Broken Bull and "Pitchfork"
Strategies in Action
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17m
What You'll See:
In this video, you'll see Chris use both the Passive and Targeted Cow Vocalization Strategies during a mid-morning calling effort to engage animals that are either in - or very near - their bedding areas. He uses these strategies to try to call in a mature bull who happens to be locked down with a cow that - presumably - is coming into estrous.
Setting the Stage:
This is the next encounter after the "AZ Bugling Chaos" video and occurs that very same morning. It picks up after Chris lets the wind get a little more consistent and predictable, and allows the elk time to start settling into their bedding areas. Only a couple hundred yards from where the "AZ Bugling Chaos" video ends, Chris worked his way in to where he heard what he thought sounded like a mature bull, and to where he figured some of the elk were starting to bed down for the day. As he started getting close to where he thought he should start looking for a place to set up and start calling, the bull he was heading in after let loose with a bugle that was within 100 yards of where the camera starts rolling. With no time to reposition, Chris set up and started calling.
Given the elk were starting to bed down, and given that the amount of vocalizing that had been going on had dropped dramatically, Chris decided to start off with a Passive Cow Vocalization Strategy to simply sound like a cow, and maybe a couple of calves, getting ready to bed down near the bull. The thought was, that if the bull was off on his own, perhaps he would want to come over and check out the cow and/or calves that were bedding nearby. Should the bull be WITH cows (who might be protective of their bull and not want anything to do with other mature cows), perhaps by keeping the calling light and "unintrusive," and by emphasizing calf sounds, any cows with the bull might be less inclined to avoid his set-up. Likewise, the calf sounds might even appeal to the cows' maternal instincts, and actually get them to come in - bringing the bull with them. As the encounter unfolded, and as you'll see, Chris realized that a Targeted Strategy was needed at one point... at least temporarily.
Viewing / Listening Tips:
The best audio is heard while wearing headphones or ear-buds so you can hear all the subtle sounds that are going on, in addition to the prominent bugles and other vocalizations. Use CAUTION, however, setting your volume too high as some of Chris' calling can be much louder than the rest of the audio.
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