aggressive bulls

[JJ Overkill]

im just wondering if any of you have noticed if some bulls are more aggressive than others. meaning they are more prone to come into a challenge than others, looking for a fight. ive never personally seen this. all the bulls I seem to have challenged went the other way that was probably due to poor calling

[Swede]

I have noticed that bulls get caller shy. They are conditioned to finding humans making calls, so they become leery of approaching a caller or even answering when close. The young and dumb may not be as shy, so to answer your question, yes.

[flystrait]

Most of the bulls we call in every year come in to us for a challenge. Percentage wise I would say roughly 75-80%. We hardly ever get a younger bull to come in due to the type of calling we do. I hardly ever use a cow call and once we locate a bull we get close and immediately challenge him. I only have had one almost run me over though. 90% of the bulls are 6 point and larger and this is in every OTC unit we hunt between Idaho and Montana. Some of the areas are hunted heavily as well. That's why I strongly believe in quality sounds, the better your calling the better your chance of calling in bulls. And the type of sounds you make will dictate what type of bulls will respond.

Disclaimer: Cow calls do work it's just my personal preference not to use them.

[Trophyhill]

The way I'm seeing it is aggressive bulls call for aggressive tactics and aren't call shy if you play your cards right. Cows in heat bring out aggressive behavior in bulls IMO. I think folks misinterpret whether or not a bull is aggressive for several reasons. A couple that come to mind for me are.....the caller misreads the situation and makes the wrong calls at the wrong time and at other times just isn't close enough when presenting the challenge. Again I think having cows in heat tips the scales on whether a bull is curious or aggressive. This is just what I've experienced and I could be way off on this. Help us out here elk killers

[JJ Overkill]

Most of the bulls we call in every year come in to us for a challenge. Percentage wise I would say roughly 75-80%. We hardly ever get a younger bull to come in due to the type of calling we do. I hardly ever use a cow call and once we locate a bull we get close and immediately challenge him. I only have had one almost run me over though. 90% of the bulls are 6 point and larger and this is in every OTC unit we hunt between Idaho and Montana. Some of the areas are hunted heavily as well. That's why I strongly believe in quality sounds, the better your calling the better your chance of calling in bulls. And the type of sounds you make will dictate what type of bulls will respond.

Disclaimer: Cow calls do work it's just my personal preference not to use them.

from the sounds of things, we have a lot in common with our calling techniques. big bull sounds for big bulls

[stringunner]

I agree with Swede. The bulls we call too I would not say are aggressive, callable yes, but not aggressive. I think a lot depends on the hunting pressure and perhaps the number of elk in the area. This is not to say they could not become aggressive if found on the right day, in the right moment and using the right tactics, but we have not experienced that type of action very often. One time we did find a herd just on our side of the fence that had several dominant bulls in it, and we watched and got into some very aggressive action, but that was a morning that all the stars aligned in our area.

[mongopino915]

Most of the bulls we call in every year come in to us for a challenge. Percentage wise I would say roughly 75-80%. We hardly ever get a younger bull to come in due to the type of calling we do. I hardly ever use a cow call and once we locate a bull we get close and immediately challenge him. I only have had one almost run me over though. 90% of the bulls are 6 point and larger and this is in every OTC unit we hunt between Idaho and Montana. Some of the areas are hunted heavily as well. That's why I strongly believe in quality sounds, the better your calling the better your chance of calling in bulls. And the type of sounds you make will dictate what type of bulls will respond.

Disclaimer: Cow calls do work it's just my personal preference not to use them.

My kind of calling as well. Not sure what is like in Idaho and Montana but where we hunt (Colorado OTC), the caller that calls in the most hunters also calls in the most bulls.

I am no elk and if I can tell the fakers from the real deal, the semi-wise bulls can surely tell also.

[Trophyhill]

My kind of calling as well. Not sure what is like in Idaho and Montana but where we hunt (Colorado OTC), the caller that calls in the most hunters also calls in the most bulls.

I am no elk and if I can tell the fakers from the real deal, the semi-wise bulls can surely tell also.

I agree! I've had this conversation with guys in the past. Sure a mediocre call may sound ok to a bull from long distance but I feel the closer he gets or you get the better I want to sound. I hear the great elk killers talk about "painting a picture" or "adding realism" and sounding "real" IMO is a huge part. Are bulls killed on bad/terrible calling? You bet but I would also bet that more are killed with good to great calling.