Elk Tactics 2017 - Episode #6

[WapitiTalk1]

Date/Time: 20 September, 2017/7:30ish AM
Location: Somewhere in the elk woods
Hunt Pressure Status: Minimal
Hunt: Partner Hunt
Tag: Archery tag; any bull

Sorry, no pic this time, I think I’m spoiling you cats….just put on your elk thinking cap for this one .

As you're making your way up an old pack trail that runs along the side hill of a huge timbered basin (with gratuitous patches of 10' high alder mixed in), you decide to throw out a few soft cow mews to see if anybody is interested in chatting with you on this fine September morning. You're approaching a benched area on the side hill trail that has a few small meadows and at present time, you're about 1/4 of the way up the side hill (small creek in the bottom) from the bottom on this ascending trail. You set your partner up just below the trail and climb the side hill about 25 yards, knock an arrow, and throw out some soft, sultry cow mews and a few calf chirps.

The formerly quiet hillside now seems to come alive. Below the trail, 100 yards or so farther up the draw, you hear a bull bugle and chuckle 4-5 times on the tail end. Immediately after bull #1 makes his presence known, you hear some hard-hitting grunts followed by a nasty challenge bugle above the trail from bull #2, farther up the draw perhaps 150 yards. Terrain is some open timber pockets with a goodly amount of alder choked patches in between the timber outcroppings. As you make eye contact with your partner below the trail, he gives you hand signs that he sees three or more cows (having some hand signal language with your partner is important) above the trail close to where bull #2 bellowed.

What could these fellas be talking about? After taking a stab at deciphering what these sounds may mean in the situation given, what are your options/plan to get a shot at one of the bulls?

[Swede]

Bull # 1 is calling you to come. Bull #2 is warning bull #1. Bull #2 has cows and demands Bull #1 to stay away. I would signal my shooter to move in closer to somewhere on a level between the two bulls but short of them. I would then continue to cow call. When my shooter was in place, assuming the bull continued to chuckle, I would hit him with a small bull bugle with grunts.

[Mathewsz7-elkridge]

Sounds like luck is on my side and I stumbled in front of a heard bull with a couple cows and a satellite bull. I think I am going to try and call these cows past my partner adding a little more distance between us. Simulating me walking away a little bit with some more cow talk. Adding a little bit of excitement in my mews and hopefully bringing the heard right by my partner. If not the heard maybe a satellite will try and slip in and hook me up.

I am going to give this setup no more than 10 to 15 minutes then kick it up a notch and get back on the herd. Then challenge the herd bull.

[Heartwood]

The first thing I would do is decide which bull to focus on. Does my shooter want any bull or the herd bull. If he wants the sat bull #1 then he may already be on his way (be careful). If #1 chuckles me again from the same spot then I'm going to get aggressive and move to him because that is what he is asking. Get the wind right, you have good cover to move in and when you get close to his position, listen for raking. If he is raking, the shooter should move in, get the angle and shoot him. Sometimes when calling our way to a bull, we will grab some ground toward the bull and then set up and cow call only. If the bull responds then we will assess if the bull has gotten closer which will allow us to decide to move again or not. In our experience, once the sat bull sees that we are only talking to him, he will come in to the call. Do not introduce another bull into this sequence when trying to call a known sat bull. The odds are very high that #1 will end up getting a free ride to the freezer! Now, the herd bull is a completely different situation. He is going to require some aggressive moves and needs to be shown that you as a caller are a threat to him keeping his cows. With good cover and keeping the wind in our favor, we would move in tight to challenge this bull #2. If he has a hot cow which he very well may have, odds are stacked in our favor. We have used "The Threat" to call numerous bulls and this would be the time to use it. Another angle would be to slip in tight and just lip bawl his cows, talk about a slap in the face to #2. He would have to react. You do not have to worry about sounding like a big bull when calling to this herd bull, you will never sound big and bad enough to outdo his sound. Just some thoughts that come to mind with the picture that Phantom presented.