Ep. 60: How to Call in Bulls When You're Elk Hunting Solo

I know for many areas a lot of people have been encountering some really tough conditions this elk season, mostly due to wildfires around, low visibility, some hot weather, and then there's also been the flip side, where depending on where you're at, you've just run into some awesome hunting. For me, it was a pretty slow start. First portion was pretty smoky, pretty hot, not a lot of running activity.

But as soon as that pressure system changed man as animals started firing up, we got some cooler weather in and it turned out to be awesome. Actually, recently took a bull with my longbow just this last weekend, and it made me realize some of the calling techniques. Especially when you're calling by yourself, it can be very difficult to draw a bull into your location because what they'll

do is they'll hang up just out of range. So this week I want to kind of go over some of the tactics that I use and calling a bull in when you're by yourself in ways that you can use not necessarily call, but certain times you can use silence to get that bull to come in a little bit closer. This past weekend was just one of those

weekends where it goes from zero to a hundred. I don't know if anybody else experienced this, but the start of my oak season was a little bit rocky only because or at least the start of my elk hunt, because the smoke was so bad. It was hot temperatures, and the animals just were not being active. I couldn't

even like I just couldn't buy a bugle. It felt like I was going to some of my favorite spots, some places that I knew well that generally hold elk and just not turning anything up and I couldn't glass to find him. So it just kind of felt a little handicapped. But that all changed when the weather itself changed,

so it was kind of like hot, terrible conditions. But the night before the weather shifted, I ended up going to a spot and getting one bugle, so I thought, Okay, I'm gonna go back into this spot, well, that pressure system kind of changed up a little bit, and that next morning, I started out early, just like most mornings, throughout a locator bugle before daylight, and heard a bowl kind of like back up on the ridge behind me. So I figured, okay, I'm gonna work into that spot.

I'm not gonna make any more noises now, because I wanted to get close before I let out any more sounds, and just wanted to also kind of wait until it got closer to shooting light because I didn't want to draw him in too early. So I get back in the trees on this ridge is like burnt and there's all these little pines around, and I'm in the trees shooting light now, and so I let out just a few cow calls, just testing the waters here, and then

I let out a bugle. Then it's almost like the amphitheater starts a bugle across the valley, a bugle up on the ridge to my right, and then I hear not necessarily a bugle, but just like this heavy breathing behind me and stuff breaking. So I turned around, give it a big bugle, and then those other bulls fire off across the canyon I can hear whatever is behind me now has moved off, and it let out of

a few little like chuckles back behind me. So I dropped down, circle around get a view, and the bullet Actually, I'm in really close to me, maybe I would say probably twenty yards or so, but just it was so thick I never actually saw him. So I get around and about a hundred and twenty yards out, I see there's a small five by five and I thought, I've got my long bow with me pretty much. If that bull came in, I would definitely have probably drawn back

and shot him. But I also kind of at the beginning of the season, thought I'm looking for a bull that has at least six points on one side. I don't care, it's just like, for some reason, I kind of set little goals for myself and I wanted to hunt with my long bow, and if it had six points on a side, that's what I'm looking for. So I decided to walk away from that small five point because I had two other bulls just going crazy across the canyon every time, one with bugle, the other with bugle. Okay,

this is a pretty good situation. They sound like more mature bugles. This other one kind of wasn't really into what I was doing, what I was cooking, so I figured I couldn't see these other bowls. So I bugle, and I'm gonna now make my way across the canyon. I figured if some other bull comes in, and I decided I want to shoot it, cool, but I'm gonna

go see what these other ones look like first. So I start moving that direction bugling, and now at this point I'm just doing like I'm kind of matching the bulls bugles, and I finally put eyes on the bull across the canyon. I'm like, sweet, that's a good enough bull for me. It looked like it had six points. Decent looking animal, and she's pretty fired up. So I

start working my way that way. I kind of break out of the pine trees like the forest part, and I'm trying to move quick to get into position because I don't know where these other elk are, but I know that that one. I could see him working over the ridge where most of the other bugles were, so I wanted to get there fast enough to try to intercept him. So you didn't go into that big herd because I could tell that or at least from what I saw, it was a loan bull, so I'm like sweet.

