What do you look for in a calling setup?

[itsnlkthing]

From all the reading I've done here, it seems that an elk coming in will try and get downwind from the caller before coming in. I will more than likely end up hunting solo and would appreciate your guidance on picking places to setup that will give a solo hunter the best opportunity. Also, to decoy or not to decoy....

[Indian Summer]

I'll keep it simple with one basic tip: Elk don't generally travel straight up and down hills. They run the contours side hilling. Game trails run the contours to show you this. So instead of telling yourself you need to get below elk when thermals are dropping or above them when the warming air is rising... try to get to the same elevation as the elk so they can travel in a manner they are more willing and used to travelling.

Hope that tip pays off for you one day!

[elkmtngear]

I'll keep it simple with one basic tip: Elk don't generally travel straight up and down hills. They run the contours side hilling. Game trails run the contours to show you this. So instead of telling yourself you need to get below elk when thermals are dropping or above them when the warming air is rising... try to get to the same elevation as the elk so they can travel in a manner they are more willing and used to travelling.

Hope that tip pays off for you one day!

Joe is spot on! I always try to approach a bull sidehill near their level if possible.

So, for an early morning encounter...thermals/ wind should be dropping. I try to do exactly as Joe suggests and get on the bull's level; I use a puffer to check the wind. If I use a good sidehill game trail to approach, I'll stick the decoy down facing the bull's direction...call...and move off the trail forward and downwind 20 to 40 yards or so, depending on terrain.

Hopefully if everything works out, the bull will immediately lock on the decoy, and I can get a shot opportunity. I've seen quite a few bulls come straight up the trail...so I always move off it to the downwind side. Sometimes they will spot the decoy, and move in a semicircle to get to the downwind side of it. Hope that helps!

[Glacier Country]

I call solo, or as a solo caller even if I have a hunter with me a lot of times.You need to set up so whatever elk comes in to you has to break 30 yards to see, what you are telling him. If you setup on the edge of a clearing or ridge where he can see for 80 yards that is right where he will stop to see you. Also If you are cow calling the bull is probably going to try to get you to go to him... or try to go downwind. If I bugle and challenge the bull he will most of the time come in pissed off and straight to me.So when he is 50 ish yards and coming I make one last call , to direct traffic and send him in the direction I want him to go which gives me the best shot opportunity and best wind situation. lots of guys will not make that last call and then the bull will decide where to go . I tell him where I want him to go.

[Trophyhill]

As a solo hunter, first I want to be close as in within 75 yards or closer. Second I have learned the importance of making the elk have to search for you. I want to be in a position that when the elk steps into my wheelhouse, I see him before he see's me. When I do this, my odds of killing an elk jump way up the scale. As a solo hunter this has meant "call and move". This can mean choosing a set up on the fly and some quick thinking.

[Toby]

I call solo, or as a solo caller even if I have a hunter with me a lot of times.You need to set up so whatever elk comes in to you has to break 30 yards to see, what you are telling him. If you setup on the edge of a clearing or ridge where he can see for 80 yards that is right where he will stop to see you. Also If you are cow calling the bull is probably going to try to get you to go to him... or try to go downwind. If I bugle and challenge the bull he will most of the time come in pissed off and straight to me.So when he is 50 ish yards and coming I make one last call , to direct traffic and send him in the direction I want him to go which gives me the best shot opportunity and best wind situation. lots of guys will not make that last call and then the bull will decide where to go . I tell him where I want him to go.

I like this. Can you elaborate on how you send the bull in the direction you want him to go?

[Swede]

I like calling set up where the elk cannot, or are not likely approach me from behind if possible. I like to be in decent or good cover and I don't want the elk to have to cross major openings or obstacles to get to where I want them. As G.C. wrote, set up where the elk will be within shooting distance of you, before it can see the location you called from.
Toby I too am interested in G.C's. answer to your question. I know he does it by just pointing his grunt tube in the direction he wants the bull to believe you are located. It is like throwing your sound off a ways. I am just not convinced yet it is all that effective. The elk seem to know where the sound I made came from regardless of how I try to disguise it.

[elkmtngear]

The elk seem to know where the sound I made came from regardless of how I try to disguise it.

This has been my experience as well.

That's why I call and immediately move ahead...in my experience if they take the bait, they will head directly to where the last call originated.