Getting Busted - Need advise
 

Hey Guys need some advise!!

So Saturday was a text book day...well most of it!!

lots of hiking Saturday, every 30 min or so we would send out a locator bugle....
we finally got a reply around 130 pm. with quite a distance to close in we started moving towards the bugle. while doing some cow calling and offset by the random bugle, we were getting a response every time, sometimes a double. this lasted for the better part of an hour.

We get to a pretty sweet spot, clumps of willows to hide behind and a small open meadow. This bull starts going nuts!!!at one point i actually thought is was another set of hunters!!

5 min later a huge 6x6 walks in to the meadow, and the guy with the opportunity , could get the shot off, the bull turns and buggers off.

my heart sank!!! cant get it out of my head!!

we went back Sunday morning, the woods was so quiet, tried to call, nothing!! no response.

do you think he will respond to our call again? do u think he is still around?
Didn't see or hear any cows..

should i give him a day or so...
stuck at work today trying to figure out what day to take off this week!!

thanks

He is only thinking about the females and will be where he finds them. I don't think he has been scared off but he may be 10 km's away following the ladies and a bit wiser to the call that almost fooled him.


Most likely still in the general area Imo.

*Spelling
 

*Couldn't get a shot off!!

It's happened to all of us at one time or another. Bugled an Elk into a clearing (still too far away to shoot) and he was meandering back and forth and shaking up some brush and responding intermittently. He was, however, slowly making his way into range ..... we would loose sight of him here, he'd pop out there, etc... we were in a "perfect spot" had the point ranged where it was "close enough to shoot" figured out, had the rest set up, we were set to go like we were filming an episode on a cool hunting show. This was going to be a picture perfect hunt .... or so we thought.

At some point I let out a couple more calls to get him moving and heard, literally right behind me, something coming, I turn around and there's another bull, 15 yards above me, who stops, I stand up (won't admit if I had soiled myself at this point) and turns to take off like effectively scaring the $#!t out of every living thing in the valley.

I remember laughing about it nervously as my heart was beating out of my chest for what seemed like hours.

We never saw elk in there the rest of the season.

Awesome story!!!, but that totally sucks!!! sorry to hear!

Keep at it and remember......just because they aren't responding doesn't mean they aren't there.

Dad shot a bull one evening that appeared out of nowhere without a response, after we bugled numerous times. Cows were spotted that morning in the same area.

Keep your head on a swivel, sometimes they'll double back downwind of you to figure out what you are.

great advise, thanks!
didn't know that they come in silent sometimes....

If you're not bumping elk, you're not hunting elk :)
Keep after it. There's not only just one elk in the area. Most likely several more hanging around.

clearings can act as a hold up point for elk. If your calling from the other side of a clearing and the bull comes into it, he is expecting to see another elk. When he doesn't see another elk in a opening, either he knows somethings up or it isn't worth possibly leaving his cows behind.

I would avoid calling elk through clearings. I have had elk hung up there to many times.

Good luck, keep getting after it.

I agree with this 90% - they definitely start to circle around one side, or hold up and mess around not wanting to get moving again. I think, in all of the years I've only had one come through without too much hesitation and he was a young bull and likely hadn't been spooked yet ...... lucky for him we let him walk that evening and live another day. I didn't fill my tag that season - Murphy's law. Man I hate elk hunting.:mad0100:

I tried a bugle yesterday morning - the herd bull collected the ladies and left along with the satellite bulls. Relocated them in the evening and did cow calling - the cows pushed him away. Sometimes there’s no winning lol.

I liste3ned to a great podcast < meat eater on spotify sure its on other networks over an hour of elk hunting tips from 2 top guides , if you have a chance definitely recommended for a listen .

Thanks for all the replies!!

So i have tomorrow off and my plan of attack is:
Hike in to the spot where we last saw that bull before first light. Aspens and willows are beat up pretty good there. Haven't seen any cows around though, but do some light cow calling first thing and see if we can get him to come in again. it is quite a large area (3 sections) when do you think the best time would be to hike around and send out some locator bugles ?
thanks

Don't over call.

Take this with a large block of salt, because I haven’t run an arrow through one yet...but I’ve gotten much closer when they don’t know I’m there. It might seem impossible, but elk make a lot of sign and it’s usually possible to spot and stalk if you have a starting point. I doubt you will fool a 6 point with calls twice in one season.

Lots of truth in this. Some of the best luck I've had is hearing a bull bugling and sneaking in without making a sound. Be sure to keep the wind in your face.

great, thanks!
i usually call, one bugle and cow call every 20 min or so?

I've found that bugling works well for locating and riling up a herd bull with cows. Locating the better of the two. Havn't had much luck actually bugling in a bull. Blind cow calling can lead to bulls sneaking in quietly