Night Calling Elk

[Ron.C]

Hi all,

Im not new to elk hunting, but am considering hunting some new ground this year during a period I have never elk hunted.
" EK elk hunt 13-25 Sept. "

Plan is to stay as mobile as possible and avoid the obvious easy spots that Im sure will get hammered by quad/truck hunters that drive and call into every cutblock, slide they can park at.

I'll be spiking out in VCA's or camping out of the back of the truck where I plan to head off on foot and hunt the following morning.

Has anyone ever done any locator bugle calling at night (long after sunset or a couple hours before sun rise) and had success at locating animals? The areas Im looking at might cater to such a tactic. Large areas with many ways a hunter could head off on "on foot" and are avoided by or not a accessible to the road hunting crowd.

In the past I have called just before sun up but found as hunting pressure increases, this can sometimes push animals away or call in other hunters. But this was done in easily accessible areas where hunting pressure was higher.

[sako79]

Yes I do it all the time but just for precaution if I have my rifle with me I have it in the gun safe with the trigger lock on in case I get pulled over at that moment.

[J_T]

Never hurts to toss out a locator bugle at 1AM. I think an issue a lot of guys have with that, is they bugle from the same spots as everyone else, a wide spot in the road with a view. Elk know what is going on. I think you need to be cautious about that. Walk off, then bugle. I like those exploratory midnight trips. A nice long high pitch.

[walks with deer]

i love drinking beer and calling elk just dont have a gun or bow with you lol.

[AllDay]

I think that would be more successful during a full moon as the elk then will rut at night and mid-day instead of early morning and late evening. Full moon is first week of sept this year so I’m not sure that I’d wake up at that time for that purpose, but being creative does lead to a lot of new knowledge!

[johnnyx]

I find locator calls an hour or 2 before sun up work great. If no action, keep moving

[canishunter22-250]

I had an incident doing this a few years ago. Was tenting in a clump of thick alder in a back channel and just before I went to sleep I let out a couple bugles in the pitch black just to see if I could locate anything for the morning. No response so I hunkered down for the night. About half an hour later as I was in my sleeping bag a bull screamed right outside my tent and then started thrashing up the alders. I could hear a bunch of cows chirping all around. He was super mad and I was actually quite concerned that he was going to take a run at my tent with me inside. I didn't want to scare him off too bad so I just laid there quivering in my sleeping bag as he huffed and puffed outside for about 40 minutes. Finally he moved off and I went to sleep - excited about the morning. Woke up and combed the whole area but never seen or heard from him again unfortunately. After inspecting the area in the daylight, I could see where he left his mark on the alders within a couple yards of the tent.

[Jrax]

Most times i will be waking up to the alarm at about 4:30am in a small shelter (tipi tent and Ti stove this year). I really enjoy sitting in the dark and sipping morning coffee and listening for 10 minutes to see what i can hear first.

One morning i did a locator call about 45 minutes before first light while finishing my coffee. I got two answers on a ridge about 1km away. Both bulls came to within 100 -200m of camp just before i could see and moved off and i believe i got winded.

Other times i have got a locator response from camp or not to far from camp and I was able to wait until first light and move in toward elk knowing they are there. And of course there are the times of no response and i move off to another area to see if i can get a response there and is also very helpful.

I dont like to over call in the dark its 1 call then move if no response. There is also the griz factor so i dont like to sound like breakfast too much when i cant see.

[Ron.C]

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it might just be a good tactic for me on this hunt on the evenings where I am spiking out and havent located a bull by sunset.

Agree, the goal is not to have a late night conversation with a bull or draw one in, but to simply illicit a response to try and narrow down a location for to go at in tbe morning. That said, sounds like calling right from the tarp tent is probably not the best idea :D

[Bugle M In]

Yup, do it quite often.
Before I go to sleep, when things are quiet at camp, as some of my partners are a little loud at night after a few sips of scotch.

Also, when I wake, taking the morning leak, a couple of hours before first light, I send out a couple of call.

And yes, had a bull come down the road with his herd of cows at 11pm once.
Many times, have a cow or herd near by at first light.
Sometimes however, you may have a nice bull with cows near by, and throwing out a bugle gets them on the move, away from camp!
And because it is still dark, you have to wait, and they can move quite far in those couple hours.

But worth it, imo.

[hunter1947]

I never night call morning or after dark to see where elk are located its educating them when they hear the door shut if your in your truck or other the unit start up educating is present,,even if your camped in the back country and no truck or other you call a bull in and finds out you're not what he thinks you are they notice that that call is not coming from a real bull elk comes in to see that your a human they remember ,, many of times I have had bulls coming in just after I loose shooting light I stop calling and get the hell out of there before the bull comes to where I was set up,,al and all this is what I have found out over my 50 years of hunting these fantastic animals..

