Speaker 1: As a guide an hunter, I've spent thousands of days
Speaker 1: in the field. This show is about translating my hard
Speaker 1: won experiences into tips and tactics they'll get you closer
Speaker 1: to your ultimate goal success in the field. I'm Remy Warren.
Speaker 1: This is cutting the Distance. Welcome back everyone. This week
Speaker 1: we're gonna be diving into part two of Calling Silent Bulls.
Speaker 1: It's good timing because right now it's September, elk season
Speaker 1: is in full swing. I've actually been out pretty much
Speaker 1: every day except for a few travel days, and had
Speaker 1: some really great encounters. Now, depending on where you're hunting,
Speaker 1: what you might encounter, you're probably going to encounter at
Speaker 1: some point in your life elk that are being quiet.
Speaker 1: So last week we covered that set up on calling
Speaker 1: for silent bulls, which is a very important step. But
Speaker 1: now we're gonna be taking it a step further and
Speaker 1: covering the calling aspect of drawing in a island bowl.
Speaker 1: So we'll be talking about the calls you want to make,
Speaker 1: how often you should call, and then when you should move.
Speaker 1: But before we go there, I want to share the
Speaker 1: story of Rocky the Annoying Squirrel and the Ninja Bowl Winkle.
Speaker 1: This hunt took place a little while back. I was
Speaker 1: actually guiding a client and it was just one of
Speaker 1: those weeks. It was like pretty hot out early season.
Speaker 1: I would say probably about this time in September, where
Speaker 1: you know, every year is a little bit different. Some
Speaker 1: years the bulls early September are just spouting off, and
Speaker 1: it depends on where you're hunting to Like, um, I
Speaker 1: kind of I ran into it a little bit earlier
Speaker 1: rut action down south this year, and then you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes you go further north and it might be the opposite.
Speaker 1: They might be reading a little bit later. I kind
Speaker 1: of feel like the rut's gonna be a little bit
Speaker 1: early this season. That that was kind of my prediction.
Speaker 1: But um, in places where it's been hot and dry,
Speaker 1: you know, they might they might be waiting for some
Speaker 1: more of that cooler weather, and once that cooler weather
Speaker 1: comes than things are going to kick off. So this
Speaker 1: particular hunt, it was like pretty hot. The week before
Speaker 1: was actually a lot cooler, and we're we'd hear some
Speaker 1: bulls sounding off, but it was like most of the
Speaker 1: bulls had not really started gathering up cows yet. You'd
Speaker 1: get a little bit of action in the mornings and
Speaker 1: then you'd hear some bugling in the evening, but the
Speaker 1: temperature kind of made it a little bit tough, and
Speaker 1: the elk weren't super vocal. So so this particular week,
Speaker 1: you know, we we kind of resorted to a few
Speaker 1: different tactics, but a lot of it was checking feeding
Speaker 1: areas because what was happening was the cows were coming
Speaker 1: out and feeding, and then what you would find is
Speaker 1: like the cruising bulls. The bulls that are just going
Speaker 1: and they're still doing their thing, they're checking for cows,
Speaker 1: would cruise those areas that cows would frequent. So there's
Speaker 1: a few places we could glass, and then there was
Speaker 1: just some areas where it's like I spent the day
Speaker 1: trying to maybe turn up a bedded bull or whatever,
Speaker 1: and then check feeding areas for new sign and thinking, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna pinpoint these elks. So midway through of the hunt,
Speaker 1: there was a couple of different meadows that we've been
Speaker 1: hunting and there's this one meadow that you could you
Speaker 1: just couldn't glass. It was kind of flat, it was
Speaker 1: opened up in the trees. I actually found it on
Speaker 1: this particular hunt, and I was like oh, I didn't
Speaker 1: even know this was here. This was before you could
Speaker 1: turn on a like a uh you know, like a
Speaker 1: digital map on your phone and see what the lamb
Speaker 1: looked like. You just had to walk somewhere if you
Speaker 1: wanted to know what it looked like, you know, you
Speaker 1: have a paper map. And even then I was like
