#14 2018 Elk Ch 5 "Shooting Windows"

Later that day, an hour or so of glassing distant ridges and with the luck of a few rogue bugles I'd identified a small herd with a nice bull holding court among them. I'd taken a huge loop in efforts of having a shot at this bull and the wind gave me the firm middle finger. Even beyond the middle finger, we refer to the full hand of fingers we call the eagle. But as the sounds of hoofbeats faded, I knew I needed to be listening for bugles too. Because under almost all but the worst herd busting scenarios this time of year, as a herd bull follows his harem to relocate after being spooked, the bull will bugle. It's like he can't stop himself. I'm not sure if it's the simple stirring from what was a normal setting,.. the common behavior of broadcasting his presence as normal elk protocol when entering a new zone, or simply getting cranked up following the backside of all his cows- he just can't keep his mouth shut! And when a herd like this is relocating, it can also be helpful in the sense of just stirring the pot. If the elk enter an area that's already occupied by other elk, there will be some level of dialogue between the groups, which can be a godsend in the middle of the day when everything is otherwise quite and tight lipped.