Cow Call

The cow call is one of the four sounds in the moose sounds library. Below it five ways: the technique, short and anxious, long and drawn out, through a megaphone, and a wild cow answering in the rut.

Cow calls are higher pitched than a grunt and longer: anywhere from two seconds to almost a minute. Make an “e” “r” or “errr” sound. Curl your tongue up to the rear of your mouth. Start off low and carry the “r” for whatever length you want the call to be. Raise the pitch gradually through the middle, then lower it again while tapering off at the end. Waver the tone on the long ones, and listen for the little hiccup at the end.

Pinch your nose and cup your hands over your mouth. That produces the nasal quality that makes both cow calls and bull grunts sound right.

Early season: one or two long cow calls, twenty to thirty seconds, at the very front of the first calling session of the day and the very end of the last one. It wakes a distant bull’s curiosity.

From about 7–10 September: short cow calls in groups of two or three, added to morning and evening sessions.

Any time a bull is leaving: a long, loud, wavering call held for a minute. Wayne’s favorite last-ditch play, and it has turned bulls that had already been shot at and missed.

One exception: on a bull that already has cows with him, grunts and thrashing are the safer choice, because cows can lead him away.

The Bull Magnet® carries them further and adds the nasal tone a bull is listening for. Born in Alaska in 1993 and made in the USA.