Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Group

Learning to Call in an Elk or Deer with a Game Call

Elk Calls and Communication Signals

Communication in most animals is developed for interaction between individual animals. There are often different communications between:

• from one male to another
• from males to females/young
• from females and females
• from females to their young

In horned and antlered animal communication there is a combination of sounds (especially calls), body posture or action, and scents. Sounds are used to communicate from both long and short range. Louder calls or sounds are often used when the animals are out of sight of each other, or when they are hurt, upset or challenging another animal. Scents are used primarily for short range communication, often while other animals are present, in the form of scent placed on the animal itself, or left on signposts in it's absence.

Elk used different communications and tones talk to each other:

• Mating/Herding (bulls)
• Advertising (bulls)
• Social Contact (between individuals or groups)
• Maternal/Neonatal behavior (cow/calf)
• Submissive behavior -
• Agonistic behavior (threat)
• Alarm/Distress behavior

Elk also use different scents to communicate different messages to each other:

• to state who they are as an individual
• to track each other as individuals
• to alarm each other of danger
• to announce that they are ready to breed
• to build a harem and retain breeding partners
• to excrete pheromones that attract members of the opposite sex
• to create a musky odor that signals health and strength
• to mark their territories

Elk utilize different scents on their bodies to mark communicate different things such as when the time is right to breed. They also leave scent in their bedding areas, on game trails, wallows at stock tanks and trees where they make rubs and scrapes.

Long and Short Range Elk Communication

Because of the large use areas of elk (sometimes up to thirty square miles) the strategy of bull elk in attracting females is different than species that use far smaller areas. Long range attracting by bulls is accomplished with a loud drawn out roar, a high pitched bugle, and a series of grunts often referred to as Chuckle.

All of these sounds carry far in open terrain. The grunt, bugle and chuckle may be combined into one call I refer to as the "Full Bugle Sequence" which is used as a sign of dominance to other bulls, and to attract the cows. Once the cows are nearby bulls rely on herding, scents and Mating/Herding calls to keep the cows close by and bring them into estrus.

Elk Alarm and Distress Calls

Elk use a sharp, loud Alarm Bark to warn other elk of possible danger: UHH.

An elk using this call may be alarmed because it cannot identify the source of a disturbance. Some elk may try to discover what the disturbance is by looking for it with their chin up and their head in a horizontal position. Once the disturbance is discovered, and thought to be dangerous, the animal may issue a final Alarm Bark and flee. Cows and calves may perform a long, drawn out Distress Mew when injured or trapped: MEEUUUW.

Elk Agonistic Calls

These calls are termed "agonistic" because the animal is agonizing over the fact that another animal is too close, or because it is bothered by the presence of another elk. Both cows and bulls may produce a Hissing sound: ssss and use Tooth-Grinding as they approach an opponent. I've heard bulls perform a sound like a squeegee on wet glass (or a rubber tennis shoe on a wet tile floor) when they get close to a smaller bull: squeak ... squeak, to get them to move; I suspect this is a form of Tooth-Grinding. Bulls often use a Dominance Grunt when they want another bull to move; ugh. Bulls may also use a Loud Inhale/Exhale when they herd cows. When bulls spar or fight they often perform a drawn out mew that sounds like the Submissive Cow Mew mentioned below.

Bulls may perform one to four loud exhales referred to as a Cough when they want another elk to move, or after they have chased a cow. If the animal that the Cough is directed at does not move, the bull may show and grind its teeth, and bite or kick the other animal. Bulls may also use a low rumbling Gurgle when threatening another bull; rrrr, that cannot be heard farther than about forty yards. This call may also sound like the bull is blowing air through pinched nostrils, which it may actually doing, although I am not sure, yet. If the bull that the Gurgle is directed at does not move it may be attacked with the bulls antlers.

Cow elk trying to avoid a herding bull often use along drawn out, or series of short, Submissive Cow Mews; meeuw ... or mew-mew-mew-mew. Subordinate bulls use a lower pitched Submissive Bull Mew when avoiding dominant bulls. Cow elk use the loud Fighting Squeal during dominance fights: ME-EE-EE-EE-EE-UUW.

