Is a Bugle tube really necessary ?

[GodSpeed1]

Don’t laugh , but, I remember leaving a bugle tube in the woods last fall, and to my amazement, it seemed like a toilet paper roll worked just as well for bugling, with a diaphragm call of course. Plus every Tom Dick and harry has a bugle tube. Sometimes I feel like I’m better off just cupping my hands near my mouth with the diaphragm, and letting the sound out that way without a bugle tube tbh. Any Thoughts? Seriously though

 

[cmbbulldog]

This is speaking in generalities of course, but I think hunters do way more harm than the good by calling.

Elk aren't hard to get close to once you find them...

 

[ElkNut1]

And here's a serious answer from a serious elk hunter, YES! I would much rather leave my bow behind than my bugle.

There are so many reasons to have one & know its basic uses & miss uses. If all I did was use it for locating bulls at night then it would be worth its weight in gold! This would apply to rifle & archery hunters. It wouldn't matter if it was open country or dark timber; a bugle can come in very handy for location purposes.

If you're hunting areas where hearing other hunters are of concern then simply locate areas where this isn't an issue. There's more of them than access areas most hunters rely on. Good instruction on its use would be high on my list. Take your elk hunting serious & educate yourself not the elk!

ElkNut

 

[Wrench]

I have called in some dandy bulls with a Gatorade bottle and a pocket knife.

 

[BullsDeep]

Well if you feel your better off with a toilet paper roll, have at it. I'll be using my bugle tube. It's one thing to get by after losing one. But any serious elk hunter isn't leaving there bugle tube behind. Not for a toilet paper roll anyway

 

[Ross]

for most if you want real bull sounds that are realistic yes, otherwise stick to cow calls if you want a realistic chance at calling in an elk…lots of other options if calling is not your game…good

 

[SwiftShot]

A good tube is very important. When you call is another very important part. I have seen way to many elk callers in the woods and fewer elk hunters. There is a reason the majority of the elk are killed by a small minority of the elk hunters.

 

[Jethro]

I've practiced without a tube, but my bugles sound much better through tube than without, or just cupping my hands. So when I need to bugle, or just want to bugle, I want the tube with me.

When I do use a toilet paper roll, I like to let about half the TP on the roll. Makes the bugles more muffled and the bull thinks you are further away than you really are. Sucks using it in the rain and snow though.

 

[5MilesBack]

And here's a serious answer from a serious elk hunter, YES! I would much rather leave my bow behind than my bugle.

Come on Paul, you stole MY line, dude.

I will put a caveat on that statement.......IF you're out there to just find and kill any bull, then ya.....you don't need to bugle at all. Or you can use much softer bugles and some cow sounds to attract young bulls.

 

[trophyhill]

For me the answer is yes absolutely a bugle tube is necessary! You guys who want to leave yours at home? I'm good with that. That just means less competition on the mountain

 

[dreamingbig]

Not if you don’t know how to use it effectively.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[trophyhill]

Not if you don’t know how to use it effectively.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So all you guys who don't know how to use it effectively? You better get to practicing and get the Elknut app <grin>

 

[roosiebull]

Don’t laugh , but, I remember leaving a bugle tube in the woods last fall, and to my amazement, it seemed like a toilet paper roll worked just as well for bugling, with a diaphragm call of course. Plus every Tom Dick and harry has a bugle tube. Sometimes I feel like I’m better off just cupping my hands near my mouth with the diaphragm, and letting the sound out that way without a bugle tube tbh. Any Thoughts? Seriously though

i think they are necessary.... volume is important, both for being heard by another bull, and being loud enough to be noticed, as well as realism in the final stages of calling that bull in.

here on the coast, sound gets drown out as it is, often not hearing a bull more than 200yds away, and they can't hear you to answer... not having a tube is a handicap imo

 

[Elk97]

Who takes a whole role of TP with them????
Bugle tube= essential.
Knowing how and when to use it is also essential.

