Call or stfu to find late season elk?

[bigunit]

Ill be looking for cow elk for a week in the end of November then looking for a bull starting dec 10. Just wondering if I should make any vocalization or just be quite. They'll most likely be in thick cover in flat country. It doesn't look like we will have much snow to find tracks. I was thinking maybe calf distress could work at times? Ill leave the bugle tube at home.

 

[IdahoBeav]

I always bring at least one mouth reed when hunting elk after the rut. I don't expect to call in an elk, but cow calls can calm elk that are about to spook. It can also stop them as they are slowly moving though an area. A couple weeks ago on a cow hunt, my hunting partner and I glassed up a few cows at 800 yards, and they were moving away from us. I blew a couple cow calls, and they all stopped. We put together a quick plan where he would work around some timber and ridges to get close enough for a shot. I would stay on the glass and blow calls if and when the elk began to move. Over the course of the next hour, he made a circle and got into 350 yards. I blew calls every time the elk started to move. Over that hour the elk moved about 100 yards laterally to us, and my buddy was able to kill a cow without them ever knowing either of us were in the area. Without any calling, those elk would have continued to move away from us, and we never would have had a shot.

 

[Upwolf]

I personally have never had luck in locating elk that late in the season with a call, but concur with what IdahoBeav is saying (somewhat). I've had them stop and look my direction, which has given me more time to get to them. I've never had them come to me or really adjust their direction. But then again those encounters have been with larger herds.

 

[HunterGatherer]

I’ve called in a few cows and calves in the late season with lost, or distressed cow/calf sounds but it’s probably the last strategy I would use that time of year. Cows do talk to each other all times of the year but hard to lure them in as they tend to bunch up and seek open areas with lots of visibility. Obviously that’s different in different habitats. The other issue with distress sounds is that you might likely get a predator come check you out before an elk, but maybe that’s a good thing if you have a tag for them as well.

I did cow call my way into a herd in late November once in the thick fog. Was just trailing them as they moved slowly in fresh snow and we started calling back and forth in the fog and I got close enough to take the last one.

 

[shootnrun]

Calf in distress has brought in some cows to single digit yards. That being said, the late season is all spot and stalk or still hunting for me. Archery tackle. In my experience, a point in time happens in early winter where the elk just have to feed as much as they can. In my region, it's about the 2nd week of Dec and can glass and stalk several herds a day.