Welcome to the home of the only elk calling system offered anywhere by anybody!  What do I mean by an "elk calling system"?  Before I answer that question, a little bit about elk and calling them.  Elk are social animals just like their cousin the deer.  Elk use numerous vocal sounds to communicate with each other and the more you can fool the ears of an elk, the better chance you have to get, up close and personal with them.  In my page, elk hunting tips, I talk about things you need to do well to be a consistently successful elk hunter, you have to safely manage their hearing, smell and sight!  So how do we do that?  Well, it's simple, you try to smell like elk, look like elk and sound like elk, either as a member of the herd, or as an alone individual outside the herd group.  If you can win one of those wars, you'll at least get in the game, if you can win two of those wars, you have a chance to consistently win the game and if you can win all three of those wars, you'll be a star!  So, the elk calling system focuses on managing the war of sound, fooling the hearing of the elk. 

First - being able to mimic the sounds of the elk herd, cow, calf and small bulls (spike and/or rag horns).

Second - you have to make as little movement as you possibly can when making any call.

Third - any bugle you make needs to be smaller/softer sound than the bull you're chasing if you want that bigger bull to come to you.

A reminder about using a reed call (anyone of them).  You make sound by controlling the amount of air pressure passing under the reed by how tightly you press your lips on the reed!  Making elk sounds; for cow / calf, start with the lips away from the base and press the lips more tightly on the reed making the  eeeeeeeeeuuuuuuu or eeeeewwwwwweeeeee sound by sliding your lips down the reed, or letting the lips relax reducing pressure.  So, the notes then start at a higher pitch and then go down in pitch.

For the bull bugle!  Diaphragm users know that you start making the bugle by putting little pressure (lower note) on the latex reed and then you ascend the note sequence (higher notes) by pressing your tongue into the latex reed.  On an open reed call you start with your lips near the middle of the call with little pressure (lower note) and increase your lip pressure (higher note) them reduce pressure about half way (med note) before a chuckle or growl (remember chuckles and growls are from more mature bulls to limit using them).

For most of the calls that require sliding the call, or moving your mouth on the call, you must remove the green note marker!

Be careful, the deeper the note sequence from low to hi, indicates a more mature bull and that can drive elk away, keep the bugles small, lower volume and medium pitch, keep the bulls around if they don't run off you have a chance at keeping the cows around.  The design of SECS is not to make the fully mature bull bugle, it is designed to mimic more of the squeaky bugle of the spike, so it is higher in pitch and should limit the chuckle at the bottom of the slide!  Remember, we are trying to make this a sneaky, young bull bugle, we want to make the mature bull made (think of how upset the Tom turkey gets when he sees a jake on the breeding hen).  Those old Tom's just can't stand it and neither can a mature bull!

An elk calling system must be able to make all the cow/calf and small bull sounds, using as little motion as possible and with varying volume.  You need the call to be quiet when necessary, loud to locate and adjustable if possible.  If at all possible, make each sound during the same calling sequence.  This elk calling system allows you to do that and the fun part, it's easy to do, with little practice (I am a phone call away to help you learn how it's done all you need to do is call).

This is the elk calling system! It consists of;

-   (1) Estrus cow elk call (left call)

-  (1) SBB - sneaky bull elk bugle (locating cow/bugle)

-  the lanyard for easy carrying - 1 on each

-  the rubber note marker - 1 on each

 I often cup my hands over the sound chamber of the call to enable easy volume adjustment and to allow the call to mimic the soft raspy notes the cows make at the bottom of their vocalizations, but when I am calling for myself and have one hand on my bow, I rely on simply turning my head and making the soft sounds out near the tip of the call and then dropping the call and letting the lanyard hold it close!

Some reminders if you not familiar with my calls!  The wood base goes up on these calls.  The roof of your mouth is the hard pallet so this allows the soft pallet, your lips and jaw, to make sensitive adjustments to note, volume and sliding notes if you wish.  The "note" marker allows you to set your lip location so you can hit the note you want right off the start, no having to guess or hope.  The added advantage of this note marker is it allows you to "toggle" between a calf and cow sound during the call sequence without taking the call out of your mouth.  Since I use this call a lot, I don't have a marker on my calls, I am used to just allowing a soft start note to make sure I am on the pitch I want, then starting with a high first note, slide my lips down the reed making it deeper as I move the call.  I can stop my motion any time to toggle the cow sounds I want and need, and by reversing that motion, starting low and moving to higher pitches. 

Using the SBB, you can use the tip lip position to generate the "locating cow elk" sound, or move to the middle lip position and have the full range of notes from a bugle..  And with some practice, you can add a rough, raspy throat growl to get a young bull, post bugle growl or cough!  Again, be careful lusing any growl or cough when working a more mature bull, they will move the cows off and leave you without any opportunities.

Because the call is made of wood, there are few pitch control issues, no tiny weird sounds that plastic tends to make and generally not a note variance issue when the call is warm or cold.  So, what is the system, it is simply being able to make the sounds of a herd; cow, calf and young bull, all in one call, even within one call sequence without changing the call.   No other call anywhere can offer so much for so little!  I hand make and hand tune each call, nothing ships that cannot make the sounds necessary.

I am including in this page the easy re-tuning process for the reed in your call.  If you bend the reed, if it gets pressed by things in your pocket or pack, all you need do is follow this simple process (can be done with a knife edge, not the blade, while your taking a break in the field).  The reed's basic position is flat, with perhaps a tiny bit of upward lift at the nose.  Even with the "call marker" in place the nose of the reed should be flat or a bit up.  If your call has a reed that is lifted up; as long as the reed itself is flat, the call will make the sounds just fine.  What will cause you to want to re-tune, is the call is hard to call and you get really hi pitches, or you can't get air through (the tip of the reed is touching the wood to easily), and/or the sound is to deep and you can't soften the pitch easily (the reed is tipped up to much so you can control the volume well).

  If you find that the reed is tipping down toward the wood, or it's not in the up position like this picture, follow these instructions.

1.  Hold the call so your reed is facing away from you and facing up

2.  The reed has a rough surface facing down (toward the wood) and a smooth surface facing up (toward our mouth).

3.  Using the edge of your knife, hold the reed down against that edge (the side of the reed that needs to be re-shaped facing up

4.  Think of how you make present wrapping ribbon curl, a fast pull across the surface with thumb pressure will roll/curl the ribbon, this reed will do the same thing

5.  Put your thumb on the reed pushing it against the edge of the knife, making one quick motion pull the blade away from the call putting a slight bend in the reed

6.  If you put the edge of the knife on the rough/bottom and pull, the adjustment will flatten the reed down, or tip the reed down.  If you tip it too much the reed will hit the wood too quickly and shut off the reed.

7. If you put the edge of the knife on the upper side/smooth and pull, the adjustment will curve the reed up, or the tip up, if you go too much it will not allow air in and the call will make no sound.  This will also make you hold your lip out toward the end of the call to make sounds and increase the volume in the call.

When making the reed adjustments, a little goes a long long way so don't press too hard on the reed as you pull!