Cow advice

[timberland]

I\'ll give you the lowdown on my elk hunt this year and you give me some advice:

Archery, first week of Sept. Cow only hunt in the Black Hills of WY. Some use of Ag fields by the elk, but not exclusively. Not enough that I could burn a week sitting the edges without an opportunity. Plenty of water.

My style of hunting that has been successful in the past has been cruizing elky areas, spotting them before they spot me and making a move.

I\'m giving myself a week to get it done, including boots on ground scouting. What would you do on day 1? Any helpful words?

 

[Swede]

Some use of Ag fields by the elk, but not exclusively. Not enough that I could burn a week sitting the edges without an opportunity. Plenty of water.

Scouting the area before the season could be very helpful. With elk scattered and no central place to wait, I believe you could try to get within hearing distance and sound like a calf in distress. Be sure to have a decoy for them to see when they get close. Call from locations where the elk need to get within shooting distance before they see the decoy and be in a position that you can shoot.
If you can find a well used trail, that is reliable, you could keep an eye on it.

 

[cohunter14]

I would spend as much time glassing as possible once you get there and get setup. See if you can pattern them coming back and forth from the Ag land or see if you can spot some elsewhere. I would assume location bugles could work as well, but I\'ll leave those suggestions to people who know more about it

 

[Swede]

I don\'t think a location bugle is going to help much. The cows are not going to bugle back. Location bugles most often help you find where a bull is. After he answers, you go to him. On a few occasions elk will come to a location/advertising bugle, but you will need to be patient and wait just hoping they come in silent. I think the spotting idea is good. You might work your way in close and try some chuckles too.

 

[cohunter14]

I don\'t think a location bugle is going to help much. The cows are not going to bugle back. Location bugles most often help you find where a bull is. After he answers, you go to him. On a few occasions elk will come to a location/advertising bugle, but you will need to be patient and wait just hoping they come in silent. I think the spotting idea is good. You might work your way in close and try some chuckles too.

Yeah, I just figured by September the bulls should be herded up with some cows. But I could see where it could lead you down the wrong path as well.

 

[timberland]

Some use of Ag fields by the elk, but not exclusively. Not enough that I could burn a week sitting the edges without an opportunity. Plenty of water.

Scouting the area before the season could be very helpful. With elk scattered and no central place to wait, I believe you could try to get within hearing distance and sound like a calf in distress. Be sure to have a decoy for them to see when they get close.

Intrigued by the calf in distress and I can see how it can be very effective and an exciting way to hunt. I wonder how it works blind calling a few setups in the morning as they head back to bed. Anybody use this successfully?

 

[cnelk]

Intrigued by the calf in distress and I can see how it can be very effective and an exciting way to hunt. I wonder how it works blind calling a few setups in the morning as they head back to bed. Anybody use this successfully?

This is my \'bread and butter\'

 

[Swede]

This is my \'bread and butter\'

I am sure set up is the key to making this work. Brad can you share with us some of your technique(s)? Thanks in advance.

 

[cnelk]

How many points do I get?

 

[Swede]

We have a dilemma here. Brad wants to know how many points his answer is worth before I read his post. A good answer, like the correct answer for the \"Now what should I do question\", would be worth 1,000 :clap: points. A so-so answer, well maybe 200 points, and a wrong answer -200 points. I just need to read the answer before I can be sure what it is worth.

 

[cnelk]

Ok hopefully I will get some points

Obviously I will have a map or at least some prior knowledge of the area.
I like to select a place I want to work toward and then loop back to camp/truck

I look for places that an elk can\'t or won\'t come in from behind me. An opening /clearing or blowdown.

I mark each spot I make a blind call on my GPS and call for 20 - 30 min.
If no contact is made, I keep moving to my predetermined spot.
I will slowly move no less than .2 miles before I look for another place to set up and call.

Once I make it to my predetermined spot, I will continue making a loop, making a blind call setuo every .2 - .3 miles on my way back to the truck/camp.

Of course, at any given time, elk can change this plan.

 

[Swede]

There you have it folks. Some great advise and worth 2,000 full points. Cnelk can add that great number to his avatar. \"First 2,000 point WINNER\".
Thanks Brad, that is good advise.

