What Worked?

[otcWill]

What worked for you this year in terms of hunting/calling strategies? What, specifically, helped close the deal or should have closed the deal? I\'m looking for specific situations that ended with a dead elk.

I\'ll start. 2nd afternoon of an 18 day hunt, I met some young kids at the trailhead that were having some trouble after 10 days of hunting. They\'d found elk but never could get close. They were good kids so I decided to take a few of em out that evening to a spot I usually got into some elk. We set up around 4:00pm. Sort of a triangle settup with the two of them out front about 50-70 yards. I told them before we settup that if a bull were to come in and just wouldn\'t commit that it was up to one of them (drew sticks on it) to close the deal and that this is where the successful were sepatated from the tag-eaters. First lil bugle I hit and a bull fired back from a known bedding area about 120 yards away. I snuck up to the kid who was gonna try the stalk and told him to creep 40 yards closer and that I\'d be behind him about 30yds. I then proceeded to make herd talk mixed with some rock rolling, stick breaking, stomping, and raking. When the bull bugled I cut him off sounding as much like him as possible. He closed the distance to about 80 yards or so and hung up. With a solid plan beforehand, I knew Dane would make his move once the bull hung up for a bit so I made the most noise I could, running all over the place (it was thick and steep so the bull was well out of sight of me) thrashing, bugling, raking, and making aggravated cow sounds. The bull was surely looking in my direction and I side hilled a bit to draw his attention away from the stalker. A few minutes later, THWACK! Bull #1 of the season was down.

I hopes this helps some new elk hunters as its a settup that\'s worked many times for me: classic \"call and stalk\". Now lets hear some other specific situations.

 

[Scot320]

Very gracious of you Will, to take the time out of your days in the field to help these guys out, without a doubt a true sportsman thru and thru. :clap:

 

[cohunter14]

Very gracious of you Will, to take the time out of your days in the field to help these guys out, without a doubt a true sportsman thru and thru. :clap:

x2, great story!

 

[cnelk]

The below calling sequence didnt end up in a dead elk, but that was by choice.
I am a proponent of giving a few mews from my tree stand.

Last year, these 5 elk came in, another time a spike came in [Deertick was there too] and one evening a big 5x5 bull came in to some mewing.

It works for me

 

[Deertick]

I was there ... and it did work ... so I tried it at \"my\" spot ... first night, had a 4x4 show up at 50 yards ... no shot ... second night I had a bull come close, bugle, and move on. It definitely sparks interest.

 

[razorback]

Nice story Will. What\'s the chances a guy can do that by himself?

 

[otcWill]

Thanks for the kind words, Derek. Brad and John, tell us exactly what the call sequence involves. Just blow a cow call a few times and here they come? Sounds like a primos video !

Razor, yes, it can certainly be done solo. I\'ll post an example soon. Cmon guys, let\'s hear some stories of what did or almost worked

 

[Swede]

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My stand here would be along a trail between two funnels connecting a feeding area with an upper bedding grounds. Coming or going elk may stop here to wallow or get water.
Picking up on what Cnelk and Tick wrote makes me think we hunt different types of elk habitat. I note that Brad never says call back or respond to calls. He is cold calling to encourage unknown elk to come his way.
Now I sit quietly at a place like the one pictured above, as I believe elk in the area are very likely to pass on their way to or from the feeding grounds. The pictures of Brad\'s area appear flat and open. A nearby water hole may be the only attraction to his stand area. How much do you think terrain and habitat influence the different ways Brad, Tick and I approach tree stand hunting? What would that tell you about applying techniques you read about or hear proponents telling you to try?

Note: If by this post, I have hijacked this thread or diverted it substantially, I can move it.

 

[elkmtngear]

Great job, Will. I\'ll bet that was a couple of very happy young hunters!

After a few days of getting outdistanced in the early morning (the only time there was a little vocal activity)...I took to the trees in the evenings!

Like cnelk, sometimes I call softly from the stand. It depends on the situation/ location. My 2014 bull was taken with a silent ambush:

 

[Deertick]

Cold calling from the stand ... a few (3 or 4 or 5) mews every 5-10 minutes ... in areas with thicker growth so the animals have to come looking for you. Transition areas, so if you are heard, you are heard by an animal on its feet.

Personally, I was shocked that it worked. Brad and I were in a stand together and he said \"Just wait\" ... Then, here comes a spike to about 30-40 yards, looking for \"us\" ... The next night, he called in those 5 elk. When I tried it, between the calls I heard steps and ... sure enough ... there was the 4x4 at 50 yards.

I think this is basically cold-calling from a stand -- you could do a lot of variations on it ... herd talk, lost calves, etc.

 

[Tdiesel]

hiked in about 3-4 miles at around 4 in the afternoon bull bugled on his own I thought I was on thire preferred path down and had good wind so I stayed 2hrs later several bulls bugling and I could tell they started moving down a different canyon rung around in front of them and bugled and cow called no order just bugle any time they bugled and shorten the response time a little ,so if you bugle and it takes them 30 seconds to reply wait 25seconds (not really timed but shorten it) shorten each time and pretty soon you will be bugling over the top of eachother, In my opinion it leads them into getting worked up if they are not already????? not sure but its the second time that has worked.Hopefully they come trotting in to range or thats how it worked I also move towards them always until I\'m afraid of being seen ended with a 5x6 satellite was hoping for the bigger sounding bull but I have an itchy finger when I see antlers in range and a clear shooting lane.

