I will be bow hunting for elk in CO. in 2006 and want to get a bugle call. We will be taking backpacks and plan to cover alot of ground. What call is easy to use and pack? I have E.L.K. cow talk and the hoochie mama but need a bugle.Thank You.

I would reccommend the terminator bugle, but if you have learned to bugle with a reed then I would suggest making your own bugle tube from a kids plastic baseball bat, I think they are called wiffle bat. Cut about a three to four inch center hole on the end of the bat, and cut most of the handle off, you should end up with about 16-18" of bat. Wrap the bat with like some ace cloth bandage to where it is around couple centimeters thick, then finish it off with some cloth camouflage tape. Put a leather strap on it, you can drill hole in front and one on the other end, put the end of the leather string thru and tie some knots, do the same on the other side--Mission Acomplished...

Abe & Sons grunt tube. Good luck.

I second the Abe & Sons. Power Bugle is also decent choice. IMO the Terminator is easy to use, but sounds terrible.

Can you use a mouth call? If you can, any grunt tube will work. How much tube do you want to carry? I use a Hunter Specialties tube, it is about 20" long and has no bell on it at all. It wraps around my body so I can move, call and shoot my bow and doesn't get in the way. I don't have to put it in the pack!. I use a mouth call that has 3.5 reeds, big sound! If you can't use a mouth call let me know and I will tell you how. If you can use one, talk to Elknut1. Buy his tapes to practice with, they are very good! www.elknut.com You have plenty of time to learn. Let me know how I can help.
Gselkhunter

On my bugle tube I made from a baseball bat, instead of a leather string, I replaced it with a nylon stretch cord, as you can adjust it to fit how you want to carry it, and when you are bugling, you can pull it up to your mouth with ease for bugling and it wil easily snap back against your back, works for me!!!

As far as the Terminator call, it is a very popular bugle and alot easier to learn to bugle with for beginners, then the mouth reeds, If it sounds terrible, then I would say you hav'nt mastered the art of bugling!!!

I have a Power Bugle by ELK, I got it after shooting my elk in ID this year, spent 10 minutes with the outfitter and the next AM called in a bull. Pretty easy to use, but I never could get it to do a chuckle.

For a bugle tube, the power bugle mouth piece comes out so it doubles as a tube if you can blow a diaphram call.

The outfitter used a 8-10 inch piece of pvc pipe for a tube and it worked GREAT.

--Bob