I pretty much used my own podcast tactics of loan bull cow call party. So now I'm cow calling and that bowl is bugling to my cow calls. And when that happened, I just thought, yep, I can call this bull in like he likes that. I know what this bull likes. Like the other bulls were really bugling to the bugles, but this bull really like that sound. So I do that, and then he would bugle. So I get set up and I get myself on this ridge where I'm gonna be able to draw this bull up

over a rise because he's looking for cows. So I figured, okay, I'm gonna get to that rise. I'm by myself, so I can't draw like when you've got two people calling. It's completely different scenario because one guy can go ahead, the other guy can draw back. But because I'm by myself, I need this bull to kind of pop up and be looking for the cows, but not so much so that he can see everything and not have to commit

all the way. Unfortunate that I can actually see a long distance, so I can can I watch this whole thing play out, which is pretty rare. Most of the time you're just hearing what's going on, but you necessarily can't see it. How where the tactic didn't really change in my mind. So the bulls across the canyon, I'm giving him the cow calls, and he's liking it. He's now coming in on a string. Like I can tell by his positioning and the way he's bugling at me,

he's going to come in. I know that he's coming in, So I get set up to a point where I think that when he pops up, he won't be able to if I was too far from that ridge, he would be able to look around and understand where those elk care, because man, these elk can just pinpoint your sounds so well. So I get set up, I get my cameras set up, I set my phone up, start calling bulls, starts working in. I actually filmed the thing come in the entire way. He drops down below me.

He's out of sight because I'm crouched down. Then I pop up to adjust the camera and I decide when he's over there and moving, I'm gonna call as soon as he gets out of sight. Then I know he's he's working my way. I already trust that that bull knows where I am. I'm going to go silent so I don't make any more calls. What I want him to do have to like search for me. Where's he's actively looking. But I wanted him close enough to my position.

But I don't want to give away exactly where I am when he's really close, because I don't want him to hone in on me because I'm by myself. I'm trying to film all this. So he pops down, and now I see antler tips coming up the hill rise in front of me. I readjust the camera gets set up focus in. The bull stops behind this one small pine tree. It's like perfect setup. He's probably fifteen yards. Then I see him start to walk out, so I start to draw my bow back and he whips his

head in my direction and I just freeze. I just wait, wait, wait, don't move. I mean elker like t Rex of the animal world. If you don't move, they don't see you. So I wait. But now based on that movement, I know, okay, he's probably gonna jump. I've always had my call in my mouth. When I'm ready. The bull then starts walking out. I let him get a few steps out into the open. He's not looking my direction. I start to draw back. He jumps. As I'm drawing back, I see him move

focusing on the spot. Release the arrow, hit the bull. The bull runs off, goes over the ridge, and I got an awesome bull. Essentially called it myself, filmed it myself, and shot it obviously by myself, But it was just an awesome experience to have that kind of scenario where you can see what the elks doing. I had time to set up and just like an awesome encounter with

essentially a really really cool bull. If you're anything like me, you might be going on an elk hunt or have an elk hunt, and it might just not be feasible to have somebody else with you. You might have to you might be hunting on your own. Maybe you're hunting with somebody that doesn't elk call or can't elk call. There's a lot of things, you know, a lot of scenarios, but these tips that I'm gonna give you, or not just for calling alone, however, they do really increase your

opportunity of getting that bull within range. But also if you're doing a set up. These are just some really good ideas on ways to set up. So I'm gonna give you my five best tips when you're calling elk by yourself or how to set up on ELK. So the first tip is going to be to set up where they'll stop or where they can't see you. You've got to understand, like when you're calling elk, they're gonna

do a lot of things. They're they're calling, you're calling, they're calling, but they're also looking out for i mean, just at natural elk behaviors. The animals gonna go to where he knows where that sound is coming from, and he's gonna look. If he doesn't see anything, he's probably gonna lose interest. That doesn't mean that he necessarily knows that you're set up is fake, but he's going to go to an area where he can look and say, Okay,

sounded thirty cows over here. It's fairly open, or I'm within a potential distance that I think I could see some cows and I don't see anything I'm interested in. All right, I'm gonna go back over here. I'm gonna go do my own thing. I'm gonna go do something else. So making sure you can set up in a place where that bull is likely to stop or needs to come to to verify what's going on is a really

