HELENA – Have you ever needed to slow an elk down, call them in a little closer or make them pause long enough to consider if that's really just another elk they heard in the brush? Would you like to carry one less gadget on your bino harness or around your neck?
Learning to call elk with your natural voice is a great skill to have in the field, and it can come in handy when you don't want to move a muscle. Get your kids involved, too. Kids often pick up elk calling faster than adults and can be even more skilled at making high pitched elk sounds.
I first learned to call elk by observing them very closely and regularly. I was lucky to spend a lot of time listening to elk out my bedroom window as a kid. Eventually I tried imitating those calls, and distinguishing who was making what sounds and what else might be going on between the animals in the herd.
There's so much to learn by listening to animals and if you can make time for this, you'll be a better hunter. Start learning to use natural voice by picking one, simple, common cow call and perfecting it. Spend time listening to real elk, if you can, or find plenty of examples on YouTube. Grow your repertoire from there.
There are many sounds to learn, including a wide range of cow calls, calf calls, imitating a whole herd at once and alarm barks. You can even learn to make natural voice bugles, with a bugle tube, of course.
Cows, bulls and calves all make mewing sounds, though they sound a little different depending on what they are saying. A common cow call is a quick, two syllable "yee-ew," "you" or "ee-ew." The emphasis is usually on the end of the first syllable. Calves tend to have a higher-pitched call, especially if they get separated from their mom or the herd. Making these sounds can be tricky and feel unnatural when you first start. You're going to have to embrace sounding a little silly as you get the hang of things.
In speech, different parts of your mouth are related to creating different sounds. Compare how your tongue moves along your palate when you say "nice," "day" and "cow." These sounds are generally formed using the front and middle of the roof of your mouth. An elk sound is formed in the very back of your throat as your say "eee." To build depth and volume to the call, engage your chest and core muscles. Learning this skill takes time, so practice regularly, and record and listen to your calls to hear how they are developing.
It's worth taking time to learn to make a cow call sound, even if it's mediocre! You never know when you might need it. It's been very useful on my hunting trips. Remember, your call doesn't have to sound exactly like what a person envisions the perfect elk call to sound like. Elk don't all sound the same, and sometimes they even make calls that make a person question what they heard.
To watch a video on how to sound like a cow elk, click here.
By Danielle Oyler, FWP wildlife stewardship outreach specialist