Area with elk that wont bugle? 3 years-5 bugles

[Pwells10]

I'll start out by saying the family has been hunting this area since 86'. Obviously elk will light up when a cow comes into estrus as well.

The last 3 years weve heard a total of 5 bugles in this particular area. The only predators in the area are cats and black bears. We will get the occasional wolf to stroll through. We also have an abundance of sheep that are all over the area until the 20th of September.

Now talking with my dad and his brothers, they've never experienced this silence in elk. (There are elk in the area, we have plenty of game cams). They've always been talkative until the last 3. 3 years ago, We heard 4. Last 1. This year, none. (We move to different areas 10 miles away to get into the action since this area isnt talking).

The elk are use to campers. Its a major summer camp area. We also dont run into people in the trees.

We are also there 20 days out of September every year.

My question is, what in your opinion could it be? Why wont these elk talk, even during the rut?

 

[Jardo]

need more info. where are you hunting, what time of year, archery, ml, rifle, etc.

are you sure there’s no resident wolves? wolves will make them go silent for sure.


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[Dos Perros]

I've seen bulls bugle so quietly you'd have to be within a hundred yards on a calm day to hear them. My opinion: they're just talking to the cows they already have and not trying to attract new ones. I think it's hunting pressure because it can't be wolves or other predators.

 

[cnelk]

Are you seeing tracks and fresh sign? If so, go hunt them.

Any running dummy can chase bugles

 

[Fullfan]

Had the same happen last year. One day 12-15 bulls screaming, then silence for 3 days. On day 4-6 we would hear the bulls bugle very quiet and or just grunt. No doubt it was the wolves, we would see them and also hear them. Elk are not stupid.

 

[Next Ridge]

We hunt an area where the elk talk but are just quiet when they do, have to be close to hear them. As long as they are there can still hunt them, but may have to change tactics a little. I had two bulls come in this year that didnt make a sound when they did.
that doesn’t answer the “why” question at all, but as long as I know there are elk there I would ask why does it matter, adapt to them.

 

[COOPDUCK]

I’d be very curious to know the general whereabouts of this area you hunt if you wanted to PM me? I’m in WA state, and your description sounds EXACTLY like the ridge I hunt with the sheep and camping and predators. I do my hunting from a tree stand and am also up there every September and have been for many years. Wolves aren’t thick in my area yet, just stragglers at this point, though that will surely change. So I don’t think wolves are impacting my elk much yet, nor yours from what you say. I think the elk have gotten quieter somewhat, I now hear more chuckles and whistles where maybe I used to hear full throated bugles. Tree fall has also impacted travel routes through dark timber they used to use. My main theory for you though, the elk woods are awfully big. And I am beginning to think there are almost micro-sites in the woods where a lot of the actual rutting activity takes place. I think if you are a mile this way or that way, you might think the woods have gone completely dead. Maybe the area you hunt just isn’t the X anymore, the elk have patterned a little differently during the peak of the rut and you need to find the X again? I know we don’t think of elk as being patterners like a whitetail or something, but I’m not so sure with the rut. I have been putting my stand in the same tree for years, and I KNOW I will have crazy rutted out bulls and cows running by me all throughout the week. I had a few newbies to this area hunt with me this year, and they hunted for days in areas just adjacent, within a mile or two from where I’m at, and they saw or heard very little. Once I pointed them in a very specific direction, all the sudden elk were everywhere. And I’m not saying this to brag. Someone showed me the very tree I sit in, after they’d sat in it for decades. I wouldn’t have found the area on my own. Something to think about. You say you’re seeing some elk on cams, but maybe something small has changed, and you’re on the edges of where the real action is taking place?

 

[Pwells10]

need more info. where are you hunting, what time of year, archery, ml, rifle, etc.

are you sure there’s no resident wolves? wolves will make them go silent for sure.


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Idaho, September, archery. Yes no wolves. We have between 10 guys, probably 25 cams throughout the area. Never hear howling, and no sign.

