Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: Elkhound on December 05, 2011, 01:45:55 PM
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I still haven't filled my archery Margaret bull tag....close encounters but everything hasn't come together yet! Anyway, I was hunting yesterday morning and thought I heard a chuckle off in the distance. At the time, I was keeping my eyes on a herd of about 20 elk that had 3 spikes in it, and as the herd wondered off I made my way over to where I heard the chuckle. I was about 200 yards from an alder patch and I couldn't believe what I heard...multiple bugles and tree raking!!!! I was in shock and as I slowly made my way over to the patch.......on frozen maple leaves.....I as able to get a glimpse of a couple of bulls that soon took off. It was very neat but odd at the same time. I have never had the pleasure of hearing bugling in the late season like that! I only have next weekend available to close out my dream tag season......and hopefully I won't be cooking tag soup at the end!!!!
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Elk bugle year round. And if they are bugling that much it means that there are some unbred cows that are starting to come back into estrus. Lost cow calls will be your best bet if you want to know what to use to call. Bugling will not work since the bulls are not going to be super fired up. For them the fight and rut is over. Estrus cow calls wont work super well either since this time of year the bulls are focused on eating so its kind of like a "hey if you want some of this baby you can come here and get it." Your best bet is spot and stalk, if you really want to call like I said a lost cow would work best. Try and call the cows over to you "if your close to them" and hope one of those bulls follows the cows.
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Thanks for the pointers!! I did just try and stalk but couldn't cover my walking/crunching sounds through the frozen leaves well enough to get close! I did however get a chance to release on a nice bull later in the day........killed an alder tree though!
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I called in a herd of 10+ cows today using a mouth call, calf call and the hoochie. I had the cows talking up a storm as I moved closer. I was breaking branches and making all kinds of noise to let them think I was elk. It was super thick but I had them at less then 80 yards. Suddenly a bull just screams at me. Almost made me think I was putting the sneak on some hunters.
I heard a bull bugle about 2 weeks ago that was just a hello whistle nothing aggressive. This bull screamed hard with a growl at me. I never got to see it but the cows sure headed his way. Luckily I was able to intercept one of the cows.
It was a cool day! No way I could have got a elk had it not been for me calling. Never leave those calls at home.
This was Idaho though.
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I heard on bugle yesterday , kinda a lil mellow buggle .
