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. ?

[wos]

Not saying I have a lot of good experience calling elk. But my dog called in a nice bull whining at me while I was petting a stray horse In my meadow last fall. Sadly I was carrying a 22 so I could shoot grouse with the dog. One of the biggest fail moments of my hunting days.

[Ron.C]

I use an old E.L.K brand bugle. I like it because its so easy to use but I've tried a couple other bugles and they seem pretty easy as well. I just like the tone of my old bugle best. Don't get to hung up on exactly how your bugle sounds but if you think it's crap, try another call or get a friend to help you sort it out.

Just because an elk didn't respond vocally doesn't necessarily mean one hasn't heard you or you are doing something wrong.

Like you, when I started all I wanted was to hear a bull bugle back. After a while trying, I had a hard time believing what I was doing would work and it was hard to stay motivated.

As it turned out, I was hunting the archery season. I have since learned it isn't unusual to not get a bugle in response during this period in this spot.

I ended up calling in and killing my first two bulls and my partners first and not one of them made any vocalisation in response to my calls. All 3 responded to calling by coming in to investigate and not making as much as a peep.

Last year I hunted the same area only mid Sept and I had bulls bugeling back on day 1 and killed and eager young 5x6 that was happy to scream at me. I was calling the same as I did back. Same technique, same area, same calls, only a couple weeks later.

Keep at it.

[Norwestalta]

Those mouth reed calls make me gag. I wouldn't make a very good homosexual. Seems to me elk hunting requires patience and persistence. I live in a area where there is generally alot of elk and I've got my favorite spots which have proven to be productive over the years but very rarely do I go out and shoot one after only one day of hunting but it does happen. I use a powr bugle with a cow elk talk.

[300H&H]

Leaveraction...as bad as you are...I suck like a Hoover vacuum.
No one seems willing to teach me and the calling class at Great North Precision was held on a 45 deg. day so as much as I would have liked to I stayed home in the AC.
I just use the Hoochie Mama and their calf call...not even I can screw that up.
The big thing is I don't over call.

[j270wsm]

It’s possible that there wasn’t any elk in the area or that they didn’t hear the bugle or simply didn’t care. Just because you let out a cow call or bugle it doesn’t mean that an elk will respond vocally.

2 nights ago I was watching a legal bull. He was on a river bank rolling in the mud, gouging the mud with his antlers and bucking/jumping around. After 10min he started to wonder off so I tried cow calling to keep him around. He would stop and look my direction every time I’d call but he never made a sound and continued to walk away.

[Bugle M In]

There might be no elk in the area.
Or, they aren't responding, or they are waiting til a time when they want to, which might be just before dark.
A bull laying in a wallow may not say a word til almost dark.
A bull may just slip in being absolutely quiet.
Being perfect at calling is not the only way.
Seen plenty of half assed callers have success.
The Power Bugle is a good call for just doing the main bugle and will get a response if a bull is around and if he wants to reply/

Fresh elk sign or spotting elk is the only sure way to know if elk are around to begin with.
Calling and hearing nothing doesnt mean anything on its own.

[dapesche]

I'm good a calling. Basically I know what I'm saying. Called in two bulls last year for my partners that were shot.

This year I've pulled in too many bulls not have killed one. I now know that I need to get better at my setups.

To your point though, my hunting partner and I are excellent callers and we've had a few days of absolute silence this season. This includes covering 40km of country looking for them.

So your calling may be just fine and the elk just aren't there.

Keep covering ground and making the kind of call you think they want to hear.

Good luck!

[Leveraction]

Thank everyone for the encouragement
Ill try again this coming weekend.

[boxhitch]

I suck at leaving the calls at home and just going to find elk
They sell them so they have to be used....right? )

[JagrM]

Hey Leveraction, I’m feeling the elk blues too. I’m a new hunter, currently in my 3rd year. Been spending my winters eating tag soup the last three years other then some grouse but I make my annual week long or so backpack trip solo into the woods in attempt for an elk. So far nothing. In 3 years I’ve only had 3 replies. This year finally called a bull in! I had a solid 5x5 at 87 yards as I am a rifle hunter this bull was off limits but damn was it an experience. I’m by no means an expert but I think you just need to practice a ton and rip your bugles with conviction and as Dapesche said you need to cover ground the elk are few and far between so keep looking for sign. I was recently in an area where the woods were all quiet in the day but at night they game alive. I say just grit your teeth and keep going for broke. It’s good to know my significant other isn’t the only one smirking when I head out for a hunt.