Speaker 1: paper map whatever. I mean, I just boots on the ground,
Speaker 1: kind of exploring. So I happened upon this little meadow
Speaker 1: and it was in this little it was kind of
Speaker 1: up higher this little saddle, and the saddle came down
Speaker 1: to this wet spot. There's some water in there, and
Speaker 1: then it opened up to this like grassy spot and
Speaker 1: there's some aspens at the bottom of it. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: this place, this is when you think elk country. You're
Speaker 1: like elk country right here. So I got in there
Speaker 1: that that morning and it was like it was mid
Speaker 1: morning and I could just smell. It was like there's
Speaker 1: been a bowl in here last night or this morning,
Speaker 1: Like you could smell he bedded and we came down
Speaker 1: to the bottom we could see where he had beded
Speaker 1: up and then look like a loan bull. And I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, this is gonna be our spot. I really
Speaker 1: like this. I was thinking, like, I don't know where
Speaker 1: this bull went, and I don't want to blow this
Speaker 1: bull out of here, so we could we could go
Speaker 1: still hunting, maybe try calling. But the winds were a
Speaker 1: little swirly that day, and I thought, let's wait till
Speaker 1: the evening. I think this bull is gonna come back.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be in this zone. And I thought, well,
Speaker 1: let's just kind of we're gonna plan on being here
Speaker 1: this evening. So we get we get set up that
Speaker 1: evening and my thought is like I'm gonna call, like hay,
Speaker 1: some cows and maybe even another bull came into the
Speaker 1: zone and and hopefully draw that bull, and I was
Speaker 1: hoping to get him fired up. So we get set
Speaker 1: up and I'm like, waiting untill the shadows is the
Speaker 1: sun was like the way it hit this meadow, it
Speaker 1: didn't really get shaded till a little bit later, so
Speaker 1: it's still kind of warm out, but the thermals are good.
Speaker 1: I'm believing that once that's just shade hits with the
Speaker 1: prevailing wind and the thermals, everything is gonna be right.
Speaker 1: Like this is a solid setup, right, So I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I start my cow calling and mew mew, doing a
Speaker 1: few here and there, and I've got my hunter set
Speaker 1: up and I'm sitting back and I'm like, all right,
Speaker 1: here's my scenario that I'm gonna build out. I'm doing
Speaker 1: the cow calls and then I'm gonna set it up
Speaker 1: like there's cows in the meadow and like they're just
Speaker 1: talking with each other, very spaced out, very mellow, maybe
Speaker 1: just communicating, and then like a small bull is gonna
Speaker 1: come in here and maybe disturb things a little bit,
Speaker 1: like maybe get a little frisky, try to move things around.
Speaker 1: That's the illusion that I'm making. So I started out
Speaker 1: with cow calls for the first bit that I'm sitting there,
Speaker 1: and now it's getting to that time where it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: here's where the action is gonna be. So I figured
Speaker 1: if he's betted, he might hear what's going on and
Speaker 1: then come investigate. But I really wanted to know if
Speaker 1: he's there, so I'm gonna throw out some bugles in
Speaker 1: a little bit, but I wanted to wait till it
Speaker 1: was the good time when he's gonna be the most active.
Speaker 1: So I'm waiting and it gets like that perfect time
Speaker 1: and I and I let out a cal call and
Speaker 1: I hear like behind me, and I'm like, I use
Speaker 1: my ears as much as my eyes, and my nose
Speaker 1: right like is edible. And I turned around. I don't
Speaker 1: see anything, like okay, And then here like calcol again
Speaker 1: and more noise, and I look back. There's a squirrel
Speaker 1: back there, and I'm like, okay, whatever, and then I
Speaker 1: throw out a bugle. I'm like a light bugle, just short,
Speaker 1: you know, a little we'll test the water's bugle. And
Speaker 1: that squirrel like runs to the tree that I'm sitting
Speaker 1: behind and climbs up it. Maybe I don't know, five
Speaker 1: ft above me now I probably ten ft about me.
Speaker 1: And I'm like okay, and just starts barking at me.
