NW colorado
- Thread starter Wheelerdc
- Start date
SunnyInCO
Member
Many of the members on the forum will look at this being your first post and ask you to go over to the new member section and provide a quick write up on yourself. This generally helps people get warmed up and will provide you better answers. Just an FYI
As for your question: Friend went out in Grand County this weekend and did not hear a thing.
As for your question: Friend went out in Grand County this weekend and did not hear a thing.
Hilltop
Veteran member
My buddies in southern Wyoming said it is very quiet in general. That's pretty normal coming off a big holiday weekend where the mountains catch a lot visitors.
CODAK
Active Member
Bugling like crazy since last Friday, all day in and out of bedding to secluded wallows. No harems yet just wallowing and sparring, letting each other know their presence
Slugz
Veteran member
Reports I'm getting are single bugles early am.....with minimal bugling in the pm. Herd bulls are still high shadowing the cows on summer ranges with spikes and rag horns mixed in. Wallow activity is medium to high as to be expected with the temps and 1st week of Sept. Everything seems to be progressing as normal IMO with pecking order being worked out. Most years I've seen the big bulls come down and start sorting about the 11-13th.
joemf1985
New Member
I hunted the first 6 days of the season in north central Colorado and we heard bugles every day, but with some days being much better than others. I killed a 5x6 on morning 6 of the hunt and he was with a group of cows but not bugling as he followed a cow by me. We had better weather than the past 3 years though as well and I would echo the post above that we heard a lot more bugling in the mornings than we did in the evenings.
Slugz
Veteran member
Just a thought to frame things a little WRT "hearing them"......keep in mind what they are saying when bugling. Contact bugles have arguably three levels (most common heard) Outside of a rut fest going on most public land mature bulls are going to sort the number of cows they can handle and get them into an area he can defend.
Lastly....the cows are running the show....they pick and choose who they are going with. Even if quiet.....glass em up....figure out the bedding area.....get close/with good wind....and make the correct type of calls depending on the overall mood of the herd and bull.
Its nice to hear the bugling......IMO though we put a little too much emphasis on it because it makes us humans feel good vice concentrating on what they are saying. When I started thinking like that.........my success rates went up ( archery/muzzleloader) The "mix of it" is very consistently tied to the most cows being in estrus 22/23 Sept. Good luck on the hunt and enjoy the time in the woods.
Last edited:
joemf1985
New Member
One other facet of bugling to keep in mind is that you have to discern whether the bugles are real or if they are other hunters in the woods. I was able to watch a pretty large herd this year and listen to the bugling activity for 3 of the 6 days we hunted. The bugling activity definitely was better when the bulls were pushing cows that appeared to be in heat, and also appeared to be better on the coolest mornings. On the hunts that either the "hot" cow was out of estrus or wasn't with the herd and maybe a ridge over the bugling was minimized to non existent that we would hear. Just a theory but it seems that from what I have watched for a few years the biggest driver of bugling activity are estrus cows in the herd and cooler weather while the number one thing that has suppressed bugling was hunter pressure and scent getting poured into an area mixed with hot weather to let the elk know they were being hunted. I have never hunted around grizzlies or wolves so I have no experience with what that does to the herd talk.