Just curious how some of you Elkaholics tell a real bugle from a hunter?
With todays products, it can be very hard to tell. It's been my experience that the worse calls come from the Elk themselves! Apparently they haven't seen or heard some of the instructional material out there.

There are some very realistic calls on the market today, and in the woods . . . which is which?

I agree this is an area that is very confusing for many including myself. I have heard stories from well seasoned hunters about a fellow hunting 500 yards away from them that couldn't bugle with a damn only to discover that it was a bull. I use my area to my advantage i hunt elk in farmland and wait for them to exit a provicial park so i use common sense. If i hear a bugle from outside the park at 6pm i know it is not an elk because they would never move out that early.Something else i noticed is that many buglers do the same thing everytime. Bugle then chuckle 4 times after to sound like the perfect elk. In my opinon sometimes if its too good to be true it probably isn't. I like to sometimes just chuckle, bugle and chuckle, just bugle , or squeal/whine a bit. The best calling tips i ever got where not from a magazine but watching, listening elk outside of the season. I use The Power Bugle, its a pretty good call and usually stick with a young bull band but carry older bull bands just in case. It is a pretty versatile call, really easy to use but i cannot get that real deep growl at the begining of a bugle out of it but i really don't need that for the bulls i would ever shoot in my area. So ya thats my opinon but the other guys on here call more bulls in one day than i do in a season so be interesting to see what they have to say.

That is very true. and usually the bigger they are the worse their call is a lot of the time. My logic is that It seems like during the rut the big bulls have to guard the cows and chase off all the interlopers and therefore they do a good bit more "confrontational bugling" and as a result hurt their throat and get kind of "hoarse".

I'd like some that are more experienced to me to chime in on this.

I know I've seen HUGE bulls that sounded a screeching monkey

If it is a pressured area and the bugles sound a little too good especially having all the beutiful desending "notes"--it can be suspicious.

It seems usually that the REAL ELK have kind of a real big deep "HUFF" right at the end of their call.

I know I've said this before but my partner last year (whois a real expert at it) and I were standing on a riverbank at dark where there were both real bulls and hunters in the area (and both were bugling on occasion) and we heard a beautiful call about 200 yds down river on the opposite bank.
As soon as that call ended my partner yelled "GO BACK TO CAMP!!"

then we heard the bugler yell "F--- You!!!" That was afunny moment

The situation gives me what I need. If there is cow calling in the middle of the rut and I hear a location bugle, that right there could be a good tip. It probably is not a bull. I have seen only 3 people in 8 years where I hunt, the odds are against it being another hunter to begin with. With most of the calls on the market, there is usually only a couple of things that are done with these , and repetition with no character to the call is a dead give away. UNLESS the bugle tube or grunt tube is used by a skilled caller using a diaphram where the calls can be mixed up with entusiam.

The huffs can be duplicated to a tee with a diaphram and a large diameter grunt tube. The huffs and grunts can be very deadly in conjunction with the proper cow calls. It is possible to get the deep sound of a bull. I use an inhaling and exhaling motion to get this and taper off like a bull running out of breath.

The thing to remember is that ALL bulls have differnet bugles for different times. The bull that screams a challenge, may also huff, grunt and chuckle when tending to cows. The sounds that you here will dictate what type of situation you are dealing with, and how to execute a plan.

Remember, if you hear a bull and he has cows, don't throw out the normal location bugle or he will round up the group and head out, sneak in, act like you hooked one of his hot ladies, and will not let her go, he is as good as in the freezer.

Here is what works for me, However I am far from an expert.
I hunt public land which I am fortunate enough to be able to glass from my porch. It's about 7 miles away. I know the area like the back of my hand and have done plenty of scouting over the years to know where the Elk hang out.
If I here a bugle and it's not from one of these areas I ignore it. Also hunting public land, the Elk just do notgo all out. Just a bugle here and there.
You get some of these guy's that watch to many hunting shows with private ranches and they go all out with these knarly bugles lasting minutes. These are easy to figure out as most of the time they are near the road or not far from it.

I get in well before light and anything coming from an area that I know has held Elk in the past I will pursue.
Also I bugle very little if at all. I don't want to entice another hunter my way and if I am an Elk looking to get laid the last thing I want to here is a challenge, So I pretty much just cow call. My thinking anyway.
This works for me but again I am no expert, but do get into Elk every year. Flinging my pointed stick at one is another story.

The bulls where I hunt do more chuckling than anything else. If I hear one of those "perfect" bugles like on calling tapes, I usually wait it out. Most hunters will do the same cadence every time, where bulls will usually mix it up with a grunt, chuckles, just the sqeal of the bugle, or a combination. If I hear a realistic call and the occasional limb break, I'm more likely to head out. If the call isn't changing locations for a while, I'm very suspicious. I hunt in an area that gets a lot of pressure, and will occasionally get fooled. But if it sounds too pretty, it's probably a hunter.

Hey elkcrazy . . . interesting observation about bulls changing their "tune" with harem/cows, than when single or on the make.
Thanks all!

I'm going back up Wednesday. Might leave my bugle in the truck.

The best way Ive found to tell the difference is to bugle back and listen again. Hunters will always bugle back again and most are not expert callers over the course of a couple bugles they will usually produce one bugle that is has a tubey sound to it.

I listen at the end of the bugle, for that raspy throaty sound, hard to exactly explain how it sounds...i can usually tell if its human or wapiti,most of the time if itis human, they will usually throw out a couple of cow calls, alot of times being those discrepency hoochie mamas, which is like telling the difference from your head and a hole in the ground. This year i noticed when i would hear a bugle, then shortly after i would hear a 4 wheeler start up, go aways and bugle some more, not even get off of there 4 wheelers, NOW that is HUNTING!!!So annoying! I quit hunting that canyon!!!