Moving in on another hunter working a bull

[Ucsdryder]

So this is a thing? A hunter and a bull are locked into a bugle fest and another hunter moves in silently from a different direction and tries to kill the bull while it’s coming into another hunter? Damn...I like killing elk as much as the next guy but I wouldn’t never fathom doing this!!! In the past I’ve had this happen and I’ll sit back and enjoy the show, especially if the caller is good.

Had a guy sitting a wallow hear me and a bull tied up in a bugle fest, I must have bugled 15 times and the bull at least that. As I move my shooters in I look up the hill (thermals blowing down still) and there’s a freaking guy there motioning to me, like hey back off. Of course the elk blew out when they winded him.

I would love to hear an argument how this is ok to do. He didn’t seem to think it was an issue at all, even pretended there wasn’t a bull in the group! “There were 5-6 cows and a couple spikes down there”. I asked where the bugling bull was that I was calling and he sheepishly says “up there somewhere”.

This has been a tough season. More hunters than I’ve ever seen and every encounter ends in a “wow how did that bull not die”. Frustrating season so far...

 

[BTLowry]

I am green when it comes to elk hunting. I might be guilty of sneaking in on what I believed to be 2 elk and trying to get one but
1) when I spotted a hunter where one of the bugles was coming from I would back off or freeze
2) when/if confronted I would sure not try to play the other party for a fool, simply apologize and move on
3) even as a flatlander I have read enough about thermals to have an idea of how to approach and what the wind "should" be doing

Sorry for the bad experience you had. Hopefully you can get your shooters on another bull

 

[justinspicher]

Ive had this happen a few times.

 

[missjordan]

I had it happen once, don’t think it was intentional but was really disappointing. I was fairly certain I was going to sink an arrow that day. When the other group realized they ruined our hunt they sauntered away with their tail between their legs and definitely hands down should of beat us back to the trailhead.

 

[Billy Goat]

Hell I know of a group who did it to themselves.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Interesting, never thought about the situation where the hunter thought it was 2 elk. Could definitely have been the case, as he was green. He kept checking the wind and I finally told him the wind goes down hill in the mornings before the sun comes up. He looked at me like I had 2 heads.

 

[sndmn11]

Interesting, never thought about the situation where the hunter thought it was 2 elk. Could definitely have been the case, as he was green. He kept checking the wind and I finally told him the wind goes down hill in the mornings before the sun comes up. He looked at me like I had 2 heads.

Somebody just this last week told me to run in on a bugling bull, get close, and bugle in his space. Cut him off and be aggressive. How would I have known it was a believable caller or a real live elk?

 

[Ucsdryder]

Somebody just this last week told me to run in on a bugling bull, get close, and bugle in his space. Cut him off and be aggressive. How would I have known it was a believable caller or a real live elk?

Damn that guy sounds like he knows what he’s talking about!!!!

While a single bugle might be hard to identify, I’ve found it’s pretty easy to tell a hunter from an elk over the course of 5-10 minutes.

 

[Read1t48]

Sndmn11 -
Are you being sarcastic or serious?
What you said works great on Roosevelt. I say even more so on elk that aren’t pressured by humans.

 

[Bubblehide]

Unfortunately it comes with hunting public

 

[TheTone]

Had it happen to me a few years back. Wife and I working a herd with a raghorn 4x5 and a big 6. Watched the big bull for an hour or so inside90 yards. Watched him walk onto a small hilltop and and I was making a sneak I heard an elk bust. I got ready hoping they were coming back my way and looked over to see a guy crouching in the grass acting like he couldn’t see me. After I walked up to him he said he shot the big bull and only came down the hill after figuring out the bugling he heard was an elk and a person(my wife). I think he felt a combination of crappy and excited. Bull ending up being about 330. I wasn’t happy and I think my wife was even more pissed that another hunter would pull the crap he did

 

[Marble]

This happened to me 2 days ago. I had been following a big 6x6 down a drainage as he bugled and moved into the timber for about 2 hours. Twice in the past 2 days when I got close enough and called he shut up and went silent. Another hunter 1/2 mile plus away bugled and he responded. They went back and forth and it gave me chances to move closer and closer. I was moving in but not calling, but had been working that bull because he's really big for a few days.