[358mag]

i never night call morning or after dark to see where elk are located its educating them when they hear the door shut if your in your truck or other the unit start up educating is present,,even if your camped in the back country and no truck or other you call a bull in and finds out you're not what he thinks you are they notice that that call is not coming from a real bull elk comes in to see that your a human they remember ,, many of times i have had bulls coming in just after i loose shooting light i stop calling and get the hell out of there before the bull comes to where i was set up,,al and all this is what i have found out over my 50 years of hunting these fantastic animals..
^^^^x2^^^^^

[Ron.C]

I never night call morning or after dark to see where elk are located its educating them when they hear the door shut if your in your truck or other the unit start up educating is present,,even if your camped in the back country and no truck or other you call a bull in and finds out you're not what he thinks you are they notice that that call is not coming from a real bull elk comes in to see that your a human they remember ,, many of times I have had bulls coming in just after I loose shooting light I stop calling and get the hell out of there before the bull comes to where I was set up,,al and all this is what I have found out over my 50 years of hunting these fantastic animals..

thanks Wayne and I agree, if I have a bull answering in the evening and I think I won't have enough time to make a go at him, I back out quiet and come back in the morning. Done this several times and found them in the morning where I left them. The only time I would push this is if it were my last evening to hunt, then I'd do whatever it took to get that bull to come in while I had light left and I'd probably get down right aggressive trying to close the distance. Nothing to loose at that point.

I'm not concerned about "educating elk". If I get busted trying something different when nothing else is working, so be it. Every elk hunter that goes into the bush trying to call in, stalk, or ambush a bull and gets busted for one reason or another is "educating" that bull. To not try something different because you think you may educate a bull could be a mistake into itself.

Agree with you that calling at anytime and associating the call with a human presence like a vehicle running, door closing, bad wind etc. is just not the best approach.

[358mag]

Another thing to remember is that not all grizzly bears go to bed at 8pm . They also have very good hearing , be very careful .

[Ron.C]

Another thing to remember is that not all grizzly bears go to bed at 8pm . They also have very good hearing , be very careful .

roger that! I always expect to see a predator when I'm calling.

about 4 years ago we saw a bunch of blond bodies in the bottom of a slide. We tried to sneak in on them but they gave us the slip. We took cover and let out a couple quite cow chirps. My buddy see's a big brown mass about 900m up just above the tree line. Was a BIGGGGG. We figured we are done with the elk, but wanted to see what the Grizz would do if we kept calling. We let out a whiny estrous elk call followed by a single bugle. He dropped and ran down the rocks into the top of the slide. He covered about 300m in an amazingly quick time. We chirped gain, he stood up and looked right down at us. That was it, we F'd off at that point.

A couple years before that had a big cougar sneak right in on my decoy as I was solo bowhunting elk calling into a thick pocket. He came in from my left side, crossed about 10 yards in front and stalked in on my decoy about 30 yards to my right.

Can't recall all the black bears I have called in over the years.

All these encounters really make a guy wonder how many bears/cats were close that I never even knew were there.

Whenever I am calling elk, I expect a predator might show up.

[huntingfamily]

I called in a sow and cub grizz while cow calling elk one evening.
A buddy had a cougar come right in while he was rattling for whitetails.
Stay safe all...

[LBM]

roger that! I always expect to see a predator when I'm calling.

about 4 years ago we saw a bunch of blond bodies in the bottom of a slide. We tried to sneak in on them but they gave us the slip. We took cover and let out a couple quite cow chirps. My buddy see's a big brown mass about 900m up just above the tree line. Was a BIGGGGG. We figured we are done with the elk, but wanted to see what the Grizz would do if we kept calling. We let out a whiny estrous elk call followed by a single bugle. He dropped and ran down the rocks into the top of the slide. He covered about 300m in an amazingly quick time. We chirped gain, he stood up and looked right down at us. That was it, we F'd off at that point.

A couple years before that had a big cougar sneak right in on my decoy as I was solo bowhunting elk calling into a thick pocket. He came in from my left side, crossed about 10 yards in front and stalked in on my decoy about 30 yards to my right.

Can't recall all the black bears I have called in over the years.

All these encounters really make a guy wonder how many bears/cats were close that I never even knew were there.

Whenever I am calling elk, I expect a predator might show up.

And don't forget other hunters we have called in many hunters, I find it more scarey when you hear a twig snap and see a hunter sneaking in with gun in hand finger by the trigger
we have snuck out many times with out then knowing.

[Jagermeister]

I was calling before first light one time. I don't know who was more surprised, me or the two wolves that showed up. They left mush faster than they arrived, I think.

[Jrax]

last year called in two wolves and a small grizzly within 15 minutes of each other (one wolf died) right at first light. Had a few bull moose respond to my elk calls, raking trees and grunting and even so far as to follow me back towards camp for 10 minutes or so walking in the dark.

[hunter1947]

This is another reason I won't call elk in the dark to many grizzly bears I have called my share of grizzly bears over my years when its daylight no fun,,two years ago just before it got dark I called in a pack of wolves when calling for elk I shot one and put a wound on another when the pack was running away from me ..

[Ron.C]

Thanks for all the replies. Good luck this year eveyone.

Stay safe !