Real bugle vs other hunters

mwebs

WKR
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Sep 2, 2018
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I used to think I knew and still think I do sometimes but truth is I don’t.. Had a bull we chased for two years called the donkey bull, weirdest sounding bull ever, yea he sounded like a donkey.
 

WCB

WKR
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Jun 12, 2019
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There are times you can definitely tell it is a human calling. Also, like others have said real elk can make some strange noises especially when they get all worked up or get hoarse from being super vocal. I have seen a few bulls "bugle" but zero audible noise from a couple hundred yards out. Get closer and it sounds like a 60 year old chain smoking biker chick trying to whisper after getting kicked in the gut.
 

Read1t48

WKR
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May 18, 2017
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WCB -
I don’t know what bars you hang out at, but I want to see that brawl. My money is on the biker chick. Sounds like she’s got some Roosevelt blood in her.
 
Joined
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Chase EVERY BUGLE!
So true!! A friend and I were once climbing a steep ridge mid morning when we heard a perfect sounding bugle back from where we just came from below. We both kinda knew it was another hunter but decided to go back down and respond anyway - just in case. For the next half hour we played bugle tag until my buddy finally caught a glimpse of a dude in camo bugling at us. We backed out a little ways and decided to eat lunch and take a nap. That evening my buddy called in an Elk and killed it right near our nap spot. That hunter doesn't know it but he saved us from so much hiking that day! We had a pretty ambitious plan that day prior to chasing the false bugle.
 

wapitibob

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Bulls rarely bugle and chuckle, hunters always do. It’s also rare for a bull to cut you off unless you’re close and have been bugling at each other for some time.
 
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Huntnfish89

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 6, 2021
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Yea what threw me off was the fact that it tried to cut me off, as this is a tactic that I have heard and read about to get a bull to commit and come in if he is hung up. This and it seemed that I would only get responses to my bugles, but not cow calls...
 

sneaky

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If the bugle is followed by a chuckle every time, it's a hunter. Hunters chuckle way too much. Real elk chuckle about 10% of the time, hunters about 90%. Elk also cover ground much quicker and will never come bugling in from downwind of you lol

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Joined
Mar 18, 2014
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385
Called in a bull that my little bro killed last week, and he chuckled with almost every bugle, bugled over top of me over a dozen times, and basically broke every rule people are proudly touting in this thread. The only way to know the difference is simply lots of experience. The more you interact with the real thing, the easier it is to recognize the fake. However, don't just go by a list of "It's a hunter if...." Given enough encounters, elk will break all those rules. There's really no substitute for years of experience.
 
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Huntnfish89

Lil-Rokslider
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Mar 6, 2021
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I'm working on that whole years of experience thing, but the learning curve is pretty steep with no real mentors other than online or the occasional conversation with a friend or two that hunt ( we can just never seem to get our schedules in line to get out together). In any case, I try and take it in stride and know that everything can change in a second and try and learn something from everyday even when I feel like I'm aimlessly wandering around the woods.

Now say I location bugle and get a response. I move in a ways and then follow up with a cow call and no response. Wind is in my favor etc. What's my play now? I know there is no real cut and dry sequence that " has" to he followed, but generally speaking?
 

Scooter90254

Lil-Rokslider
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May 7, 2018
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Michigan
If we are in a DIY Colorado, Montana, or Idaho we assume it’s a hunter until proven otherwise.

I would say 3/4 of the bulls that you hear that to quit are other hunters that see you.

Have met a bunch of cool guys from all over the country on call ins.
 
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