Calling

[zclarkTOK]

How early do you start calling before legal shooting time?

This will be my first year calling. My wife is about to kill me and I’ve been walking around with a diaphragm in my mouth for the last two months but I’ve got a decent enough cow call down to at least not scare anything away.

I’m hunting on private land and usually starting in a blind over water and/or meadow to start the day before getting on my feet. I’m usually in the blind about 1 hr before and am curious as to when I should put the feelers out to see if I’m in the right spot.

Thanks for your help.


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[WW]

That's hard to say. You can call just about any time. But if you get a response before daylite, stop calling and wait until legal shooting hours before you call again. You sure don't want anything coming in while it is still dark.

[nclonghunter]

Location bugles could be used at any time. If one is bugling or cow calling close by and it is dark I would wait for gray light to start any interaction.

[ribo451]

I listen in the dark but I don't call at all. I have had elk in my lap in a matter of minutes in a few places including some in the dark that winded me and ended that hunt before it even began.

[zclarkTOK]

Does any one call on scouting trips?

[cohunter14]

Does any one call on scouting trips?

When are you scouting and when are you hunting?

[zclarkTOK]

Scouting this weekend. Hunting the 10/1-5.


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[Elk Noob]

In the areas I Hunt I wouldn't call during scouting unless you're calling at night. If you aren't hunting I wouldn't call because imo I think that's a good way to get the bulls to go quiet during the day.

[cohunter14]

I probably wouldn't be calling in that scenario. Reason being, finding where bulls are now probably won't help you come Oct 1st. For the most part, the bulls aren't going to be in the rutting areas yet. By Oct 1, they should either be in those rutting areas or should be starting to head off on their own into their security areas for winter. If it were me, I would be trying to find where the cows are right now. That would be a good starting point.

[ChuckBC]

I am very pleased with my progress in learning how to call over the past 8 months. Thanks to Cory. I have had a lot of complements from my buddies but not so much from the elk. There were 3 of us split up and hunting in very mountainous and forested terrain with lots of cut blocks. Perhaps very much like northern Idaho. We were no more than 1/2 mile apart from each other. When I call it sounds very loud to me and I can feel my Bully Bugle tube resonate a bit to that slightly louder tone. But my partners said that they never heard me call. Is it me or the terrain I am in. 


Chuck

[ribo451]

I have heard elk call from over a mile away on a calm day across a canyon and I have been just over a hill less than 400 yards from elk that my parents were listening to that I never heard. Terrain can really effect how far sound will travel.

[ChuckBC]

Thanks Ribo451. That helps me regain my confidence. It also gives me confidence that the very faint bugle reply I thought I heard a few times were actually elk.

[trophyhill]

The bull I killed this year, I heard him loud and clear from across the canyon. As he came in, he would bugle about every 25-40 yards. He sounded louder from across the canyon, than he did at 16 yards as he raised his head to start his bugle.