Calling cow elk

[bisblue]

Hey folks,

I drew a Nevada archery cow tag again this year. Last year I had a successful spot and stalk doing a 3 mile loop to get around them. I had practiced cow calls, but was too nervous to throw any out.

Does anyone have luck using calls to call in cows? If so what kinds of calls are folks using. I'll be hunting August with some altitude, probably 9-11K feet.

Last year the herd was about 15 elk and I got on them in the aspen after hiking around the mountain and dropping in from the top thanks to hearing rag horns scraping trees and calves calling.

There are probably lots of elk in the timber I didn't see, just wondering about slow walking through and throwing out calls on the way to my glassing spots.

Thanks in advance,
Adam

 

[Slim55]

I believe it's called "still hunting". That's the approach I normally take. First and foremost, keep the wind in your favor. Then take your time. Good luck!

 

[Brad NSW]

In Idaho around 8K ft, I've had good luck still hunting the thick timber all day. Through a bugle or cow call once every hour or two. Very rarely do I get any answers (once every few days...other hunters?). Most elk I've encountered come in silent (but you can certainly hear them coming if you are still).

My MO is walk 10 paces very slowly, count to 50 or 100, while scanning 360, looking for any movement. Amazing how many animals will move through your field of vision, then it's just a matter of whether you (or they) maneuver to get you into position for a shot.

 

[archer wapiti]

Sounds like you're doing pretty well without calling.

There's nothing like getting out there and trying to call. You'll probably screw it up a few times, but how else are you going to learn?

 

[Sytes]

The tried and true, Hoochie Mamma.

 

[Gr8bawana]

They are called "cow calls" but not because they are used to call in cows, it's because the sound like cows and used to call in bulls. Somehow I don't think you're going to call in a cow elk from a herd. Even if you're just using it to locate a herd you are just alerting them to your presence. There are so many eyes in a herd I think stealth is your best bet.

 

[brymoore]

Elk live in my neighborhood. One of my sons likes to call them (cow elk herds) to our house using his voice making normal cow sounds. I don’t know what he says to them but he can draw 20 to 40 elk into my front yard and have them all calling back to him. He can get a similar vocal reaction when we’re hunting but I haven’t let him push the calling to try to bring them to us.

 

[Devil Diver Down]

I used soft cow calls to bring several cows in to within 5-10 yards of me last year when I had an early archery bull tag in AZ. A couple were closer than that. The morning I shot my bull, I had one walk right next to me and graze. I swear she was right in my wind path and I thought the whole area was going to explode into thundering hooves and butterscotch butts. Instead, she just kept feeding away from me and everything but the real hard work was over a few minutes later.

I guess if I had a cow tag, I'd hunt them similar to how I usually hunt bulls. Try to locate them in the dark with a location bugle, minimal to no calling once I get in their general area unless they start to move away from me or unless I have someone set up behind me. Last year I had to try a different strategy on my bull because he was in the open, abusing a small juniper tree and I had no cover to move. I called to him for 15 minutes or more I'd call, he'd bugle, repeat. I could tell he was getting pissed by the growl in his bugle and the force with which the tree was getting tossed. A voice inside my head kept telling me I was calling too damn much. I knew I was. Then that cow walked in next to me and a few minutes later his cow and calf came up the seam in front of me, then him, then thwack. Moral of the story: Try everything in your arsenal.