6months pregnant wife\'s bull at 12:00 last saturday of season heard some noises off in the timber cow called once stomped around and then poped a tree good with a stick few minutes later cow called again sat just listening 10 or so min later a small 4x and two cows came sneaking to 35 yrds looking and my wife put him down

 

[BTL]

Started out the evening before, right at sun down. I was over looking 3 different draws glassing for elk. Saw two groups of cows and one group had a good bull with them, bugling and chasing them around. Other bulls started to sound off with this activity going on. Seemed like there was at least 3 that were \"advertising\" in the deepest part of the 3rd draw. That\'s where I was heading at sun up.
3 mile hike in the dark I found myself in a meadow with a freshly used wallow. Started cow calling and moving slowly through the edge of the timber. Getting careless after not receiving an responses, I decided to head to the next one. As I crested a small knoll I was busted. Little six point had me pegged in the open and a stare down ensued. He turned to walk off, not being too alarmed, so I took cover and gave some cow calls. He turned and looked but I had no shot with the distance and him being alert. After giving a few more calls a bull across the creek sounded off....I decided this bull had beat me and I was off to close the distance on the next.
I did my best to get the wind in my favor and cut the bull off. cow calling soft to start with no luck. I added some excited cow calling like before and still no luck. Moving up another 50 yards while cow calling I decided to let out a bugle(small two note with no intensity). Right over the top of me the bull answered. He was off to my left, wind blowing downhill from my right to left (a little behind me), so I moved 20 yards and cow called again. This time he bugled with a little more excitement to the cow calls and I fired right over the top of him doing the best I could to mimic his bugle. Few more cow calls, and another bugle from him with a few grunts, he was closing the distance. Again I went over the top of his bugle and matched what he did. Dropped my pack, moved 20 yards down wind and hooked my release. The bull came in perfect to an 8 to 10 yard window and the rest was history.

I think what helped me being a solo caller was directing traffic. I didn\'t bugle at the bull. I always turned up wind and away, then moved down the opposite direction to gain the wind to my advantage. The last spot I called from was exactly where this bull was headed. This was very thick cover with some blow downs. I couldnt even see the bull until he hit the clearing. Two windows to shoot and both were 10 yards and less.

 

[otcWill]

Good posts, guys! I think these stories of success can really help some new guys and veterans alike. By the way, the bull in the first pic is this kids first archery animal. It was by far the best moment of my season helping him out and sharing his success!

Here\'s another: Late Sept. I\'d been tailing a herd from feeding to bedding for a few days straight. They always seemed to pick the opposite side of a little cliffed out section of steep timber than the one I chose to wait on. I\'d seen a great bull with about 15 cows every morning. I wasn\'t calling at them at all as I had them patterned well and kept thinking I\'d be where they were going, but they were always just out of bow range. Season was coming to a close with only two days to go. I\'d seen a small 6x trailing the herd a few days. On this particular day, I never saw him and I had the herd bedded 150 yards above me in the thick stuff. I decided to set up to call starting with regular herd talk (some relaxed mews with 3-5 different diaphragms). I kept this up for about 5-7 minutes while walking around, rolling some rocks and logs before picking up the intensity a bit with the cow calls. Soon afer this I pick up the intensity of the stomping and rock rolling. Then some raking and the weakest spike-like bugle I\'ve got followed by some agitated cow sounds and calf whines. I\'m trying to sound like a lil bull pestering the herd. After this I wind things back down like the herd has accepted this new dink and move 40 yards towards where I think the 6x satellite will come from and wait. 10 minutes later he comes in faster than I was ready for and without a cracked stick. He\'s within 10 yards before I can barely get my release attached and before I know it, I\'m drawn with the bull at about 6 yards looking at me with only a few slender bows between my arrow and his vitals. I held for as long as I possibly could and, though the chances were very good I could have killed him, it wasn\'t 100% so I let down. He lived to see another day but the settup worked and I was happy for the encounter.

 

[Jaquomo]

Will, my typical cold-calling setup is almost identical to what you described in your last post. I use a couple different diaphragms and a couple open reed calls. Of the 14 bulls I called-in last season, almost every one came to some variation of that setup.

I think the real key is to create a little \"elk film\" in your mind and act it out. Relaxed herd talk, maybe a young bull pestering a cow now and then, calf wandering off and mama talking to him, occasional loud cow calls. Sticks breaking, hooves hitting logs on the ground, and usually have a pile of different-sized kindling around me to use for these different sounds. I rarely do a full-on bugle except for locator bugles or a challenge if that bull seems to be in the right mood. Almost every bull I called-in came in after 20-35 minutes, most totally silently.

But none of this works without the right setup in the first place. You have to have a pretty good idea where the elk are going to come from, set up downwind of a trail where they can\'t see you until they are in bow range. If possible, as you describe, be in a spot where you can move closer to where you think he\'ll come from. That\'s really important for a solo caller. And like BTL notes, plan your windows ahead of time, plan when you will draw with each different possible approach. While you\'re sitting there waiting, think about every possibility. Too many hunters realize too late that they just missed their shot opportunity.

The other trigger is a decoy of some sort set up upwind and off to the side. I use the Elk Mountain elk butt most often, but also a Heads Up. The cow elk hat works great too, but best if I can \"show\" it, then drop down and get off to the side. Otherwise they come right in on top of me.

Good thread.