This might be a silly question, but can cows be called?

Yes, until the cows come home.

lol, zing!

So, any recommendations for calls specific to cows?

Come Bossy, come.

Try using a Hoochie Mama. Calls cow like crazy 😎

I will give it a try, thanks.

Some of the Sceery reed calls are good, and if you can use a diaphragm call those are best, hands-free.

If you can use a couple different kinds effectively like a Hoochie Mama and a mouth call, you can make sounds like a small herd talking back and forth.

Your set-up is important too. Besides wind, if you set up in an open area like an aspen grove, when they come in and don't see elk they will be spooky. You need enough cover to hide an elk in so they'll keep coming, and keep looking for the "elk."

There is certainly more than blowing a on call or squeezing a Hoochie Mama.Every call an elk makes,bull or cow has a specific meaning in the herd.Use the wrong one at the wrong time and you can watch them go over the hill.If you really want to learn, check in with Elknutproductions.com.

Cow and calf calls work good on cow elk. Many times calling for bulls the cows will come in first.
They can make all kinds of sounds and the warning bark is the one to learn and avoid.

I ordered a Hoochie Mama, and doing lots of reading and watching Youtube.

You've been watching way to many Primos videos. Calling during bow season can be done, but must be minimal at best. During rifle season, forget it! Not in Colorado where there are 5 other hunters within earshot. Elk are already on def-con 5 alert during gun seasons, any call at all says, "hello elk, there's a human right over here." During rifle seasons it's about predicting where the elk will be, calling them too you was 6 weeks prior.

Who said anything about rifle season?

Who said anything about just bow season? I mentioned both. And muzzleloader is concurrent with bow season. Vast majority of hunters in CO are rifle.

This is during rifle season, and is also in Alberta and in a draw only wildlife management unit.

It’s obvious from a few of your elk posts and video that you’re pissed about your lack of success the last few years...CO seems like a tough elk hunting state between luck of drawing a good unit, to the weather and hunting pressure screwing up a well thought out hunt strategy. Yeah, that schit happens to all of us all over the country...It’s called hunting. Some are just better at doing it than others.

The OP isn’t hunting in Colorado. He’s in Alberta....You care to explain how he should hunt elk in Canada? You’re doing so well in your home state...Park your attitude, especially on a new guy who asked “Can Cows Be Called” 😎

I've always liked this cattle call

Years ago, I hunted Alberta. It was right around Thanksgiving. Bulls were bugling and an I killed one as he was working his cows.Go Figure

Do Not Overcall with the Hoochie Mama. A little goes a long way.

I echo the hoochi mama as a good all to have. I also have a reed type mouth call so I can call hands free at the last moment if necessary. On more than one occasion I was pinned down by a herd of elk who weren't running away but were alerted all trying to pick me out. I squeezed the hoochi which was in my vest pocket and they all just lowered their heads and started to feed again. On another occasion I jumped a herd and they were running and I started cow calling and the heard just stopped and looked back which gave me the chance to visually pick through the brush and get the bull. As others have said learn the bark call and stay away from that one.

If you have limited hunting pressure that's ideal, because it's true that the less they've been called to the easier it is to call them in. And the younger they are the easier it is, obvioulsy. And even in "hard-hunted Colorado" I've seen it work too many times, and fly in the face of "conventional wisdom."

You just need to see what works in that particular area, on that particular day, given what those particular cows are doing. Sometimes you can be a champion caller and you won't be able to call them in. Other times, you can be a rank amateur like me and they'll come in like they're on a string.

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.