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Thread: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    136

    Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    In the final days of elk hunting do you primarily glass for elk or do you still try to call to locate and bring them in?

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Posts
    32

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    Just finished a 3 week trip in Region 7. The area has a reasonable population and moderate pressure. On the 29th of Sept, the elk went completely silent. Before that we were getting/locating 2 or 3 different bulls a day. At night outside for the midnight pizz, you could hear them going off, then it all stopped. Nothing for the next 10 days and trail cams showed nocturnal movement only. The moved into the thicker stuff which made things tough with the very dry conditions.

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    East Koots
    Posts
    1,440

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    I watched a bull yesterday, still with his cows, and still interested in one in particular. He let one rip as he was following her. I wouldn’t think it would hurt to try the odd bugle but wouldn’t concentrate, or rely on it alone.

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    73

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    Funny i had elk silent for 2 1/2 weeks in peace sept 16-oct 5th, then had one answer which resulted in 7x7 bull.
    i think pressure and temps had a huge effect on elk this year. The herd i usually hunt had more pressure this year and they were on cam but going silently about their business.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Posts
    8,518

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    I don’t usually hunt this late.
    But I know if a few hunters who have taken bulls on the day of or a day before the closing.
    And they said the bull was roaring.
    Right place, right bull, then yes.
    But spitting elk and stalking up silently yourself is still the most effective.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2018
    Posts
    39

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    Last 3 days I've been bugling back and forth with em in R8, but only first thing in the morning. Today 2 bulls were bugling when i got there 1hr before shooting light. 1hr- 1 1/2 hr after shooting light they go silent on me every day. Could be they dont like my calls that much, but I had lots of responses to bugle and cow call. Just couldnt pull him out of the timber, and couldnt find him in there after 1st day of the 3 i called in a 5x5 to 25 odd feet and he was pissed right off and very vocal about it.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Golden
    Posts
    655

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    Things are pretty quiet around here. I heard one lazy bugle from their beds last weekend. Hevent had a response to my bugle in quite a while.
    "A true conservationist is a man who knows that the world is not given by his fathers, but borrowed from his children." John James Audubon

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Here and there.
    Posts
    3,906

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    I had a 1.5 hour conversation last week with a decent bull in region 7, was either a big 5x5 or a 6x6, but since he wouldn’t come all the way up to the party, I’ll never know. Hard to count accurately at 800+ yards when he’s moving steadily through the willows. Came 2/3 to 3/4 of the way in but was out if sight at the base of the hill I was on, then made his way back bugling as he went.

    I ripped out a couple, silence for 20-30 minutes, then heard him. I responded immediately, and it was back and forth from there. Can’t say it was effective, since no elk meat came home, but man, was it fun.
    Pretend hunter.

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2021
    Location
    Princeton , BC
    Posts
    7

    Re: Is calling Elk still an effective way to hunt?

    Oct 17 found myself in a rut fest between three bulls and was able to connect on one.

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