Post-Rut Elk Calling

[trouthunter]

My hunting companions and I will be hunting Elk in the first few weeks of November. They have cow tags and I have a spike only tag for rifle.

My normal experience with calling is during the pre-rut and rut in September for archery hunting.

My question is do the cow herds (and young spikes) respond much to cow calls during this time?

[rather_be_huntin]

A cow call would be a good idea. But like you said the rut is over so your calling will become social. You really just want the call to cover your human sounds. If your are going through timber elk will most times hear you before you see them. A social cow call (as opposed to an estrus call) you will say basically " where is everybody?" A cow will sometimes respond back basically saying " we' re over here." and you' ve located elk. You can use it to get closer if you' ve got some located and need to do a bit of a stalk. They will hear you coming but think you are an elk. But as far as bulls coming to the call or even responding you can probably forget about it.

[oldrgr]

I second the info above. I' ve not hunted that late but have hunted in post rut situations in Colorado. The cow call is excellent for locating, calming and even getting cows to come to you. Spikes will very likely be with the cows so if your cow calls locate animals, a spike' s presence is possible.
Good luck.

[Beans Morocco]

Dunno...By November most of the herd bulls are off on their own recovering from their, umm, biological duties and trying to put some weight back on for hard winter. They tend to hang with other bulls of all ages as winter approaches. A mature cow will usually hang with a calf of that season and often group up with other cows, calfs and immature bulls. If you feel like you' ve gotta make some noise, a pathetic lost calf call may draw some out. Your best bet is to keep quiet and bust your butt finding them by glassing and stalking in corridors leading to permanent wintering areas.