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How To Call Elk and Key In On Their Behavior

Listening before you speak is sage advice and should be used in the elk woods.

How To Call Elk and Key In On Their Behavior
Cody McCarthy (left) and partner with a well-fooled bull. (Photo submitted by the author)

I’d hunt elk anytime, anywhere, with Cody McCarthy. Funny thing is we’ve never met, only talked on the phone. My reasoning? I asked him what his favorite calling sequence was for elk. His answer: “I don’t have a set sequence because how I call is based on elk behavior and what they’re doing at any given moment, and this changes daily, even hourly, in the elk woods.” He had my attention and respect.

McCarthy was the 2021 Professional World Elk Calling Champion. He’s a hunter first, an elk-caller second. Over the decades, I’ve delivered hundreds of seminars at sports shows around the country and have listened to many elk hunters and callers at these events. Some are solid, but you can tell the ones who have not put in the years. Let me back up.

I’m an only child. I’ve always done things my way and prefer doing them alone. I’m also a full-time outdoor writer of nearly 25 years, and I don’t like interviewing people. I don’t consider myself a journalist. I’m a hunter who writes; not a writer who hunts. What I pen I want to come from what I’ve learned. Over the decades, I’ve spent more than 280 days afield every year, learning. It never stops.

So, after a two-hour phone chat with McCarthy, I came away inspired and educated. I knew right then that I needed to change my ways—and my mindset—because accomplished hunters have knowledge to share.

Learn How to Hunt Them First

bull elk in the morning sun
(Photo submitted by the author)

“First you have to learn how to hunt elk, then worry about the calling,” says McCarthy. The 30-year-old McCarthy grew up in a hunting family. He called in his first bull at the age of 9. He and his dad made Cody’s first bugle call, and he won a calling competition with it. “The elk-bugling season seemed so short, I didn’t want it to end, and that’s how I got into the competition calling,” he notes.

“You never forget the first bull you call in,” shares McCarthy. “Dad and I went out, I used the bugle tube we made, and when I called, a bull answered. It came in close, so I quickly laid down beside a log that was bigger than I was and kept calling. We bugled back and forth, and I could hear it getting closer. The last time it bugled, it sounded real close. That’s when I saw a front foot hit the ground right by me, and then the other. The bull actually straddled the log I was tucked against. If that doesn’t get ya hooked on calling elk!” Cody’s dad didn’t shoot for fear of how the bull might react with his son lying underneath it.

For the next three years, McCarthy called in bulls for his dad and their friends. He was always a part of the hunt. When he was in 6th grade, McCarthy called in and arrowed his first bull. “I seem to have a God-given ability to listen, not only to big game but also birds, and accurately mimic them,” McCarthy expands. “I pay close attention to what animals are saying, study what sounds they’re making at any given time and in what conditions, and then try to emulate them.”

Early in his elk-calling career, McCarthy learned that it doesn’t matter what you say, but rather how you say it. “You can be a subpar caller, but if you call with aggression and emotion at the right time, you’re suddenly good. When calling elk, how you say things is more important than what you’re saying, and this changes with where you’re hunting and how the elk are behaving at any given moment. Calling Roosevelt elk in the thick Coast Range, for instance, is far different than calling Rocky Mountain bulls in open country.”

Situationally Dependent

Terrain plays a big part in McCarthy’s calling approach. “Think about how you’re moving with the topography and how you can cover the most distance without being seen or heard. The closer you can get to a bull before calling, the better chance you have of bringing him in.”

McCarthy’s calling always depends on the situation. “If the ground is flat, you need to find some topography that will help you close in on the bull. Look for breaks in the ground or cover that will allow you to move, and always consider the wind direction and changing thermals, because if an elk smells you, it’s over.”

The more I listened, the more I appreciated his words of wisdom because they were clearly built on personal experiences and not what he’s read or heard, or what his professional elk-calling career has taught him.

“When you get into huntable cover, you have to look closely at the habitat before calling. Ask yourself which trail you expect a bull to come in on, and what range the shot may come at. Elk have multiple routes they use, and they know them very well. You, on the other hand, are seeing them for the first time, so you have to adjust prior to calling in order to gain as much of an advantage as possible.”

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When, Where, and How

“If you’re calling uphill to an elk, they’ll try looking down to locate you,” McCarthy warns. “If you can get on even ground with them, or above the elk, you have a better chance of success. But if they can’t see you, they’ll try to smell you and will move into position to do just that. That’s why you have to keep track of the wind and position yourself accordingly, so a bull can’t get behind you. And keep in mind that the softer you’re calling, the harder it is for an elk to pinpoint your whereabouts. This is where directional calling and changing your pitches can keep an elk moving and searching.”

I’ve been fortunate to call in a lot of bulls in multiple states over the years, and as McCarthy says, my success was realized by intimately knowing elk behavior and learning what sounds to make and when.

“Soft sounds are very effective, as long as you can offer emotion and aggression — but do it softly,” he points out. “Breathing, stomping the ground, grunting, and making soft mews are very effective when used at the right time. Read the animals and adjust to their moods and the sounds they’re making. Mimic what you hear and understand that what works in one spot might not be worth a darn in the next place. If you’re just doing one loud bugle the whole time and not moving, you’re hosed!”

I’ve always been a fan of mixing cow and calf talk, and McCarthy agrees. “Calf calls are good because they’re non-threatening, and cow calls are good because they’re heard year-round. But with cow calls, you don’t have much room for error because the elk hear them all the time. With bugles, you can screw up and keep calling through it to get back on track.”

As The Season Progresses

Some of the worst bugles I’ve heard have come from bulls early in the season because they are stretching their vocal chords for the first time in 11 months. I love open-reed, bite-down calls as they allow a range of cow and calf sounds to be made, including very soft ones. But diaphragms are also important to have in my calling repertoire. “Diaphragm selection and having a range of sounds to offer is important,” continues McCarthy. “A thin reed call might be great one time and not produce a thing the next. To mimic the vast range of sounds elk are capable of making, you have to have a range of tools to do it with.”

“Matching the sounds of a bugling bull is also key,” stresses McCarthy. “Think of it like hollering back and forth with a neighbor across the street. You can shout at each other all day, but what is it that’s said that finally outrages one of you to move toward the other? It’s the same with bugling in bulls. You have to find the sound that sets them off at that particular moment in time.”

McCarthy encourages hunters to move when bugling at a bull. “Once they hear a bugle, most hunters want to keep hearing it, so they keep bugling back from one spot, which can cause a bull to stop moving. It’s when they’re quiet that bulls are on the move — be it toward or away from you. Keep moving and calling — using a high pitch with a powerful thump at the end — to get closer to a bull, and then set up to meet the challenge as the bull approaches you.”

Lip-bawling is another effective sound McCarthy relies on to call in bulls. “If you have an enraged bull that won’t budge, interrupt him with the same bugling sounds. But if that doesn’t get him moving, go to lip-bawling. Lip-bawling is hard to beat, as you’re directly talking with a cow or a harem and ignoring the herd bull. That can really set off a bull. Include a short lip-bawl into those screaming bugles, and that will often enrage a bull.”

Party Hunting

Other bullet points McCarthy offers are this: “It’s easier and more effective to call in a bull when hunting with a friend; loud bugles and cow-calls are good locator calls; when cow-calling, you have to move, and don’t be afraid to call — just avoid sudden, jerky moves.”

Cody McCarthy is the head of product design and innovation at Slayer Calls. To see some of his instructional calling tips and hear what the sounds he talks about are really like, visit slayercalls.com. Then practice and go hunting.




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