Speaker 1: I'm like, dude, this thing is like prime Time, and
Speaker 1: I don't like animals can be keyed into noises. And
Speaker 1: when a squirrel is giving it a learn like an
Speaker 1: alarm bark, probably not the best for incoming out somebody.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna ignore it. I gotta keep going. So
Speaker 1: I threw out some more cow calls, and that squirrel
Speaker 1: just like fires up. He is absolutely annoyed, just like
Speaker 1: making more ruckis and now he's like throwing pine cones
Speaker 1: down the tree, and I'm like, and he's just freaking out,
Speaker 1: like jumping from every branch, barking at me, like just
Speaker 1: freaking out, and he's like throwing stuff down the tree.
Speaker 1: I was like, maybe I must there must have been it,
Speaker 1: like his nest must have been right in that tree
Speaker 1: above me. Like this thing is pissing me off. So
Speaker 1: I'm like trying to shoom away because I was like,
Speaker 1: I don't want this squirrel to ruin my hunt, but
Speaker 1: I also don't want to like make too much noise.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, I cannot get the squirrel out of
Speaker 1: the tree. And he's like coming down the tree right
Speaker 1: above me, barking and then going back up and just
Speaker 1: pitching giant ponderous of pine cones or whatever down the
Speaker 1: tree towards me. I'm like, this thing is pissing me off.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, all right, I'm just gonna there's nothing
Speaker 1: I can do. We're here, we're set up, so I
Speaker 1: give us some more calculs. Every time I call, that
Speaker 1: squirrel just even gets more fired up. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: all right, what am I gonna get a little rock?
Speaker 1: And I'm like chucking it towards the squirrel. I'm like
Speaker 1: he jumps up. Now he's just like making a massive commotion,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh gosh, this thing is I don't
Speaker 1: even know. So I've got my forty four pistol on
Speaker 1: my hip because there's a lot of bears this year
Speaker 1: and I had a bear tag and I was like, uh,
Speaker 1: and I'm I've got like this thought. I'm like, I
Speaker 1: should just shoot the squirrel like it was annoying me
Speaker 1: that bad. So I cannot get the squirrel out. He
Speaker 1: ends up. He's like up in there and something. I
Speaker 1: don't know if he's I'm pretty sure he's intentionally trying
Speaker 1: to drop stuff on my head. Like I'm sitting there,
Speaker 1: I'm like trying to be super quiet listen for ELK,
Speaker 1: and I can't hear anything because the squirrel is just
Speaker 1: going ape shit, and so I'm like I had had it,
Speaker 1: so I just like grab a big rock, take a
Speaker 1: few steps back, and just chuck it as hard as
Speaker 1: I can at the squirrel. I actually hit right next
Speaker 1: to the squirrel, but the branch that was on the
Speaker 1: squirrel like flies off, gets down, runs away like finally,
Speaker 1: So I'm like I'm talking to my hunter. I'm like,
Speaker 1: that squirrel, it was just driving us both crazy. I
Speaker 1: was like, the squirrel is making me nuts, no pun intended,
Speaker 1: just nuts. So I started calling again. I'm like calling
Speaker 1: and I'm like a few minutes later, like it seems
Speaker 1: pretty close. The squirrels like ten trees over just going crazy,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this freaking squirrel of like, I'm pretty
Speaker 1: much at this point unclipping the unclipping my piss on.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna you want squirrel hunt. We're going squirrel hunting this.
Speaker 1: This squirrel is driving me nuts. So um, I look
Speaker 1: out and I'm like, you know, at this point, I've
Speaker 1: got up through rock like everything's whatever, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: look over, I'm just gonna walk over there and just
Speaker 1: push the squirrel off, like do a squirrel drive. And
Speaker 1: I look over and I'm like about to get up,
Speaker 1: and I like something looks weird and I squirrels just
Speaker 1: going crazy over there, not very far away, it's fairly thick,
Speaker 1: and I'm looking and all of a sudden, I see
Speaker 1: like one of the tree kind of things move and
Speaker 1: it's an in elk lay. I'm like, dude, Garrett, like
Speaker 1: here's here's a bull. And now that squirrels above the
Speaker 1: bull just barking and going crazy at the elk oh
Speaker 1: like all right, And I'm like, okay, this thing just
Speaker 1: snuck in, like we couldn't We could hear the squirrel,
Speaker 1: but we could not hear this bull. It was just
Speaker 1: like I called it the Ninja bowl. We can keep
Speaker 1: our calling. So we're calling, and then I start hearing
Speaker 1: stuff falling out of the tree, and I'm like, you've
Speaker 1: got to be kidding. This bull is probably now he's
Speaker 1: like moved in and he's probably like thirty yards away,
Speaker 1: but we have no shot. And now like squirrels doing
Speaker 1: the same thing, Like just stuff is coming out of
Speaker 1: the tree. Things are hitting around and the bull Like
Speaker 1: I can see the bull like kind of getting antsy,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, you don't know, you don't come on.
