Thump!! Please Don't Bugle!!!!

[ElkNut1]

Yep, this is what we think & sometimes say out loud once the bull is hit! We do not want to hear him bugle, in many cases it spells out a wounded elk & tough to recover, more times than not they survive the hit! We've noticed over the years that elk hit in lungs, heart, liver, frontal, femoral artery & guts that bulls rarely if ever emit a bugle as they vacate the area. On the other hand we've hit bulls in other places with marginal shots & they can run off & still bugle, it can be a long frustrating day if this happens, generally a bull bugling after the hit is a bad sign! Blood trails are generally short & can expire quickly. (under 200yds)

What's been your experience?

ElkNut1

[easeup]

I guess it is the same as there has not been one yet that did anything other than run.

[Moose-head]

Interesting; I am a noob with questions but no experience. What types of sounds will they make? Round-up bugle, Regathering sounds, Challenge buglet or ???

[Swede]

I am in the same company as easeup. I don't have any one in my party who has ever mentioned hearing a bull bugle after being shot either. I can say from experience you will not have an easy recovery, just because they do not bugle after being hard hit. So Paul, what do you do after hearing the bugle, if you are not sure of where you hit the animal? Do you ever try calling him back? Do you leave the area and come back later?

[cnelk]

I thinks it may equate if a bull bugles if you cow call after the shot.

Paul, are you implying that when a bull bugles after being hit, that no sounds were made by the hunters?

[ElkNut1]

"swede asks"
"So Paul, what do you do after hearing the bugle, if you are not sure of where you hit the animal?"
It's not so much of not being sure where he's hit, it's more of it being not as good as one had hoped!

We have let them go for 45min or so in hopes of them bedding, then slowly & quietly take up tracking. Those blood trails seem to dry up fast. Mortally wounded bulls generally do not call back. As I say it's a rare occurrence but from past experience & from others we will take up tracking immediately the same as a liver hit elk. This is in hopes of keeping him moving & jumping keeping the wound channel open & not allowing to clog or seal. This could prove to be a long tracking job but if the wound will stay open you've got a chance. I've talked with Aron about this & he's had good results by pressuring animals with specific hits as this. Sitting back & doing nothing until the 45min are up nets little on these type of hits. This does not apply to gut shot elk.

cnelk, you are correct, it's when we call to stop or slow him down after the shot, generally he is out of line of sight, but if he returns a bugle from our bugle or cow call that seems to never be a good sign. It shows he's not as bad off as hoped for. This does not happen very often but have noticed this on past occurrences.

ElkNut1

[CrazyElkHunter]

I have never heard a bull bugle after I know I hit him. Only sounds I've heard are moans or a few grunts when he is taking his last breath. From my experience, if he bugles, he is not hurt, only has a flesh wound or does not know he's hurt. The bull I shot in 1999, I called in to 35 yds and just before the arrow struck I caught a limb right in front of him and the arrow deflected down. I figured a clean miss and started to bugle immediately as he ran out of view. I heard him stop, bugle and walk right back to where I shot the 1st time. My 2nd arrow double lunged him. As we were boning him out and flipped him over to do the other side, I was shocked to see a 8" cut across his shoulder, deep into the flesh. One blade from my 1st arrow had caused the gash. When the blades are razor sharp, they are like a scalpel. He did not act like he was hit and most likely did not since pain from a clean sharp cut. He would have survived the 1st hit because there were no arteries cut, but he would have had a nice scar to show the girls?

[Swede]

Thanks Paul. I have never had a bull come back to me after I hit him. I have stopped them and slowed them down, but never turned one back. Now, my son did turn one around in the late 1990s. I don't remember him saying it bugled back at him, but he showed me where it had gone and where it returned to. I found it interesting that it fell over within about 50 yards of where he arrowed it. Bill, I have had the same experiences as you. I have heard some ugly moans and gurgles as their lungs fill with blood. It doesn't sound pretty, but you know it is all over except for the pictures and the pack out.

