gleninAZ

Practice with a diaphram and buy a Hoochie mama push call. I rarely call except to do a few cow calls to locate bulls. I think there is a lot of over calling. I had a 6x6 bull within 15 feet with the push call last fall.

Wolf killer

The following answer is being brought to you from a elk hunter that has been very successful with a rifle for the last 25-years.

I am quickly learning that after 25-years of rifle hunting elk & 6-years of bow hunting elk. You can be a successful rifle hunter, but bow hunting is a whole new ball game.
I have killed several elk with a rifle. I have only killed two elk with a bow.

Any elk call on the market will make "elk like" sounds. What is more important is what you say when you call. You need to answer the bulls you are calling with the proper response. When a bull bulges at you he is asking you a question. Do you know the answer to his question???

Do yourself a favor & look at elknut1's products. He knows what the elk are saying. My hunting seasons will never be the same again, thanks elknut1!

Good luck,

Wolf Killer

Sharp Shooter

what about the Hot Lips call from primos?

elknut1

Wolfkiller--- Your welcome!

Is the "hotlips" necessary for calling in bulls? No. Is it another tool you can add to your arsenal? Yes! The hotlips is designed to imitate two cows squabbling or challenging each other for lead cow position, throw in an excited raggie squeal with some pants or dry huffs & you'll get the interest of a nearby bull. You can make these same sounds with the other calls I recommended in an earlier post. It's all a matter of what you want to use.

If you were to only limit yourself with one cow call other than your mouth reeds, make it a hyper lip single or like estrus whine calls. The hoochie mama type calls sound ok but are very limited in their sounds but are a good addition to other cow calls.
Hope this helps!! ElkNut1

Elkcrazy8

Get a bunch of calls and take them with you. You never know what might work in any given situation. I carry with me the hyper hot by woodswise, the carlton estrous wine, the ace, the hoochie mama, the blue and the red pallet plate by primos, an open reed cow calf call, the hotlips and a baseball bat(for bugling). Depending on what the bull is saying and the temperament of the forest dictates what calls I will use on that particular setup. For the most part I like the carlton estrouse whine, the hyper hot , the hoochie mama and the blue pallet plate for mixing in bugles with my small elk herd. I can sound like several different cows being tended by an imature bull. Throw in some huffing and grunts and get your bow ready. It is fairly easy to get a bull worked up out of a quiet mood if you know what to tell him. For example if you walk by a mean dude and tell him hello, he probably wont get up and kick your butt. Tell him he is ugly and you have been messing with his girlfriend I can bet he will get up and stomp you into the ground. Kinda scary sometimes how close humans can be to wild animals isn't it. Elk comunicate their feelings and let the others know what is going on around them. They are very social animals and also very curious at times. I like to call fairly agressive and could easy be told that I overcall. But do I. If I am talking excited like, in spanish, to a german he wont answer back and will probably ignore me. If I go off the handle in german to the same german fellow he most likely will respond and possibly get excited too. It is all a matter of saying the right thing and reading the bulls. I can't stress enough the content of elknuts videos. I know alot about elk and have been very successful but still learned things from Paul. A warning though, if you get him on the phone be ready to talk a long time, he loves to talk about elk.

car54

I personally use abe & son's , have try others but have always came back. I vary seldom bugle, i cow call. Mack sure you get the tape with the call. They may have some other instruction material but now. Hav a good time.

Elkcrazy8

car54, you should try to mix in a little huffing and grunting. Elknut explains this real well. I used only cow calling for a while and had several bulls come in, which I was fortunate enough to take. Mixing in excited cows with huffing and grunting will make the bulls go nuts and have to see what is going on. This past year I was doing that and had 11 different bulls come in over the course of a morning. Two of them fell asleep if you know what I mean. Mixing in a little bull talk took elk hunting to a new level for me.

idahoelkinstructor

Elkcrazy8, I bet you look like a instrument player instead of an elkcaller. (grin) just kidding buddy, I too cary everything you mentioned. But the baseball bat, (I use a Carlton bugle tube) and the hyper hot cow call which I do own. I carry the older fighting cow call made by carlton in its place. It does sound a bit different than the Carlton estrous wine, but my fighting cow, and my hyper hot sound almost identical so I carry the fighting cow and the estous wine. I also carry a sqeeze me, and a modified (by me) sqeeze me cow call by carlton. I modified it by taking off the rubber closed bell at the end and attaching a small 5" open type bugle tube over the opening. It sounds realy good and different than either the hoochie mama, or the orignal sqeeze me cow call, (I carry both of them as well). When I bugle I like to use them to cow call over the top of my bugles. Also with three different push type calls I have three different calls/sounds to go with my regular cow diaphram calls. That way I can sound like three to five of so elk at once. For the past three years I have used this system with success, but I can't wait for this season. I will use this system, along with Pauls ideas and strategies from his videos. All I can say is thank you Paul and everyone else for helping me become a better elk caller/hunter. I have yet to put it to the test, but with all my past experience I know it will work! It will be worse than wolves!!!!!!!!!!!

elknut1

Elkcrazy8--idahoelkinstructor--You guys will do great this year! I've talked to both of you on the phone and you both have excellent elk savy. I'm glad to see both of you found possible info in the videos to further your already hard earned knowledge!

Thanks! And Good Luck to the both of you!!!---------------ElkNut1

RobinHood36

elknut don't forget about me!!, <GRIN>

I also have been studying your videos, and have been fine tuning my cow sounds with the use of diaphram calls. Thank you elknut, as the videos are full of invaluable calling techniques!!! Can't wait for the '05 wapiti season!!!!

In hunting elk the calls are such an asset to have and also while calling you need to sound like elk by not only calls, but also by the natural sounds in which elk make by their feet, horns,etc. ---breaking branches, raking trees with a stick, these tactics have worked very well in alot of my setups, RobinHood36>>>------------>