Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Calling cows

I sincerely appreciate and thank you for checking my videos out. . Think we show about 70 COW elk in the latest one. Not bad for some pissed off hunter with an attitude who doesn't know crap about calling elk. Find another amateur video that shows that many cow elk on public land, in CO, during a rifle season, and feel free to call me whatever you want. Our success is above state average and I stand squarely in our fair chase, unsponsored, easy-to-get-a-tag-units, public land hunting style. Colorado isn't the only place I hunt, closer to you, I've taken a Roosevelt cow and some black tail bucks out of Coos Bay, OR. Oregon is a gem of a state. I find it a bit ironic that you scold me for offering my opinion on cow calling in CO prior to learning the OP is specifically referring to hunting in Alberta when you live just as far from Alberta and did the exact same thing. Love to see the kill shot videos of you using the Hoochie Mama in Alberta - obviously that experience is what you were referring to when you suggested it. I'd be happy to watch it, give you a thumbs up rating, and learn more about calling. Boomer is not new btw, he's been here since '06 - we should be asking him for advice.

For the record, in CO where I do most of my elk hunting, I think calling bulls and cows is a very bad idea except for limited use during the rut. Alberta could be an entirely different situation and now that I know that location, I don't have any specific advice.

You think pre-rut calling is not effective? Have you tried it?

Smokepole, don't have too much experience pre-rut. I did an opening weekend of bow one year and we tried a few cow calls and bugles without any success. Just let it be after that. I like to be quiet in the woods, maybe that's my downfall...

I can say this, we have elk in our backyard various times of the year (spring, summer, late summer, and fall) and I've tried just about all of my calls on them...including the coveted Hoochie Mama. I figure it's a great learning opportunity with zero risk. Not one call has brought elk closer to me. Not one. At best the cows will stop walking through the meadow and give pause to where the sound came from, but that's it. The bulls could care less about any call here, bugle or cow. Perhaps I just suck at calling...

Perhaps you are using the wrong call at the wrong time, although elk do get call shy, but they have an extensive vocabulary. Example.There is a warning bark, but there is also a nervous grunt, both sound very similar, but with a small detectable difference. The nervous grunt is an elk asking where you are.They heard a call and come to look, but expect to see another elk.They want that elk to step out. If none comes out, they leave the country.There is also lost cow,lost calf, lead cow telling others to gather up and move, a call when a cow is being pushed or bothered by another or a bull, cows talking to each other as they move thru the timber keeping track of each other to name a few.. All these work outside of the rut, if used at the right time. That is why the Hoochie Mama is a poor call. A person can't change it much

Saddlesore, that is great advice and you may have nailed it in terms of the problem.

I have a good friend who bowhunts every year and he does pretty well calling right before the rut. Different technique and different calls but he does pretty well. Says lots of times bulls will come in silently.

Most of the time I'm like you, better off with the elk not knowing I'm there. But I always carry some calls, and use them when it's opportune or when I have to.

Good luck on your next video installment showing your continuing success rate on elk...😎

About that warning bark...4 or 5 years ago I shot a cow out of a herd of about 70 or 80 way up on a steep slope. I rolled her down about 1/4 mile to a flatter spot to dress her. As I was doing that, 5 or 6 cows got up on a bald knob about 200 yds away and just stood there watching and barking at me for 5 min or longer. Normally, they'd be over the next mountain and still running after all that.