a bull barking??

[miah]

I have heard a few bulls bark at me, what does it mean?? seems like a distress signal because they always move off afterwards.

[bone head]

  there telling you they aren't sure about something and their gonna leave.

[Todd_ID]

That bark is them asking you to show yourself or they're gonna leave.  They heard an elk (your calling) maybe smelled an elk (scents) and heard one walking (your footsteps), but they haven't seen a single hair, and they know they should have by now. 

This is the single best time to have a decoy ready.  Flash that thing where they can see it or walk across a small opening and the bull is instantly at ease that you are really another elk.  More often than not they'll come right to you.

[yelp]

I think sometimes it maybe satellite bulls checking to see if the big dog is nearby..Like Todd said its has a "show yourself or I am leaving"  meaning...hung up bulls like to bark.  I think it really means "Tag your it"!  LOL  

[coachcw]

the partys over , he's alerted and checking out , see yah,

[brianb231]

I am with Coach on this one. With that hair raising bark from Bull or Cow means "See ya. wouldnt wanna be ya!"

My

[Shawn Ryan]

Dan Kloer, owner of Deep Timber Sounds, says there are two kinds of barks.  One is a warning bark, which usually results in the elk leaving.  The second is a "come here" bark, which if responded to correctly, will relax the elk.  Kloer agrees with some of the posters here in that the "come here" bark wants a visual confirmation that you are an elk and a decoy helps satisfy that need.

Kloer says the warning bark is more high pitched and the come here bark is lower, throatier, and longer.

In my experience, he is correct.  As an example, I got busted by a cow at 19 yards. She could clearly see the top part of me, though I had wind on her and was well camouflaged. I had to let the bull I was chasing keep walking.  I thought she was going to bark.  I barked first.  We stood at 19 yards for 20 minutes exchanging sounds.  I gave her every sound I could make on my diaghram, including bugles, mews, barks, whistles, and even my turkey cuts.  She gave me a wide range of replies.  I eventually talked to her with my voice in words and waved my arms.  When I walked away, she was still there.  I didn't figure I could shoot her after we had such a thorough exchange.  Though I didn't have a decoy to show her I was an elk, I think my initial bark and reply barks that imitated her, set her at ease. I've never had a similar experience, though I now successfully use the come here bark to slow elk that I have bumped.

[belkaholic]

yes yes and yes, i like it when they have no idea that im there(perfect world) or they bark. i always bark back at them and it payed off. icalled a cow back to me from about a 100 yards and got my first bull last year after a cow barked at me. i barked back and then a long estrus call and he came in to 28 yards. i always bark back now, the worst that could happen is they are going to take off anyways.

[Backstraps]

I went to one of Joel Turner's elk calling seminars.........he told us to bark back at them!  I guess it couldn't hurt! Hopefully I can try this some day!

[funkster]

I agree it has two even three meanings. Like said,one means "I am out of here". Two, I believe is also an alert bark for the herd saying " danger, everybody get out of here". I have seen dieing elk alert the whole herd telling them to get out of here fast.The third one I believe means "come here" or "show yourself. This works good when a herd bust(not knowing why, just leary) and has a bull in it. I have had bulls come to barks and I have seen cows call calf's to their side with barks. Like all calling, it all depends on pitch and getting out in the woods and just watching elk be elk will teach you a lot.

[h2ofowlr]

We walked into a dead silent little draw earlier this season.  I guess we were not quite enough when this cow barked at us and it echoed.  Loud as hell.  She was about 30 yards away and we didn't have a shot. 

[Elknut1]

 miah, from your comments I'd say you experienced what's call ed a "nervous grunt" this sound is made by both cows & bulls. It sounds similar to a "bark" but has a different meaning than a true warning lets get out of here bark, this happens from smelling you or seeing you! A Warning BARK given by any elk doesn't hang around at all, they move off right now & many times they continue to bark as they retreat, it's possible for other elk to chime in as well alerting all nearby elk.

  A "nervous grunt" is given in place of a bark when an elk is surprised or it hears you coming their way because of noise you may be making or you may have called & they can't see the source of the calling, this is generally under 80yds. If this elk hangs around & gives this same sound several times within a few minutes time span then you know it's not a warning bark, YET! They do want to see the source though! There are things you can do to overcome this encounter & have an opportunity at this elk! Barking back is not one of them, sure they'll respond to it but you have a 2% chance of killing that elk, advantage elk! The reason is they are on high alert & acute to any movement or sound you may make!

  ElkNut1

[yelp]

I went to one of Joel Turner's elk calling seminars.........he told us to bark back at them!   I guess it couldn't hurt! Hopefully I can try this some day!

Bark back...

Ruff Ruff Howl  Ruff

That was the wolf seminar..sorry..LOL

I think more times than not it is just like a whitetail doe blowing..they no your there and the jig is up.  Nothing worse than a blowing doe while hunting or them damn squirrels!

[STIKNSTRINGBOW]

That is interesting.... I have been barked at and usually the elk have all gone on high alert and vacated the area in a hurry. This past season I had 2 different occassions where I was barked at (and it was the deeper,(less high pitched) sound and on the first one they moved off slowly still barking. On the second one, a cow actually came TOWARDS me. I thought I was busted so I backed off....30+ years of elk hunting and I still learn something new all the time.

[TheHunt]

 miah, from your comments I'd say you experienced what's call ed a "nervous grunt" this sound is made by both cows & bulls. It sounds similar to a "bark" but has a different meaning than a true warning lets get out of here bark, this happens from smelling you or seeing you! A Warning BARK given by any elk doesn't hang around at all, they move off right now & many times they continue to bark as they retreat, it's possible for other elk to chime in as well alerting all nearby elk.

  A "nervous grunt" is given in place of a bark when an elk is surprised or it hears you coming their way because of noise you may be making or you may have called & they can't see the source of the calling, this is generally under 80yds. If this elk hangs around & gives this same sound several times within a few minutes time span then you know it's not a warning bark, YET! They do want to see the source though! There are things you can do to overcome this encounter & have an opportunity at this elk! Barking back is not one of them, sure they'll respond to it but you have a 2% chance of killing that elk, advantage elk! The reason is they are on high alert & acute to any movement or sound you may make!

 
  ElkNut1

Please post a wav file of the difference between a nervous grunt and a bark.  The use of a bark back is a good tool to have in the bag of tricks.  But doing it very quietly seams to effective.