WARedBear

Okay...I'm down to the last week of the early elk season...my first elk season. I'm getting desparate. I went out tonight and bought a Hoochie Mama because of the raves I've read here. Now what do I do?????

I practiced on the way home tonight and got the feel of the unit down and how to use the three calls. My question is how do you use it...by that I mean intervals between calls and which call do I use?

From reading the paperwork with the call I'm going to guess that I don't need to use the mew call. I thought about the Lost cow call and I will explain why in a minute. The Estrus call sounds like it might be the winning call but the paperwork doesn't explain when to use this call. The instructions also don't tell you how to use it. By that I mean call...wait how long before you call again...how long to wait again and so on and so on?????

I'm hunting a lone trail on the side of a hill that goes along some timber and then disappears into the thick woods. I have fresh elk sign and droppings from one elk. I'm going to guess a lone bull (right?). So what would you suggest my calling routine should be? I'm by myself in a tree overlooking the trail.

moosehunter21

Good question... Maybe 15-20 minutes between calls I am just new to this elk hunting thing. Good luck with the new calls.

Montana Bob

Sounds like your stand hunting. I would change your tactic if you have seen nothing and go to spot and stock. Use it as a locating call and hit the lost cow while walking throught he woods intill you get a response.
Hunt the mornings trying to find the feeding areas.You want and try to intercept them between feeding and bedding area. Stay out of the bedding area.It's not an easy deal to hunt Elk that is why preseason scouting is so important.
I didn't have a chance to scout myself and have been hunting 10 days straight with no success. The rut is nearing in my area anyway and they might become a bit more vocal to help out in locating.
Finding them believe it or not is the easy part, getting a clean shot at a mature bull with a bunch of cows eyes looking around is another story.
Good luck

Blue Moose CO

This is my first year using the HOOCHIE! I love it. It sounds so real that I have called up 2 bulls (couldn't get a shot at the first one and the second was a spike but came to 5 feet of me), 3 cows ( one came in to 7 yards), and 2 hunters ( both thought I was a real cow elk calling.

I call in sessions. Each session lasts about 2-3 min. I will wait about 15-20 min in-between sessions. The pace of my calling varies. Sometimes fast, other times slow. I like to change the tone of my call soI will do a short squeeze when the call is set on the estrus call setting. This will give you the mew sound. Then do the long squeeze and get the estrus sound. Mix it up! I even throw in a diaghram call from time to time to sound like more than one cow.

The only draw back to calling by yourself is that the elk have you pinpointed. So they will do one of two things. One, they will come straight into you, not giving you a shot until they are right on top of you and are turning to run. They won't neccessarily spook but they know somethings not right when the don't see any elk. Second, is that they will work down wind of you. They know where you are at, so they will simply walk around until they smell you. That is what happened with my first bull.

Also, if you don't get any response, (i.e. calling back, smelling elk, hearing something moving around you, etc.), after the first 15-20 min. then most likely nothing is in your area. If you plan on hunting in the same spot for a while, wait 15-20 min and call again.

Hope this helps you out.

BM

DOUBLE-LUNG

You picked a fine call,
I used mine in my last scouting trip and had great luck locating some cow elk. No luck hearing any bulls. Lost cow should work fine. Hopefully some cows callback, then a bull should be nearby. Good Luck. I live across the state line by spirit lake. What part of Washington are you hunting?

WARedBear

Just over the line in Spokane.

idahoelkinstructor

Now what??? Well for starters do you know how to use a diaphram with a bugle tube and can you bugle with it or at least make a cow call? Also do you have any of the bite and blow reed cow calls like the fighting cow call or the hyper lip single and double or hyper hot? If not get them and learn to use them as well. I carry a assortment of different calls with meincluding the hoochie mama and thesqueese me. Calling in elk could be compared to a football game.A certian team might have one play that is justawesome and gets thejob done. Kind of the the hoochie mama for making a good cow call.But if that is the only play they know how to exacute during a game the other team might be fooled a couple of times but by the end of the first quarter they will know its commingand also know how to stop it. Elk are no different, sure the hoochie is a excellent call but it can only make the same tones over and over again. Yes it can go from a cow to a calf but its still the same day in and out. Very seldom does a bull justcome running on on a whim of a single cow call, lost, lonesome or any other for that matter. But if you can use a diaphram or external reed bugle to sound like a small bull or two plus use a variety of cow calls to sound like a herd of elk. Then you will increase you chances greatly for a call in. Plus whenyou get busted (trust me you will, if you haven't then you haven't been hunting much) you don't want to use the same calls or style that you were making when you got busted. If you do the elk will be laughing and know its justanother hunter dan trying to call them in. So switch calls sound like different elk and go after the same elk that busted you. If you don't then you are honestly better off trying to find new/different elk to go after and hope that other hunters haven't tried the same calls as you and educated the elk. By the way I would guess that the majority of elk hunters on the mountain have either the hoochie mama or squeese me. Something to think about... Hope this helps

PaRu

I have at least three cow calls with me Hoochie Mama, fighting cow call.and a hyper lip single ,plus a hyper lip Bugle, i try not to sound very big but if i get a answer then i use all three call to sound like more than one cow ever got in a herd of cows they go crazy at times.