Speaker 1: So I let out a little bugle in the other direction,
Speaker 1: and he that bull doesn't be gole back. He's just
Speaker 1: kind of like looking and start walking. And then he's
Speaker 1: like things are falling behind him and he like looking back.
Speaker 1: I can see him looking back and looking toward us
Speaker 1: and like trying to look through the bushes and then
Speaker 1: slowly just turns away and saunters off, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: I fully believe if that squirrel was not there, we
Speaker 1: would have had that bull walk right in. But there's
Speaker 1: so much commotion. A squirrel was just so annoying and
Speaker 1: annoyed that bull enough to the point where he's like,
Speaker 1: something's uneasy here. I'm just gonna leave. And unfortunately we
Speaker 1: didn't get that Ninja elk the snuck in because of
Speaker 1: a very very annoying squirrel. When it comes to calling
Speaker 1: an elk that won't call back, I wouldn't necessarily consider them.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people are under the misconception
Speaker 1: that they're like, call shy elk, Like they aren't calling
Speaker 1: because um calling doesn't work, or they don't want to
Speaker 1: make calls. No, it's just more of a fact of
Speaker 1: those elk are probably alone and you're calling to loan bulls,
Speaker 1: and they need to kind of feel the situation out.
Speaker 1: They're kind of going in there and and trying to
Speaker 1: see what's going on. So when I'm calling to elk
Speaker 1: that aren't necessarily bugling back, what I want to do
Speaker 1: is I want to use calls that make them feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna kind of go over a few of
Speaker 1: the calls that I use in these setups when I'm
Speaker 1: thinking when just things are quiet and I'm trying to
Speaker 1: match the tempo of the woods themselves, where I'm not
Speaker 1: screaming all the time and throwing out a lot of big,
Speaker 1: bold bugles, because that's not what it really is going
Speaker 1: on out there. So let's go over the calls. I've
Speaker 1: got just a diaphragm style Rocky Mountain game call kind
Speaker 1: of call right here. Um, this one is just a
Speaker 1: actually just a cow like made for cow sounds. If
Speaker 1: you're new to using like diaphragm type calls, I actually
Speaker 1: suggest starting with a call that's designed for making cow
Speaker 1: sounds because they're generally easier to blow. You need less
Speaker 1: pressure and so you can kind of get tones and
Speaker 1: notes easier. And it's a really good place to start
Speaker 1: with these type of calls. Now, if you aren't familiar
Speaker 1: with the diapragm type calls, you you can't really use
Speaker 1: them that well, or whatever, you're just getting started. Any
Speaker 1: kind of cow out call will work. So this is
Speaker 1: we're gonna start out with cow out calls. And um,
Speaker 1: the open read ones are really good as well, So
Speaker 1: I would say, if you're using just like a call
Speaker 1: the the open read style one where you kind of
Speaker 1: run your lip or your teeth over it, because you
Speaker 1: can make multiple different sounds and you can easily obtain
Speaker 1: these kind of sounds. If you're like, whoa, this is
Speaker 1: my first time in the elk woods, I don't really know,
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna say the next kind of call is
Speaker 1: like a push button call, and you hear like, guys
Speaker 1: that maybe your elkin a lot bag on these calls
Speaker 1: a little bit only because it's like, oh there's another
Speaker 1: huchi mom. It's like the same new sound. Uh, But
Speaker 1: there is a time and a place for those calls
Speaker 1: for people. That's like, you can make the correct elk
Speaker 1: sound with those, and you can call in elk with them.
