How close do you get in?

[iccyman001]

If you hear a bull calling and he seems to be hanging out in one spot, how close will you get in to set up on him?

To me it seems like getting under 100 yards isn\'t really anything too hard.
Assume you have the winds in your favor and adequate cover, how close will you get in?

 

[otcWill]

Close enough to kill him! Calling is ALWAYS a backup to my first option which is to kill him spot/stalk. If I decide that isn\'t going to work out or if I get a feeling (this can only be learned through time and experience) that he\'s gonna come to a call, I\'ll get as close as possible before calling at him.

 

[Tdiesel]

yep same as Will, Why even make a sound if its not needed. Stalk in and shoot him. otherwise as close as I possibly can.

 

[Baby Huey]

Same answer for me as Will and TD. Once you call, they know something is there - I would rather not alert them.

 

[mtnmutt]

Another twist: herd versus no herd.

If it is a lone bull, not as many eyes, ears and noses. Once the bull has a harem, the spot and stalk approach seems dicey.

What is everyone\'s take on navigating into a harem to get to the bull or do you call to get him to come to you?

 

[iccyman001]

Good stuff!!!!!

I like the sneaking in to kill before calling.
I have a sick obsession about trying to sneak up to these animals.....so that is what I will try.

Even if I blow it, I\'ll learn something.




Mtnmutt,

Good question. Something I wouldn\'t be able to answer because I don\'t know how compact or loose a herd is.


Do they regularly stay right on top of each other or are they spread out. That would definitely be a big factor.

 

[Guest]

Another twist: herd versus no herd.

If it is a lone bull, not as many eyes, ears and noses. Once the bull has a harem, the spot and stalk approach seems dicey.

What is everyone\'s take on navigating into a harem to get to the bull or do you call to get him to come to you?

A single bull is more likely to be on the move bugling where a bull with cows will be staying in one spot with his cows bedded. If a bull is bugling from one spot I always assume he has cow and he is actually advertising this to other cows and is trying to attract more cows to him !!

So sneak in close 40-50 - yards on a well used game trail leading in his direction. Setup off the trail and give a couple sexy cow mews in the opposite direction of the bull and then draw your bow because he is coming !!

This is probably the easiest bull to kill !! :mg: :mg: :mg:

 

[Jaquomo]

No answer for me because every elk is different. When I hunted big herd country, it wasn\'t unusual for a herd to spread out over 100 yards or more. Bump one and they all go. I\'d spend a lot of time watching before I did anything. Often I didn\'t do much more than hang around the edge of the herd and wait for the herd bull to circle past.

Now I hunt small herd country and I can be a bit more aggressive in getting in closer. It all depends on the herd characteristics, the terrain, and the wind.

 

[Tdiesel]

bull with cows same thing get as close as possible before I ever call. I remember being about 30 yrds from some cows and the bull was somewhere out of sight. when I started calling hated to move any because like you said lots of eyes so calling seemed like the right thing at the time :dk: maybe if I was patient the bull would have come into view on his own. It worked out good for me that time though.

 

[AndyJ]

Another twist: herd versus no herd.

This is a great question and the first one I try to figure out when going after a bull. I do things a little differently. I call when I am way out to try to get a bull talking. I listen to his bugles and what direction they are moving. Bulls with a harem tend to use more of a round up bugle. He wants to keep the herd moving together. When I hear a bugle I move as fast as possible to within about 100 yards then I slow down and hope to hear another bugle, otherwise I am looking for the first cows to show up.

On lone bulls I move toward the bull until I see antlers.

I am far from 100% at predicting a lone bull vs a bull with harem. I\'m getting better, but still predict wrong fairly often.

How close I get depends a lot on terrain. In the heavy stuff you can usually get really close.

This is the technique we use to kill almost all our bulls.

The closer I get the less I call. I see no reason to give an elk a reason to be suspicious. I have also noticed that when bugling, a big bull with a harem would much rather take his cows and run than get in a fight and lose his cows.

One technique that has worked amazingly well on wound up, lone bulls is get him bugling with cow calls. Then walk towards him about 20 yards and blow the weakest little bugle you can. He will run in looking to kick butt like he is in a Primos video. The bull this works on is the bull that fires back a bugle the second he hears a cow mew.

Do they regularly stay right on top of each other or are they spread out.

They are usually pretty close. Not really right on top of each other but in a herd of 20 you can usually see them all at the same time.

