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If your sound card is on, the sound you hear is the bugling of a bull elk. During the breeding season, bull elk challenge their competitors with a high-pitched bugling call that can be heard for miles. Hunters often mimic the bugling of elk on artificial calls to lure them into range. Click here to hear another example of bugling.

Communication...

Elk are famous for the high-pitched bugling which the bulls sound during the breeding season. John Madson describes the sound as A-a-a-ae-e-eeeee-eough! E-uh! E-uh! The bugling is a scream, a warning, a spine-tingling expression of challenge. After the breeding season is over, the bull seldom utters a sound for the rest of the year. Occasionally a cow elk will also bugle, although she makes a softer sound.

The cow squeals when angered or alarmed at being separated from her calf. She also has a coughing grunt or a bark. The calves make a bleating sound and at times an almost calflike sound. During the breeding season, bull elk challenge their competitors with a high-pitched bugling call that can be heard for miles. Hunters often mimic the bugling of elk on artificial calls to lure them into range.