02/08/2026
Happy Super “Bull” Sunday! Our favorite day to bring the best story of the fall. Before this one though, we need to give a little back story for it to fully be appreciated.
You can tell what an elk is feeling by the sound of their bugling. If they just bugle to bugle it will kind of be more faint and the sound will just go wherever. When they’re not real serious, they’ll answer every so often, and it won’t be every time. However, there’s a few things that might get them really upset. Sometimes they’ll challenge bulls early in the season to prove their dominance, but if the cows are in destress or it’s peak rut, the bulls’ testosterone will spike and they will get really aggressive. This is typically why the bulls will be high energy. This will cause the bull to have a really loud bugle and they will direct their bugle right at you. They will answer your call every time, and multiple bulls will respond not just one. A real short growly loud bugle often shows you that they are pi**ed off and looking for their cow.
At first light we got to the spot and had to out run some gut hunters who took the wrong turn. We knew elk would be here, so we started bugling and within 20 minutes they were headed towards us. The first elk came at a dead run, and our hunter, Corey, took his shot. We could tell they were pretty amped up. Typically gun shots will damper down the elk once they are heard. But this was not the case.
Riley went up to the horses to bring them down to the elk while our guide Jay gutted the elk. While Riley was above, a bull bugled that sounded pretty aggressive. So Riley waited a minute and he bugled again and he was mad and fired up. So they all headed down to where the first elk was shot and our guide Jay had him almost gutted. Jay had purchased his tag and was planning on hunting with his brothers that next week, but this bull was mad, answering every bugle, and Riley knew he was perfect. So, he asked Jay if he wanted to get his elk now. They went about 50 yards to the right and bugled. There was a cow standing there and the bull pushed the cow out of the way. Jay real slowly leaned around the tree and took his shot. The rest is history!
