switch reeds every day? Hour? Ever?

[Gerbdog]

So i checked out a new spot over the last few days....

Tons O' Fun .... really opened my eyes to what could be in elk hunting (point unit) vs. what i experienced in OTC units

Multiple encounters every day, pulled my bow a few times, few nearly got em but didnt step into my shooting lane and a busted branch from a bad gauge at distance (sad).

Was seriously moving from one bull to the next , just couldnt keep up, so much fun.

Question i have is.... do people switch reeds (color/ sound) theyre using to sound like a different bull every day?

I felt by the third day of hammering that same location the bulls were educated to me and were less interested in coming in and more interested in bugling just to keep my location checked so they knew where i was.

Does switching reeds make any difference at all? I DID switch reeds but like i said, by the third day of hammering the same location it seemed like the bulls were a whole lot less interested.... could be any number of things im sure.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

I don’t think it’s switching reeds as much as switching tactics. Were you bugling from the same spots? Same type of bugle? Creating different scenarios? Or approaching every response you got the same?

 

[Gerbdog]

every scenario got treated different based off how the elk was acting.

Some were fired up from the get go and i just charged in and challenged / cut off / etc. and they came in pissed off.

Some had just got up from bed and let me know where they were, so i raked a tree and they just walked on down.

By the third day i was getting neither. They sounded like they wanted to fight only to skeptically sit back and then bolt (the typical hang up) but i had been breaking those hang ups relatively easy the previous 2 days.

The less excitable bulls i had worked with raking the previous days just straight up went quiet and left, wanted nothing to do with me.

i'm suspecting they are almost all the same bulls since the area isnt huge, it just has a lot of elk in it, and they may be educated to my ways.

Which is why i thought maybe changing up my sound could make a difference, but it didnt seem to matter.

What DID change is the number of cows in the area, first couple of days there were loads of cows, third day... a lot less.... given that its September, i guess that makes a lot of sense to the mood of the bulls. Maybe that first day when everything was wanting to brawl there was a hot cow in the area.

 

[chindits]

I can’t speak to your area specifically, but if it was some of my area’s I would be more concerned with where the cows went.

Hypothetically speaking from a non-vantage point commentator and not knowing the number of cows your talking about. I’m thinking your cows got cut into smaller what I call breeder herds. This is typically about the time I see those want to be herd bulls lose their cows to the real bulls. Now for your area this could be total BS. The other thing to consider is the longer you play that area the more your scent is polluting where you were. I kind of prefer it when the herd I’m playing is moving ever so slightly in the area because I’m out from day break to sunset. That means I eat, piss, crap and nap somewhere out there and I sure don’t want it all concentrated in the same draw. Just a bad luck thing with me.

As far as just your calling is concerned, I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, they definitely can become call wise and call shy. I just don’t know if that’s what you’re experiencing right now and if just changing a call will make a difference with out a change in messaging and sequence.

Where did those cows go!!

Sounds like you had a good time while it lasted.

 

[trophyhill]

Great question. For bugles, I do switch it up. I use the Carltons brown triple, and the Native by arlton brown triple. One has a higher pitch than the other. I swap calls often throughout the day. I'll let the elk decide which one they like in the moment.

 

[roosiebull]

Sounds like day to day difference in elk activity, but agree with one of the above comments…. Switch tactics

There may be something to changing diaphragms, but I don’t unless I mess up a bull I’m after, and always feel the first time a bull hears me is my best chance of killing him

That being said, I stay dynamic and don’t just keep the same approach no matter the scenario, when they start getting fickle to calls, I do more locate (however I need to depending on the area) and then slip in and try to get in position (dynamic stalking) staying in good wind and distance and being patient until I see a opportunity to sneak into range, which usually ends up not sneaking straight into bow range, but sneaking into a spot he’ll walk through, so if something changes, I can back out without bumping them

Actively calling is fun and can be extremely effective, but often times, calling isn’t the best way to kill a particular bull on any given day. Another nice thing about not calling a bull in is the control you have over the situation (shooting at an oblivious elk that doesn’t know you exist… calling, they come in how they come in, you have some control with your setup, but it’s still a guess how they come in if they do… don’t get stuck being one dimensional elk hunting.

I love calling bulls, but given the choice, I would way rather shoot at one that wasn’t called, it’s a lot more controlled, and less rushed, and if your setup doesn’t work, you can back out and try again… call one in tight, don’t kill it, 9 of 10 times that bull is spooked and gets a lot harder to kill, especially if you heavily rely on calling

I rarely switch diaphragms, and never during the course of a day, but like last years, I switched tubes and diaphragms chasing a particular bull for similar reasons, but it didn’t make a difference, that bull was just in a bad spot to call and I boogered him up the first day I was on him last year, and that set the tone…. Changing tactics was the best approach

 

[Gerbdog]

Thanks for the replies guys, appreciate it.

Im out of the area for muzzeloader season currently and taking care of some stuff for work this week, so my scent should dissipate in the area.

Also bringing a caller with me the last weekend so hopefully that will switch up the sound and eliminate the pain of trying to solo call.

The other big problem im having in the area is the ground is just a bunch of dry crispy pine needles, theres no silent moving, and the trees are not so dense enough to make visibility limited, you can see a good ways in some areas and the bulls were bedding in those areas...

So between the longer visibility distance and the crunchy ground ... about the time i'd spot an elk body, they also spotted me moving through the woods.