Speaker 1: It's not impossible, it's not actually even they they do work.
Speaker 1: So um, if you're using push button calls, I would
Speaker 1: recommend two different ones, um if they still make them.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen them in a while, but the Hoochie Mama,
Speaker 1: which I think is the pre most one, and then
Speaker 1: the Carlton call. I can't remember what they call it.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's like I feel like it was called like
Speaker 1: the budalow or something button like something with the word
Speaker 1: button in it. Um. Anyways, it's like a it's more
Speaker 1: of a horizontal shaped one and it's and it's got
Speaker 1: a longer drawn out sound. And so I like the
Speaker 1: combination of these two things like short muse and then
Speaker 1: what I call like I shouldn't even I shouldn't even
Speaker 1: share this, but it's like the call that I like
Speaker 1: is like this long drawn out cow sound. And what
Speaker 1: it is is I don't know if I was like,
Speaker 1: I'm not an elk, I don't know what, but it's
Speaker 1: it's more of like this more mature cow sound. But
Speaker 1: it also kind of leans toward a estrus wine, but
Speaker 1: not as much. So it's just a sound that I
Speaker 1: you'll like, gets bulls curious, especially when they're by themselves.
Speaker 1: So I've got this call here, and I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you a couple of samples. UM. So the first one
Speaker 1: is just gonna be these mus and I do this
Speaker 1: like it's cow's talking amongst amongst themselves. So it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be a cow going. That's not with my call,
Speaker 1: that's just with my voice. But um, to give you
Speaker 1: an idea, I kind of don't know if it's gonna
Speaker 1: blow the microphone out or not, so we'll give it
Speaker 1: a shot. Here. I might take the headset off for
Speaker 1: a second and then I'll give the calls and then
Speaker 1: we'll go back to explain him. So here's here's gonna
Speaker 1: be the sample of cow calls amongst themselves, the soft
Speaker 1: cow calls that you want to try to make. Just
Speaker 1: meu meumu. Now I'll space those cow calls out, just
Speaker 1: like starting out really light, just going mew mew mew,
Speaker 1: like one cow talking and then maybe two more responding.
Speaker 1: One thing that I'll notice that I I even do this,
Speaker 1: and I find it when I'm like filming myself and calling,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, sometimes I do too many calls too
Speaker 1: close together. So when I'm starting out in an area
Speaker 1: where it's like, okay, I believe there's a bull here,
Speaker 1: I've got everything right, I'm trying to call to an elk,
Speaker 1: and I know that the way the season is going
Speaker 1: right now, they probably won't google back. So I'm going
Speaker 1: to start with these cow calls. I'm gonna start like
Speaker 1: it's just maybe a cow got up and it's walking
Speaker 1: or doing something, and then it's another cow responded, they're
Speaker 1: just kind of talking amongst themselves. So what it's doing
Speaker 1: is just saying like, hey, we're a group of cows
Speaker 1: here and nothing else that's going on. We're just kind
Speaker 1: of talking and we don't really care what's going on.
Speaker 1: But if there's a bull around, maybe he'll come investigate. Now,
Speaker 1: the next kind of call that I put into the
Speaker 1: sequence is more of a little bit of a long
Speaker 1: drawn out sound. That sound, and what I'm doing is
Speaker 1: I'm I'll do I'll start with like, I'll do a
Speaker 1: couple different sequences. So when I first start down, it's
Speaker 1: just one or two cow calls, um with whatever, open
Speaker 1: re kind, whatever kind you got, Give a couple of
Speaker 1: cow calls, and you're sitting and you're waiting and you're listening.
Speaker 1: And sometimes now what you really want is you want
Speaker 1: a bold bugle to that. That's cool, that works really good.
Speaker 1: Then it's not no longer calling to a silent bull.
Speaker 1: But that's not always the case. If you know there's
Speaker 1: out ground, you know that they're they're gonna be writting,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be active, but they just aren't making noise.
