Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: miah on October 05, 2009, 10:00:35 PM

Title: a bull barking??
Post by: miah on October 05, 2009, 10:00:35 PM: I have heard a few bulls bark at me, what does it mean?? seems like a distress signal because they always move off afterwards. :dunno:
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: bone head on October 05, 2009, 10:55:56 PM: :chuckle: there telling you they aren't sure about something and their gonna leave.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: Todd_ID on October 05, 2009, 11:08:21 PM: 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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: yelp on October 06, 2009, 07:15:12 AM: 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 :chuckle:
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: coachcw on October 06, 2009, 07:39:20 AM: the partys over , he's alerted and checking out , see yah, :(
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: brianb231 on October 06, 2009, 04:21:16 PM: I am with Coach on this one. With that hair raising bark from Bull or Cow means "See ya. wouldnt wanna be ya!"

My :twocents:
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: Shawn Ryan on October 06, 2009, 04:41:10 PM: 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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: belkaholic on October 06, 2009, 06:35:41 PM: 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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: Backstraps on October 06, 2009, 07:13:07 PM: I went to one of Joel Turner's elk calling seminars.........he told us to bark back at them! :dunno: I guess it couldn't hurt! :chuckle: Hopefully I can try this some day!
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: funkster on October 06, 2009, 08:39:55 PM: 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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: h2ofowlr on October 06, 2009, 10:16:52 PM: 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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: Elknut1 on October 07, 2009, 06:13:05 AM: 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
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: yelp on October 07, 2009, 06:50:09 AM: Quote from: Backstraps on October 06, 2009, 07:13:07 PM
I went to one of Joel Turner's elk calling seminars.........he told us to bark back at them! :dunno: I guess it couldn't hurt! :chuckle: 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!
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on October 07, 2009, 10:00:46 AM: 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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: TheHunt on October 07, 2009, 10:22:17 AM: Quote from: Elknut1 on October 07, 2009, 06:13:05 AM

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.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: WonkyWapiti on October 07, 2009, 05:37:13 PM: I have experienced a bull barking. My buddy and I had a bull barking at us for 45 minutes one morning. We were cow calling and it was pacing back and forth just out of bow range on the hillside above us. The bull kept barking at us as we were hidden in the trees and I was an idiot and had forgotten my bugle back at the car. We kept cow calling and had him all worked up, he had some cows with him that had gone up the hill.

The sound of the bark was a loud gutteral bark that echoed through the area. Based on what I observed that day I felt that elk's bark was definitely a show me bark attempting to get visual confirmation of his cows and/or attempting to get his cows up the hill to him. Even though we didn't get the bull, it was one of the coolest experiences I have had with calling to bulls.
Title: Re: a bull barking??
Post by: Buckrub on October 08, 2009, 05:46:05 AM: I had a bull bark at me this year... I barked right back at him and he came in closer and barked again before retreating to 100 yds. bugling again. We had him at twenty yards and couldn't get a shot but it sure was hair raising fun.. :drool: We had worked on this bull for 15 minutes and I think he was getting wise to the game.

Nuthin better than having a screaming bull hurt your eardrums at close range.