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Elk Calling: Learn Elk Talk

for "Close Encounters of the Herd Kind"

Elk calling in competition is an art, but you don’t have to be a hunting call artist to be successful at using elk hunting calls. Elk call to each other all the time to communicate many things which we don’t fully understand. Most elk talk can be easily reproduced using elk hunting calls on the market today.

There have been many times in the past that I have heard an elk bugle and thought, “That’s awful. Must be a hunter.” Then found out it really was a bull elk. Some elk just sound terrible. Sometimes they don’t do it “right”. They lose their voice or get old, or just do it funny. Click here for a recording of a bull that sounds awful. Now when I hear a perfectly executed elk bugle I wonder if it could be another hunter.

Once I took a friend to one of my favorite spots near Trout Creek, Montana. We were on national forest land far behind locked gates on a logging road. We heard a clear cattle “moooo”. I whispered to Randy, “There aren’t supposed to be any cattle in here.”

We heard the moo sound several times and I kept insisting, “There are no cattle in here!” Randy said, “Well, there are now.” As we moved in that direction the mooing got louder. At one point we heard another moo, without pause it progressed right into a full out bull bugle. The bull just wasn’t doing it right!

Elk calls on the market today make it easy to fool elk into letting you find them and get close to them. Consider the many varied types of calls by clicking here for our discussion and review.

Listen and Practice

If you make sounds with your call that are nowhere close to elk sounds, you can push elk away from you. So, some practice is in order as well as understanding what the acceptable parameters are for doing elk talk.

The best place to start is spending time listening to elk sounds, live or recorded. Hearing them first hand is certainly a thrill and the best option, but sometimes we just can’t be where they are. (More audio links below.)

We will soon (August 2009) have a separate page with links to lots of actual recorded elk talk that you can listen to here. We will also have a step by step description of how to make elk sounds on the reeds, or diaphragm calls that go in your mouth on another page.

There are outside the mouth reed calls that are much easier to use. Simply follow the directions that come with them, after listening to the real thing to know what you want the end result should be. Diaphragm calls are more difficult but are usually more realistic sounding and allow for more “attitude” control, as well as freeing up your hands.

A Herd Conversation

Calves, cows and bulls all have ways of calling to other elk that can be categorized somewhat. Elk talk year round and bulls often make the same sounds cows do. The bull bugle (audio) and cow estrus whine (audio) , as well as the calf mew (audio) are easily identified, however.

The use of elk calls by hunters has the greatest potential for success during archery season, because the rut coincides with the bow hunting period. During the rut, bulls pay a lot of attention to cows as well as to each other. They want to know where cows are for mating potential. They keep tabs on the movement of rival bulls, as well.

During the rifle season elk talk will subside some because the rut is over. They also shut up because of the stress of human presence and their loud activities, including rifle fire, machines, etc. Bulls might still bugle on rare occasion during rifle season, especially in remote areas that hunters have not been detected. Cows and calves talk to each other year round, but the “estrus whine” will not be heard outside the rut period.

Learn to Mew and Chirp

The tools used most often in your elk calling arsenal should be mews and chirps. If you learn no other elk calls, learn these two. In fact, these two cow talk calls will serve you well without any other elk talk reproduction attempts. Many times a bull will give away his location when he hears a cow chirp or mew (audio) . A quiet mew of a hunter who has been spotted might even provide him an opportunity to walk around close to the elk, even though a cow or two in the herd suspects his presence.

Bugle? Not so Much

A bugle will often get a bull to sound off, but it might cause him to move in the opposite direction, especially if he’s young or has a harem of cows under his own influence. During bull elk calling attempts, if you throw a bull bugle into the mix, he might avoid a situation that he perceives might not be worth the effort. He might decide not to risk facing another bull at the moment.

If you get a response from a bugle call, stop calling and start walking. Knock off about a third of the perceived distance and listen for the bull. Do some soft cow chirps and mews and see if you can get him to speak up again. If he does and there’s still time and distance, reduce the distance by another third.

When you do bugle, the last thing you want to sound like is the biggest bull in the woods (audio) . Learn to make juvenile bull sounds (audio) with a higher pitch and less growl, so you don’t sound intimidating. Sometimes a loud challenge bugle can call a big bull in, but that’s actually quite rare.

Let 'Em Hear a Herd

If you and a partner(s) can sound like a contented herd of cows and calves (audio) , a nearby bull might just be convinced to join the party. Don’t be afraid to make some ground sounds with your “hooves”. When elk are unstressed, they aren’t in quiet mode. A bull likes the idea of joining a stress-free herd of cows and calves.

When calling elk, no matter what sound you are duplicating, don’t over do it. When you make any noise, you are giving away your exact location at that moment. (Use your hands to deflect your elk calling sounds away from you.) Elk are good at pinpointing sounds. One trick to use when hunting and calling elk by yourself is to do some cow talk, then quietly move a little. If you know which direction a bull is, make a cow elk sound and, if he responds, quietly cut off some of the distance between and stop.

Often a bull coming into an elk calling hunter will “hang up” when he doesn’t see the cow (or bull) talking to him. If you have already relocated near the point where he will hang up, you can be ready for a shot. They often will sneak in quietly, so keep your eyes, ears and nose open.

Team Calling

If you are elk calling with a partner, the shooter should be silent and set up fifty to seventy yards ahead of the caller and toward the located bull for a shot opportunity. The caller’s job is to pull the bull past the shooter. The caller should be over a rise or very still behind some brush, because the bull will be eyeballing his exact location.

If the shooter hits a bull with an arrow, he should immediately bugle or cow talk to stop the bull from a panicked run.

Listen to Actual Elk Talk

Click here (coming VERY soon) to read about the different sounds that elk make and to listen to them being made by actual elk, or by a caller using a mouth diaphragm or hand held reed call.

Practice using calls- instructions and audio here.
Listen to Recorded Elk Sounds here

Have you considered hunting another member of the deer family... Moose? Go to All-About-Moose.com; How and Where to Find these Majestic Animals A collection of information to enable most anyone to go out into the wilderness and find Moose; we want to encourage YOU to adventure out into the wilderness, to participate and experience excitement and beauty.

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Audio provided by JR Lear.