Elk Maternal/Neonatal Calls

Cows and calves use a variety of mews to communicate to each other. Cows use a high-pitched nasal Maternal Mew to call their calves to come and nurse: ee-uw-uw-eu or ee-ee-ee-eu. Calves use the high-pitched Calf Mew or Chirp when trying to locate the cow; mew or eeu. Calves use a Loud Calf Mew when requiring urgent care: MEUUW. They use a soft Nursing Whine that rises and falls in pitch while suckling: ee-uw-ee-uw-ee-uw. Cows often respond to these calls with a Cow Mew; meew. Calves use a higher pitched Calf Contact Mew when they are looking for their mothers. Many of these cow/calf calls are of one short to medium note; but I have heard drawn out mews, and as many as four Calf Mews strung together. Most Mews are about .1 of a second in length, with two mews in .3 of a second.

Elk Social Contact Calls and Sounds

The Knuckle-cracking of the front legs of elk produces a click which elk use to keep contact with each other, and to distinguish the sounds of elk from other animal as they travel and feed. It sounds like the Knuckle-Cracking of caribou. Cow elk and calves use a loud Contact Mew when searching for or trying to maintain contact with other animals of the herd: MEW or MEW - MEW. I have heard bulls use a short, one note Grunt when they were looking for elk they could hear but not see; ugh.

Elk Advertising Calls

Because bulls don't associate with cows prior to the rut, and due to their large home ranges, bull elk bugle to express dominance and attract cows. When a bull bugles it is telling any other bull within hearing, "Here I am, stay away." At the same time it is telling the cows, "Here I am. I am strong, ready to prove it by fighting, and ready to breed." Bulls have their own pitch and cadence, that remains similar year after year after they reach maturity. However, individual bulls don't always sound the same. Cows may become accustomed to a particular bull's voice if they were part of its herd in previous years.

The Bugle is a loud scream, which is variable in pitch, with higher sounds often coming from younger smaller bulls, and deeper sounds from older larger bulls. The "Full Bugle Sequence" performed by an adult bull (3.5+ years), begins with a Roar that usually gains in volume: rrrRRR. The Roar is often followed by a high-pitched Bugle (which may rise two to three notes): eeeEEE, followed by a series of grunts called a Chuckle, which may sound like the braying of a donkey. The Chuckle often ends on a lower note than it started, because the bull runs out of air: UH-UH-UH-uh. The Full Bugle Sequence sounds like: rrrRRR-eeeEEE-UH-UH-UH-UH-uh. A Bugle or a Bugle-Chuckle usually lasts .3-.4 of a second, and may occur as often as twice a minute; a Full Bugle Sequence may last up to .6 of a second I've also bulls perform a low-intensity (not as loud) from of the Roar that I refer to as a Growl. It may be performed when the bull is lying down or standing up.

Listen to a series of Bull Elk Advertising Calls. The first one is just a roar, the second is a Roar-Bugle, and the third one is a Roar-Bugle-Chuckle, or what I refer to as the "Full Bugle Sequence."

Yearling bulls rarely bugle, when they do it is often a high flute like sound. Two year old bulls may perform a crude, short Bugle without the Roar or Chuckle. I have hear them perform the chuckle, but i have not hear them perform a Roar. I've heard bulls between the ages of 3 and 10 years old perform the Full Bugle Sequence, only the Roar, only the Bugle, only the Chuckle, or any combination of the three calls. However, when the calls are performed in combination, the Roar always preceded the Bulge, and the Bugle always preceded the Chuckle. Some bulls are very melodious, while others sound like a woman screaming, or as if they are being strangled. I've heard cows bugle in a higher pitch than bulls.

Elk Mating/Herding Calls and Sounds

Bulls often use a two-note Glug (Glunk) when they are herding cows, and when they perform the Flehmen sniff as they inhale urine through their nose to check for estrous cows. It sounds like the animal is actually gulping water: glug glug. The Glug is not loud, but I have heard it as far as 200 yards away in open areas. It is probably performed as a herding call for cows, and is also used to alert other bulls that a dominant bull is with a cow. Bulls often breathe heavily when they herd cows or chase bulls; I've heard this Loud Inhale/Exhale as far away as thirty yards away in open areas. I've also heard bulls use a loud explosive exhale, or Cough, just before or after they chased another elk, often while they were herding cows. Cows may use a series of Submissive Cow Mews in the presence of aggressive bulls, or while they are being herded by a bull. After watching several cows get bred I have heard no Cow Estrus Call. In fact, I don't believe there is a call used specifical to announce that a cow is ready to breed.

There is much more information on elk communication and how to call elk in his book Elk Addict's Manual, by T.R. Michels., .