Thunking sound.

[sumnerhorses]

Has anyone ever heard a loud thunking sound from elk? I heard it in the woods today and it was moving towards our calls. When I searched it I found that a bull will sometimes flip its penis against its belly making this sound.  Anyonr heard of this?

 

[Jmart78]

I believe you are referring to "glunking" which is a sound that is made by a bull shifting their tounge in and out. 
I have had a few people tell me it was thier penis slapping thier belly but I find that hard to believe if you have ever heard an actual "glunk".
I could be wrong.

 

[Bullhunter]

I have only heard it once when a bull was chasing a cow. As to what the bull does to make that sound, I have no idea.

 

[jerseybow]

I heard this on last year's hunt when a bull we set-up on came in and "glunked".  I had expected a bugle and was surprised to hear a glunk.  Elknut's Playbook says the sound is produced by a bull slapping their tongue against the roof of their mouth.  Bulls glunk in an effort to call cows their way or to call a new cow over to them.

 

[sumnerhorses]

No I have heard glunking and watched it. This was deeper and louder.

 

[nclonghunter]

Just a guess, could it have been antler hitting branches?

 

[Jeremiah Johnson]

I have heard this sound many times through the years and is always from a dominant bull with cows. My partners and I named this sound  Baduping back in the 80's and on a calm day we could hear it for up to 200 yds. I believe it is the penis slapping sound against the belly.

 

[sumnerhorses]

So I guess that means I made a huge mistake not chasing the sound. Dang it.

 

[MT_Nate]

I'm glad someone posted this.  I have heard glunks before and there's no mistaking the suction-cup sound they make. 

But I heard this same sound Monday morning when taking a scouting walk into the spot I intend to hunt on Montana's opener this upcoming Saturday.  Sounded like the "Badurp" sound a Raven often makes...except this Raven must have been about 900lbs to get the depth that I heard.  Deep and hollow.  I heard the bull rake a tree and then glanced at the butt of the bull walking away at about 75 yards, but didn't see any cows with him. It was in typical thick Northwest Montana jungle country though - the cows may have been there.

I have heard some people calling this sound a "Glug" or "Tending Glug".

 

[Marc_350]

I watched a truth video in which Will Primos talked a little about that. The Primos team also put a video together on how to do it with the terminator bugle. According to them glunking is a good final option to do on a hung up bull to add to the realism to get him to budge.

 

[Garrett Weaver]

We had a Nice 5 point do this one year. Really unique sound. It waswhen he was rounding up his cows and leaving. I don't know what it means tho...?

 

[lang]

Got some good audio of some glunking.  The last bull on the video was going off for 6 minutes and we had bad wind so we had to just sit and watch the show.  I need to load one without the background music so us purists can really enjoy it.  But if I forget heres the link.  www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoLoDdLKBiE