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Whisper bugles

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Whisper bugles

Postby Navesgane » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 1]

Not sure if that's the proper name or not but has anyone else experienced a bull whisper bugling? I heard them a few times this season close to a residential area- it was a herd bull pushing his cows uphill at dawn. It sounded like the bull wanted to bugle but didn't want to sounds very loud, like he was a mile away but in actuality was probably only a few hundred yards.
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Re: Whisper bugles

Postby Swede » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 2]

If it was late in the season, I suspect he was about played out. He had lost his voice. It is kind of like yelling at the kids. After awhile you have to give up and just let things go. :D
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Re: Whisper bugles

Postby cohunter » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 3]

I hear this all the time in my heavily pressured unit. I used to not chase bugles that were quiet as I figured they were very far away. As you learn the area, it's easier to tell if a bugle might be far away or just quiet. This year I messed up a stalk on a bull and his herd where the herd bull was just screaming loud location bugles. I gave some really bad cow calls and all the cows went quiet as the herd bull started pushing them off the other direction. The bugles he used sounded just like location bugles intermixed with a few herd-tending sounds mixed in, but they were very quiet. If I'd have been over the hill 120 yards away, I would have sworn he was 1/2 mile away. Being close (around 70 yards), I could hear some of the raspy sounds and tones that you only hear from close up.
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Re: Whisper bugles

Postby Swede » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 4]

Cohunter, If you are right, then the sounds were not bugles, but tending calls to the herd. Often bulls will bugle as they follow or are just with the herd, but that is different than the tending calls they make.
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Re: Whisper bugles

Postby Navesgane » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 5]

This was mid September when I was hearing them. Two different mornings I followed the same herd in the same area before sunrise near a well traveled hiking path and a residential area and the bull made almost the exact same sounds, then when he was further up the mountain he would bugle louder. I swear I'm not crazy :lol:
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Re: Whisper bugles

Postby Roosiebull » 10 25, 2017 •  [Post 6]

the bull I killed this year was doing that, really quiet bugles at first light, he did it every time I was around him. I have heard several bulls do that. this is actual bugles, just very quiet, not tending groans. I don't know if it is pressure, or some bulls in some places don't like broadcasting. as long as the cows hear him, and know what it means, I don't think anything else matters.
the bull I killed never bugled loud while I was around him, and I was within earshot a few times well before daylight.
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