Calling All Elk!

J

jdscholer

New member
Praise be! I was finally successful in calling up my first bulls. Three of em together. First was a real nice 4 or 5 point followed by two spikes. I got to watch them cross about 200 yards of open ground, straight to me. It took enough time to nearly give me a stroke. At about 40 yards the big one angled slightly to my right, passing on the other side of my shade tree, and effectively blocking my shot. The other two followed almost in his tracks about fifty yards behind him. They were walking calmly, didn't bolt, and also didn't come back when I tried more cow squeaks.
I was kind of bummed at not even loosing an arrow, but was jazzed about finally getting response to my calling. We've been working hard at this for two seasons now.
My wife is my partner, and the two of us usually work together and have tried many different meathods to fool the bulls, or cows and calves. We're not choosey, and they're all legal. We mostly use cow calls, and would be interested in hearing from anyone about technique, timing, set-up, etc.
Our area is kind of desert country, with sparce to medium juniper cover with sage brush. Hot weather hunting in September. jd
 
Good callin' Sorry I missed the thread. I just gots me dem dinky southern white tail buggers to tear up.
Brent
 
I did some cow calls 3 weeks ago when I took my Grandson Elk hunting in Colorado. Don't know if it was the calling or just by chance, but 2 Bulls presented themselves to Jared and he missed. That was his 1st time seeing Elk. Boy did it light a fire in him!
The Old Timer with us shot a cow, so he got to carry some meat down the mountain too.
We just had ground Elk in our chili. It is wonderful!
 
JD - Sorry to ignore you, no offense meant.

We usually bow hunt Roosevelt elk, and calling them is a tougher game than Rocky Mountain elk.

My un-educated theory is the terrain. A Rocky Mountain elk covers a lot more ground and is more visable more of the time, so they are very used to fighting and challenging.

Where we hunt Roosies, it is very dense. I have never seen a herd larger than 20 cows. There are so many distinct drainages, once a bull has a few cows, he just finds a place and sticks to it. If he gets bugled at, he just gathers up his cows and moseys away.

Anyway, great job. It is always a rush just getting close, even if no shot was taken.
 
Very cool, and congrats. The only comparison I can make is the first time a gobbler answered me. I'd had my hunters' safety cert for about two weeks and didn't know a darn thing. A few deathly quiet days in the woods and I was just about ready to throw my calls in the lake when one started talking to me.

While I was out at the rifle range this weekend two guys next to me were sighting in for Montana elk, said it's not difficult to draw a tag and make a cheap trip of it. I sure would like to give it a go one of these years. As to the bowhunting aspect, I'll have to get started on some other local critters before I chance an elk with one.

Hope your luck continues, and continues to improve!
 
Ah heck, you guys are out there. I appreciate the replys and encouragement. I'm dyin to hear more tactics that y'all use to do what I been attermpting to do.
I realize that this may be more of a bow hunting topic, but I think there are plenty of us who swing both ways around here.;) jd
 
I just got back from my Elk trip, opened and closed the season with 2 shots. Both through the heart on a nice spike. I hunt for meat, so the spike was perfect for me. Packed about 150 lbs of meat off the mountain (thank god for the ponies!). We set up in this high mountain valley in the Beartooths and 2 of us watched the meadow while one headed off into the timber to try and push some game out the bottom. Well, it worked and by 4pm that meat was at my butcher in town (it helps when camp is only an hour and a half from town!). We had a great trip except for 'Ol Grandpa (81 years old riding that mule through the mountains) having a horse wreck early saturday morning, we had a great trip. Grandpa cracked a few ribs and had a partially collapsed lung. We were about 2 miles in and that tough SOB WALKED OUT! I can only hope that I'm as tough and spry at 81 as he is.
 
I'm envious of your meat supply. Since we started this bow and arra thing, ours has dwindled to nothing. We're having fun with it though, and I think that one of these times we'll break the ice, and very likely with a nice bull. I've killed several cows on rifle tags, but have yet to kill a bull. I guess you could call me a meat hunter also. Or maybe now ya could call me a meat buyer.:( jd
 
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