Cheers and best of luck out there,
Jagr

[HarryToolips]

^^^^you got it exactly right, keep practicing, with a little more luck that 5 pt would have been a 6 pt, 3 years is nothing trying for elk...practice does pay off, as I recently learned....

[J_T]

I don't know what a cat stuffed under an armpit sounds like, but I have a good sense of what elk sound like. Hunting elk also depends on where you are hunting. Different tactics for different geographical and topographical areas.

I think the one thing I employ in my elk hunting, which perhaps gets overlooked, the bulls have just spent the summer together, they know who each other is and what each other sounds like. As a hunter, you are an intruder into their home. It takes time to have your bugling presence accepted. Persistence is important.

There are so many different sounds a bull makes, that it is less important what your tone is, or how long you hold the high note, and more about know what type of call to give, and when.
- Grunts and chuckles, while raking an alder
- Monkey chuckle (if you haven't heard it, you haven't been close)
- Glunking (always interesting when you are close)
- Long mew while stomping ground and raking
- A short bugle 'at dawn' (used with a grrrrowl out of your chest, a short whistle) letting the cows (who have been feeding during the night) know where you are
- A long two tone searching/location bugle. Not the best when you know you are in close
And on it goes. Getting too aggressive when playing a bull can scare them off.
Listen to the bulls in the area you hunt, the starting point is to mimic their calls. And mix it up from there.

Someone mentioned the need for patience when calling. Ya, NOT. Ok, if you know there are bulls in the area and they aren't returning a bugle, then shift to cow calf combos. Calf first, cow second. Lost calf, Mom giving reassurance. It has to be a quick sequence. A Mom wouldn't pause to reply to her young. it has to be quick.

If you hook on to a bull that replies, get moving. Cut the distance in half, as quickly as you can. Patience is for hunters that don't cut a tag. Show him he's in your turf. Push him.
Depending when you are hunting relative to the rut, if you find the bull, and push him and push him, eventually he will get pissed and turn on you and come in. It might take a morning, it might take a few days of pushing. But eventually the bulls turn and come to the challenge.

The only time patience is important is in the number of days you have to hunt elk. It's very difficult to come to an area you haven't done reconnaissance on and expect to take a bull in a couple of days. It takes time to get into the rhythm of what is already going on, find the elk and find/insert your place in it.

As I've mentioned in other threads, bugling and calling elk is like fishing. You don't go fishing with one hook. You need a bit of a tackle box, a selection of reeds and mouth calls. Some quiet cow calls, some louder cow calls. If one isn't working, mix it up.

[Bugle M In]

Glunking was one i heard just the other year for the first time in person (seen on videos).
Definitely makes you think what the hell if you haven't heard it before.
At the same time we heard a bunch of branches breaking a 100 yards or so in front of us, and moving right to left and left to right,
all the time with this odd glunking sound.
At the time i was bugling and i was hearing something approach thru the timber, so i was prepared for a bull to step out.
I think now it was a cow elk that was approaching to my calls, and at the last second a bull herded her back.
In videos that i have seen, bulls make that glunking sound when they are trying to round up the cows.
So, that is another call to use in the arsenal to confuse a lone bull into thinking your a bull with cows.

[5jackz]

I have found that they are way more vocal in the early morning hours while it is still dark ( around 0400 ) . Gives you time to guesstimate their location and head there . I have also noted that where there is a heavy wolf presence , they sound like they have laryngitis . Almost as if they know that bugling at full volume gives away their location to the wolves as well . Just my encounters .

[J_T]

In the interests of full transparency, and to answer the OP's question, I currently have work to do on two aspects of bugling.
1) maintaining a consistent tone as I go from the low pitch to the higher pitch
2) Coming out of a growl into the whistle pitch and coming down out of the high pitch into a chest growl.