The other hunter cut the distance and bugled with 300 yards of the bull with no response. He tried for awhile but that bull just shuts up when someone is with 300 yards.

Saw him again today... he's tricky.

Watched him chase a single cow out of the timber.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Ross]

Nothing new on otc hunting first time this occurred to me was in the 80s and again in the mid 90s…pissed me off especially when they did not pay attention to the wind…..IIke what are you stupid

 

[cgasner1]

I’ve had people park in sight of my truck and take off after elk we have been hunting with the wind wrong just run straight at them


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[sndmn11]

Sndmn11 -
Are you being sarcastic or serious?
What you said works great on Roosevelt. I say even more so on elk that aren’t pressured by humans.

It was @Ucsdryder that told me that, so I was being seriously sarcastic.

On a sarcastically serious note though, where my friend and I have been hunting is thick enough that a 30 yard lane is rare. Had we been successful, my expectation was that we would not see a glimpse of an elk until it was within 50 yards. In that scenario of getting on the bugling bull aggressively, I could surely see myself being the interfere-er in the equation due to the lack of visibility and lack of patiently plotting.

 

[deerhunt1988]

Yeah, frustrating no doubt. But in some of these mentioned situations, how do you guys know that YOU aren't the one interfering with a hunter that was already on the bull? It could go either way. Not every hunter toots their flute every time a bull bugles.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Yeah, frustrating no doubt. But in some of these mentioned situations, how do you guys know that YOU aren't the one interfering with a hunter that was already on the bull? It could go either way. Not every hunter toots their flute every time a bull bugles.

Every situation is different but he told me he was sitting a water hole.

 

[IdahoElk]

I had this happen a few years ago, had been working a bull in the morning until it bedded for the day, that afternoon when the action resumed I noticed three hunters moving in towards me and the bull, problem was they all had rifles and it was bow season when I confronted them and asked about the rifles they said they were Grouse hunting, OK? I knew who they were but they didn't know me, all three got cited by F&G !

 

[Gerbdog]

I had this happen a few years ago, had been working a bull in the morning until it bedded for the day, that afternoon when the action resumed I noticed three hunters moving in towards me and the bull, problem was they all had rifles and it was bow season when I confronted them and asked about the rifles they said they were Grouse hunting, OK? I knew who they were but they didn't know me, all three got cited by F&G !

Haha... i ran into a couple of dudes this season who were going fly fishing with break down rifles, scopes, and bino harnesses..... to their credit they did have fly fishing gear too..... hmmmmmmmm

 

[Tod osier]

So this is a thing? A hunter and a bull are locked into a bugle fest and another hunter moves in silently from a different direction and tries to kill the bull while it’s coming into another hunter? Damn...I like killing elk as much as the next guy but I wouldn’t never fathom doing this!!! In the past I’ve had this happen and I’ll sit back and enjoy the show, especially if the caller is good.

Had a guy sitting a wallow hear me and a bull tied up in a bugle fest, I must have bugled 15 times and the bull at least that. As I move my shooters in I look up the hill (thermals blowing down still) and there’s a freaking guy there motioning to me, like hey back off. Of course the elk blew out when they winded him.

I would love to hear an argument how this is ok to do. He didn’t seem to think it was an issue at all, even pretended there wasn’t a bull in the group! “There were 5-6 cows and a couple spikes down there”. I asked where the bugling bull was that I was calling and he sheepishly says “up there somewhere”.

This has been a tough season. More hunters than I’ve ever seen and every encounter ends in a “wow how did that bull not die”. Frustrating season so far...

Given what I've seen duck hunting where it is wide open and you can see when someone moves in on your position (you see them, they see you and they still move in), I'd be shocked if it doesn't happen all the time elk hunting and people are unaware they are getting moved in on as much as they are.

It seems like moving in on someone else is a decent tactic to employ if all you care about is killing something and can ignore the ethical issues associated with it.