what's the best next move

[timberland]

You are at the egde of an open, nonfeeding are like a rockslide or fresh burn about 150 yds across. A location bugle rips out of the timber on the other side. You don't know the direction of travel and there is an hour of daylight left. How aggressive are you and what is the plan of action?

[Indian Summer]

1 hour left so move fast. Hook downhill assuming the evening thermals are dropping. Close the distance as much as possible, find a bit of cover to set up near and blast him hard with a challenge bugle.

Oh wait... first I need to mail you that tube I finally found!

[archery bum]

I hunt with a bow, if I'm bivy hunting I would go make camp and try and locate him in the morning.

[ElkNut1]

The bulls in the timber, awesome, he's blinded from your movements! If I felt I could slip in silent & kill him I'd do that first! If not, then this! I wouldn't call until I knew I could make the cover without being spotted, general direction isn't a real problem here since he's most likely milling & moving slow anyway as he leaves bedding area. If what you heard was a location type bugle I'd consider a young bull bugle showing him there's elk in the area, my bugle would point straight into the sky to confuse my exact where abouts, I only bugle once. I need to be sure I have plenty of cover & wind is right before I bugle & inject my next move & sounds. Me may bugle back or may not, it doesn't matter, after my immature bugle I'd head in his direction with the wind & cover in my favor once away from my bugle at 50yds or so I'd give two cow calls, a soft one & an excited one on mid volume, I'd go right at him as if I was a cow choosing him over the bull I was with. How close I could get & how much more calling with the cow sounds depends on the cover, the bull & the situation as it goes down. Braking sticks & sounding like hooves hitting things on my way in are also part of my strategy.

My primary goal is to instill confidence in this bull that he's getting what he asked for in the first place!

ElkNut1

[Swede]

I think the answer can vary a lot depending on the terrain and cover you are dealing with. Even where I hunt there is enough variation that my answer could change quite a bit. If the country is fairly open and I have to go around like I. S. mentioned, then how much time do I have left? Maybe I am out of time and would do as archery bum suggested. If it was similar to much of what I experience, then it could be fun to go around the burn then set up a decoy If you could get within under 100 yards of the bull undetected. Then give a couple cow calls and move quickly to a better position.