"The Day the Elk Went Silent"

[WapitiTalk1]

Sounds like a B movie, right . Have you noticed that seemingly every September, the bulls just seem to fall silent for a day, or two or three, when they had previously been screaming their lungs out? Yes, there can be numerous physical reasons that potentially cause this (wolves moving in to the drainage, drastic weather change, increase in hunting pressure/road traffic, etc., etc.). But..... I have noticed that even in an area where none of the afore mentioned stimuli are occurring, seemingly almost every year, the bulls seem to shut up for a day or three sometime between the second/third week of September. Anybody else experienced this strange occurrences? If so, any idea why? RJ

[easeup]

yes......but in the San Juans that seem to be silent most of the time. I'm riding this one to see what you guys say.


on a side note ( the resemblances of turkey hunting and elk hunting), we have a pretty good population of turkey on our place here in TX. There are days when the gobbling is just fantastic and action is just great. And the next day nothing, then repeat nothing for a couple more days, and then just when you think they must have moved out, the next day they are cranked up big time.

[foxvalley]

RJ.
This is a great question,and seem to have this happen every year, they go nuts for a day or two.......then nothing.
Last year I had some insight to this as I was hunting a very large bull with only 1 cow.Seems that because of the thick, dark timber, or the lack of cows,most bulls here have one or two cows only.
Anyway,after spending all afternoon with this bull,starting at 2:00 pm,he started screaming,and paceing back and forth,just under the ridgeline,300yds. up the mtn.,then 300 yds. down the mtn.Back and forth,for hours, all aftenoon.The wind was wrong, so I couldn't get any closer,but knew he would end up in my draw to feed late afternoon. He was definetly protecting his cow,and letting all bulls know to stay away.
My conclusion to this is that the cow was in full blown heat,ready to be bred,and he was making sure that it was well known to all other bulls."Don't even think about it" He was by far the largest bull in the erea,and was not challenged at all by any other bull.There was just two or three days of him bugling,then done.
I did get real close to killing him that afternoon,and had him at 30yds,but got busted by his cow.I hope he made it threw the gun season, as I have him figured out.

[welka]

How about when they are ALWAYS silent! We hunted in Montana several years back and there was heavy pressure from Labor Day through Nov and you hardly ever heard any noise unless you went out at midnight to 4am to hear them in the dark. Took us a couple of years to figure out their bedding areas so that we could get in between them and the food at lower levels. Hunting bulls that are silent and don't bugle back creates a real challenge as you have to really know the area and learn how to do cold calling very well (thanks Paul!!). As for when they go silent after being vocal, wolves or humans are my bet. In either case, still need to know where they eat and bed to have a chance. Good luck to all.

[ElkNut1]

Doug, from your description of events I'd say the bull you heard was looking for cows to build a harem. I've seen them do this many times. A herd bull in nearly every case would not leave his hot cow unattended by separating from her several hundred yards at a time, they generally are very protective just in case.

welka, thanks! That's where the Advertising Sequence can come in, your odds of pulling bulls in at that time is much great than pulling cows your way when using mostly cow sounds in blind cold calling setups! All you need is one bugle, this gives a direction, get to 150-175 yards & advertise yourself for 30 min to 45 min, it can work wonders!

ElkNut1

[Trophyhill]

These can make for some long days Rory. In my limited experience, elk aren't necessarily as silent as we might think. They just aren't nearly as loud but more subtle in their communication with each other. Hearing elk on days like this definitely requires your utmost attention to detail and your keen senses hitting on all cylinders. Being close which could mean hunting in or around bedding areas can be essential to hearing "silent" elk. This could mean sitting all day staying silent near known/suspected bedding areas. Picking your spots to call from along with your timing and making certain select sounds can get even the mute elk talking.

[Trophyhill]

Rory asked why elk seemingly go quiet. Cows go in and out of estrus until bred and when in between cycles, the bulls know this. If cows aren't receptive, the bulls know this and they bide their time or seek out cows elswhere that are in estrus, thus being more vocal when they find them. This is why I think bulls suddenly go silent. Cows in a given area simply aren't ready to breed and or are in between estrus cycles.