EVERY ELK HUNTER LIKES
TO CALL IN A BULL, BUT A
GROUND BLIND CAN PUT
YOU IN THE ACTION.
A
fter several hours sitting in
a ground blind over a well-
used wallow, my patience was
growing thin. This was my first time
hunting elk using this method, and
with several bulls bugling within ear-
shot, I was ready to ditch the blind and
take chase. My dad, being older and
wiser than me, said, “We should just
wait it out and see what happens.”
Moments later I began to recognize
his wisdom, as a herd of cows, followed
closely by a decent 5x6 bull, made their
way off the hill and right to the water 25
yards in front of us. This was not quite
the caliber of bull I was after on this
hunt, so we sat tight and watched the
show. A few short minutes later, a growly
bugle not far up the hill nearly blew our
hats off. Within seconds, a big 6x6 was
on the scene to take the smaller bull’s
harem. While the 6x6 was busy taking
care of business, I prepared for the shot.
When he finally presented me with a
perfect quartering-away shot at 33 yards,
I wasted no time. The bull only made it
20 yards before falling in sight, and the
5x6 and his cows made their way back
up the hill, unaware of exactly what had
happened. I knew right then and there
that we were on to something!ELK HUNTING IS CHANGING
When I first became old enough to
hunt in the early ’90s, we needed only
one method in our elk-hunting toolbox:
We covered ground, bugling or cow-
calling, until we got an answer. After
we got a response, we simply moved in
and tried to call that bull into bow range.
If we had no replies, we covered more
ground until we did. Did this always
work? No. But it worked often enough
that we stayed entertained, and it pro-
vided enough success that we figured we
must be doing something right.
Fast-forward 15 to 20 years, and more
and more bowhunters are in thewoods