 

[cohunter14]

I have to agree that Brad\'s answer is worth a bunch of points! That is a very scientific approach that makes perfect sense all around. I\'m filing that one away for the day I move to the dark side

 

[bowhunter]

I have to agree that Brad\'s answer is worth a bunch of points! That is a very scientific approach that makes perfect sense all around. I\'m filing that one away for the day I move to the dark side

How can it be the dark side? I would say when you make the change you will have seen the light.

 

[cohunter14]

How can it be the dark side? I would say when you make the change you will have seen the light.

Hahaha, touch? Terry!

 

[Glacier Country]

I would spend as much time glassing as possible once you get there and get setup. See if you can pattern them coming back and forth from the Ag land or see if you can spot some elsewhere. I would assume location bugles could work as well, but I\'ll leave those suggestions to people who know more about it

This seems like sound advice to me.... in September the bulls will be with most of the cows. Nothing works 100% but I would use bugles and bite call to locate a HERD of elk which will probably contain some cows. You only need 1 elk to call back and then you can either move closer with the wind in your favor (close enough to hear herd sounds) or get where you can glass the area you heard them at, to look for cows. I do this with success in areas I have never stepped foot in every year. I locate almost every elk we harvest with a call of some type through out the season.
Hope this helps. Troy

glaciercountryhuntingcalls.com

 

[Swede]

Troy are you hunting cows that way in early September? Sure you can find bulls with cows in early September, and you may be able to get a bull to answer your call. Still, at least where I am hunting, most bulls are separate from the cows, and they don\'t respond well to a bugle in the early season. Most of the cows that come around my tree stands, in early September, are alone, or have a spike or two, or a rag horn with them. Stringunner got a 320 class bull in early September a couple of years ago. He was with some cows. From what I have observed, that is very unusual. They were together at a water hole, adjacent to a bedding area.

 

[Swede]

Just a note for those following this thread. Troy is an expert caller, and I want to see more of his explanation on this. When it comes to calling I believe he is significantly more of a proponent than myself. I am more of a minimalist. It seems to fit my hunting area better. I have gravitated to thinking that, cow calling is better for the early part of the season than significant bugling. If others have observations on this, it would be interesting to read your thinking. In the end I would personally go with what Troy has to say over what Swede says on this.

 

[Glacier Country]

Dang it !!! I just typed out a long winded answer and something went wrong and lost it. I gotta run but will answer later. Troy GCHC

 

[Glacier Country]

Cow advice...Swede, I don\'t always just bugle in the first part of the season, I also use herd talk to convince any elk to talk back and give away their position. But I am for sure going to bugle. Our season starts the 1st Saturday in September so all of our elk hunts start within a week of Labor Day. So when I say early part of the season, that is what I mean. First of all not all areas Start the Rut at quite the same time.... I don\'t always hunt the same areas from year to year. So lets say I am hunting a new area, I know that the elk are talking somewhat, all year long so I key in on that. I am decent at finding likely spots so I will start with those. Early in the season I might do some bite call cow sounds then answer them myself with a bugle. Or I might bugle first and then make some cow sounds , it just depends upon what I think I should do at the time. I will do this in likely spots in several areas until I get an answer. I have bugled bulls in from the first day of our season to the last over the years so I am always going to bugle. Some days are better than others, but we usually locate some pretty early every year.

I think that some of you are afraid to use calls much.... Especially bugles. for whatever reason so many of you are hesitant or at least not Confident enough to try them.Or you are not sure what to do when. Paralysis by analysis. Maybe rightly so, if you have not practiced much. I know I will call in elk so I am not afraid to try something different than others. If it doesn\'t work Oh well I will try another spot. No big deal. I hear so many of you talk about calling in other guys, yep it happens to us a lot. I give them some turkey calls or maybe Yankee Doodle Dandy. I just like to call elk and so I do. I enjoy that and I let a lot of them go. One of the most important pieces of equipment that I take is my calls, if I forot them I wouldn\'t even hunt I would turn around and go get them!!
The way I do it may not be for everyone. I do challenge all of you to go out and just call one in so you can feel the rush of having one dang near run you over. A bit of a warning you will want to do it all over again! --> Troy glaciercountryhuntingcalls.com