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

[Harvest the Land]

I have struggled with this. I don't call much but have heard Bugles a number of times and wasn't sure if it was the real deal or other hunters. The only thing I use to help determine if its other hunters is whether the Bugles are coming from close to a road or easy access for humans. And obviously some guys aren't great callers and they're easy to identify.

So how do you expert Wapiti assassins distinguish legit Bugles from fake ones?

[Linksman313]

Harvest,

My biggest clue is multiple identical sounding bugles, or bugles on a time interval (for eg every 2 -4 minutes) are hunters.

it has been my experience especially in rut when bulls are at the height of frustration/aggression that they full bugle very randomly and rarely a long beautiful note at that,

more often than not it is like a grunt/bugle combo.

this might sound silly but the bulls i hear during the rut are typically exhausted, and when they are in that shape it shows up in their calls

Hope this helps

[todbartell]

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

[dapesche]

Honestly. Go out to a park or fsr with a friend that can bugle. Only takes a few minutes to do so.

Stand 200yds away from each and bugle in their direction.

You'll notice the volume difference. You think you are loud.... You are not.

A elk bugle is incredibly loud.

A lot of the blue read callers have very similar progressive bugles that are easier to pick out.

My partner and I are quite good at calling and I think it comes down to volume.

As others have said, you'll hear the tone and growly sound of a real bulls bugle as well.

As folks get better a replicating elk sounds its getting tougher so I fall back on location of the bugle and the volume of it.

[tracker]

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

[j270wsm]

I have struggled with this. I don't call much but have heard Bugles a number of times and wasn't sure if it was the real deal or other hunters. The only thing I use to help determine if its other hunters is whether the Bugles are coming from close to a road or easy access for humans. And obviously some guys aren't great callers and they're easy to identify.

So how do you expert Wapiti assassins distinguish legit Bugles from fake ones?

played with a bull for 20-30min trying to get him to show himself in the hopes my son would get his first bull. This bull was only 40-50yds off the main fsr, when we finally got a good look at him he was 320” 7x6.
The more bugles you hear the easier it gets. As others have said real bugles aren’t always perfect

[Rieber]

I can't explain it but a real bugle gives me goosebumps.

Something about the depth of tone or harmonics that just isn't quite right as it comes out of a plastic tube.

Not ever challenging those that are top competition level buglers but it almost seems impossible as a human to develop all those tones in one sequence.

Honestly I can even explain it but my arm and neck hairs go up in the presence of Elk. :roll:

[HarryToolips]

From my limited experience, location of bugle has been the biggest tell tale sign...but as others have said, the change in tones/notes of a real bugle gives chills down ones spine..

[jac]

Unless it’s Corey Jacobsen on the other end of the bugle it’s pretty easy to tell. You just know it’s like watching a fishing rod and you think your getting bites and then you get a real bite and you just know !! Man I love elk hunting

[Dour]

You just know it’s a real one. For me I feel it. Call me crazy that’s fine. But you know a real one. From a piece of plastic. When they are close. And call. It’s something different. Hard for me to explain. Use your gut. Also get away from people and you know they are all real !!!!!!!!

[Elkaddict]

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. :wink:

[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. :wink:

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.

[Bugle M In]

I was watching "night of the grizzlies".
The one fellow who was attacked described it best when the bear was on top of him.
The breaths of air the bear inhaled and exhaled were so tremendous that you could feel it and that it came from something
"really big"!
A hunter cant do that, but a big Bull has lungs that can blast it out there.

Up close as said, you can really tell.
Especially if hunters are using a plastic type tube!

Its why i have 2 different ones.
One similar to competitions to really carry it out there and sound bigger and deeper.
But, when a bull comes in close, i switch.
An old thick rubber rad hose that is corrugated and they used on vehicles back in the 50's.
The soft rubber gets rid of the tiny sound.
But you will never achieve the raspy amplification of a big bull.
And its that sound that gets people hooked and then living with elk fever for life.

[Harvest the Land]

Love to read the stories all the advice is pure gold - thanks for sharing. Good to see a lot of old timer HBC'ers on here

[ACE]

One other method I use is: if a bull is pissed and another bull bugles, 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.

This is a very effective tactic. I refer to it as 'insult bugling'. Was playing with a mature 5x5 in the Flathead (6+ point early season) Every time he bugled, I covered his call with mine. He pushed an alder to the ground, ramming his antlers into the turf. He then fell over, thrashing around on the ground. I screamed a bugle at him and he went berserk. I was on the rim of a basin bugling down on him.
Saw that bull a few days later in the back of a truck at Brown's Meats in Fernie.
So goes elk hunting . . . .

[todbartell]

Aggressive bugling tactics is a great way to find success in the elk woods

[Elkaddict]

This is a very effective tactic. I refer to it as 'insult bugling'. Was playing with a mature 5x5 in the Flathead (6+ point early season) Every time he bugled, I covered his call with mine. He pushed an alder to the ground, ramming his antlers into the turf. He then fell over, thrashing around on the ground. I screamed a bugle at him and he went berserk. I was on the rim of a basin bugling down on him.
Saw that bull a few days later in the back of a truck at Brown's Meats in Fernie.
So goes elk hunting . . . .


Yaaaaaaaa!!!! Stuff like that is pure gold, and exactly why we keep on going back!!

[RDJ]

Here's a simple thought for consideration... if you can tell the difference, so can they. If it's to be effective, there should be no difference. Isn't that the whole point? Otherwise, you're kinda fooling yourself. If an Elk has lived long enough to be worth shooting, he's probably learned the difference. Just my thoughts. I don't have much experience with Elk. I'm a deer, bear and coyote hunter and coyotes definitely know the difference.

[Bugle M In]

Here's a simple thought for consideration... if you can tell the difference, so can they. If it's to be effective, there should be no difference. Isn't that the whole point? Otherwise, you're kinda fooling yourself. If an Elk has lived long enough to be worth shooting, he's probably learned the difference. Just my thoughts. I don't have much experience with Elk. I'm a deer, bear and coyote hunter and coyotes definitely know the difference.
Actually, you would be surprised.
You can actually sound too good, too big at times.
I seen folks bugle like crap, and bring in bulls.
Truth is, bulls bugle in all sorts of ways.
Sure, there are some standard sounds they make and a certain routing, with the raspy deep beginning and right up to the high
pitch note.
Sometimes it the exact opposite, or just a lot of chuckling.
I agree, copying the bull, and not allowing him to finish are some great ways to have success.
And would tell folks to use those rules.
But to say you have to sound like one perfectly is not true.
Just depends on the bull and what kind of day that bull is having i guess.