Elk Calling Tips

Elk Calling Tips for Calling Elk in the Rut.


The biggest tip I could give you for Calling Elk in the Rut, is to have the right elk call in hand. You don't have to be a world champion elk caller to accomplish the task. If you are going to call elk in the rut and hunt them you will need to learn how to shoot a bow as well.  The first tip I could give you is Practice, Practice and then Practice some more on all your skills of elk calling and hunting, learn all the different sounds the elk make. I teach a very specific elk call called the Sexy Cow Call that has only one purpose, to drive the bulls crazy. I would recommend learning that call or at least the Estrus Whine sound.
When you start your first call of the hunt I recommend starting on a high vantage point where the call will reach out to the bull.  When I first started learning how to call elk in the early 1980's in Oregon, I found this to be very useful, to be high
Nice 6X6 taken using elk calling tips and the Sexy Cow Call above the elk calling down to him, plus a high advantage point lets you hone in on the direction of the bulls location as well. Start with a Location call or just a single cow call and wait, be sure not to over call, when in doubt shut-up.

Once a bull has been located you have the option to wait for him or go after him. You have to remember there are basically three different periods of the rut, you have Pre-Rut, Mid-Rut and Post-Rut.  If you know what you are doing you can call a bull in during any of these times. I have found that the Pre-Rut is best, the main reason is the big bulls are still trying to get their harem of cows together, this is your best chance for a big bull. In Oregon the Pre-rut could start as early as the end of August on the Oregon Coast.

The last time I was in New Mexico the first week of September the bulls were talking.  I called in a nice 340 class bull with ONE Sexy Cow Call from over a mile away. I didn't use any other calls to get the job done, the only problem was it was the day before first day of New Mexico Archery Season.  I teach a very specific strategy for calling elk that has worked repeatedly  for over 30 plus years.  My first couple of years were hit and miss and learning the hard way.  I can't teach you everything cause life has a way of throwing you a curve from time to time, you have to learn to fly by the seat of your pants and think quickly.

I developed a very aggressive approach for elk calling and hunting.  When I call up a bull I make a bee line straight to him before me makes his second call.  As soon as the Bull Elk hears that I am closer I will hold up and see if he is going to come in.  At this point I use my patented elk calling strategy, which I have coined the 'World's Greatest Elk Hunting Secret".

My biggest advise I can give you is when you start calling make sure that you are down wind of the bull and that you have your bow ready and arrow knocked.  Because, if you have done everything right that Bull is Coming in, so get ready.

This call does it all, all the elk sounds, including Bull elk calls and even Deer and Predator calls.  That's right it does it all! I thinks it's the best android app Hunting Calls in the Google Play Store market. It makes ALL the Elk Sounds you will ever need to call in a Elk of a Lifetime.

History of Sexy Cow Calls

Calling Elk started for me in the early 1980's. I have been a bowhunter since I was 12 years old. I remember buying my first bow through the Sears and Roebuck Catalog. It was a Fred Bear recurve. I had been living in Oregon for many years, had never seen an Elk before. I got invited to go Elk hunting on the Oregon Coast. I was going to do some fishing on the Salmonberry River. I started walking up the railroad tracks that ran along the river, when I saw something running towards me. It was a Cow elk! I threw my fishing pole out like a long sword and waved it at her, and yelled get back!  She was going to run me over!

She turned on a dime and ran up this very steep mountain. Next minute-she was out of site. I was amazed how fast she ran up that mountain. That was my first elk. I tried following her but never saw her again.

 The next year I decided to try my hand at  bowhunting elk. I was in the Saddle Mountain  unit, which is close to Seaside Oregon. I'll never  forget the day, it was September 9th. I had been  hunting for about a week. I remembered all the  campfire talk about how the Elk made this weird  sound.  No one I was hunting with knew how to  call, or really what they sounded like. I was hunting in this huge meadow where the Elk would come down in the evening and feed all night. On first morning light they would begin head back up the mountain to their bedding grounds.

It was around 8:30 in the morning, I had already been in the meadow trying to find them to no avail. So I decided to wonder up the hill. I came out onto an unimproved logging road, that's when I heard the first call. At first I thought it was some weird bird. It was a high pitch shrill sound. I turned to my buddy and asked him, do think that is an Elk. We both just looked at each other, wondering.

We started to walk to the sound. I was approaching the curve in the road when I saw elk running toward me.  That's when I heard the sound of the "Sexy Cow Call". I got off the road really quick, knocked an arrow and got down on one knee. The cow stepped out onto the logging road and walk right in front of me at about 5 yards! She just stood there and looked at me. I remember my first thought "That's not a cow that's a horse!". Then the most devastating thing that could ever happen to a bowhunter was about to happen. 

Roosevelt Bull Elk

The sound of thundering hoofs hit the logging road. I turned my head to see this monster Roosevelt Bull Elk. He walks right behind the cow elk. I now have this huge massive antlered animal standing in front of me at 5 yards, and I don't have my arrow drawn back. I was thinking to myself as this Bull was staring me down. "Oh my God I'm going to die, this creature is going to gore me with his horns. He's going to think I'm some brush pile or tree stump. One of us is going to die".I tried to get my bow back, but the huge bull just jumped out of his tracks and turned 180 degrees and was gone. All I had was a butt shot.

Well, three years later I was ready to seal the deal. I had done my homework, studied just about everything I could get me hands on about elk calling and hunting elk. I bought a few calls, practiced, practiced and practiced. I was now calling (bugling) bulls up.  But, I was still having problems getting them to come all the way in to me. One morning I had a nice bull bugled up and decided to make a move on him. I could hear the cows with him, so I figured it was a heard bull. I knew calling a heard bull in would be difficult. I threw every call in the book at him.  Big bull calls, little bull calls, cow calls,calf calls every call you could think of, he just wouldn't budge. 

You know when that light comes on, you have that epiphany "ah haw" moment.

Well it hit me.  What about that sound I heard on that very first elk encounter? I thought what do I have to loose. I remember it well, because of the uniqueness of the sound. So I let out my very first "Sexy Cow Call". That bull instantly let out a monster bugle and chuckle and came running down the mountain towards me. I will never forget that day, that was the start of of the "World's Greatest Elk Call". I was soon to discover that it would be the "World's Greatest Elk Hunting Secret". Well the rest is history!

Jerry Shockley, Inventor of the Sexy Cow Call