Calling Before Daylight!
This is a great subject & more powerful than first imagined! Here are a few additional benefits to this strategy!
#1 - Bugling an hour or so before daylight up to an hour after is a great way to locate bulls. This can be done from roads, trails, etc. Now you have quickly found bulls, get to them & apply a strategy that fits their mood, not your mood!
#2 - When you hear a bugle prior to daylight it's generally a real elk & not a hunter!
#3 - Locating elk early a.m. means you located their feeding area! Elk are herd animals so there's generally a few around even if only one is heard.
#4 - If during your hunt elk are not talking much during daytime but you can get them to bugle while dark then focus on those feeding areas. There will be trails going to leaving feeding & heading to bedding areas, find them mid morning or midday while elk are gone & you have no chance of spooking them. Once there check out the area you heard their sounds; there's a good chance you will now find what attracted them there such as water-hole, feed, wallow, etc. -- Be prepared to sit those trails that elk are using coming & going. Get there before daylight & these un-harassed elk should be moving from feeding to bedding it's a great time to be silent & await their departure. This could be just as good an hour or two before dark as they filter back into their feeding area by these trails! Watch wind direction & position yourself so you're undetected during your ambush!
#5 - Elk will use these same areas year after year, make a note of it on your topos! It's a great way to find multiple feeding areas & learning your area intimately for future years!
Who here has tried this?
ElkNut/Paul
Stop it, already Paul! You are giving away all the secrets!
Terry
Terry, yes I've spent a few midnight runs running the roads, I now prefer an hour or so before daylight, heck I need my sleep! Geez I must be getting older or smarter, not sure which! -- Have you found that when found at midnight or so that the elk are still in the same vicinity come morning? Thanks!
ElkNut/Paul
2. Take a compass along and read the direction the bull sounds are coming from if you locate one in the dark
Paul, I agree on the cow calling. I've done it & got away with it but shy away from it these days plus they aren't far enough reaching as a high note bugle is! Thanks!
ElkNut/Paul
