2012 public land video critique

[Relentlessly Unforgiving]

Its almost time to hit the elk woods and I want to share a video from last year. This was filmed using a gopro hero with the waterproof housing, so if the sound seems muffled, that is why. This was our first year in the elk woods and as you can imagine we made a lot of mistakes. Being brutally honest please critique what you see and hear, theres a lot to learn from this encounter. Let me set the stage:

-2nd week of September and sunrise
-wind from right to left as you watch the video
-wilderness in Colorado 6 miles from a trail head
-cool crisp morning after many days of silent elk
-the calling is coming from me wearing the gopro

Looking at our topo maps, we found a bench on a ridge the night before and decide to make our was towards it come dawn. We had seen cows and had a few hung up bulls a few days prior utilizing an afternoon cold calling session. As we made our way to the fringe of the bench I let out a few soft cow mews and received and immediate bugle in response. The bugle was distant, 100 yards plus. So i repeated the cow mew sequence but added light stomping and snapped a few twigs. The response this time was three different bugles. We set up for the bull we felt was the closest, thinking he would arrive first. This bull was coming in a hurry but skirted around us and never showed. He didn't walk more than 10 yards from behind the shooter that you can see kneeling in the brush. All I saw was his rack pulling on branches as he left the scene. Another bugle breaks the silence and he is now interested. I start recording at this point, since I had forgotten to when this all started. The shooter had no idea this bull was about to enter through the clearing, although he did not have the best of shot to begin with. The bull entered slightly quartering to at 35 yards and I was stuck unanchored at full draw. He did not go far once we ran away. He let out a nervous grunt and chuckled in response to a few pleading cow calls. We slipped out of the area with hopes at another chance come evening time.

Known mistakes:

-out of shooter caller position, possible should of switched callers
-poor communication between caller and shooter

Would you have taken the shot?

What tactics would you have employed once he left and responded the way he did?

The encounter was longer than the time of the video and was edited to highlight the key moments. Hope you enjoy and I look forward to reading the opinions of the members here. If I left out any needed details let me know and Ill do my best to answer them promptly.

[montanabrown]

calling from the edge of a clearing is an easy way of being busted by any elk. you're to easy to pinpoint. its best to try and get the shooter close to in between you and the bull. you're trying to draw the bull past the shooter but a lot of elk will not come across and opening to a call, especially if they are a little suspicious so the shooter on the other side of the clearing would probably of worked a little better.

[Relentlessly Unforgiving]

That would be the best set up for this particular encounter Montanabrown. As I said before this was our first time hunting elk. I hope to have this situation in a few weeks and will certainly place the shooter at the opening of the clearing no matter it's size! Thanks for your help!

[BrentLaBere]

I am surprised none of the elk nuts have stepped up to answer. Ill give it a go and point you in the direction of the ELKnut Tips and Archived Tips.
Few threads on setups cold calling and bringing one in. From what I have gathered you need to have that elk in "search mode". They are good at pin pointing location, so with that being said you need to find an area he cannot see so easily across and find your location. Just like Montanabrown has stated. He hears elk in the opening and when he gets there he doesn't see an elk. Find thicker area with shooting lanes and this way you can get away with noise because he will be expecting to hear the elk that are calling, also something that could have made him nervous. Little bit of advice I can give, hope it helps.

[cnelk]

1 -Your buddy was too close to you. And as mentioned, it was fairly open. I realize you probably wanted to film a shot [hence the GoPro] and to do this you stayed close to each other. You have to sacrifice something sometimes...

2 - Looking at that clearing, and knowing the wind was right to left, I would have sent the shooter into the wind to the right. This would setup would have the callers/shooters covering more ground.

3- I didnt see a shot opportunity

4 - It would have been a good place to use a decoy

5 - After the bull drifted away and out of sight, I would have moved up and to the left about 50-60 yds and stayed quiet for a bit.
You had elk around you that you heard/saw, and maybe there were more that you didnt hear/see. After 10 min or so, I would start a lost calf call and work up to more elk sounds. The elk you encountered were liking your calls, they responded and committed. There may have been a bull coming in silent.

I bet you will go back to that spot... I would

Good Luck

[westaner]

Like most are saying if you the caller can see the bull your too close! Unless you have a decoy and animate it correctly. 70 yards is the average hangup for bulls in my forest so I move back out of sight trying to lure the bull 20 yards on ether side of the shooter, not directly thru them, they get spotted more often if that happens. I'm usualy by the shooters side in the begining mew,break branches or chuckle ,then move back like a bull moveing his herd away from thereal bull .keep up the commotion as going back 100 yards to pull him past shooter

[stringunner]

In addition to what others have said I will try....I think it was too open....I think he pin pointed the calls, came in, didn't see any elk got nervous and split. When he left and then gave a nervous grunt and chuckles I think he was again asking for a visual/calling you to him.

I have no idea what I would have done next, perhaps moved forward another 80 yards and tried again, making noise as if to say "ok I will come to you." Based on the fact I think he was calling you to him.

If the wind was right to left, he didn't wind you so I think approaching again, would have been fine.

[Relentlessly Unforgiving]

Yes we will definitely be in this area come next month. Thanks for all the suggestions as I too believe that the positioning was our crucial mistake. The surrounding area is choked with ten foot high brush although there are game trails burrowed through it. A set up in this vegetation would force a bull to come within point blank range and may be a more predictable option. If you were to place a decoy, would the "proper" placement be near the location of the shooter? Obliviously the shooter would not be in that location but be near the opening where the bull entered.

I must add there was NO shot taken as I was stuck at an unanchored full draw.

[Z Barebow]

Decoy should be closer to the caller, IMHO. Why? Elk is expecting to see elk from the location where he heard elk noises. The caller should be at the fringe of visual communications from the shooter. Depending upon the cover, that could be 20 yards, or it could be 100 yards. Why? Because you want the elk to be curious enough to where is "comfortable" at peeking/searching for the call/elk noises. If the elk reaches that distance and is searching, it better be in range of the shooter. It is looking for visual confirmation as to what it's ears are hearing. If you don't have a deek or the elk can't see it, more often than not, they will turn around and leave. A deek might encourage the elk to keep coming.

The job of the caller is pull the elk by the shooter, not to see the elk.

[cnelk]

The job of the caller is pull the elk by the shooter, not to see the elk.

For those that hunt with partners need to read this... and then read it again... and again