A whimpering bull and a quiet bugle...

[Blackhorn]

Had a couple different scenarios play out this week that I had not experienced before, so I thought I would share.

First scenario was a small three point that came into our calls he was about 15 yards away and whimpering almost like a dog, real soft mews over and over. We had been bugling with cow calls and it was like he was trying to draw a cow away without drawing the attention of what he thought was a rival.

The second was a soft or quiet bugle. This time we had a bull (sounded small) scream at our cow calls. We knew he wanted us to come to him so we progressed towards him on a logging road cow calling sparingly just to pin point his location as we got closer. We are close now and give a final cow call just to nail down his position ( up till then he had been bugling with just about every call) we get a bugle back but it sounds distant. We are thinking a different bull answered, so we progress slowly and come around a bend in the road only to find a bull... Oh crap we got caught not completely off guard but enough not to get a shot off he bolts..ooppps. We are pretty sure it had been that bull who gave us that last bugle since it came from about his location.. not saying it couldn't have been a distant bull but it sure seemed to be the bull we had been stalking. Has anyone heard of a soft bugle?

[elkmtngear]

Has anyone heard of a soft bugle?

I was in a treestand once, and watching a smallish 5x5 with a single cow at about 120 yards. They were feeding at the timber's edge. I tried cow calling to them several times over the course of about 30 minutes, and they acted completely uninterested.

Finally, they started walking away back into the timber. As I was chalking them up as a lost cause, the bull lets out a little puny (soft) bugle. I thought "what have I got to lose"...so I hit him back with a little spike squeal.

Bull charges out of the timber, stops right in front of my treestand, stomps his front foot and lets out a whiny little "huff" . It was almost comical how he went from "Mr. Quiet" to "Mr. Pissed Off". I double lunged him.

I think it was like you said, he was trying not to draw the attention of bigger bulls, in the interest of keeping his assets (his one cow)

When the challenge sounded wimpy enough, he became Billy Badass!

[Blackhorn]

he became Billy Badass!

That's funny stuff! Lesson learned, I guess I can never take a bugle for being where I think it is.

[elkmtngear]

he became Billy Badass!

That's funny stuff! Lesson learned, I guess I can never take a bugle for being where I think it is.

It is awful hard to pinpoint them sometimes!

You just have to go with your best guess!

[BRazz]

Had a similar scenario opening weekend - the only bull we heard bugling was a raghorn running about ten cows. His bugle was so light it was less audible than the mews coming from his cows!!!

Also, it's surprising how much a bugle's volume is affected by the direction the bull is facing and the trees/terrain between you and him.

[Trophyhill]

I've found that bugles even from the biggest bulls vary in volume, length, pitch, tone and nature. i'm still deciphering the code and having a great time doing it.

[ElkNut1]

Think of it like people calling others their way. At first you may need to yell or raise your voice to find ones location, once located you head their way, as you get closer do you continue to yell to a friend or someone you asked to come your way! Of course not, your tones are lowered as you realize they are getting closer, elk can & do the same thing. A soft bugle or chuckle would be appropriate as ones close the distance & direction is given. There will be times when bulls are so excited about a new recruit (cow) that they continue with a higher than normal volume in attracting this cow his way but that can be attributed towards the excitement of the rut that can overtake most bulls at the right time!

ElkNut1