Speaker 1: This is a great way to start out. And then
Speaker 1: I'll start throwing in. So I kind of work. I
Speaker 1: work my calls up in progression, like building up to something,
Speaker 1: and then I throw out like a little bit longer
Speaker 1: cow sound, And often I will do this through my
Speaker 1: bugle to um. It also just kind of helps that
Speaker 1: cow sound travel. If you're in thicker country, you need
Speaker 1: that sound to travel nobody. I actually just wrote an
Speaker 1: article for Western Hunter and it's about the way sound
Speaker 1: travels and and my final thought was, you can't call
Speaker 1: in a bull that can't hear your call, Like he
Speaker 1: could be two hundred yards away, but if he doesn't
Speaker 1: hear it, he can't respond to it, he can't come in.
Speaker 1: So making something that's loud enough for cow or bulls
Speaker 1: or whatever, often the distance to hear that sound is
Speaker 1: important as well. So I always start out quiet, kind
Speaker 1: of like your predator calling it on a stand. When
Speaker 1: your predator calling, you start out quiet calling and maybe
Speaker 1: anything close, and then I build up the sound and
Speaker 1: then I dropped that sound back down. So here's another
Speaker 1: call that I throw out a lot. This is that
Speaker 1: more wine type call, and here it is through the
Speaker 1: bugle too. Yea. So what we're doing is we're now
Speaker 1: going to set up the scenario. We we've got into
Speaker 1: our spot and we're just gonna kind of start calling
Speaker 1: and throwing out cow talking and then maybe a little
Speaker 1: bit of inflection with those cow calls, and it would
Speaker 1: be something like this yeah, yea m hm. So once
Speaker 1: we've got that going, now we're just gonna kind of
Speaker 1: sit and wait listen. Maybe I mean now, I told
Speaker 1: the story about squirrel ruining hunt, but many times you'll
Speaker 1: hear squirrels going off in the in the woods behind you,
Speaker 1: and it's they make that noise, those barking sounds, those
Speaker 1: alarm sounds toward elk as well, So it could be
Speaker 1: something where you're you're just king in is something coming?
Speaker 1: Is this whatever? And which way is the wind going?
Speaker 1: Paying attention and seeing you know, is this working? Now?
Speaker 1: As I go and sit now, wait, I don't know,
Speaker 1: five ten minutes, whatever I feel, and then I will
Speaker 1: start kind of that sequence again, continuing to broadcast those sounds.
Speaker 1: As I build up the volume and then the frequency.
Speaker 1: I might even throw in a few bugles in there,
Speaker 1: like trying to draw a bowl in so it will
Speaker 1: be cow sound, cow sound, cow sound, and then throwing
Speaker 1: out that locator bugle kind of in a different direction
Speaker 1: than my cow sounds are coming from. What I'm trying
Speaker 1: to simulate is cows are in this area where I'm
Speaker 1: kind of calling, and then maybe there's another bowl that
Speaker 1: here's a cow sound, and he's bugling, throwing out the
Speaker 1: locator bugle, like hey ladies, I'm here. Many times that
Speaker 1: might get another bowl to respond, but there are those
Speaker 1: bulls that are just going to kind of try to
Speaker 1: sneak in and see what's going on. So I keep
Speaker 1: working those cow sounds and then adding in those bull
Speaker 1: sounds as well, where it's like it kind of gives
Speaker 1: him the sense of urgency, like that better go over
Speaker 1: there and check it out before that guy does. And
Speaker 1: that's something that's worked for me really really well in
Speaker 1: the past. Now, one thing that you want to consider
Speaker 1: is like, well, how often should you call? The frequency
Speaker 1: in which I call kind of depends on the area
Speaker 1: where I'm at, how well I think my sounds traveling,
Speaker 1: and how likely it is for elk to um kind
Speaker 1: of be there and be a natural presentation of the sound.
Speaker 1: So if it's earlier middle of the day, I kind
Speaker 1: of space them out more like if I'm like I'm
Speaker 1: just in this area. Maybe it's like I'm near a
Speaker 1: wall or something where they might travel, and it's it's
Speaker 1: something that might attract in a bull either way. But
Speaker 1: he maybe he's bedded off in the distance. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm moving to a spot. I find a good spot.
