Are You Bugling Enough????

[ElkNut1]

In talking with a lot of hunters I find that many hunters have some strange ideas about elk & bugling! So many feel that Bugling just runs elk/bulls away. Is this true or not? It can be true but rare is the case do elk run from bugles, it's the hunter being spotted or smelled that runs elk more than anything! 2ndly is guys walking toward bulls once they've made contact with them at long distances of 150 yards or more & continue to bugle as the head towards the bull. At times you can get away with this if there are already multiple bulls bugling, one more bull (you) means nothing! In working a lone bull & calling your way to him can result in a "runner".

Plan on using ones bugle to locate elk as you would use Binos for locating elk. Use your bugle if needed as you move in closer if needed to close the deal but avoid calling all the way to him. This is especially so on OTC Public Land elk.

With all this being said be prepared to call 25-50 times in a whole day. Even more can be required if using an Advertising Sequence as in the DVD. Cover ground & call as you do your best to receive a response this time of year in a running & gunning situation. Do not feel if the elk are not talking then you shouldn't bugle, this is a myth & will net you little! Fire them up!!! Of course we do our best to hunt areas void of as many hunters as possible & it's not to tough to do as long as you're willing to burn boot leather! You may like to do a lot of silent stalking & that's great, but locate elk first by calling & covering ground as you would through glassing then go into silent mode if that's your strength & desire!

Bottom line, learn to use that Bugle!!!

ElkNut1

[Indian Summer]

Very good post! Tell the truth Paul... did you think of me at some point when you were typing that? You know I call sparingly. As you also know my hearing is really bad so I can't rely on my ears for much. I call as much as I want to locate. But once I know where they are I go into stealth mode calling only to relocate if it has been awhile since they talked.

I can't wait to call moose where they have never seen a human and the nearest person is 100 miles or more away. The moose in the lower 48 are pretty relaxed and respond well to calls. I can't wait to be able to call as much as I want and not worry about spooking game.

[WapitiTalk1]

Not yet, but will be starting on 12 September all the way through the 30th in both WA and ID! Can't wait to have thoughtful, meaningful conversations with bull elk and bring one or two home for dinner. It's gonna be a great year, I feel it in my bones.

[G Posik]

In the evening hunts what time do you normally start bugling? By the way I am in Idaho hunting and love this place!

[IdahoKel]

Great post and a good reminder for me. Do you bugle that much (25-50 times a day) this early in the month?

[ElkNut1]

Joe, LOL! You know me like a book! I did think you might have chimed in with hunters bugling too much! (grin) You surprised me! All in all you too had a very good evaluation & plan!

In the evenings if not much is happening I like waiting until elk get up from their beds around 6 pm to 6:30 pm. After that I do a lot of listening but will try to ignite a response if there's no rutting/bugling action, it seems to work well over 90% of the time all through Sept. Get creative in ones calling. In sort of like trying to keep children entertained, have creative ideas & you have their interest!

Yes, I will bugle that much the 1st week of the season. Sunday was our opener & I played with a bull over 15 times in 30 minutes. He wasn't fired up at all but was no doubt herd bull quality by his sounds. No intensity behind them but got him to 125 yards, after that it was too open to cow call our way right to him so we walked away & let him live for another day when one of his cows come into estrus! It's just a matter of time!

ElkNut1

[zpd307]

alright paul, this has been the year that I have upped my game... stepped up my workouts and lost an additional 11 pounds. learned elk behavior and calling better. now, I will try this technique to get a better location on where the bulls are!

[Huntrgathr]

I agree completely with what you said Paul. It's hard to disagree with a guy that's 50% elk ! Although I would add that, in my experience, cold calling early in the season most often brings in the little guys. If that's what you're after great ! But where we hunt the herd bulls are still 1500-2000 feet in elevation above the cows ( a few are in closer proximity but not many ) and they are in their ultimate safety zones where they back up to cliffs and scree slopes and are nearly unstalkable. They may lazily respond to location bugles or cow sounds but they're not budging from their bedrooms so it becomes a spot and stalk or call and stalk situation anyway. Much easier to get them when they let their guard down to chase cows ( same with the Muley rut). Sometimes it's easier to let the animals come to you rather than going to them. They're generally talking already without having to be located by bugling and are more susceptible to being persuaded.

