bull age/ call receptivity

[wawhitey]

In september i shot a spike and managed to call him back to me by cow calling. Would that have worked on a mature bull? Im really a whitetail hunter and i know as far as that goes the young ones arent half as smart as the mature ones. Do you guys cow call after you shoot a mature bull? How much does it help? Will a mature bull come back to you after you shoot him just because you cow call? Just how dumb do the big boys get in september?

[under H2O hunter]

Your cow calling after a shot is not to get him to come back so much as it is to try and just stop him. Making the tracking a bit easier. A few quick calls to get them to settle down and stop is all that is needed. If you connect and get a bull to stop, then stop calling and just wait patiently. Calm your own nerves first then see what transpires. Does it work on mature bulls? Some times but mostly it just stops them and they look around for what ever stuck them. They usually look confused. One second they were looking for another elk the next they just felt something stick em.

[wawhitey]

thats all i was trying to do was stop him as he ran off, but man he came back and started yelling at me! can i chalk that up to him being young and stupid then? or might that happen with an older bull?

[under H2O hunter]

You should chalk it up to him being young and in love aka stupid... I have several young spike bulls on film that I have called in repeatedly after they got my wind even by simply cow calling to them to get them to stop once they stopped you can almost see their attitude change. I think it's because they have the testosterone flowing and feel this is their only opportunity to score with a cow so they throw their own safety and caution to the wind and walk right back in. Most older bulls will just keep their distance and not come back in. I have seen them bugle again or try and bugle I should say after being shot and stopped. Think about when you first turned 21 and were at the bar looking to score. You would buy girls drinks and such. They would tell you all the right things till the end of the night then they would go home with their girlfriends leaving you broke and scratching your heads. Eventually as you got older you learned the games they played and you wouldn't fall for it as easily.