good way to set up. So when I'm hunting by myself, I like to stop and try to get to a spot where that bull is calling, where I think that he's gonna have to peek over, and that's generally like some form of ridge, some form of change in terrain. Maybe it's open, So I'm gonna set up just in the trees somewhere where it will have to draw that bull to come get a closer look is one of the best places to set up. And that goes for if you're calling for someone having them set up at

that area as well. If you're getting a lot of elk holding up just out of range, maybe you're set up and they're always sixty eight yards out. It might just be more of a factor of how you're setting up and where you're deciding to stop, then your whole

calling sequence or anything like that. So picking a spot where you're gonna have a shot, but it's also a place where that bowl kind of has to get close to verify and use his eyes to see what's going on and picking those places wisely if possible, is going to really help you get that elk into position. Now, another really good tip, tip number two would be to

call behind you. So using your calls directionally. As I'm moving in toward the elk, I like to throw my calls towards that animal so it knows, hey, I'm especially if I'm biggling, I'm challenging you, I'm talking to you, I'm I'm displaying, and I've got these cows here. But as I get closer, I start throwing my calls back the other direction. I really believe elk are really really good at pinpointing where you're at, but throwing it that other direction might make it seem or appear a little

bit further way. Now there's this catch where you need to draw the elk to your position, but you also want to not give away exactly where you're at if you're by yourself. So I like to throw those calls in that opposite direction as I get closer to that elk, making no my general vicinity, my general direction that that bowl will need to travel, but maybe hoping that he thinks that I'm a little bit further back than I am.

Then I don't have to be the guy ahead of the calling, but I'm using my sound in the other way to draw that bolt closer. Tip number three would be call soft. It's in the same vein of calling behind you, using like a diaphragm call. A lot of times I'll do these cow calls or even bugles with my mouth closed. It's kind of that same thing where that bowl really has to listen in. It doesn't necessarily

mean that he won't know where you're at. But I think one thing that people do too often is they get really loud when that animal close, but it makes them have to investigate a little bit more like, oh, I thought they were here, but it sounds further way. I'm gonna go look like get curious. And those soft calls, those being quiet calls or like calls it half volume or less, can be really effective when you're by yourself. It's something that I found over the years works really well.

And I learned that because there's so many times where I have a bull and he's screaming and I'm screaming, which is really good, but he just wouldn't come in that distance, and then I start doing some cow calls. Quiet, which is very similar to throwing. The direction different, but he's like, m I thought I heard him. Here is that elk pulling the close elk away and they come in that extra bit of distance. Tip number four would

be call, then move. It's essentially thinking of it like it's a two man set up where one guy is behind and then you're up. As long as that bulls making noise, you can kind of gauge where he's at. So what I like to do is, I'll kind of look at an area where I've got ability to move. Maybe it's in cover, maybe there's a ridge. I'll go back, I'll call. I'll make all my calls in one area a little bit behind me, say thirty sixty yards, and

then I move up and get set up. That's in hopes of drawing the bull to that last sound location, but being set up further up to intercept him when he goes into Look. Remember that bowl. He wants to check out what's going on. He might just want to test the waters a little bit. If he's not super fired up, he might not come in all the way. So he's gonna walk into Look. And that's why you want to be calling further back and then go up and set up quiet and wait for that bowl. The

fifth tactic is going to be to go dark. A lot of elk calling isn't necessarily the calls you make, but it's using noise and silence and combination. What happens when you go dark. What I mean by go dark and just stop calling, make your cow sounds when you know that that bull is moving in on you or your bugles or whatever, or if it's not maybe a fired up bull, but it's a bull that you're using cow calls to call to. Going quiet can be a really good tactic because I've seen cow elk do this.

They'll talk, they'll talk, they'll talk, then they'll shut up, and that bulls like where are you? Where are you? And he's going to go to that last place where he heard those elk. This is a really effective tactic when you're by yourself, especially if you've got a loan bull coming in. If you know that it's a loan bull, this is a really great tactic. If you don't, it's still a good tactic. Your pinpointing your location to that elk by saying I'm here, I'm here, I'm here, I'm here.

And then now he has to come in and look for those elk because he doesn't know did they move off, so he moves a little bit slower. You just have to use a lot of patients in that scenario. What I like to do is I like to create these scenarios where that bull has to seek me out because I'm by myself, because those elk might have a propensity to stop somewhere to investigate the situation, to look from a distance, just out of range or just behind stuff.

