Archery calling

bracer40

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Messages
126
Location
Ugh, Seattle
Yup, asking other hunters (especially our group, except for one guy) is like playing poker. You never know for sure what they’re holding, but you suspect a whole lot of bluffing going on!
 
Joined
Jul 1, 2017
Messages
85
Location
Boise, ID
Love the thrill of calling bull elk into bow range. That’s the method I think about all through the off season and my first choice. But hunting is hunting. I’d add as many tools to the tool box as possible.


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Ross

Super Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
4,674
Location
Liberty Lake, WA
I’ve started telling them bulls are screaming and running to you can’t decide which one to shoot it is like a candy store 🥳👍🍭
 
OP
Scooter90254

Scooter90254

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 7, 2018
Messages
234
Location
Michigan
Yup, asking other hunters (especially our group, except for one guy) is like playing poker. You never know for sure what they’re holding, but you suspect a whole lot of bluffing going on!

Haha. The first 2 days of our 1st hunt in CO we called 3 different bulls to us. Just couldn’t work out a shot. Terrible setup in hindsight.

We then talked to some very reasonable sounding experienced hunters who basically said our problem was the calling. One guy said there hasn’t been a bull killed in this unit calling in a decade. Lol. If they were making that up I should nominate them for an Oscar. You will never bugle a bull in here was their response.

Worst part of the story is we listened and didn’t have a single encounter for the next 5 days sneaking through the timber. We are so motivated and willing to learn that maybe we took some bad advise. Live and learn I guess.
 
Joined
Jul 15, 2019
Messages
29
Timing of the season, where the elk is, what mood that bull is in, pressure from hunters, so many factors are involved in whether or not that elk will come in to a call. Now for some real life stories...I leave the bugle tube at home and only use cow calls. Very unlike all the hunting you see online these days with $50 bugle tubes (overpriced childs bats that I used to hit a whiffleball with)

The bull that bugled in response to any noise I made was bedded down in a bed by 9am and it allowed me to get within 20 yards before he stood up and walked to 7 yards away from me before he ran off with an arrow in his chest.

I've called and had bulls sneak in quietly just to check it out, they will make no sounds and barely crack a branch coming in and totally surprise you.

I've had a hard of elk running above me on a hillside and let out a single cow elk mew and they turned on a dime and came right to me and stopped at 30 yards to look around and find this lost cow they are looking for.

But mostly when that bull bugles it's because it's a herd bull and he is pushing his cows AWAY from this other bull (first time hunter) bugling on the ridge top.

Cow calls FOR ME work very effectively, that's why I have 5 different Reed calls on me every time I walk out there. I wanna sound like a group of cows if I have to. Even carry a primos hoochie mama cause squeezing a bulb is so easy and quick and requires very little movement.

This is just my opinion and my exp found in my 9 years of elk hunting so far in archery season. I'd tell most new hunters to stay away from the bugles unless you are Roosevelt elk hunting. Don't be a BRO, born and raised guy, put the bugle tube down.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
15,527
Location
Colorado Springs
I've called and had bulls sneak in quietly just to check it out, they will make no sounds and barely crack a branch coming in and totally surprise you.

Yep, that happens several times a day with cow calls......mostly with raghorns. It's like fly fishing with dry flies and those pesky whitefish that won't leave your fly alone. Throw on some big stuff, and the whitefish won't touch it. But those big browns go crazy for it.
 

Rich M

WKR
Joined
Jun 14, 2017
Messages
5,100
Location
Orlando
My first time in Colorado we had two close encounters with nice bulls and both of them were called in. Maybe just dumb luck?

The next couple hunts we limited calling on the advise of hinting friends and our success was limited.

Why don't you just do what you want and make your own opinion as opposed to trying to figure out everyone else's.

It really is a fun sport, we all do it diff and specialize in our preferences. I can think of other topics folks disagree on and are successful.
 
OP
Scooter90254

Scooter90254

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 7, 2018
Messages
234
Location
Michigan
Why don't you just do what you want and make your own opinion as opposed to trying to figure out everyone else's.

It really is a fun sport, we all do it diff and specialize in our preferences. I can think of other topics folks disagree on and are successful.

That's exactly what I am doing.

By reading and studying other people's experience and opinions I will be able to try a few things that best fit my style. This has been a very informative thread for me.
 

kiddogy

WKR
Joined
Jul 14, 2019
Messages
595
Location
idaho
one thing I have found when calling is . sometimes it pays to not do what all the other hunters are doing. this is where different preferences on calls comes in.

my all time favorite is still wayne carltons super blue.. with practice one can make pretty much any sound an elk does with just that one diaphram. grunt tubes are fine but I don't use them and find them unneccesary.

the high shriek of a younger bull is sometimes more effective then the challenge from a biggun.
often I will not bugle or grunt at all and just cow call. other times , I may not even call at all, if the elk are already vocal on their own.
every encounter calls for different tactics , don't be afraid to mix it up a bit , based on what the elk are doing.
 
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
2,591
Location
Tijeras NM
Personally, had I listened to the "leave your calls in camp" croud, I'd still be elkless and probably would have hung up the bow and went back to rifle hunting. There is a time and place for all tactics. To advise guys to leave the calls in camp is doing them a disservice. If you listen to that advice, you will be a 1 dimensional Hunter who may or may not have success at some point.

What I have learned from Paul (Elknut1) was just as advertised. My goal as a new elkhunter in 2008 was to learn as much as I could, as fast as I could. I was 45 and had a huge sense of urgency. When I discovered Paul's stuff and read how it would shorten the learning curve, I was game to give it a shot. And boy am I glad I did!

No false advertising there. I killed my first elk the following year, and have had opportunities to kill every year since with a success rate around 70% since. I've hunted probably 8 different units since then too and some are heavily hunted OTC units. So I know this stuff works!

Don't let anyone convince you not to call! Learn to call, learn to do it well, learn when to call, what to say when you call, and you will have shot opportunities! It's up to you ;)
 

AC300win

FNG
Joined
Dec 24, 2015
Messages
37
Location
NE Oregon
Good elk hunters are good scouters, glassers, callers, strategists, adaptive, persistent, good shooters, etc. Being adaptive to changing seasons, conditions and hunter pressure increases odds of success. If you are not calling elk, you are missing out on that part of the September elk hunting thrill. However, it’s not the only way to kill elk and sometimes can be to your disadvantage, particularly in areas and times that are getting heavy hunting and calling pressure. Maybe its in our heads, but I swear big bulls tending cows in intensively hunted areas "whisper bugle" as we call it.
 
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