Your Move - Situation #2

[WapitiTalk1]

Disclaimer: I’m trying to be a descriptive as possible with the scenarios but please understand I can’t cover all the variables potentially encountered in each of the presented situations. For these threads, let’s assume everybody knows what the different elk noises sound like (various types of cow chatter, locater bugle, screams, chuckles, grunts, alarm barks, nervous grunts, etc.). Remember, it’s all about sharing knowledge from experience, asking questions, and perhaps, learning a thing or two.

Scenario: its late afternoon, the third week in September and you find yourself on a hillside you hunted a few days before. The last time you were here, you’d received one answer to your locater bugle but no follow on action in that area. You believe it may be a transition area for elk between feed and bed. You have decided to stop short of a tiny finger ridge and throw out a few cow/calf calls to see if there may be anybody interested in joining you for dinner. You get close to the finger ridge, almost to the top so your calls can be heard in the alder bench on the other side, throw out some soft cow calls and immediately buzz backwards, off to one side of where you’d just called, 25 yards or so to set up. You hear what sounds like brush being bashed on the other side of the finger ridge. A few more cow calls by you, a bit more brush bashing coming from the other side of the little ridge. No bugles or cow calls come back at you from over the ridge, just the brush raking. You give this setup a good 15 minutes and continue to receive the same results. Finally, you decide to work the thermals and get a bit closer. As you crest the little finger ridge and are making your way uphill on an elk trail to gain the thermals advantage, you physically see alder moving below you to the left, about 75 yards. The elk perhaps heard you moving? You move 20 to 30 yards more along the side hill, above the bull and again (thermals are still moving gently uphill but will surely switch at this time of day), set up to do some soft cow sounds. Same response but this time you can see a young bull with pretty white antler tips knocking the snot out of some alder brush, and, pawing the ground. I’ll stop here. What is this elk communicating and what action, if any, should you take to potentially get a shot?

[Swede]

That young bull reminds me of a teenager that a pretty girl has just smiled at. His hormones have just kicked into overdrive and he is showing off (displaying) a little. I would slip in closer, quietly while he is working the Alder bush over and try to put an arrow in him.

[Tigger]

I agree. he is advertising his manliness. 2 approaches here that I can see. One is to slip in on him and stick him as already mentioned. The other is to move back out of sight, but hopefully considerably closer than you were before. Give out another cow call, needier this time. As I hunt with a partner, I would have the caller keep working him by whispering sweet nothings to him and have the shooter set up on the route he will likely take. HOWEVER, I would always be wary of that wind. If time allowed, I would call the butcher and tell him I have an elk coming in this evening to get processed....oh wait, no, I wouldn't actually do that!

[Lefty]

Until the last two sentences I would say you just snuck up on a bull moose feeding.

But since I now see a bull elk,.. Ill screw this up. I think he is kicking tires without a car, just having a good time by himself. I go in quiet, and move every time he started beating up and alder,.alder? . Wait a minute am I hunting Washington or Oregon now?

[Lefty]

,... I would call the butcher and tell him I have an elk coming in this evening to get processed....

I kept calling my wife and buddy fo over 2 hours on a huge 5x 5 as it got closer and closer,.. Ive told this sad story,... 21 yard choke

[T.B.]

I had this same encounter last season. Never got a shot and the bull eventually left . Anxious to see what has worked for others in this situation. I got in a bugling , tree raking match and that didn't work for this particular bull.

[Mike_Parson]

If i have time to play the wind and can slip in then thats what i think i would do. If i dont then maybe getting into a position to call and get him to work his way into a shooting area is what i would try.

[Mathewsz7-elkridge]

Would send the shooter in for the kill. Going very slow not know if he is going to decide to get a look at this cow. If the tree is shaking the shooter can be a little more aggressive with the stalk. The caller stays back keeping him interested in the cow maybe working in a little bit at a time too so the bull doesn't think something is up. Definitely going to keep the wind in my favor but acting as quickly as possible. Since the thermals are about to switch.

[Tigger]

I like this approach as well.

[twinkieman]

I would get on the same level as the bull, so that when the thermals switch, I would not be winded, cow calling my way closer to the bull. Hopefully he will get more worked up as I close the distance. At around thirty yds, I stop calling, hoping to have him worked up enough to close the rest of the way.

[powderhogg01]

Based on the statement that I found myself in that spot, I assume I am solo hunting. I would move a little every time he hit the alders and hope to place myself into a position that might gain a shot for when he leaves, opting to get on the same level as him before the thermal shift. I short prayer to which ever god I think of in that moment, then hopefully send an arrow as the bull leaves the alders.

[TurkeyBowMaster]

If he is transitioning from bedding to feeding I would probably take that into consideration and move towards the path I think he would take, or if he is a bull I really want to take I would probably sneak in if the conditions are favorable for a stalk. If he is just an ok bull I might just call and see what else I can get stirred up. Sometimes for me I might not bother to stalk a small bull but wouldn't hesitate to shoot the same bull if he came in to a call.