Rookie calling

buckfever39796 · Aug 21, 2024

My son and I are heading to Whiteman Bench this weekend for a scouting trip. He drew the any bull tag this year and I was told Elk have been spotted in abundance up there. I read somewhere that there are some new road closures and I cant find the link to show them. Also, is it mainly a UTV road? I am going into this area blind. He has been fortunate the past couple of years to draw a cow tag in Filmore-Pahvant and buck tag in Panguitch.

My main question is what should we concentrate on when practicing with a call? should we focus on cow calling or bulging or both? I imagine getting a bull to stop is a good skill to have as well. We have been practicing with the Slayer Enchantress call. My wife gets pretty irritated when he is up in his room practicing. good times

Thank you in advance for any response.

coloradoman · Aug 21, 2024

Honestly if you don’t know what you’re doing…. All you will do is educate the elk.
Cow call once in a while to locate elk and see how they respond.
It’s a lot different than it was 30 years ago and now everyone thinks they can blow a bugle and bring in the heard bull.
Not trying to bust your balls but call wisely.

Ac300win · Aug 21, 2024

YouTube Dave Chapman/others for instruction. Lots of good info on how and what types of calls to use. You need to figure out what type of call works for you (reed, mouth piece etc). Practice, think about your calling strategy, rather than just blaring away similar to what you might hear by others in the woods.

Calling is not a replacement for stealth, stalking skills,

Perfect your cow calls. Develop your bugling skills. Cow calling can be deadly and a great locating strategy. Learn how to challenge bulls when they are protecting their cows.

Silence, stalking elk that are talking on their own are vulnerable and unaware. Get close, get tight and challenge.

Raking can be deadly.

And agree, try to avoid educating the elk, easier said than done. Above all patience and shoot straight.

buckfever39796 · Aug 21, 2024

coloradoman said:
Honestly if you don’t know what you’re doing…. All you will do is educate the elk.
Cow call once in a while to locate elk and see how they respond.
It’s a lot different than it was 30 years ago and now everyone thinks they can blow a bugle and bring in the heard bull.
Not trying to bust your balls but call wisely.

No hard feelings on this end, that is precisely why I am asking here. I know that a bad call is worse than no call. Thank you for the input coloradoman.

Jason

buckfever39796 · Aug 21, 2024

Ac300win said:
YouTube Dave Chapman/others for instruction. Lots of good info on how and what types of calls to use. You need to figure out what type of call works for you (reed, mouth piece etc). Practice, think about your calling strategy, rather than just blaring away similar to what you might hear by others in the woods.

Calling is not a replacement for stealth, stalking skills,

Perfect your cow calls. Develop your bugling skills. Cow calling can be deadly and a great locating strategy. Learn how to challenge bulls when they are protecting their cows.

Silence, stalking elk that are talking on their are vulnerable and unaware. Get close, get tight and challenge.

Raking can be deadly.

And agree, try to avoid educating the elk, easier said than done. Above all patience and shoot straight.

My son has been practicing quite a bit and to my ear he has a pretty good cow call. Granted I have only been elk hunting for a couple years now so my ear is not qualified.

His bugle is something hard to listen to. We still have a few weeks to practice.

Thank you for the information.

JPickett · Aug 21, 2024

You don’t have to bugle to call elk. In fact, don’t bugle. Cow call. That kills them

BeanMan · Aug 22, 2024

Cow calling works, if you aren’t great at bugling and don’t understand when and how to bugle do it very little to none.

You don’t mention a time frame for the hunt. Bugling outside of the rut only let’s them know you are there. Bugling without knowledge during the rut makes them run away (Colorado).

Daniel816 · Aug 22, 2024

Check out Paul Mendel (think i spelt that right). He has some youtube videos on calling techniques as well as an APP where you can record your bugles/calls and put them against the real deal to check your sound.

buckfever39796 · Aug 22, 2024

BeanMan said:
Cow calling works, if you aren’t great at bugling and don’t understand when and how to bugle do it very little to none.

You don’t mention a time frame for the hunt. Bugling outside of the rut only let’s them know you are there. Bugling without knowledge during the rut makes them run away (Colorado).

I watched Corey Jacobsen for a few hours last night, trying to mimic some of his calling. My sons tag is from Sept.14th-Sept.22nd catching the rut in full force.

Its a youth only rifle hunt which follows the archery season so they will have been pushed and bumped around quite a bit. I think a locator bugle would be helpful, but I don't think I need to establish a challenge bugle. I definitely want to practice bugling with elk, but probably not during my sons season...

buckfever39796 · Aug 22, 2024

Daniel816 said:
Check out Paul Mendel (think i spelt that right). He has some youtube videos on calling techniques as well as an APP where you can record your bugles/calls and put them against the real deal to check your sound.

Thank you for the info, i was wondering if there was an app or someone you could send in your bugles to be judged.

nontypical · Aug 24, 2024

Don't even bugle. Seems like these days it only spooks them. Timely cow-calling is the key. If more than one bull is close by, be ready! Sometimes they get there in a hurry!!

Seriously-leave the bugle at home. I've NEVER spooked elk using a cow call. In fact, I've stopped spooked, running elk with a cow call.

Bluehair · Aug 24, 2024

And some of the “worst” bugles I’ve ever heard came from real elk.

Joe2Kool · Aug 28, 2024

Following along as a rookie myself...

Never really called elk, but advice sounds similar to calling turkeys. Knowing when to call and when to shut up is hard to learn, and unfortunately, best learned by experience.

Good luck and post pics!

1989Cohunter · Aug 28, 2024

I’ve been archery hunting on and off for probably 22 years ish. And I suck at bugling, and learned early on if I can’t time it or make it sound passable don’t. I very rarely even cow call. I hunt a very pressured area and have seen a few elk run away from calling.

marley · Aug 29, 2024

The worst elk calls I’ve ever heard came from elk. I think I’m different from the majority but I RARELY if ever call. I’ve killed most of my elk letting them call and I sneak in. Problem with calling is you just gave up your location.

buckfever39796 · Sep 4, 2024

nontypical said:
Don't even bugle. Seems like these days it only spooks them. Timely cow-calling is the key. If more than one bull is close by, be ready! Sometimes they get there in a hurry!!

Seriously-leave the bugle at home. I've NEVER spooked elk using a cow call. In fact, I've stopped spooked, running elk with a cow call.

I think this will be our tactic this season. We (my son and I) have been driving my wife crazy cow calling and bugling. i am going to concentrate on calf and cow calls.

If we are lucky enough to harvest an elk and have enough energy, maybe practicing out in the wild will be in the cards. Just as long as we are not blowing up someone else's hunt...