 

[roosiebull]

Who takes a whole role of TP with them????
Bugle tube= essential.
Knowing how and when to use it is also essential.

people still bring TP in the woods? i happily accept the weight penalty of wet wipes, and a wet wipe package wouldn't make a good bugle tube.... i'm pretty sure

also agree on it being vital knowing how and when.... there is some good instruction out there, but i think the very best way to learn is listening how real elk interact with each other, and from there, experience actually calling to elk. it seems a lot are content bugling back and forth with a bull (many seem to think getting a bull to bugle is "calling him in" haha.)

like Elknut mentioned, just using a tube for locating alone makes it worth packing.....

 

[Indian Summer]

If you expect an elk to believe that you are the real deal you better have the volume and the DEPTH to do it.

I can remember selling hunts at the Eastern Outdoor show in Harrisburg Pa. For many years in a row a woman would win the RMEF calling contest. Her tube was one of those jumbo FAT wiffle ball bats. The depth was incredible. Obviously we can’t carry one of those around the mountains. But a good tube is priceless. Not a cheap piece if 1.5 inch flex pipe. A tube with a bell on the end. It would be hard to name a tube I haven’t tried over the years. Then one day I bought a Chuckler from Elknut. I gave the other tubes away. I’ve been using that tube for I don’t know… 20 years now. It makes all the difference in the world. What you hear coming from your cupped hands or a small thin tube has nothing to do with what an elk hears. In my mind a tube makes the difference between sounding like a full grown man calling your name in the mountains and some little kid yelling in the woods. Night and day. If you want to sound like your lungs are as big as a shop vac and your wind pipe is as big as your arm you better be packing a good tube!

 

[roosiebull]

If you expect an elk to believe that you are the real deal you better have the volume and the DEPTH to do it.

I can remember selling hunts at the Eastern Outdoor show in Harrisburg Pa. For many years in a row a woman would win the RMEF calling contest. Her tube was one of those jumbo FAT wiffle ball bats. The depth was incredible. Obviously we can’t carry one of those around the mountains. But a good tube is priceless. Not a cheap piece if 1.5 inch flex pipe. A tube with a bell on the end. It would be hard to name a tube I haven’t tried over the years. Then one day I bought a Chuckler from Elknut. I gave the other tubes away. I’ve been using that tube for I don’t know… 20 years now. It makes all the difference in the world. What you hear coming from your cupped hands or a small thin tube has nothing to do with what an elk hears. In my mind a tube makes the difference between sounding like a full grown man calling your name in the mountains and some little kid yelling in the woods. Night and day. If you want to sound like your lungs are as big as a shop vac and your wind pipe is as big as your arm you better be packing a good tube!

i also like and use Paul's chuckler, it's my favorite, and i have about 10-12 at home, but that tube is the best compromise of size, volume and tone vs any other tubes i own... pretty compact for a full size tube, it's light, and it's crazy loud.... i carried a phelps for a couple seasons and liked it, but they are giant and heavy, and using it and the chuckler side by side in the brush, Paul's bugle is for sure more loud, and doesn't have any weird hollow sound like the thin wiffle bats.... i'm done buying tubes for awhile besides the newest version Paul has.... don't need a new tube, but it's always good to have a solid backup that i'm confident in, because i have had a lot of close calls losing tubes in the brush

 

[EVD]

Speaking of which -

Paul, any plans for another run of bugle tubes? Or are they still available somewhere I don't know about?

 

[ElkNut1]

No sir no Chucklers on the horizon! (grin) None in stock either, sorry! Thanks for asking!

ElkNut

 

[5MilesBack]

I can remember selling hunts at the Eastern Outdoor show in Harrisburg Pa. For many years in a row a woman would win the RMEF calling contest. Her tube was one of those jumbo FAT wiffle ball bats. The depth was incredible. Obviously we can’t carry one of those around the mountains.

Why not? I made my own out of a whiffle ball bat, and some of Phelp's might as well be the entire bat. But ya, my favorite is still my original Chuckler.