The Superior Way

[Swede]

Is it easier for you to get an elk hunting alone or with a partner? If you are with someone, are you the designated shooter always, never, or half the time? If you are solo, do you hunt on the ground calling, still hunting, or from a ground blind or are you in a tree stand? What about your way (solo or team) do you think makes it work better for you?

[Lefty]

Im coming clean. For me it is hunting solo.
But I still would rather hunt with my daughter or have my wife in camp,.. Ok about 10 times as much effort ,.. but still my preference.
I am always the caller, typical spot and stalk or calling setups.

My time spent in the desert was in a ground or box blind. Mostly glassing , or trailing bugling herds
My last year in the desert I spend 3 days in a ground blind because of the pouring rain.. I am looking for and keeping track of future tree stand locations

[Tigger]

with a partner and we switch partners throughout the week. Nice that our group is so great we can switch partners with no loss in productivity. I am the caller more often than my share, but that is okay with me as I like calling. I get some opportunities as a shooter too.

I like a partner to share the hunt with. Talk over scenarios, where to go next, what to do, etc. A person can make a mistake and the partner picks up on it and saves your bacon (ie forget about the wind, thermals, geography, direction of bugle, hear a bugle you didn't, etc).

We ground hunt, call mostly. some spot and stalk. We all hunt deer from tree stands so want to do it differently hunting elk. We have often thought about a perch (in a tree, not the fish), but have yet to do it. I, personally, just love walking along in the mountains!

[olympushunt]

Here is another thought on this......If you feel hunting alone is superior (or the other way around) how many animals have you missed out on by hunting the other way. I know for FACT that Swede has lost out on animals by constantly putting others (myself included) in a superior position to succeed. If he hunted entirely selfishly he would have more and likely bigger elk kills. But there is a price to pay for hunting alone too. He wouldn't have such fine company like me. I bet Elk Nut and many others put their kid or buddy in first place and that costs them, but wouldn't trade it for the world.

[saddlesore]

Very seldom am I close to my hunting partner. Usually y 1/4 mile away or so.We meet again about noon or so. Once an elk is down, we go to the kill site and help one another

[Swede]

I really don't think I give up on good hunting opportunities vary much. I will give a little to those that have only a few days, because I have the whole season. I am as passionate about getting an elk as anyone. We take turns, and there are usually several locations that I believe can produce animals. I wish I knew where they would show up, but I am not on their scheduling committee. I have often gone out and killed an elk and the others came in with nothing. I didn't knowingly give anyone the lousy place.
What really is a pain is when I go to a spot and find on my trail camera that a big bull came into a different stand, and no one was there. To add to that pain I thought about going to the location where the bull arrived, but decided on another. That is that old fickle luck thing again. You just cannot trust luck. I would pray more, but I have not found that I can use God as my hunting gatherer. I think He wants me to learn and to hunt.

[saddlesore]

A person has to make their own luck.

[ElkNut1]

I've taken elk Solo, Tag Team, Spot & Stalk, Stand Hunting & Calling them in most those situations. No doubt for myself Tag Team elk hunting blows away any other method for calling & taking bulls. All methods have their place but certainly one is Superior to me!

ElkNut/Paul

[Roosiebull]

lone wolf for me. I think having a hunting crew can potentially up everyone's odds in the crew, but it takes the right crew (or partner) rather than trying to hunt down the perfect hunting partner, I spend that time hunting down elk solo. there are pros to hunting solo, and cons, but in the end, it's easier for me to just hunt alone and go with friends to help after I have one processed and in the freezer.

I have only killed one elk hunting with someone else, and he was supposed to be the shooter, but adrenaline turned his arms to noodles and he couldn't get that pesky bow pulled back

that is the only time I have ever shot at a big game animal hunting with someone else. I have watched lots of shots taken

[ishy]

The group I am blessed to hunt with will always produce more opportunities than I do solo. I rarely have time off both at work and with a young family to get to go with on longer trips so it has only been two of the last 10 years I've made it. They are calling freaks, and seem to fill all but one or two tags each year and those are usually kids that had multiple chances and just couldn't close the deal (their dads will have several stories yearly of them not setting up where they tell them to). Hoping that I will get to spend more falls with them in the coming years.

[ElkNut1]

Just to be clear, when I refer to Tag Team I'm referring to two of us. It's my Son & myself, on a rare occasion We will add a 3rd person to help them out, when this is the case we do not bring our bows we are helping the other hunter 100%

ElkNut/Paul

[otcWill]

I really enjoy helping others fill their tags. When with friends I almost always take a back seat and do the calling. That said, I've killed nearly all of my bulls solo.

[snowbank]

I hunt solo and with a partner. with three of us we hunt parallel ridges and kick the elk back and forth. when no one is available I scout drainages so we know where the elk are located. That way we can be mmost effective.

each year we try to hunt 2-3 new patches of ground to keep expanding our range as well! as cutting out trails.

[Lefty]

,... Tag Team,... ElkNut/Paul

I called in 6-10 great opportunities for my daughter, She just didnt make it happen on her end. She would hesitate when given instruction and lacked the aggressiveness to move in. One time I told her to run, get inside the trees. A big, real big bull walk on one side of the tree she was on the other. Our last moments of the year. I mentioned to keep an eye our up hill ( heavy cover) she turned and follows a cow tha knew she was dogging it. Yep 100 yards up hill where she should have been another very big bull.
Now if she would learn to call then I could mess up the good or great opportunities,.. oh wait I did screw up on a chip shot 5x5