Rookie calling

[buckfever39796]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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

 

[BeanMan]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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