Mission Possible: How to Kill a Herd Bull This Season

No sooner had a series of cow calls passed my lips when the big bull bugled. It bugled again, unsolicited. Instantly, I cut it off with a bugle that sounded more raspy and aggressive. An avalanche ensued.

The bull was above me, atop a ridge covered in shale. I’d spotted it prior to calling. At just over 9,000 feet in the Rocky Mountains, the evening thermals had begun to drop. The bull had to clamor down 150 yards of shale, head into the timber and come out through reprod to reach me. The crashing of shale under the bull’s heavy strides sounded like a catastrophic landslide; that’s when it dashed into the thick reprod. Once it felt dirt, heavy breathing in the bull’s chest reverberated through the forest. It paused. All was quiet. I turned away from the bull, arrow already nocked, and offered a very slight cow call, one I could barely hear. The bull instantly cut loose with a riveting bugle, and then came crashing through the trees. As it hit the reprod the bull slowed its pace, glunking in stride. I heard every breath before even seeing the bull. Intentionally, I was in the thick and knew before setting up that the shot would come within 15 paces.

When the ivory-tipped rack twisted and turned in the dense reprod, I came to full draw. The bull trotted down a trail, right at me, its dark mane wet with sweat. It stopped at 12 yards. Drool poured from its lips. The coal black nose was shiny while nostrils flared. The shot was simple.

It was my third day of targeting this herd bull and as with other’s I’d been fortunate to arrow over the years, success came down to preparation meeting opportunity. But most importantly, it came down to timing. Not my timing, but rather the timing of the bull’s.

Intuition and Positioning

As for the preparation, that’s in our control and equates to a hunter’s ability to call and intimately know elk. Specifically, knowing what sounds to make, when, and understanding elk behavior. When it comes to learning how to hunt elk, there’s no substitute for being in the woods, studying them on your own. The more you hunt, the more knowledge you acquire. With 48 years of hunting experience, I still have a lot to learn.

As for opportunity, that means being where elk are. This sounds simple but it’s hard work. Wildfires, predators, and fellow hunters will impact where elk are. It’s up to you to learn where big bulls live, and understand why, and this is accomplished through dedicated scouting. You have to be in shape to reach elk.

As for timing, that’s the most important factor when calling in a herd bull and it’s not always in our control. On the hunt described above, one part I wasn’t sure about was calling the bull downhill. When coming downhill to a call, bulls often stop to look down and locate the source of the sound. That’s why I intentionally stepped into thick cover, so it would have to keep searching. Though there were plenty of openings, I didn’t want to chance pulling the wise bull across one for if the bull wasn’t amped up enough, it may not have exposed itself.

I had dropping thermals in my favor, too, and this meant cool air along with the bull not being able to smell me. When a testosterone-induced bull responds, they hit a different level of aggression. I could care less if a bull sees or hears me, but if they smell me, the gig is up. I’ve never killed a bull that’s smelled me. Ever.

Timing

My favorite time to target a herd bull is the last hour of daylight. The later it gets, the better, especially if temperatures continue to drop. Cooling temperatures don’t expedite the rut, that’s determined by photoperiodism. But cooling temperatures do make it more comfortable for bulls to travel, round up cows, and fight.

I’ve called in a handful of big bulls in the morning and stalked others in mid-day bedding areas, but that’s tough with so many eyeballs amid dry conditions. The key to calling in a big bull is catching them when they’re in the right frame of mind.

No matter if you’re grunting for bull moose, rattling for deer or calling turkeys, how they ultimately respond comes down to their mindset. The mood a bull elk is in, that’s the deciding factor as to whether or not it will come to calls. You can be the best caller and the most stealthy hunter in the woods, but if a smart bull doesn’t want to come to your calls, it won’t. Sometimes you can fire-up a bull and make it move, but only if it’s willing.

Testosterone levels are already peaked in bulls, and they’re always ready to breed this time of year. The goal is to catch them in an aggressive frame of mind where they’re inclined to leave an already established harem to either check out a receptive cow or fight an intruding bull.

Aggressive When Appropriate

I’m a patient hunter but hunt aggressively at times. I cover ground, call and move. If bulls are bugling but not budging, keep moving, you can always come back. Search for big bulls and target those. Move in as close as you can before calling. If a bull seems interested, patiently call. Don’t call just to hear yourself call or to hear a bull bugle back. Call with a purpose; that’s how to get a big bull moving.

I like hunting on a flat or ridge line or gaining the high ground on a target bull. These less taxing positions give you the advantage by keeping the bull on the move.

When using cow calls to pull in a bull, do so sparingly. Keep the sounds soft, just subtle enough that the bull can hear them. This will pique its curiosity and bring it in searching. Mix in directional calls so the bull can’t pinpoint the sounds. The more you can move and call, the better, but that’s not always possible.

When bugling, get with it. I’ve called in more than one herd bull by delivering loud, aggressive, drawn-out bugles that make it want to come and fight. They could care less about subordinate bulls. If these sounds drive away a bull, it wasn’t fired-up enough to fight, anyway. But that mood could shift the following morning or evening, so don’t give up.

Sounding Off

If you call and a bull gathers its cows and runs off, it doesn’t necessarily mean your calling was sub-par, but rather that the that bull didn’t want to come look. Again, it’s timing. Come back two days later and offer the same sounds and that bull might charge in. While soft cow sounds are effective at getting a herd bull to respond, when bugling I’ll often combine it with raking trees, stomping the ground and breathing heavily into a bugle tube. I do this when a herd bull is aggressively bugling but not coming to my calls. At the end I’m sweating and the area where I called looks like two bulls were fighting. It’s a labor-intensive approach that works, more in the evenings than any time I’ve tried it.

Let the elk determine your calling. Never head into a hunt telling yourself, “I’m going to cow call for this long, then switch diaphragms and call this long, then bugle this loud.” Elk don’t call a certain way every time and neither should hunters. Estrogen levels in cows, the number and aggressiveness of bulls in an area, even a change in barometric pressure and temperature can ignite a herd bull. Their attitude can shift in a matter of minutes, and sensing this will dictate your calling approach thus your ability to kill it.

Mimic how elk are communicating–cows, calves and bulls–then step it up a notch when a big bull shows interest in your calls. Fooling a herd bull happens more on its terms than yours. You might not pull in a clever bull an entire season, maybe two seasons, simply because it wasn’t ready to play. Then again, you can hit it right and fool multiple big bulls in a weekend. It all comes down to timing, being in the woods as much as possible, and knowing what to do and when.

Note: Want to learn how to skin and cape a bull elk? Order Scott Haugen’s instructional DVD, Field Dressing, Skinning and Caping Big Game at scotthaugen.com.

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