[LNGBOWFLYER]

ELKNUT that is some good and interesting advice. Last year I shot a for too far back and knew I did so. I waited an hour just like I was taught before climbing down my tree. Upon inspection of my arrow and the blood it confirmed what I knew. That it was a liver shot. I trailed a pretty decent blood trail for about 100 use before the blood started getting more scarce. By about 200yds I was on my hands and knees. By 250 I was done. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't find a drop of blood.

Next time I will try your tactic and see if it works. Especially when its in the thick stuff like I was at.

[elkmtngear]

I hit this guy way too far back on a steep quartering away shot.....the arrow got mostly liver, and just got the tip of the far lung. I cow called him after the hit, and the only sound I heard was a "cough" way up on the ridge...there was no exit wound.

I knew he needed time, so I waited about 30 minutes, and slowly backed out of the area. I hooked up with my hunting partner, and after about 3 hours, we returned to where I hit the bull. We looked hard for a blood trail for about an hour, went way up the ridge where I heard him last....nothing,

On the way back to the site of the initial hit my buddy found the bull,,,,,he had made a huge circle and come back within about 60 yards of where I shot him.

[ElkNut1]

Yes, we've heard all the sounds mentioned as coughs & death moans as the elk expires.

Difference is I'm referring to a bull that is hit not nicked. (grin) Even complete pass-throughs but where vitals were apparently missed. We've found over the years that a bull that bugles after the shot has connected is not a good sign! Crap happens out there as Crazyelks limb deflection, things like that can steer an arrow to an undesirable spot on any animal. Point is, if this happens to you & the bull bugles you I would suggest getting on him quick & trying to get another arrow in him if at all possible, if you do not chances are slim you will ever see him again anyway. If it's a known gut shot leave him be for 6-8 hours.

ElkNut1

[Fullabull]

I have never had one bugle back at me yet (I'm knocking on wood at the moment) but calling has always slows them down. I use to rifle hunt in CO. and one year I shot a bull right through the lungs in the middle of his bugle. All I saw was a huge puff of air and blood come out where the bullet hit and I could watch him just stop and stand there like a statue cause he could not get a breath back in...he fell over stiff from that position. It was interesting to watch. He had that look like when you get the air knocked out of you...you can't move and you just stand there waiting for the air to come back.

[WapitiTalk1]

Cool thread and full of good info. Thinking about it, I haven't had an elk sing back at me if I put an arrow in the vitals. One nice 6X Rosey would not shut up which lends credence to Elknut's premise. Dropped over a high ridge in WA, threw out a locator bugle and all hell broke loose. It was a very remote area where most hunters would not dare to go. My partner and I were within 75 yards of Mr. Nasty and he was not pleased. He screamed back with a throaty bugle and grunts and here he came! He walked/trotted in within seconds but neither my partner or I had a clear shot.... He senses something wasn't right and did a perfect compass 180 and headed back down to his girls. I figured it was over but set up Joe again to see what was up. A bugle with chuckles evoked another PO'ed response and the game was back on. I motioned to Joe to move towards the offended bull and I set up 30 yards back and started with some small tree demolition and some excited cow calls followed by another scream with chuckles. Silence........... You know when you sense something off to one side and you don't know why? The thermals were shifting a bit and Mr. Nasty had came in to my 10 o'clock, not the original downwind place that Joe was set up. He was coming, and coming quick (man, he was mad at me for some reason)... I drew my old school 70 lb Darton Viper and chirped on my Berry diaphragm.. He stopped and I released.. Perfect broadside shot at 27 yards! At the moment I released, he decided he would take one step forward. "Smack".... hit him square in the right rear quarter...... ... As he bolted away, Joe moved towards me to figure out what was going on.. I started to tell him the story and big ugly screamed back at me. He probably didn't even realize he'd been hit.. Found the arrow 50 or 60 yards from where the "smack" occurred and you know what? He bugled at us no less than 5 times over the course of the next 10 minutes... Dang flippant elk