Speaker 1: I'm like, that feels good right here. Nothing else is
Speaker 1: really going on. Let's just sit and call and see
Speaker 1: what happens. Um. I might just call every five to
Speaker 1: probably every fifteen minutes, like a few light calls. Like
Speaker 1: you can really draw in a bowl with sometimes less
Speaker 1: calls than more calls, especially if it's like a part
Speaker 1: of the day where it's like there's probably not gonna
Speaker 1: be in the action anyways. Now, yeah, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be like you do this and it's it happens and
Speaker 1: it's really fast paced action. But you're kind of doing
Speaker 1: these calling to these silent bulls in between other things
Speaker 1: that are going on during your hunt. So you're set
Speaker 1: up and I might give it a few minutes here
Speaker 1: and just spread out one or two calls, wait a
Speaker 1: little while, five minutes whatever, one or two calls, and
Speaker 1: that I can also really pique the curiosity of a bull.
Speaker 1: Now if I'm in an area where it's like it
Speaker 1: seems like a feeding area evening time, Um, maybe I
Speaker 1: can throw out some more calls. It's like, well, that's
Speaker 1: when ELK would be more active, So I can calcolm more,
Speaker 1: Calcolm more, and maybe mixing some of those bugles even
Speaker 1: throughout the day. I'll mix in those bugles in all
Speaker 1: these setups only because sometimes you'll get a bugle in
Speaker 1: a response to it and it carries a little bit further.
Speaker 1: But I'm I'm sitting there and thinking kind of timing
Speaker 1: things based on the scenario, the time of day, and
Speaker 1: how close or far away I think ELK might be. Now,
Speaker 1: if I'm thinking I'm in an area where hey, maybe
Speaker 1: I'll catch a cruising ELK, I want to be calling
Speaker 1: more often and maybe uh for like longer periods per
Speaker 1: set because that sound might not be traveling as well,
Speaker 1: and I want to make sure that I catch something
Speaker 1: while it's there, while they're moving. So in the evenings
Speaker 1: and mornings, I might be calling more often. Maybe in
Speaker 1: the middle of the day when I'm in a good spot,
Speaker 1: I might wait for a little bit longer and call
Speaker 1: less in between those calls. Now, the idea when should
Speaker 1: you move. I think that's a really great question, because
Speaker 1: do I get in here and set up and just
Speaker 1: sit all day in one spot call Like, is that
Speaker 1: going to be effective? No, that's not. I mean it
Speaker 1: can be, but I don't really think that's a super
Speaker 1: effective way to hunt elk. Now, if you've got like
Speaker 1: let's say you're in an area awhere you don't maybe
Speaker 1: you're hunting a piece of private, or maybe a piece
Speaker 1: of public that's around a lot of private, or you
Speaker 1: don't have a lot area to go, then yeah, find
Speaker 1: a spot and do these cal calls, and you're gonna
Speaker 1: have to try to draw the elk to you. If
Speaker 1: you're in a big public land unit where you can cruise,
Speaker 1: you know, I like to stay mobiles, stay moving, and
Speaker 1: then doing these setups. Like when I talk about calling
Speaker 1: to a silent bull, I'm not talking about essentially like
Speaker 1: ice fishing, where you drill your one hole and you're
Speaker 1: sitting there waiting. I'm talking about the elk themselves might
Speaker 1: not be making a lot of noise, but you still
Speaker 1: got to move around and hunt the elk. So what
Speaker 1: I'll do, But you also have to give them enough
Speaker 1: time to come into you. If they're going to come
Speaker 1: in quiet. So like last episode was all about set
Speaker 1: up and knowing where these elk might be, and then
Speaker 1: you're calling to an elk that you're kind of expecting
Speaker 1: to come in or be an earshot of your call.
