Official "what is this elk telling you thread"

[Trophyhill]

Following Rory's lead on a previous thread, and after talking to him about it, I wanted to start a thread where we could post a short video or sounds of real elk for comment on what the real elk are communicating. If you post a video that may be of some length, specify a time frame on a particular sound or sounds you would like others to comment on. For example "what is this or these elk telling you at 3:33 to 4:05 of the video. After some short discussion or a consensus is reached on what a particular sound means, feel free to post a video or sound from real elk to keep the thread moving so it doesn't get stale. I'll start with a short video from YouTube. What is this elk telling you?

http://youtu.be/uI5eona1hc4

[zpd307]

he is speaking to his ladies

[ElkNut1]

Yes, he's letting the unseen girls know where the group is & that the group may be moving on, in addition to this he is encouraging any other cows within earshot to join their group. It's possible an unseen person cow called here & he was responding in an invite manner to her.

ElkNut1

[zpd307]

excellent expansion paul

[WapitiTalk1]

What type of bull sounds are you hearing in this clip. Bonus question for a bag of Cheetos, what do you think the herd bull doing around the .43 to .50 mark?

[Gselkhunter]

Go away, don't come down here is the bugle and then he is chasing a cow back into his harem that is trying to leave. But if she has decided to leave him she will do it to go check out the other bull. Doesn't mean she won't come back once she sees the other bull. GIRLS!

[Gselkhunter]

Yes, he's letting the unseen girls know where the group is & that the group may be moving on, in addition to this he is encouraging any other cows within earshot to join their group. It's possible an unseen person cow called here & he was responding in an invite manner to her.

ElkNut1

Courtship bugling or condition bugling is also used when he makes advances on a hot cow. It is used also as a tool to calm down the cows in the heat of everything going on. Remember cows pick the bull that is going to breed them. First key is the bugle, then the bull has to have rack and body size to keep them but a little attitude doesn't hurt.

[WapitiTalk1]

What type of bull sounds are you hearing in this clip. Bonus question for a bag of Cheetos, what do you think the herd bull doing around the .43 to .50 mark?

Sounds to me like a whole lot of "advertising" is going on here (with some warning/challenge bugles mixed in by big stinky) with competition for the cows attention being so high.

[Shawn Ryan]

Phantom, I've watched the video several times. When I watch its only 31 seconds long, so I never hear a bull at 43 -50 seconds. ????

[Trophyhill]

Phantom, I've watched the video several times. When I watch its only 31 seconds long, so I never hear a bull at 43 -50 seconds. ????

That maybe the answer to win the bag of Cheetos

[WapitiTalk1]

Phantom, I've watched the video several times. When I watch its only 31 seconds long, so I never hear a bull at 43 -50 seconds. ????

Weird. I just watched it again and am seeing a full 52 seconds of the VID. The herd bull doesn't actually say anything at the .43 to .50 mark.. I was asking what he was doing Maybe try and pull the VID up directly in youtube?

[Duck-Slayer]

.43-.52 seconds it looks like he is trying too find a way threw the brush too chase a cow... He was almost confused... Thinking with his other head... lol
Matt

[Shawn Ryan]

For some reason, I can now see the new video you posted. It was not there when I read the thread several times previously. ?? Maybe the difference between viewing on my tablet v. desktop.

Antlers erect is a sign that a bull wants to or thinks he is about to mate. Its not herding behavior. This bull's antlers are only erect for a brief moment, so its a little difficult to tell if he's herding her or thought she was ready for him. I've never seen a bull run at a cow he thought was ready to mate, so his run at her suggests to me that he was merely herding her and the few moments his antlers were erect was just part of moving his antlers forward to encourage her along, i.e. "if you don't move, I'm going to poke you."