Calling during rifle season

[one_elk]

Just wondering what your experiences have been. Effective ? Ineffective? Just cow calls? Bull and Cow Calls? Effectiveness as we get out of October and into November? Safety Issues….thanks in advance for your input.

[hornart]

I tend to only use cow and calf calls in rifle season,,they are vocal all year long but it will work to call bulls in.

[Bullnuts]

I haven't hunted the rifle season in a long time, but I remember stumbling onto a pretty good herd one year in the 2nd season in Colorado, which was in November, and there were several bulls bugling in that group so I'm sure you could probably call one in later in the year. I would depend mostly on cow calls instead of bugles though, and would use chirps and gathering sounds later in the year, especially when the herds are getting broken up and the elk are trying to find each other again.

[eltaco]

I'll let you know in a week and a half! We're headed up for first season cow tags and I'm expecting to hear some elk talk... you can bet I'll be carrying my elk calls!

[POk3s]

I have never let out a single call of any kind during rifle elk season. First, if they're bugling I can get within rifle range and not have to call to anything. Second, the only cow talk I've heard during rifle season is from idiots walking around with a hoochie mama and hitting it every minute. They've just been gawked at for a month....I'd rather sneak then try and call.

[pointysticks]

my first elk. (only elk )

i took it with a rifle. we called it. super foggy, binos were useless. hot weather screwed the bowhunters (according to the biologist we talked to) and put the bugling elk smack into our laps. it did locate that bull for us..a second bull the next day. the second bull fell to me using (gasp) a hoochie mama. hahah.

worked out beautifully. rookie year, two big bulls. it actually got us into bowhunting.. never picked up a rifle again after that elk. my second elk is gonna be a challenge, but we are getting close!! hope i dont cry when i score.

i say take the noise makers.

[Bullnuts]

The Hoochie Mama was a great call for the first year or two that they were available! Their popularity, though, killed them since it's hard to make any variations to the sound and over use made the elk associate the sound with danger. They still work, but you won't typically have the elk coming in screaming and hot to it.

[Swede]

It has been many years since I hunted elk during rifle season, but while at work I have called to bulls using a reed I made of plastic surveyors tape. Bulls will respond to a call, so I would think a good cow call or bugle would be effective. Just don't get yourself shot.

[ferris bugler]

I think using cow calls has helped me get close in dark timber. I am selective about how much calling I do, but I think it helps. I have also shot elk that I walked up on because they were talking. I walked into the woods and heard crackling wood and cow talk. I swore it was a bunch of hunters sitting around a campfire until I looked over a small rise and saw 100 elk yapping away.