The Power Of The Call !!

[ElkNut1]

The sound of a Bugling Bull is a sound that you'll never forget or ever get enough of! When it comes to looking for elk or Locating them in the vast mountains especially in new country no matter the time of day or day of the month in Sept we find the Power of the Bugle can really help save the boot leather! Now we enjoy using all types of sounds to get bulls to respond giving away their positions but for us nothing compares to the good old Bugle of a Bull Elk for this purpose! We locate aprox 90% + elk with the Bugle over the Cow Call & yes we hunt all OTC Public Lands, no private lands or ranches. -- The cow call has its place but the Bugle is the true locater & master of all sounds.

Don't get me wrong, this doesn't imply that every time we bugle bulls respond, quite the contrary! But persistence & covering lots of country will produce results especially from the 10th on. We do call bulls earlier than that but for the most part after the 10th can be awesome!

What do you feel works best for finding elk with sounds for you?

ElkNut1

[Bowhunter]

The bugle is the best for locating elk. It is louder and will carry a long distance. We use the location bugle to find them then get close befor we try anything else or they will just take their girls and move away.

[WapitiTalk1]

Hands down, I use elk bugles to locate vocal bulls more than any other method. Cow calling has it's place for certain as well as does just raking brush to solicit a response, or as a tool to move in closer to the quarry, but there is nothing like banging a bugle off a distant hillside or down into a deep draw and hearing a bull shatter the morning calm with a bellowing response. Yes sir, I'm a fan of using bugles to locate ..

[Trophyhill]

When I'm not bugling I'm using my Carlton's Long Ranger external reed cow call. Why you might ask? Because it gets results!

[Z Barebow]

Location bugles are my go to, but it wasn't always this way.

I went on my first elk hunt in 1998. Carried a bugle everywhere. Lost my tube and found later next day. But NEVER used it. And I mean NEVER. I read public land bulls were bugle shy and I didn't think I could replicate the real thing well enough. (I had a monster bull bugle at 80 yards and I knew I couldn't sound like that. He ruined me!)

Hunted again in 2000 and 2004. It wasn't until several days into the 2004 hunt I finally started using it. I had finally located elk on day 5. (Through cow calling) Ran out of daylight. Went back to the same area next morning and couldn't find them. I pulled out my maps and thought about where I should head next. As an afterthought, I pulled out my bugle at let out a location bugle as I figured I had nothing to lose. I had a bull scream back at me from ~ 100 yards. I was at a loss. I heard him coming. Chinese fire drill begins. I tried moving up. He ended up at 28 yards broadside and I couldn't shoot. (Too many little christmas trees) Decent 6x6. Eventually he spooked.

From that point on, every time I bugled, I felt like the pied piper. I would have bulls answer more often than not.

When I am in position to bugle, I make sure I am ready. I survey the landscape and see where I can move up. I don't know if I am going to get an answer from 500 yards, or 90 yards and here he comes.

[Glacier Country]

We BUGLE to Locate about 90% of the time.I will 2nd Trophyhill's comment though. I am using my bite call ( High Heel Hottie)to locate sometimes as well. It does work so well that it sometimes takes us by surprise.We have had too many experiences where bulls have come running in from almost 1000 yards to ignore how well a bite call can work. Just another tool to use and maybe the first call a new guy should learn to use,because it is so easy to master.I do use the bugle more though. I have to say, I just love the sound of a bugle, and I really really enjoy making bulls respond to it.

[Vanish]

I am curious, how many people are having this kind of experience in Colorado (OTC Units)?

[Trumkin the Dwarf]

Man...you guys make it sound so easy!

[elkmtngear]

In my experience on Wilderness Area hunts in CO, elk know when it is a "bugle day" or a "non-bugle day" .

On a silent day, walking around blowing a locator bugle just seems to tell every elk in the area that something is not quite right...at least that's how it feels.

I have found we have to let the elk dictate when to use the locator

[Glacier Country]

I have not hunted Colorado, but I have had such good luck with these techniques all over MT and dabbled in ID. Even thrown some bugles across the border into BC. I just think my experiences make me believe that it will work.----> Hope this helps Troy

[POk3s]

I have learned that in my area, for whatever reason, they really respond to cow calls that first week. I make a single loud cow mew and typically have bulls answering me. This changes after the first week it seems.

[Harmy]

How do your observations of the value of locating with bugles or cow calls change throughout the season(s)? i.e. archery, muzzy, rifle: from late September through October and into November. I typically hunt the rifle season, which in my area is the 1st and 2nd week of October. I rarely hear elk call during this time frame and have had little to no luck in calling during this time. Spot and stalk has been about the only successful technique during this phase for me in the last 10 years.

[ElkNut1]

Harmy, our calling for location does not change come Oct. elk will still be in & out of rut phases so the call is still very promising you'll receive a response. Remember, we are not trying to call them to us at this stage, we just want their position & then we'll go to them!

