Late'ish Season Cow Hunt - Lost Calf sounds?

[7mmfan]

I have a late'ish season cow tag in Washington this year. Dates are November 4-8. This starts 5 days after the general spike season in Eastern Washington opens, so animals will have been run around quite a bit by then. This unit is generally thick timber/reprod, steep ridges and canyons at anywhere from say 3000' on up to 6000' elevation. Lower elevation has some open thinned/timber and canyons, and there is some subalpine open faces in the higher ground. Barring any significant weather i expect the bulk of the animals to still be high in the unit but definitely in the thick stuff since they'll have been pressured pretty hard for nearly a week before I start hunting.

I've been reading a lot about using lost calf sounds and wondered if anyone had any experience hunting pressured animals late in season and having success using lost calf sounds, specifically to bring in cows. I can also shoot spikes in this unit so I suppose that would work as well. I'm considering setting up above canyons likely to have elk on a vantage point and calling hoping one might show itself in the reprod anywhere in the canyon. I've had deer do that when using fawn in distress calls for bears in the fall.

Any thoughts on the topic?

[Swede]

I have tried lost cow/calf sounds in the archery season (September) with no success. I don't know why it did not work for me. I have never tried it in late October or November. I would be interested in anyone that had it work for them to share how many times you have tried it and how many times it worked out. Also, how did you use that call? Did you sit tight and wait (how long) while calling, or were you on the move a lot? Would chuckles work better?