- Banned
- #21
That's true Paul I do like to hunt after the rut when the bulls are off by themselves, but I do hunt the muzzleloader season and use the same tactics.
It's harder with all those cows eyes watching, but it's doable. Sometimes.
Glass time verses walking /bling calling time?
- Thread starter slick trick
- Start date
That's true Paul I do like to hunt after the rut when the bulls are off by themselves, but I do hunt the muzzleloader season and use the same tactics.
It's harder with all those cows eyes watching, but it's doable. Sometimes.
- Banned
- #22
Yes, getting close is the fun part. You can call them in, or sneak into them. I guess i'm the sneaky type. No matter what weapon I use i'm always in bow range.
Nothing like tricking them, which can be many things...raking, bugling, mewing, stomping, splashing, bugling in their face, bugling walking away and sneaking back in, chasing a herd bull for hours in a chess match always keeping the wind in your favor until he says I've had enough of your shit and I am coming in to kick your ass! As with elknut calls are always my game for September and in this jungle I don't pack binos until I'm into October and November. There is a time and place for both, for me it is about calling/listening in September versus spotting from afar.
OP
OP
slick trick
Lil-Rokslider
yea I dig the bugle, but they are not talking all the time. There is nothing worse than going into some new area hunting and not getting into the animals, not knowing there pattern, or where they travel. Then you think man if I could just get on this ridge and see whats going on for a couple days I might could get a game plan, but wait you forgot the spotter or don't have your binos........What are you going to do now-if a could a would a should a -all comes to play than. Maybe run back down and pick them up and start plan B, shuck 5 of those calls at camp and go find a hill?
Try this! It's our # 1 way to find elk in any new area quickly & easily! It's best utilized from Sept 8-9 & on. It can work earlier but more promising 1st to 2nd week & on. Full Moon times are awesome!
Some of the best & quickest ways are to locate elk through bugling 1 hour to 1-1/2 hour before daylight, find areas during the daytime where you can utilize night Bugling off roads where areas look good or sound will carry afar! You could drive one mile or 20 miles, doesn't matter, keep going until you locate them. Once elk are located or respond back, quit bugling to them, you can now grab your gear & head their way while still dark. Get as close as possible without alerting them, watch the wind direction, you do not want your scent going to the elk! It's tough to say exactly what to do next as situations can vary, either slip in silent with no calling if possible as soon as it gets light or prepare to setup & call them your way with a low volume low intensity breeding sequence.
Too, elk don't just stay put once located & daylight gets brighter, these elk will start their journey to their daytime bedding areas. This can take them 1-3 miles from where first found off the roads. This means they can take us further into the mountains if we are not fortunate enough to put them down close to their nighttime feeding/rendezvous areas. When this happens we can lose sight of hearing them as they crest various benches & ridge tops as we attempt to follow or dog the herd. Once we make the top we will consider glassing or areas we feel sound can carry a good distance we will call to relocate these elk if they are not talking on their own, if they are talking we do not call we simply move in as close as possible to them without being seen or winded.
There will be days that elk are not heard from the roads, not many but it does happen! What we now consider is that those elk are somewhere so now we have a back up plan to head to areas where they might be but we cannot hear them from any parts of a road. -- So what do we do? We head to some of those areas the elk took us on earlier hunts over the benches & ridge tops to glass & call from to see if they are over in those areas now!
In time you will accumulate many areas as this as the days, weeks & years go by simply from originally locating elk from roads! It can open a quick & new world in finding elk then & where their other haunts are such as water, wallows, trails, natural mineral licks, breeding areas, bedding & feeding areas. I like jotting much of this new found information on my topo map of the area I carry with me for present & future studies!
Anytime we get elevation we can both Glass where needed & above all use Location Bugles to find unseen elk that may be in the timber! Remember just like Glassing for elk Bugling at these points is for the same reason! We are FINDING them not trying to call them to us! Once found we quit bugling & get over to them just as you would if located through glassing!
ElkNut1
Some of the best & quickest ways are to locate elk through bugling 1 hour to 1-1/2 hour before daylight, find areas during the daytime where you can utilize night Bugling off roads where areas look good or sound will carry afar! You could drive one mile or 20 miles, doesn't matter, keep going until you locate them. Once elk are located or respond back, quit bugling to them, you can now grab your gear & head their way while still dark. Get as close as possible without alerting them, watch the wind direction, you do not want your scent going to the elk! It's tough to say exactly what to do next as situations can vary, either slip in silent with no calling if possible as soon as it gets light or prepare to setup & call them your way with a low volume low intensity breeding sequence.
