Topic of the week - AGGRESSIVE ELK HUNTING FOR HERD BULLS

[JPhelps]

Jason,
I am curious what you would do in a particular situation that we face often and will again soon.
 
We arrive at the top of a very big (never ending it seems) STEEP HOLE.  We blow a locator bugle.  We get a response from the bottom.  Which as am trying to describe is a LONG HARD HIKE .... Do you try at all to get that bull to come up out of that hole or do you just sneak into the "red zone" before you call again?

I think we may spend too much time trying to bring him out and then by the time we go down in there, he has already had enough ??

Thanks for you input!
Brian C.

What is the wind doing?
If blowing down or if it will continue blowing down you will have to drop below him.  When calling I like to try and be on contour or a little below but sometimes it isn't possible.

If I had a good lock on his location I wouldn't make another peep until I got the wind tight and in close (hopefully he will bugle on his own a couple times to assist).  You have to make yourself a threat to that bull and his cows.

If this bull did this to me more than once or twice I may try to start below him the following morning (the wind will be right and he should respond to a locator)

[HoofsandWings]

I wanted to confirm your tactics will work on spike bulls.

[smartazz171]

I've rarely called a bull uphill.. I usually try to be at the same level or below

Hunt NW that is some really good advice that you have to learn from lots of blown set ups.  couldn't agree more

[h2ofowlr]

Nice write up.  Sound advice.

[JPhelps]

This video from 2011 is pretty good proof that these aggressive tactics will even work on small raghorns.  The first bull we called in was most likely a younger herd bull while the second bull was a raghorn when I thought I was calling in the bigger mature herd bull (Tyson killed him the next night on part 2).

Primetime Outdoors - Gettin After It: Season 2 - Archery Elk Part 1

[brianmtsinc]

Jason,
I am curious what you would do in a particular situation that we face often and will again soon.
 
We arrive at the top of a very big (never ending it seems) STEEP HOLE.  We blow a locator bugle.  We get a response from the bottom.  Which as am trying to describe is a LONG HARD HIKE .... Do you try at all to get that bull to come up out of that hole or do you just sneak into the "red zone" before you call again?

I think we may spend too much time trying to bring him out and then by the time we go down in there, he has already had enough ??

Thanks for you input!
Brian C.

What is the wind doing?
If blowing down or if it will continue blowing down you will have to drop below him.  When calling I like to try and be on contour or a little below but sometimes it isn't possible.

If I had a good lock on his location I wouldn't make another peep until I got the wind tight and in close (hopefully he will bugle on his own a couple times to assist).  You have to make yourself a threat to that bull and his cows.

If this bull did this to me more than once or twice I may try to start below him the following morning (the wind will be right and he should respond to a locator)

Thanks for the advice Jason!  In the next couple of days I am headed to get a camera down into the bottom of this hole to hopefully get a pic of the bull(s) down there before the season starts.  We are working out and getting in shape so hopefully this place wont kick our butts so bad this year! 

The difficulty with getting on his same level is that it is just same damn steep....  but we will figure it out.  We usually have a solid up hill wind in the afternoon, so that may be our time to strike!

Side note - just order a few more of your calls !   Cant wait to get them!

Thanks again Jason!
Brian C