I need that elk to kind of have anough curiosity to move in and move through some of that stuff where I'm set up to come into my location without giving him the exact location of where I am. When he's close, I would say, when that elks further out, he could probably pinpoint your location of calling within a fifteen yard radius. And that's what you want. When you're hunting by yourself. You want that bowl to come into

that fifteen yard radius and start looking around. You don't necessarily want him pinpointed on your exact location, because if he knows exactly where you are when he's close, he's gonna be looking right there. He's gonna be honed in on it. He's gonna be expecting to see an elk. He might even stop further out when he can see that area and look. Now, if he hasn't heard anything for a little bit, he's gonna go, huh, maybe they're still in that spot because cook don't necessarily have to

be talking all the time. So they'll talk, they'll talk, they'll talk, then they'll go quiet, and that bowl is gonna come in and start looking around. He's gonna be searching for those cows. But he's gonna be looking in lots of different directions, which gives you a really good opportunity to draw back, to go unnoticed, to be set up in a place where that bull will come to your location but not necessarily expect to see a hunter there, or not necessarily stop further out and try looking in.

I really believe that a lot of elk hunting success comes down to your setup and how effective you are using the terrain available, using your calling to try to trick that bull to either the shooter or if you're the shooter and caller your location by really trying to trick their eyes and using their ears by using some silence as well as changing the directions of your calls. You're gonna be a lot more successful at bringing that

bull into bow range. I'm super pumped on all the messages I've been getting of success of tactics people have been using from the podcast to be successful. Those are awesome to get. Really enjoy all the photos that I've been getting, all the success stories, those are huge me. I mean that just reaffirms some of the tactics and and a lot of things, knowing that it's helping you guys be successful or try something new, or or maybe

if it's a new type of hunt. A lot of people have been getting out and doing something different, doing something new. So I really enjoy seeing all that success, seeing all those stories, and even just those stories of tactics that you try to where it was like so close but it didn't work out, and just and just getting that learning experience in those those cool encounters. That's what it's all about, getting out there, getting those encounters

and giving it at world, giving it a try. I know, if you're a rifle hunter or you've got hunts planned later in the season, you're probably like thinking about all these archery elk stories and you're like, man, those don't really apply to me. But don't worry. We're gonna be getting into the thick of a lot of other tactics here pretty soon. And if there's certain topics that you want discussed, shoot me a message via Instagram at Remy Warren because I'm gonna be doing a Q and A

next week. I've got quite a few great questions lined up. I like to try even compile some of the similar type questions and make sure that I answer some of those. One thing that has been awesome is a lot of the people that have asked questions have sent me success stories and success photos based on some of the answers they received. So if that's that could be you. If you've got some questions that might you know, they could be kind of specific, or they could be broad topic.

If there's something that you aren't picking up or something that you want to know, shoot me those questions. I would be more than happy to answer them for you, or try to get to as many as I can, so that will be next week. Also, if you are so inclined and you're gonna send a whatever message or whatever, you can check out. The story that I told today was just from last weekend's hunt, but I put that I captured a lot of that on video. That's all

on my instance story saved profile things. So if you want to check that, if you didn't catch it, you want to see it all go down and in semi real time, especially now knowing the backstory is it's really hard to put in you know, all the whole backstory into it. So if you want to catch that action and kind of see how it unfolded, go check that out. They'd be sweet. But otherwise, I really appreciate you guys listening tuning in. I'm pretty stoked. That's hying season. I'm

trying to squeeze these podcasts in between hunts. It's like I went out this morning, I got a buddy in right now, we're el cunning, we're chasing, getting on him, and I feel bad because I sent him out on his own, so I gave him some of these tips. I'm like, okay, do this, do this. I've been kind of a lot of these things that I'm saying is just stuff that I'm talking about in the field while

I'm out there. So I think that these fall podcasts can be really timely, really effective, especially because it's top of the mind for me, because it's just stuff I'm doing every day pretty much from now until December one, I'll be out, hunting, out guiding, doing all that good stuff. So if there's things you want to know, don't forget shoot me that message. Otherwise until next week draw mn close. We'll catch you later