Too, elk don't just stay put once located & daylight gets brighter, these elk will start their journey to their daytime bedding areas. This can take them 1-3 miles from where first found off the roads. This means they can take us further into the mountains if we are not fortunate enough to put them down close to their nighttime feeding/rendezvous areas. When this happens we can lose sight of hearing them as they crest various benches & ridge tops as we attempt to follow or dog the herd. Once we make the top we will consider glassing or areas we feel sound can carry a good distance we will call to relocate these elk if they are not talking on their own, if they are talking we do not call we simply move in as close as possible to them without being seen or winded.
There will be days that elk are not heard from the roads, not many but it does happen! What we now consider is that those elk are somewhere so now we have a back up plan to head to areas where they might be but we cannot hear them from any parts of a road. -- So what do we do? We head to some of those areas the elk took us on earlier hunts over the benches & ridge tops to glass & call from to see if they are over in those areas now!
In time you will accumulate many areas as this as the days, weeks & years go by simply from originally locating elk from roads! It can open a quick & new world in finding elk then & where their other haunts are such as water, wallows, trails, natural mineral licks, breeding areas, bedding & feeding areas. I like jotting much of this new found information on my topo map of the area I carry with me for present & future studies!
Anytime we get elevation we can both Glass where needed & above all use Location Bugles to find unseen elk that may be in the timber! Remember just like Glassing for elk Bugling at these points is for the same reason! We are FINDING them not trying to call them to us! Once found we quit bugling & get over to them just as you would if located through glassing!
ElkNut1
Elknut, what do you do first week of archery? What do you do on a backpack hunt where the truck isn't your legs in the morning?
live2hunt, first off I have not back packed for elk, haven't seen the need yet but may in the future! We find plenty of bulls from my strategy shared above. During the first week or early season we will still bugle in search of, just in case we catch a straggler wanting to cooperate, sometimes it does payoff! If hunting areas we are familiar with we are more inclined to sit the trails elk use as they leave feeding & head to bedding. These can be great areas but have seen mostly cow groups with a dink bull with them at times, we generally pass on that group awaiting something bigger, in time bigger bulls do show on these trails as they scent check these cows using these trails as the rutting times get closer.
Another method of use is to blind call in areas we feel there are elk within earshot, we have brought in countless elk over the years with this method but in most cases not the type of bull we are willing to shoot!
We will still do a bit of running & gunning as well since it has produced some nice bulls for us on occasion, you just never know unless you try. All in all we really wait until the 8th or 9th before we get very serious!
I drew WY this year for the first time, I will not go until the 10th because I want the bigger bulls cowed up, this is when they are defensive & vulnerable, it has payed off very well for us over the years!
Does this help? If not be more specific & I'll be happy to respond!
ElkNut1
Another method of use is to blind call in areas we feel there are elk within earshot, we have brought in countless elk over the years with this method but in most cases not the type of bull we are willing to shoot!
We will still do a bit of running & gunning as well since it has produced some nice bulls for us on occasion, you just never know unless you try. All in all we really wait until the 8th or 9th before we get very serious!
I drew WY this year for the first time, I will not go until the 10th because I want the bigger bulls cowed up, this is when they are defensive & vulnerable, it has payed off very well for us over the years!
Does this help? If not be more specific & I'll be happy to respond!
ElkNut1
OP
OP
slick trick
Lil-Rokslider
That sounded like some solid advice that I will take with me to Colorado this year from the 8th thru the 25th, thank ElkNut. You have moved me towards the run and gun so to speak, instead of the sit and glass method.
Yep it helps. By blind calling do you mean locator bugles or cow calls? When you "feel there are elk within earshot", is that because you've seen them in the area and just have a gut feeling they haven't left? When blind calling, how often do you call and is this typically while making your way through timber or on higher ground? If you aren't seeing or hearing elk do you simply move on and if so how far?
We've had difficulty locating elk at all 2 years straight now, any suggestions? First year we saw a cow, a spike (which I think i cow called into camp cause we heard a bark), and a 5×5 that we couldn't get to play. Last year we heard one bugling back at us, but out of eagerness we called to much and blew him out, and we located a small heard on but it was to late in the hunt and to far away to do anything about. The first year was week 1 of archery, last year was 17th through 27th. We backpack in.
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Pow
FNG
From what I've seen, when he's talking about blind calling, he's talking about doing a real setup (caller ~40y back and shooters out front) and cow calling. Have you seen his vids? Obviously, you aren't going to start blind calling unless you think there might be some elk near. Blind just means you haven't seen or heard anything.
