls is just a loose term to describe the bulls that follow a harem around. Most people are usually under the assumption that the heard bull is the biggest bull around as far as antler size and the satellite bulls have smaller antlers, which is true in MOST cases, but is not always true. I’ve seen many 5 points run off 6’s before. (Which works to my advantage, much easier to pull a less dominate bull away from a harem then it is to pull the heard bull away from his cows) It comes down to which bulls are most dominate. Early in the season less dominate bulls will start to group up cows thinking they are running the show. Then as cows start to come into estrus, the more dominant bull will run off the other bulls and they will shadow the heard hoping to sneak in a quick poke when the heard bull isn’t paying attention or is pre occupied chasing other cows in his harem. Heard bull isn’t always the biggest, just the more dominant.

[hunter1947]

I give a bugle out every 15 min to see if anything returns my call. I also give 4to6 cow calls in a place where you can see a good distance wait 15 min after you have called if noting calls or you hear nothing then move on for another 15 min and set up again and do the same thing.

Lots of times a bull will come in quite when you call so that's why a person has to wait 15 min to see if the bull comes in If you do get a bugle from a bull call him right back and then wait to see if he returns your call if so then call him every time he calls you make sure you have a good window to take a shot if he is legal.

If this bull is moving away go after him and try to close the distance give a bugle after you have covered a 100 or so yards to see if he will call you back if the bull keeps going away from you keep after him your probably dealing with a heard bull with cows.

Don't over call wait for him to call you then give the bull a call back all and all you got to try to get in close as you can to the bull then he will feel that your a threat to his cows and leave the cow and come to you to challenge you the closer you can get to the herd bull the better.

Elk go back into there bedding areas one hour after sunrise and come out of there bedding areas one hour before dark sets in.

Look for last years elk rubs and this years rubs as for beds, elk tracks, elk need lots of water every day so keep this in mind..

What ever you do don't over bugle like I said above every 15 min is good enough if you call to much the elk will get suspicious and not come in to your call..

If I have seen elk earlier in the the year in cutblocks when scouting I will be there 30min before daylight and sit there and glass same goes for late evening..

Satellite bulls are are moving more then herd bulls during the rut looking for cows and you will get satellite bulls hanging around the herd bull with his cows so keep this in
mind the satellite bull that does hang around the herd might be as equal as the herd bull meaning a shooter..

[Bugle M In]

Bulls will find the cows.
Bugling can start in Later August.
It can be busy with bugles, then slow down, then pick up and then slow down again.
Once hunting starts, they tend to quiet down and thus you have to call for them.
If you see some smaller bulls, like a line spike etc, it usually means a bigger herd is in the vicinity, but might be up to 2 clicks away.
A group of cows is what gets me excited.
Somwtimes you get 5pt bulls come to to our bugles.
Sometimes they are alone.
Sometimes the bull has his cows stashed away in the timber and he comes out to check you out.
Sometimes a bigger bull with cows just walks away silently taking his harem with him.
So many factors and scenarios.
Nothing is absolute.
It varies so much.
High pitched long bugles that are in intimidating can help locate a bull or even cows!
But use the cow call more if you think you are close to a group of elk.
Unless it is a solo bull, satellite etc, then bugles work but still, use cow calls.
If you can spot them, that’s the best way as then you know upfront which tactic will most likely work best.
But often times, that is not possible.
Locating bugles and cow calls until either you get a reply or one walks out silently, then go from there.
Problem with cow calls is the sound doesn’t carry.
Somwtimes you don’t need it to.
Its a complex but fun hunt.

[Ron.C]

Good tips posted so far.

I'm far from an expert, but I've had a horse shoe up my arse when it comes to elk hunting. I don't live near my elk spot but I think if I were hunting a new area I'd be a little more mobile and agressive than I am in the spot I usually hunt. If you have already found cows, that's half the battle!



"Question 1 is when the rut is coming on, do the bulls go to the cows "

When the cows approach estrous, bulls won't be far away. So if you have found cow's in your scouting, keeps tabs on them.

"Question 2 is when do you guys start calling, I will be up from the 10th to the 25th of September with my main spot and 2 additional back up plan spots, do you guys wait until you hear calling or like the 15th for an example? just not sure."


My elk hunts usually take place the first 3 weeks of Sept in an area I believe cows are present (based on previous years alone).

When I used to bowhunt them, I'm calling on Sept 1. To date, all my bulls have been killed between 1 and 13 Sept and all have been called in. My last bull was on a scorching hot 13 Sept and I didn't hear a peep all day until 30 minutes before last light down in a creek bottom. He responded to a squeally location bugle and then we engaged bugled back and forth until he came in and gave me a shot.

Although the bulls are not always bugleing, I manage to call some in. I also do pretty well with cow calls. Some respond vocally, some come trotting in (hear them crashing through the bush) grunting and some just seem to appear out of no where.

Like Hunter1947 said, if you cow call and don't get a response, hang tight for at least 15 minutes. Can't tell you the number of times I had a bull just show up without making a sound after some cow calling. Not always shooters but calling in any elk is exciting.