The rut was in full swing on opening day last year so this year we packed in A day before opening with intentions of staying through the 7th but after 3 days in the woods we decided to pull out and give the bulls some time to come down where we have a much better chance at them. We learned our lesson last year in educating the bulls early when they were much more difficult to call in. The contrast between this years slow start and last year's early start is HUGE. Hunting pre-rut Vs. full swing is like night and day. It's like hunting an entirely different unit and/or season. Just my .02...

[good2eat]

So Paul, are you talking an all day kinda thing or just morning and evening?

[ElkNut1]

No doubt morning & evenings would see the most calling coming from us to contact elk but we will call midday as well but generally not as much. As the rut picks up bulls will become more vocal as they compete for hot cows attention, this can happen any day & all day when it occurs, at these times we may call much less because bulls are bugling on their own giving us their location so no need to call.

Rarely do we use cow sounds to incite contact as they just are not far reaching enough for us. The Bugle does so well no need to change! (grin) When calling at night or an hour or so before light to locate/contact elk we will bugle 1-3 times per spot, once an elk bugles back we do not call again, we do not want this elk to come our way. Again, we established contact & now we know where they are, that's all we need! (grin)

There are times we get close to bedding areas early morning before elk get there & we will call out in hopes of hearing them, the reason for this is to determine if they will use that spot to bed or are they bedding somewhere else that morning, if they respond we quit calling, we found out what we needed to know. Lots of reasons to bugle & where we will bugle to establish contact! The same does not apply if sitting water/wallows. Sure we've been known to bugle at those times for good reason but we don't just sit there & bugle the whole time during our stay. We will plant the seed that an elk is there with a bit of calling & splashing the water/wallow, too we add thrashing & foot stomping to make it real to any elk within earshot. Once done in a 4-5 minute amount of commotion we wind down all the sounds & sit tight & wait. Elk don't have much of a time table like we do so patience can be a virtue here! (grin)

ElkNut1

[powderhogg01]

hey paul, I am one of those guys who just cant use mouth reeds, though I am sure giving it a try. I find that once I get a good sound and end the call I gag and mess up the end notes.. do to this I decided to go with a different style, for bugles I am currently using the mac daddy, I feel I am convincing myself with all the stuff I have watched for locators, and once I hear elk I can usually keep tone and cadence with what I hear. I am just not sure my bugles are good enough to get responses(or im in an area the elk rarely bugle). Would it be better to just force my body to get over the mouth reed issues or do you feel I might find success with the other style of call.

[ElkNut1]

Sam, fortunately elk hunting isn't a calling contest! (grin) When calling to elk asking "where are you" with contact/location bugles you are doing your best to hit a high note, you do not need to use any growls, chuckles or grunts along with your high pitch bugle! Do not get fancy, elk are basically only hearing the high note anyway so don't waste your breath on unneeded sounds. Just about any bugle worth its salt will produce high enough pitched bugles for contact purposes. Work on those high carrying notes, this is where response will eventually be had.

It's most likely a bit late this year to put much focus on mouth reeds to the point you will have confidence in using them, instead focus more on getting adequate with the bugle you do intend to use. The season is upon us, polish up with what you have & save the mouth reed practice for the off season for the most part. Good luck!

ElkNut1

[powderhogg01]

thanks for the confidence boost paul. I am able hold a nice high pitch tone with it(I have been able to get the level 1 and 2 to sound spot on to my ears at least), last season I was able to get into a bugle match with 3 bulls and had a smaller satellite come in, no shot because it came so fast and from the downwind side I was not ready for him. I have just been trying to hike around with the mouth reed so my body can get more used to it, I may let out a lost mew or two, but as I am fairly new to this whole show I am not sure how often to mew or how many time to mew in a single session... so I tend to just stay quiet and hope to hear some elky sounds.. be it calls or splashes or branches breaking..

[Mike_Parson]

this is so much great information!!!!!! i wasnt going to use the bugle that much as i didnt think i needed to and now i have learned its very much the opposite. THANK YOU!!!! i head out tomorrow afternoon and cant wait to get in the mountains and work them up.