ElkNut1

[Swede]

I do not call much any more. Where I hunt I hear location bugles from hunters on a fairly regular basis. If I call, it is a short one note bugle. I might try another crazy, lonesome, immature bull blat this year. Sometimes a bull will sneak in to check that out.

[cnelk]

The Sceery Hyper Hot has located, and called in more bulls than any other of my calls including bugles in OTC in Colorado

[Elkaddict]

Where I hunt in AZ, I will get out early, walk away from quad or truck, let everything quite down( 10 minutes or so) then give them a blast. Wait another 10 minutes and hit them again, if I don't hear anything I'll walk 1/2 mile and do it again. When I get an answer its "Game on" the fun begins! After I've got a bull located I will move in and try cow calls , if that doesn't get them going I might try getting close and do some aggressive, but immature, bugles. If he responds to that I have had some luck raking trees and and just generally pi$$ing him off.
2 more months, getting ready!

[twinkieman]

I use my bugle to locate at least 70% of the time. I also use my Long Ranger and let loose with Lost Cow calls, getting louder and more frantic the farther into my calling sequence that I get. I have had very good success with the lost cow call, including bulls just coming in as well.

[GWH]

I have a hunt that starts September 1. Will bugling to locate in the pre rut still be a reliable method? If I don't get a response, should I move on?

[Fullabull]

I use everything but most often a Bugle of some sort is what I get a response too. Our season starts at the beginning of September and ends around the 16th. At the beginning of the season a locator or lazy bugle can get an response. In the next couple of weeks they might start responding to locators better. We hunt in a very crowded area and see and hear other people trying to use calls but they mostly say the wrong thing or move on to quickly so they never hear anything. If you are in an either sex area like we are the cow calls are great for talking to cows and getting close.

[Elkaddict]

A few years back on Labor Day weekend I remember doing a setup with just hyper cow calls ( Wayne Carlton fighting cow call) and pulling in 7 bulls. This was in the evening and the bulls were all small but what a blast! Had a friend and my wife with me, fun for all. Had one bull hang up at about 60 yds and tear up a tree while the 3 of us watched. Sept. first I would try the cow calls.

[elkoholic]

The first couple of weeks of my archery hunt are fairly quiet. But regardless of the silence I always start my mornings out with a location bugle...if I get a response then I call with cow calls and and a couple of bugles between my cow sequences. Is what I am doing wrong? I have had some luck by doing this but, more times I come up empty handed... Any advice will be tooken in...

[Glacier Country]

I talked to Big Dan and Brad B a couple of local MT guys who both are excellent Callers and extremely good elk Slayers.They both have killed big bulls in AZ, I think Dan's bull was very close to 400 P&Y.They both said a lot of guys cow called there but they BUGLED in like 15-20 bulls A DAY! They each passed up lots of bulls because their antlers were broken up. What that tells me is that the bulls are very aggressive there. They both told me I should be hunting AZ and to BUGLE. Neither one of them sound little either. You have to realize they are both excellent elk hunters.They both have hunted many western states for elk. Dan has killed over 50 bulls and Brad has to be about 35ish. They Scream at them. They KNOW how to kill big bulls. I developed Troy's Secret Weapon to mimic the Bull Scream they make to kill big bulls every year.I have learned a lot from guys like them that live here.There are oodles of fantastic elk hunters here.
I have a buddy that I call "SQUIRT GUN" Because Shawn could kill an elk, with just a squirt gun if that is all he had, to get the job done!

[Elkaddict]

I talked to Big Dan and Brad B a couple of local MT guys who both are excellent Callers and extremely good elk Slayers.They both have killed big bulls in AZ, I think Dan's bull was very close to 400 P&Y.They both said a lot of guys cow called there but they BUGLED in like 15-20 bulls A DAY! They each passed up lots of bulls because their antlers were broken up. What that tells me is that the bulls are very aggressive there. They both told me I should be hunting AZ and to BUGLE. Neither one of them sound little either. You have to realize they are both excellent elk hunters.They both have hunted many western states for elk. Dan has killed over 50 bulls and Brad has to be about 35ish. They Scream at them. They KNOW how to kill big bulls. I developed Troy's Secret Weapon to mimic the Bull Scream they make to kill big bulls every year.I have learned a lot from guys like them that live here.There are oodles of fantastic elk hunters here.
I have a buddy that I call "SQUIRT GUN" Because Shawn could kill an elk, with just a squirt gun if that is all he had, to get the job done!

Reading your post gets me excited! I've had times that I stopped and looked at my partner and said " this can't be real, must be a dream! " I have a tag and can't wait for September !
Troy, I'll be paying attention to your advice and the other pros on this forum. Going to be fun!