Bugle Report

Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
867
Location
NW MT
The bugling action has been pretty good in the morning and evenings in NW MT. Two bulls with cows were going back and forth, bugling, raking, etc. I got busted trying to put the sneak on them.

I moved to a different area, and they're bugling heavy in the morning until 7. It's silence in the evening.

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Joined
Jul 30, 2023
Messages
66
The bugling action has been pretty good in the morning and evenings in NW MT. Two bulls with cows were going back and forth, bugling, raking, etc. I got busted trying to put the sneak on them.

I moved to a different area, and they're bugling heavy in the morning until 7. It's silence in the evening.

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Thx for the info, good to know. I'm getting back out there tomorrow in SW MT, sunrise is 7am so I'll try to get out around 6 and see what I can learn about the early AM activity where I'm at.
 

puckhead

FNG
Joined
Sep 3, 2020
Messages
32
Location
East of the Divide
Got out Sunday/Monday in Northern Colorado. Had bugling at night and in the mornings. Coaxed a bull into 80yds but he hung up, glunked for a few then took his cows and left.
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2013
Messages
2,366
Location
New Orleans, La.
The bugling action has been pretty good in the morning and evenings in NW MT. Two bulls with cows were going back and forth, bugling, raking, etc. I got busted trying to put the sneak on them.

I moved to a different area, and they're bugling heavy in the morning until 7. It's silence in the evening.

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What are the temps up there right now?
 

jmez

WKR
Joined
Jun 12, 2012
Messages
7,558
Location
Piedmont, SD
Buddy packed in SW Colorado. Bugling at night only. All elk he's seen and been into are above 11,000 ft.

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Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Messages
867
Location
NW MT
At 4500', it's in the 80s in the day and 30s at night.

At 7500', it's been cooler. In fact, I've been getting cold and have had to throw on 3 layers mid-afternoon. But that's when I'm stationary, of course.

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Joined
Aug 25, 2016
Messages
884
Located bulls last week by getting near suspected bedding areas first and we tried several scenarios. Two scenarios tended to work.

Scenario #1 -Started with a first light locator bugle, followed by a second locator bugle about 2 minutes later and then following up with soft cow calls about 2 minutes later. The bulls responded then to the cow calls.
Depending upon the aggression of the bugle responding to the cow call we either continued to cow call them down or sent a medium challenge bugle back, if his bugle back was aggressive to the challenge bugle then we hit him with another challenge bugle back & we started raking. This brought them close.

Scenario #2 - Started with soft cow calls. If one responded, we would continue with the soft cow calls to get him coming down. If he started down we would continue cow calling. If he hung up, we would send out a short quick Bugle and continue to call cow. That generally would get a bugle back from the bull. He would start down. Then we would start raking and send one more challenge bugle back.

One two occasions the bulls were sneaking down quietly to investigate the bull in his area. We heard a branch or two break , we initiated the cow calling and each time the bulls responded vocally to the cow calls.

We did not get a response every time. We tried other scenarios but these are the two that seemed to work. We hunted very thick heavy forest.

The wind and thick wooded undergrowth prevented quality shot opportunities however we had bulls less than 20 yards twice. We had six nice encounters with bulls in three days (calling two of them back twice) and thoroughly enjoyed the experiences.

I really don't care if you are a Resident or a Nonresident. You are a fellow Archery Elk hunter and I am providing this information in an effort to help another Archery Elk hunter possibly achieve success. Which is supposed to be the purpose of the Rokslide Forum. Many seem to forget that these days.
 

Fetty Wapiti

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 7, 2023
Messages
131
Location
Wyoming
They are not talking as much this week as last in my part of NW wyoming. Within the coming days some of the cows should start their cycles and fire things back up. Seems like the bulls get excited, scream their heads off and then realize it isn't quite time yet.
 

Hnthrdr

WKR
Joined
Jan 29, 2022
Messages
3,568
Location
The West
Bugles were few and far between last week for me, big bulls were solo and uninterested a few days ago. I would guess that is changing as the days progress
 

Chaser96

FNG
Joined
Jun 20, 2022
Messages
56
Still no bugling action for me in north colorado. Bulls on camera hitting wallows are all solo. Some coming in silent to the calls. Hoping this weather gets things cranked up


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Joined
Jul 30, 2023
Messages
66
Heard a few bugles from some hunters, they sounded more shrill and screamy and I eventually saw them on another part of the ridge (I may have lured them closer with some cow calls).

I also heard a couple responses to the hunters calls from far away in the opposite direction. Those might have been legit, the bugle hit a bunch of harmonics on the way up and the high note was clean and resonant, and it had that ethereal tone to it like a loon call.
SW MT
 
Joined
Nov 17, 2016
Messages
37
Location
Montana
SW Montana - Only bugling for me over the past week has been at night right after light on Monday. Cows have been alone whenever I have bumped into them and no day bugles.
 

Ray.

FNG
Joined
Apr 23, 2021
Messages
49
Location
Lakewood, CO
Had some early bugling from a bull first week pushing cows around. Now it's just some light chuckling from solo bulls. Central CO.
 

seww

WKR
Joined
Aug 10, 2020
Messages
488
Was out overnight Saturday to Sunday, SE Idaho at 8k'.
Not a sound over night nor in the morning.
 

waitforit

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 23, 2019
Messages
183
Just got home from SW montana. Not a single elk-made bugle all week. Saw several small groups but also some solo cows and solo bulls. The encounters I experienced had bulls sneaking in silently to cow calls.
 

Speck1

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 5, 2021
Messages
140
Bulls in the Lincoln NF are getting pretty fired up. Got pretty close to a shot this morning.
 

DooleyVT

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jan 13, 2022
Messages
253
Location
Vermont
Just returned from North Central CO and there were overnight bugles and a few morning bugles. All around 10,000'. We had 4 different bulls come in to cow calls in the mornings but they all came in silent.
 
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