What would you do? Reloaded IV

[MtnHunter]

So there was a mile of aspens and brush seperating two of us from the wallow we wanted to check on. It's about 3pm now and we want to be at the wallow/meadow/watering area by 4. Visibility is between 50 and 100 yards as we were making our way through the forest towards the wallow. We were walking quietly and deliberatly, throwing cow sounds out every 300-500 yards. All of a sudden, a smooth, full noted bugle rings out as if belted out by an opera singer. I think it came from one point over a small hill. My partner heard it in a direction about 75 degrees from my point. We both think it's fairly close; about 200 yards out. What would you do now?

[Swede]

I have a lot of confidence in tree stand hunting and wallows/water holes are my favorite. That said, I would probably avoid the bull for now. It would be good to separate from your buddy and one of you quietly slip up to the wallow. The one not going to the wallow needs to leave the surrounding area and not bother the bull. The one that goes ahead to the wallow sets their equipment down and gets prepared. If you have a tree stand hang your bow on your drop line. Now start by splashing the wallow 7-8 times, then rake a log or tree for about a minute, and after that give out a short small bull bugle. Next, stomp around a little then stomp around a little then stomp off a short distance. Finally very quietly get set up and wait. Do not be impatient while waiting. It could be a while before a bull shows up, but I believe you have a better chance of getting your bull or another bull, if you do that, than if you chase right after the bull that called back to you. If I know a bull or bulls are around the area of my water hole, I do not chase them off. I wait for them to show.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Probably would have cow called a couple more time to see if I could bring him in. If not, I wouldn't waste much time and close the distance. Tactics from that point on would depend on him being a satellite or herd bull.

With your experience and knowledge of the area, could you make a guess on weather he had cows or not?

[welka]

After learning the hard way too many times, I would haul a__ and get as close as cover allows. Early on in my hunting years, we would have set up and tried to call him over. Worked on rare occassions. The haul a__ method assumes you have a good read on his location and can approach with wind in your favor. Hope you got him!

[easeup]

When a fish is busting the surface, I am going over to throw a lure in his area.

right or wrong, I would cut that distance in half with an arrow knocked. We got two eyes and ears for each direction.
A little cow call and wait to see what plays. If nothing happens in 1/2 hr that wallow blind is still there.

[WapitiTalk1]

Perhaps a bull stretching his vocal cords during the afternoon siesta? Dependent on time of the rut/year, he may just be singing a song or, the cows are getting restless to head to chow (maybe it's an area where the hunting pressure is very minimal and they head to feed pretty early). Regardless, if it sounds like a decent sized bull (tone/resonance), I'd move as quickly/silently/unseen as possible using what nature gives me to my advantage (thermals/wind/cover and concealment and get much closer and then light him up. It's time to pee in his cheerios and see if he wants to play.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Perhaps a bull stretching his vocal cords during the afternoon siesta? Dependent on time of the rut/year, he may just be singing a song or, the cows are getting restless to head to chow (maybe it's an area where the hunting pressure is very minimal and they head to feed pretty early). Regardless, if it sounds like a decent sized bull (tone/resonance), I'd move as quickly/silently/unseen as possible using what nature gives me to my advantage (thermals/wind/cover and concealment and get much closer and then light him up. It's time to pee in his cheerios and see if he wants to play.

Our RJ has a good point. Could be that the bull didn't even hear the cow calls. That's why I'd throw out one or two just to see if he was calling you in. Even better would be him coming to you.

[ElkNut1]

That bull is in his bedding area & probably laying down at the time he called for this cow to come over, he was giving her a direction & invite. No doubt other elk were bedded nearby so he was most likely within seeing or smelling distance of a group or the group. Odds are he will stay where he is & expect you to come to him. Your best odds of success would be to go right towards him if wind & cover allowed & it sounds like it does. As I got closer the situation would be continually evaluated in case I needed to do something different or creative, a lot would depend on this bulls calling back or not as I cow called my way to him & doing what he had asked. Noise on my part would not be a factor as I approached, he will think it's the cow he invited over.

ElkNut1

[MtnHunter]

There's some great advice on this thread, including a lot I would have never thought of!

At the time, we didn't know if he had any cows with him. The wind was good, but we weren't exactly sure right where he was. In our excitement, all common sense went out the window and we did exactly what we shouldn't have done. We wanted to get a better read on where he was, so we decided to bugle... As you can imagine, his beautiful opera song of a bugle turned into a nasty get the F out of here bugle. We continued to bugle back and forth a few times as we started walking around to see if we could get closer. As it turns out, he had cows bedded up not 100 yards from us. Next thing we know, he's herding up his cows and getting them out of there as fast as possible! A lot of mistakes were made that day, but a lot more was learned. I'm greatful for that lesson, and can't wait to see if he's still around next year. Hopefully I'll keep my head a little better next time...

[ElkNut1]

Mtnhunter, some situations are tailor made, you were right in the middle of one of them! (grin) When you decided to hit him with a bugle & he responded back enraged that was your cue to go into high gear, that shows he was defensive & definitely had something to protect, COWS! Since there were two of you one of you needed to go right at the bull cow calling excitedly on high volume & pitchy, the other one stay back & do his darndest to call this cow (you) back to him with with short screams, short lip bawls & chuckles with 6-10 in succession. The caller would repeat his sequence until you got in there & killed that bull. The shooter would pay no attention to the cows even if he ran in amongst them, continue forward for the herd bull. The real bull would have allowed you to climb right in his lap as you excitedly called your way to him as long as you had favorable wind & cover for this aggressive move! This takes fast thinking & action!

ElkNut1