On Tom Rowland Podcast Episode 67 (How 2 Tuesday #23), I sit down with Turner Rowland to learn how to call in an elk. Turner is a professional elk hunting guide in Bozeman, Montana, and he breaks the whole thing down to two strategies: a bugle that imitates a fighting bull and a cow call that imitates a breeding female. The thread that ties it together is simple. Close the distance, get right in the bull's back door, and then either make him mad or get in the way of his breeding.
Listen now: Spotify · Apple Podcasts · or press play in the player above.
Turner Rowland uses two main strategies, a bugle-based approach and a cow-call-based approach, and often blends them into a hybrid. A bugle imitates a fighting call from another bull, while a cow call imitates a breeding call from a female. The key in every case is to close the distance, get right in the bull's back door, and then either make him mad or make him want to breed.
A bugle is a fighting call from another male elk, and a cow call is a breeding call from a female. Turner explains that a bull does not usually want to fight, but he badly wants to breed. If you get in the way of his breeding by bugling aggressively right next to him, he is far more likely to come in looking for the bull making that noise.
Turner stresses closing the gap as the number one thing. He aims to get within about 100 yards, ideally inside the bull's bubble, before calling aggressively. Calling from far away, or bugling your way toward the elk, only tells him exactly where you are and rarely pulls him in, because he has other elk he can go to.
Turner points to three big mistakes: bugling or cow-calling your way to the elk instead of closing the distance quietly, not being ready the moment you start calling, and being too timid to get close because you are making noise. Elk are loud in the timber, so he says pace your steps like a four-legged animal and do not be afraid to move in.
Turner says the best place to call is thick, dark timber. In open country like the Missouri Breaks in Montana, a bull will look for the bull making the noise, fail to see one, and run off the other way. In dark timber he cannot see you, so he comes in to investigate, and you can hear him coming and get ready.
Turner relies on thermals. The wind generally moves down the mountain in the morning and up the mountain in the afternoon. A bull above you in the morning is a good setup, while a bull below you in the morning is not, so you either wait or circle around. Elk have a terrific sense of smell, so playing the wind carefully matters as much as the calling.
Here is the step-by-step method Turner Rowland walks through in this How 2 Tuesday.
Turner explains each of these with the stories and details behind them in the episode. Press play in the player above.
Turner Rowland is my son, and he just finished a season guiding elk hunters north of Bozeman, Montana. When he started teaching me how to call a bull in, I realized how much of it runs against what most people do in the field. I see hunters bugling their way toward an elk, sure they are doing the right thing because the bull answers back. Turner explained why that rarely works, and I wanted to capture it. Listen to him lay out the two strategies in the episode, and press play in the player above.
The phrase Turner kept coming back to was getting right in the bull's back door. A bull does not really want to fight, but he wants to breed, so the way you pull him in is to close the gap and make him think another bull is moving in on his cows. Turner compared it to a guy yelling across the street at a barbecue versus one who breaks into your backyard and does it. One you ignore, the other you go after. He explains exactly how close to get and how aggressive to call, so press play in the player above.
Turner told me about a client he set up with a buddy fifty yards out front while he stayed back scraping a tree and calling. They bugled back and forth with a wide six-by-six for about fifteen minutes until the bull got tired of looking and stopped dead, his head behind a tree at 34 yards, with the hunter at full draw. The way Turner reads a bull in that moment, and what he does to close the deal with a soft mew and a little tree work, is the kind of detail you only get from a guide. He walks through it in the episode, so press play in the player above.
How 2 Tuesday is my weekly series where I break down one fishing skill at a time, from knots and casting to gear, tactics, and the habits that make you a better angler. Watch and listen to every How 2 Tuesday episode from Tom Rowland.
What stuck with me a day later is how much of elk calling comes down to commitment to the close. Turner does not tiptoe in. He paces his steps like a four-legged animal, gets inside the bull's bubble, and then makes a lot of noise on purpose, because that is what an elk does coming through the timber.
The other lesson is to be ready the instant you start. The moment you call, it is game on, and a bull can come in fast and stiff-legged. Set up right, play the wind, and let him commit. Press play in the player above to hear Turner explain all of it.
Turner Rowland (professional elk hunting guide) · Tom Rowland · Bozeman, Montana · Bob Marshall Wilderness Area, Montana · the Missouri Breaks, Montana · Corey Jacobson · How 2 Tuesday · bugle calling · cow calling · elk rut · thermals and wind · bow hunting · rifle hunting during the rut
Turner Rowland is a professional elk hunting guide based in Bozeman, Montana, and the son of podcast host Tom Rowland. He guides hunters during the elk rut and works on calling bulls in with both bugle and cow-call strategies, hunting country from dark timber to wilderness areas like the Bob Marshall. He brings a guide's eye for closing the distance, playing the wind with thermals, and reading how a bull responds in the moment.
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