What is your take on this?

[iccyman001]

While everyone is out elk hunting, I wanted to start some threads of questions that popped into my head on my hunt.

So if you have anything that you question for your recent hunts, post them in other threads.
We forget things fairly quick, so ask while it\'s fresh!

Here is my first question...


Late August bulls are separating from their bachelor groups, rubbing off velvet, slowly starting to turn on, then they go find cows.
So here it is early Sept, I am getting into bulls with cows, but they are running from me afraid that I might be a challenging bull or satellite who could possibly be stealing their cows.

With that being said, WHY EVEN RESPOND TO MY LOCATION BUGLES?
What natural instinct makes a bull who is trying to protect his cows from other bulls, give away his location?


I had 3 different encounters where they where the bull was following the cow or cows to bed, but was answering every location bugle.

:dk: :dk: :dk:

 

[Tdiesel]

I\'ve always figured it as a way for the bulls to keep track of eachother. He wasn\'t responding to be interested in having you come he was sounding off so you knew where he was. Typically elk herds don\'t want to run into eachother he might have been sounding off so you would hopefully go another way rather than run into him. Location bugles seem that way anyhow. Course bulls cruising for cows will come towards a bugle because you might have some cows and they want some. Herd bulls in my experience won\'t usually come to location bugles(unless close). Early on when I was rifle hunting I think I messed up by bugling in the feeding area in the evening. A bull bugled several times coming off the mtn got kinda quiet so I bugled. We could hear the bull running back and forth keeping his cows in the timber. I feel if we would have just stayed quiet they probably would have come out to eat before the black of midnight. just my thought

 

[Swede]

Elk are social. As long as you keep your distance, the bull does not feel threatened, and will call back and forth. They will do this for an expended period.

 

[Swede]

This is kind of a quiz question.
I was sitting in my stand one evening in early September. Up the hill about 100 yards away an elk crossed a small opening and stopped with its head behind a tree. It stood there for two or three minutes then lunged forward and traveled about 30 yards. It was totally out of sight, but I heard it bark. The wind was in my favor and I made no sound. The elk could not have seen me. Shortly after the elk barked I heard a long continuation of smaller barks in the timber from behind the first elk. The elk that made those barks was never in sight. What happened?
Note: The next evening a large bear came in to water, 20 yards in front of me. What do you think happened? Was the bear what got the elk barking and what kept them from coming to water?
Should I have shot the bear for the trouble? I could not reach it to give it a Swede shower. :lol:

 

[iccyman001]

This is kind of a quiz question.
I was sitting in my stand one evening in early September. Up the hill about 100 yards away an elk crossed a small opening and stopped with its head behind a tree. It stood there for two or three minutes then lunged forward and traveled about 30 yards. It was totally out of sight, but I heard it bark. The wind was in my favor and I made no sound. The elk could not have seen me. Shortly after the elk barked I heard a long continuation of smaller barks in the timber from behind the first elk. The elk that made those barks was never in sight. What happened?
Note: The next evening a large bear came in to water, 20 yards in front of me. What do you think happened? Was the bear what got the elk barking and what kept them from coming to water?
Should I have shot the bear for the trouble? I could not reach it to give it a Swede shower. :lol:

Hmmmmm. I\'m guessing it could have been anything really?
I had two specific encounters this year that showed me how cautious elk really are coming into a waterhole.
One was my bull. I saw the area they come from and he started out real far bar, SLOWLY and cautiously working his way into the water hole.
Finally he hit that certain point where he was convinced everything was ok (it wasn\'t) then he committed to the water for a cool down.


The other one was the reason I never bring my phone into the woods. I was having an important conversation, so I decided to take my phone to the stand. It was early so I wasn\'t too concerned about the elk being there.(I think it was around 4-4:30pm)
Well, I am sending texts and kind of being STUPID and I look across the water. I\'ve scanned this waterhole for a few days now and something clicked in the back of my head as being different. I look closer and something looks like an elk leg... I threw my range finder up and sure enough, an elk was 70 yards away just looking at me. I froze of course. He waited another 5 minutes and then disappeared in the opposite direction.
That right there made me aware how silent they come in and how much they pay attention to the entire waterhole before entering.


I should also mention my bear encounter at this same hole.
I watched him coming in and he was sniffing the entire time. He also thoroughly scanned the waterhole over before drinking.
Even when he committed to the water, his eyes were scanning the entire time while he drank.

 

[iccyman001]

Elk are social. As long as you keep your distance, the bull does not feel threatened, and will call back and forth. They will do this for an expended period.

Im glad they keep vocal for extended periods, even when they are moving!!!! It gives me time to spring up to them from a different ridge :wave:

I\'ve always figured it as a way for the bulls to keep track of eachother. He wasn\'t responding to be interested in having you come he was sounding off so you knew where he was. Typically elk herds don\'t want to run into eachother he might have been sounding off so you would hopefully go another way rather than run into him. Location bugles seem that way anyhow. Course bulls cruising for cows will come towards a bugle because you might have some cows and they want some. Herd bulls in my experience won\'t usually come to location bugles(unless close). Early on when I was rifle hunting I think I messed up by bugling in the feeding area in the evening. A bull bugled several times coming off the mtn got kinda quiet so I bugled. We could hear the bull running back and forth keeping his cows in the timber. I feel if we would have just stayed quiet they probably would have come out to eat before the black of midnight. just my thought

Thanks for the post, Tod!

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

Agree, contact bugles are non-threating. It\'s a bulls way to keep in touch with other elk in the area by announcing his geographic location. In the first part of the season the bulls may be with the cow but aren\'t real defensive. Once cows start into estrus the level of response can be raised by herd bulls. That\'s why a lot if times towards the end of season you\'ll get a warning bugle, from a herd bull, in response to your contact bugle. It\'s all about the cows and \"if\" one is in or near estrus.

So I go by one guideline, if you receive a warning bugle, then you have a herd bull to work.

My 2-cents!

 

[Swede]

I was wondering if anyone had an idea about what caused the elk to start barking. I am not sure. I don\'t think it was a human. Instead, I suspect a bear. I think the lead elk was a large cow. The one behind, that did the barking I think was a calf. The elk that would not shut up sounded rather small.

 

[Zpd307]

we also got into \"some\".... vocal elk this year. that have left some questions. but I agree with dan, a smart elk wouldn\'t vocalize his location and give away the spot where his cows were at... we encountered a lot of those smart bulls....