Blind/Cold Calling means you feel elk are around by fresh sign or you know elk are within earshot but not in your eye sight. The best locations for this calling setup is near feeding areas in the a.m. or in the bedding areas during mornings, midday or evening. These are destination areas, this means elk are where they want to be, they are not in transition or between the two areas. They are less likely to move away at these locations. A good setup is important here, you need to have enough obstruction & the wind in your favor from where elk are most likely to appear from.
This type of calling can be done by a solo hunter or 2-3-4 hunters. With multiple hunters creating a triangle or square with a hunter at each point aprox 30 yards or so apart from one another & creating elk chatter can lure other elk your way. Setup in your area for 45 min to an hour with calling using various volumes & rattling brush & foot stomping simulating elk there milling & feeding around. Try to be natural in your calling & don't get too carried away, have 4-5 minute pauses with little to no calling. Cow sounds are the dominant feature with an occasional bull sound & raking. As elk are heard coming or seen then the hunter that sees this animal stops calling & let's the others continue on to draw them in.
Look & read post # 26 I shared. This is the quickest way to locate elk, once located you can now hunt them according to the instructions above. Personally I'd lose the bivy style hunt for now. I say this because you do not know your areas well enough to find elk. You need a game plan that produces results now not gambling that elk are 4-5 miles back in to find there's little to nothing there. In time you will have areas these elk that you contact off roads will take you towards. When this happens various times it will now open up new areas & where these elk like going too. This is getting to know your area!
ElkNut1
This type of calling can be done by a solo hunter or 2-3-4 hunters. With multiple hunters creating a triangle or square with a hunter at each point aprox 30 yards or so apart from one another & creating elk chatter can lure other elk your way. Setup in your area for 45 min to an hour with calling using various volumes & rattling brush & foot stomping simulating elk there milling & feeding around. Try to be natural in your calling & don't get too carried away, have 4-5 minute pauses with little to no calling. Cow sounds are the dominant feature with an occasional bull sound & raking. As elk are heard coming or seen then the hunter that sees this animal stops calling & let's the others continue on to draw them in.
Look & read post # 26 I shared. This is the quickest way to locate elk, once located you can now hunt them according to the instructions above. Personally I'd lose the bivy style hunt for now. I say this because you do not know your areas well enough to find elk. You need a game plan that produces results now not gambling that elk are 4-5 miles back in to find there's little to nothing there. In time you will have areas these elk that you contact off roads will take you towards. When this happens various times it will now open up new areas & where these elk like going too. This is getting to know your area!
ElkNut1
I think the best way to kill an elk in September is to spend your time calling one into bow range.
BUT, I also think the best way to kill a BIG bull elk in September is to spend all August glassing, and all September hunting, while calling as little as possible. Just my opinion.
BUT, I also think the best way to kill a BIG bull elk in September is to spend all August glassing, and all September hunting, while calling as little as possible. Just my opinion.
W.D. Crawford
Lil-Rokslider
I had that experience in 1985. I was so focused on that bull that I did not even see the 2" sapling that was about 2' in front of me, split that sucker right in two with my arrow! The bull bolted,I bugled, he came right back same spot, I was so rattled by that time that I completely muffed the second shot AT 12'!! That's the short version of this story.
W.D. Crawford
Lil-Rokslider
Yep, that was 31 years ago this coming Sept. and I can still remember every thing about that day like it just happened!!
go to sheep country with some glassing gear.
chindits
WKR
I glass up the bull I want and then chase that bull. I exclude the other bulls and cows because I am really only after "that bull" unless a bigger one presents itself. I don't mind getting skunked by passing up cows and smaller bulls because I don't need the meat. Roadkill is available all winter, so for me hunting is just for sport. If I am cold calling, it is only because I lost track of the bull I really want and I am just killing time until I find it again.
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- Banned
- #39
Funniest post i've ever read.
Yeah it really does put things in perspective! I know a few areas where the highway department dumps the roadkill and it's a free meat bank all winter.
I packed glass once on a rut hunt and never needed to use it. Calling is far superior for locating Bulls in the timbered areas I hunt. Backpacking along a main ridge and blind calling on the saddles works great in the early season.
I packed glass once on a rut hunt and never needed to use it. Calling is far superior for locating Bulls in the timbered areas I hunt. Backpacking along a main ridge and blind calling on the saddles works great in the early season.
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