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Stopping Elk For The Shot! Trad Gear Or Compounds

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Stopping Elk For The Shot! Trad Gear Or Compounds

Postby ElkNut1 » 12 27, 2012 •  [Post 1]

Hunting with trad equipment means you have to pick your spots when the time for killing is there! Sometimes you have to stop a bull or cow then take your shot, but not always. Thing is to be prepared to handle any situation at the moment of truth. Know how you're going to handle an elk if this or that happens, experience is a great teacher but not everyone can wait on it. This is where Sites like this can play a big part in ones success because of others willing to share what works in many cases & what doesn't work as well!

There are various ways to handle oncoming elk whether you are a lone hunter or with a partner, some elk stop at the right time for the shot, some look away or are concentrating on a caller, other will look right past you in the direction they heard the last sounds, others will pin you down, in many cases you can win these battles.

One of the things we do to minimize movement is to have our bows in the ready position when we know the elk is coming in, as it gets closer we have our bows at 1/4 draw where our right hand (right handed) is tucked tight to our lips & our left bow arm is still bent because of just a slight bit of draw weight on it, we can maintain this position for quite sometime. As the elk gets to the point of shooting it we now only have to pull back the last few inches in a smooth horizontal pull, no jerking actions. If the elk is standing still, great! If he's not & we must stop him we do so. About 5% of the time it's with a cow sound. If the elk is close & doesn't appear nervous or on high alert just a voice mew can do it, if he's 15 yards or more an abrupt shriek type cow whine is needed if a cow sound is chosen .
But our all time favorite sound for stopping any elk is the Nervous Grunt, it just never fails! It will lock elk & anchor them in their tracks even if they are trotting by, there's just no better sound out there! We've stopped elk yards away & all the way to a couple hundred yards.
We've had on many occasions elk take 2-10 more steps after using various cow sounds in an effort to try & stop them, they'd look our way but in most cases they'd take a few more steps, in our situation with lots of thick country that isn't good, we try & stop them many times in a small window at best, with trad gear this can be a make or break deal! The Nervous Grunt just simply does not fail. We can draw & make this sound with either our voice or with a mouth reed that's always in our mouth, we do this simultaneously. The elk is so intent on identifying this unseen elk that it gives the shooter the needed time to do his thing. Learn this sound well & it will amaze you, we've never had an elk not respond to it by locking up the second they hear it! It's things like this that can make the difference in ones elk hunt!

As lone hunters/callers on occasion you will have elk come straight at you, note this can still happen if you are in line with a caller behind you & an approaching elk in line with the two of you, it's best to be off to one side of the caller 15yds or so! If an elk comes inside 20yds or so giving you a frontal or quartering to you shot then be very still & patient! This bull will generally only come so far if calling drew him, he expects to see this elk of interest, if not he will either continue forward in "search mode" or turn around there & go back the way he came because it was a safe place! -- If he continues forward do not move or draw until his whole body & eyes get past you in a quartering away fashion, this is your time to draw & give the Nervous Grunt simultaneously! -- If this bull/elk stops looks around in range & you can see he is nervous & is going to turn around & leave, let him!!! As soon as he's turned to exit & his eyes are now away from you draw & give the Nervous Grunt simultaneously! This elk will lock up quicker than you can imagine & turn to see where this other elk is that he must have missed seeing!

Why is the Nervous Grunt so effective on all elk? It's because this Grunt/Bark like sound is asking an "action" from other elk! It's asking for a visual or identity to something they heard or saw movement & now wants an identity vocally or visually from them. A mew or chirp asks nothing! It merely means there's an elk there but requires no action from this elk you are calling too! This is why in many cases elk do not anchor right there when they hear a cow sound, it's not asking them too! Cow sounds can work but are 50/50 - The Nervous Grunt is nearly 100% effective! It's easily imitated with ones voice or with a single reed latex mouth diaphragm!

ElkNut1
ElkNut1
ElkNut/Paul
 
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