East Coast Transplant first time OTC Olympic Roosevelt

[Cummca17]

Planning 10 days off from work this September to try my luck at elk hunting. I'm addicted to bow hunting but this will be my first time chasing Elk. I am planning on picking up some calls in the coming weeks and driving my family crazy practicing until September.

I was wondering if any of you have calls/brands that you swear by, or if like I assume, I can just grab anything off the shelf at a local archery shop.

Thanks for the help in advance!

[hughjorgan]

https://buglingbull.com/product-category/elk-calls/

Lots of guys like the Phelps calls as well.

[Special T]

Phelps and Berry's are from Washington state for mouth calls. if your from the east coast and can call turkey with a mouth call  shouldnt be that hard. They both also make reed calls

[blackveltbowhunter]

I use phelps calls. All of the call manufacturers make good calls that work. Diaphragms are very consistent from phelps and I like nearly all of them. The metal tube and reed calls IMO standout from the rest of the pack.

No matter what calls starting out with a palet or dome, along with a light latex will be the easiest to get noise out of initially. Bugling bull mellow yellow, and Monarch(?), and phelps pitch black series, and black diaphragms are easy to master and will cover all the sounds you really need in the elk woods. As you get more profficient playing with different calls and finding what you like best will be easy and can be addictive. Next thing you know you are buying dozens of mouth reeds to play with.
 
Mastering the calls is the easy part, knowing when, where, and why to call that when the games get frustrating 

[WapitiTalk1]

Welcome to Hunt WA, glad to have you on board. First, it’s not necessarily the brand of the calls (I use Berry Game calls and have for many years) but more so how and when you should and need to use them.  This site has a good group of seasoned elk hunters that will help you on your way.  When you hear an elk make a noise, verbal or non verbal, or, you make one yourself… it means something in the elk woods. Most beginning and even some seasoned hunters don’t understand this and it ends with bad results in many situations. You have a steep learning curve before this fall but not insurmountable. I would recommend that you check out Elknut’s products and his posts on various forums, he is arguably the master when it comes to elk language interpretation and tactics in the month of September. 

You can find a link to his site on WapitiTalk.com (and probably learn a bit on that site as well about elk hunting).  Mods, go ahead and delete this last part if I’ve stepped out of bounds. RJ

[nwwanderer]

Maybe take a look at elknut

[KFhunter]

Barry is a super nice guy, but his calls do not fit my very narrow and high palate.

I've had good luck with Phelps, but his one piece domes aren't tweakable, off the shelf these calls almost work for me.

I spent almost an hour one on one with Corey Jacobson's dad and learned a ton, he was pulling elk diaphrams off the shelf and taking pliars to them, showing me how to fit them properly.  That was stand out imo now I got some calls that fit and better knowledge on how to fit them. 

[WapitiTalk1]

KF, speaking of Rocky J., I was able to locate this older VID.  It is really a good "how to use a diaphragm" instructional VID. He breaks it down the the basics.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VITaRJNVuyQ

[Cummca17]

Thanks for all of the feedback! Honestly way more than I expected. I'll be sure to get my hands on a few of the different calls everyone posted. I am pretty accustom to diaphragm calls from hunting Eastern gobblers. As many have mentioned the trickiest part will be figuring out when and why to use them!

Thanks for the blog and video resources as well. I'll be sure to be studying up. I am not sure I can expect a lot in the way of success on a DIY Elk hunt with the bow, but it beats the 100% guarantee of coming up empty handed if I stay sitting on the couch.

Should be a great learning experience as well. Thanks again everyone!

[Alchase]

Hunting Rosies in the Olympics, I have found you will call in more hunters then elk when calling. It seems most elk bulls go quiet and bug out when they hear calling, because they get called too by so many hunters. Cow locater calls can get you in the herd.
Find their travel corridors and where they are bedding. Setup a few yards inside the tree line, and wait for them to get pushed to you.

 

[MeatMissile]

Hunting Rosies in the Olympics, I have found you will call in more hunters then elk when calling. It seems most elk bulls go quiet and bug out when they hear calling, because they get called too by so many hunters. Cow locater calls can get you in the herd.
Find their travel corridors and where they are bedding. Setup a few yards inside the tree line, and wait for them to get pushed to you.

Good advice.  I swear you can sit and listen to 40 idiots squeezing a hoochie mama.

[GASoline71]

Barry is a super nice guy, but his calls do not fit my very narrow and high palate.

I've had good luck with Phelps, but his one piece domes aren't tweakable, off the shelf these calls almost work for me.

I spent almost an hour one on one with Corey Jacobson's dad and learned a ton, he was pulling elk diaphrams off the shelf and taking pliars to them, showing me how to fit them properly.  That was stand out imo now I got some calls that fit and better knowledge on how to fit them. 

My palate is the same and I have pretty much given up on any kind of mouth calls for elk and turkey.  My elk bugle is a call made by Wayne Carlton.  Can't remember the name of it off hand, but it has an external tuneable reed that is pretty easy to use.

But I'd love to find a call to fit my weird palate.

Gary

[WildcatRanger]

I have a narrow palate and have found the Primos Sonic Dome Mini fits perfectly. I also use it as a template to trace and trim regular sized diaphragms.