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.

This bull is making a funny sounding bugle, He is calling a cow or cows to him. (Maybe it was you he heard?) He is saying something specific to a cow or cows, but it's not a sound we recognize as a "normal" bugle, until we spend some time listening to them.

Now when I hear a perfectly executed elk bugle I wonder if it could be another hunter, because most hunters aren't familiar with the many different sounds a bull makes to communicate different things.

Related topics available:
How to Make Elk Sounds
Product Review of Elk Calls
Recordings of Elk in the Wild
Calling Elk In Close
Predicting and Hunting the Elk Rut
Bow Hunting Elk

Many years ago 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 “moooo”. Randy said it was cattle. I whispered, “There aren’t 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.

Even if you aren't that good yet at replicating bull elk sounds, elk calls on the market today make it easy to fool (some) elk into letting you find them and get close to them. To fool more takes listening and practice. Consider the many varied types of calls by clicking here for our discussion and review.

Listen and Practice

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

Bugle? Not so Much

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, be patient. He might be coming to you. (See the Stalking Elk page here.)

When you do bugle like the biggest bull in the woods (audio) it should usually be after everything else has failed. Learn to make juvenile bull sounds (audio) with a higher pitch and less growl, so you don’t sound so intimidating. Sometimes a loud challenge bugle can call a big bull in, but that’s actually quite rare.

Let 'Em Hear a Herd

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 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

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.

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