I has bow hunting for elk yesterday, and ran into a herd of elk, probabley 15-20 head. I gave chase and cow called, and just about had a heart attack when a big old bull belowed a bugle at me.... he did it twice, and i had about 25-30 cow calls come back at me as i followed.

Has anyone ever heard of elk bugling in december? It was obviously a bull and cows. When i got to the top of the ridge where they had been hanging out i found bloody piss holes. What do you make of this???

And if your wondering.... yes i did get a shot. About 50 yards on the other side of the draw i picked out a big cow, and fired. Heard a thud, and backed off. Came back this morning and found my arrow in a dead log that was behind the elk when i shot. I saw the cow hunch just as i fired, and i am pretty sure i sailed it right over the back.... not by much, prob 2 inches high at max. oh well, you win some you lose some eh?

I have actually heard bulls bugle year round. The part of Montana where I use to guide, it was quite commen to be able to bugle them thru Dec. I actually bugled a bull in for a client on the 23 of Nov one year. Not sure what to make of your bloody pee holes. Perhaps a cow during that time of the month?

Elk are very vocal at times and as far as the red urine this late in the season is it may be larch trees in the area that give the impression of blood being present in the urine, if there is a layer of snow and a deer pissses, it will come up as red as I have been fooled myself with deer /elk doing this during the season, but maybe some of the cows go late also, nothing is a norm. Good Luck, Bobby