Lazy Bugles

[>>>---WW---->]

I know you have all heard them. You usually hear them after about 9:00 AM when a bull has bedded up for the morning. They are half hearted bugles with very little effort put into them. Sometimes even ending with a yawning type sound. What do you make of these sounds???

Personally, I think they have very little meaning. They are basically half hearted location bugles made by a bull that has bedded and just can't shut up. If you are hunting with a pardner that can keep him talking while the other hunter sneeks in, you just might have a chance at him.

[Swede]

I do not know what it means. I have guessed that they are lonesome. Mayby Elknut has an idea about that. I have used that same call at times during the midday (11:00 AM-3 PM). I go to the top of a bedding area in the canyon where I hunt and make several of those calls in a minute or two, then move away a few yards and set up. After about 15 minutes of waiting I will return to where I made the first calls and repeat the sequence. I go back and forth for up to an hour before I move on. It is a good midday call to attract a satellite bull who sneeks in to see who is making the "lazy bugle". The hunter needs to be on the alert as the elk have always come in silent for me.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Bull getting up to stretch has always been my conclusion.

[Buglemaster]

I'm with John on this one.I actually watched a bull do it one year. He was across a canyon bedded up in a stand of quakies & when he got up & stretched he did the lazy bugle thing.I'm nearly shure he was all alone as we never did see any other elk where he was. He fed a little & polished his horns a little & sprawled back out after a few minutes.

[Swede]

John's explanation makes a lot of sense to me. Each time I have heard it, the bull was in a bedding area at the time elk are bedded. I can't be sure it is not a coincidence, but I too heard only a lone bull. Sometimes I saw it too, but have never heard the sound coming from a bull where I had reason to believe there were other elk near. Interesting.

[slim9300]

I have watched bulls make this sound laying in their beds on a few occasions. I feel like they want to keep track of the "action" but they don't want to put in the effort of covering ground. Probably because they are pooped already. They use this lazy bugle as a "feeler" type sound out of instinct. (I think)

In 2008 I was side-hilling a south facing slope at 3/4 slope or just a tad below. The wind was working its way upward and to the east a little and it gave me the perfect opportunity to walk a nice elk trail nearly silently with the wind right. The terrain is fairly open but there is still many pockets of stunted timber. The wind was a solid 10 mph breeze so nothing could hear me coming (or so I figured). I heard a lazy bugle what sounded like 200 yards away and at the same elevation. I figured I would move around the little bend ahead about 40 yards which would open up my visibility and start glassing for him in a concealed position. Well, needless to say I walked around the bend and was looking eyeball to eyeball with a nice 6 point satellite at 10 yards. His eyeballs got huge right before he bolted from his bed and ran down the slope the opposite direction. I immediately started cow calling and when he stopped at 50 yards to look back and figure out what I was, I sailed one right under his belly line thinking it was 40.

Lesson learned. A lazy bugle that's actually VERY close can sound much further away with a little wind to limit your hearing. Never again will I hear that sound and not nock an arrow and be prepared on the spot.

[T/H]

i am familiar with them. i think that bulls are keeping tabs of other bulls and elk that may be on the mountain or basin and or keeping tabs on their harem. and i have heard this half hearted bugle in the afternoon as well.

[JohnFitzgerald]

+1 On everyone's post. Weather they are stretching or laying around, I think these lazy bugles are making an effort to see what's going on at the party!

[T/H]

+1 On everyone's post. Weather they are stretching or laying around, I think these lazy bugles are making an effort to see what's going on at the party!

so now that we established that........how do you guys hunt these "lazy" bulls?

[CrazyElkHunter]

Bull getting up to stretch has always been my conclusion.

Have to agree with John. It's like a big yawn when you wake up from a nap.

[T/H]

i just want to add that in every instance i have heard these types of "lazy" bugles i am convinced that these bulls had cows with them.

[>>>---WW---->]

Got your PM David. You gotta be careful sneeking in on these guys. Sometimes there are extra eyeballs to watch out for. LOL!

[JohnFitzgerald]

+1 On everyone's post. Weather they are stretching or laying around, I think these lazy bugles are making an effort to see what's going on at the party!

so now that we established that........how do you guys hunt these "lazy" bulls?

Lazy bugles not lazy bulls. They are the same bulls that had been screaming that morning. How do you hunt them? Same way you hunt any other bull, situation dictates strategy. My 2-Cents.

[JohnFitzgerald]

Bump-

Anyone have a successful example of hunting a bull with a lazy bugle?