Speaker 1: How long it takes that bull depends on the time
Speaker 1: of day and how confident you are that something is
Speaker 1: going to be able to hear you. If you're just
Speaker 1: kind of cold calling, broadcasting into an area where it's like,
Speaker 1: I don't even know if there's anything here. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: you might not want to spend a lot of time
Speaker 1: now if it's like I feel like there's going to
Speaker 1: be a bull here, then I'm gonna I'm gonna sit up,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna sit now. Like in the story, I
Speaker 1: was like I went there probably like four pm and
Speaker 1: was playing on sitting in that meadow until dark because
Speaker 1: I knew that that was an attracting area and I
Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of better options. Um, there's other
Speaker 1: times where I'm still trying to find the elk and
Speaker 1: I might just sit for thirty minutes, fifteen minutes and
Speaker 1: then call and move on or um, you know, I
Speaker 1: play it like that. So it's not something where I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna sit here and call the silent elk in
Speaker 1: this one spot all day long, unless I believe that
Speaker 1: elk are using that spot a lot, and then I'll
Speaker 1: move different places based on the time of day, Like Okay,
Speaker 1: once it's betting time, then I move into the timber,
Speaker 1: and then as it gets more closer to feeding time,
Speaker 1: I move more toward openings and feeding areas. So I'm
Speaker 1: I'm timing these things based on where elk are and
Speaker 1: trying to do other things while I'm doing this, maybe
Speaker 1: doing some glad asking in combination, and maybe I'll see
Speaker 1: a bull by himself. Okay, there's a bull and I
Speaker 1: throw out a located bugle. That bull doesn't bogle back.
Speaker 1: Then I go, all right, that bull is probably gonna
Speaker 1: come in silent, So now I know I gotta go
Speaker 1: get into position. I'm gonna start calling. And if I'm
Speaker 1: calling towards that bull, that I know is they're I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna I'm gonna sit there until that bull comes in. Um.
Speaker 1: But if it's not like that, then I might, you know,
Speaker 1: call and move, call and move. So you play it
Speaker 1: based on the activity you're seeing, how well you think
Speaker 1: the setup is, and then the time and day as well.
Speaker 1: It's always a lot more fun when bulls are screaming
Speaker 1: and bugling back and really fired up. But I think
Speaker 1: that understanding how to call to elk that might be
Speaker 1: coming in silent can be a really effective way to
Speaker 1: fill tags no matter the time of season or no
Speaker 1: matter how active those elk are, because they're still gonna
Speaker 1: be doing their thing, and there is a lot of
Speaker 1: bulls that will come in silent on you. Even when
Speaker 1: other bulls are screaming, You're gonna have silent bulls coming in,
Speaker 1: so it's something you'd be prepared for. Next week, I
Speaker 1: actually to share the story of the best bull I've
Speaker 1: taken to date and some of the tactics that I used.
Speaker 1: I I just recently last week took my biggest elk
Speaker 1: with a bow and actually bigger than the biggest one
Speaker 1: I've taken with a rifle. Definitely my pr my personal
Speaker 1: record on elk, and a lot of the tactics that
Speaker 1: I use are some of these things that I'm talking
Speaker 1: about with the silent alk calling, but also another tactic
Speaker 1: of hunting elk mid day and striking up bugles and
Speaker 1: calling elk in that maybe they've got cows, maybe they don't,
Speaker 1: maybe they're betted off by themselves. But mid day hunting
Speaker 1: bulls like a really good way to effectively hunt that.
Speaker 1: After they're super active and before the evening when they
Speaker 1: feed that that big chunk of time during narchery season,
Speaker 1: when what are they doing. They're bedded up. So hunting
Speaker 1: bedded bulls and how to call to bedded bulls is
Speaker 1: going to be next week, so you won't want to
Speaker 1: miss that. And if you if you haven't checked it out,
Speaker 1: go on my Instagram. You can see the bull that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be talking about. It's a it's a heck
Speaker 1: of a bull. It's a giant seven by seven. Um,
Speaker 1: I didn't know he was even that big, And when
Speaker 1: he came in, I knew it was big. But when
Speaker 1: I walked up and I didn't know he's the seven
Speaker 1: by seven, it was pretty cool, pretty cool experience. I
Speaker 1: got the story there, and we'll talk about that next week.
Speaker 1: So until next week, everyone keep calling to the silent ones.
Speaker 1: Somebody's got to speak up for him. Catch you guys later,