 

[cnelk]

Remember that there are times you don\'t have to \'sneak\' in on a bull.
Once there was a bull bugling up on a ridge from us.
My buddy stayed below and kept him talking.
I stomped right up to him while making 2 mews.
I drew my bow, stepped out from behind a tree and there he was looking at me 30yds away!
I released the arrow and he wheeled at the same time.
As he turned, his antlers swept down over his side
And and luck would have it, my arrow buried into his main beam.

 

[Swede]

Get in as close as you can without being detected. After that you need to do what you can to bring them close enough for a shot. The last part is where hunter skill, based on knowledge comes in. Really it is those last few yards that this forum is all about. Either that or you are a tree stand hunter and let them come to you. Maybe we are getting back to that \"aggressive\", \"nonaggressive\" thing we were discussing.

 

[WW]

You guys sure do make elk hunting sound easy. LOL!!

As far as slipping in on a bedded herd goes, just settle yourself in as close as you can to the first cow you see. It may take a long time, but eventually the bull will get up and make the rounds to check all his cows out. When he gets within shooting range of the cow you are set up on, whack him. In this situation, there is no need for any type of calling at all. But, it does take a lot of patients!

 

[iccyman001]

You guys sure do make elk hunting sound easy. LOL!!

As far as slipping in on a bedded herd goes, just settle yourself in as close as you can to the first cow you see. It may take a long time, but eventually the bull will get up and make the rounds to check all his cows out. When he gets within shooting range of the cow you are set up on, whack him. In this situation, there is no need for any type of calling at all. But, it does take a lot of patients!

That\'s good to know they get up and do their own inventory check or \"rounds\".
I think I could scoop up enough patients for something like this. :upthumb:

 

[Zpd307]

all my encounters last year were sneaking up on lone bulls. I never saw a herd. one I got to about 20 yards and still never saw him. i was going slow and using my binos, problem was I was sneaking up to the wrong thing. I thought that I saw a patch of his fur. nope not it, he got up to my right... another one was I was sneaking through their bedding area and decided to stop for a lunch break. I had my boots off and just started eating when a small rag 5x got up 40 yards away and started raking. I could see the tree shaking and the tips of his antlers. he was in such thick stuff that I couldn\'t sneak any farther in. so I called, to see if I could get him into a window for a shot. I thought the set up was good, he would have been using his nose to try and swing down wind, that\'s where the window was and I could have gotten a shot off before he hit my scent. he just never moved.... there were a handful of them that bedded within 100 yards of each other on a long bench every day. on one afternoon around lunch time I heard one get up and start raking a tree. as I was sneaking in on him, another bull about 100 yards got up and started raking, and then again, another one got up and raked. all were roughly 100 yards from each other.... a couple days later while still looking for my bull, a small bull bugled in the afternoon and right after he was done, a MUCH larger bull roared 100 yards away from him.

 

[AndyJ]

Sorry, I just reread the OP and realized I was off topic on my post. WRT the OP. Sneaking in on a stationary usually bedded bull is one of my least favorite scenarios but one I run into frequently. WW\'s technique for a herd is a really good one. It can take a unique level of patience for it to pay off but it does work. I have techniques that have gotten me a decent number of encounters.

With the first one it helps to have two guys and is a lot like Brad\'s technique. You may notice a lot of bedded Bulls make locator bugles. They just want to know where other bulls are but they don\'t necessarily want to meet the other bull. If you are hunting with a partner, one of you will hang back and blow locator bugles or cow calls or what ever is making him bugle. You just want to keep him talking while the shooter slips in to try to get a shot. If you are by yourself, the closer you get, the quieter you call. Most guys will get to see a bull using this technique, but unless you are an exceptional stalker, you will probably not get a shot and will end up spooking the bull...be forewarned.

The second technique works pretty darn well. Locate the bugling bull, get 80-100 yards away and do some LIGHT AND BRIEF herd talk. I mean a few quick soft mews and a spike squeal. Or some short mews and rake a tree. THAT\'S IT, for the entire calling sequence. Remember you are trying to make a bull curious that\'s it. Many times the bull will come check you out while he is up stretching his legs. He may come in 5 minutes, he may come in three hours. The hard part about this technique is in my experience, when he comes in, he will be whisper quiet so you need to stay alert and observent. It is really helpful to set up just on the other side of a hill so he has to come looking for you a bit. I would like to stress the second technique works really, really well if you are extremely patient and stay observant. I\'m not terribly patient so I know this technique works because on more times than I care to admit, I have stood up too soon only to realize a bull is staring right at me.