 

[Pwells10]

I’d be very curious to know the general whereabouts of this area you hunt if you wanted to PM me? I’m in WA state, and your description sounds EXACTLY like the ridge I hunt with the sheep and camping and predators. I do my hunting from a tree stand and am also up there every September and have been for many years. Wolves aren’t thick in my area yet, just stragglers at this point, though that will surely change. So I don’t think wolves are impacting my elk much yet, nor yours from what you say. I think the elk have gotten quieter somewhat, I now hear more chuckles and whistles where maybe I used to hear full throated bugles. Tree fall has also impacted travel routes through dark timber they used to use. My main theory for you though, the elk woods are awfully big. And I am beginning to think there are almost micro-sites in the woods where a lot of the actual rutting activity takes place. I think if you are a mile this way or that way, you might think the woods have gone completely dead. Maybe the area you hunt just isn’t the X anymore, the elk have patterned a little differently during the peak of the rut and you need to find the X again? I know we don’t think of elk as being patterners like a whitetail or something, but I’m not so sure with the rut. I have been putting my stand in the same tree for years, and I KNOW I will have crazy rutted out bulls and cows running by me all throughout the week. I had a few newbies to this area hunt with me this year, and they hunted for days in areas just adjacent, within a mile or two from where I’m at, and they saw or heard very little. Once I pointed them in a very specific direction, all the sudden elk were everywhere. And I’m not saying this to brag. Someone showed me the very tree I sit in, after they’d sat in it for decades. I wouldn’t have found the area on my own. Something to think about. You say you’re seeing some elk on cams, but maybe something small has changed, and you’re on the edges of where the real action is taking place?

I definitely get what youre saying. We dont tree stand hunt much. We take off and do 5+ a day. I'll pm you on the area and see where you're at as well.

 

[Laramie]

This year was quiet for a lot of people all across the west. I attribute it to various factors but the main one being there were exponentially more people in the mountains this summer and fall due to Covid. The areas I hunt also had a lot more archery traffic.

 

[Pwells10]

This year was quiet for a lot of people all across the west. I attribute it to various factors but the main one being there were exponentially more people in the mountains this summer and fall due to Covid. The areas I hunt also had a lot more archery traffic.

See the area I hunt has a ton of campers anyways and never has affected the elk. I'm not saying you're wrong. Definitely could be. I guess, I didnt see a difference in the traffic from my perspectice

 

[Laramie]

See the area I hunt has a ton of campers anyways and never has affected the elk. I'm not saying you're wrong. Definitely could be. I guess, I didnt see a difference in the traffic from my perspectice

I'm not sure it's the traffic at the time you hunt but rather the non stop traffic that a lot of areas saw over the course of the summer. One area I hunt saw an increase in summer recreation that was over 400% of a normal year.

 

[mtnbiker208]

everyone blames the wolfs for elk being quite. I would blame the biggest predator there is: man. A bull bugles he gets killed by hunters. To me it is pretty simple. My bull in idaho i heard bugle after wolves where howling on the 10th of october. I heard him again on the 15th of october and killed him while he was bugling on the 19th of october with cows. The year before i did not hear a bugle. The year before that, i killed the bugling bull. In my opinion it is hunters shutting them up, more than the wolves. Fyi i do have a confirmed pack of wolves 5 miles from the house. I have killed alot of elk in wolf country.

 

[trophyhill]

Are you bugling? Cow calling? Both? No calling? Hunting sun up to sun down? Calling at night to locate?

 

[Dust Rider]

The amount of people out all summer and fall was crazy this year due to covid restrictions. Everybody had a camper, everybody was camping all the time. Humans and dogs everywhere on USFS and blm land every day. Then all the covid refugees who left the cities for the interior. Total shit show rodeo.

 

[Indian Summer]

That many guys for that many days for 3 years means it’s no fluke. Something has changed. I know you said no wolves but you also said the occasional wolf. In my experience if there’s one thing that will shut down the bugling it’s wolves. There’s really no other logical reason. Elk will do what they do until they fear for their lives.

 

[Deadfall]

Maybe its the rut that is changing. Where I hunt and for several miles around otocber/ second cycle has been the hot one. I hunt a few areas and the best action has been the 25th of September to middle of October.

Our septembers have been quiet/tough the last few years as well

 

[Scoot]

Any chance you have elk in that area, right up to the time you start your hunt, but they relocate around that time? Do you have your cameras out during the season? If yes, do they show the elk are still there? Some areas look great prior to the season, but the elk move to a different area around the same time each year.

If the elk are still there when you're hunting, the answer is one of three things IMO: 1) hunting pressure shuts them up, 2) there are wolves in the area and you're not aware of it, 3) your timing has been really crappy the last few years and you've been there when the elk aren't talking (although I doubt this one given how long you've been there each year).

 

[Wapiti1]

In one area that I hunt, they changed the time the yearly cattle drive occurs and that changed how you hunt the unit. It also shuts the elk up for a while. Your situation sounds very similar to this. Just a thought.

Jeremy

 

[AaronMColeman]

Our area was really quiet this year compared to years past. I saw a couple of wolves, which I never see during the general season. And we saw a lot of wolf tracks. It sure doesn't seem like that alone would turn things so quiet in one year, but who knows?