Now whaddya do? Pinned down!

[WapitiTalk1]

So campers, you and your partner have set up to do a bit of early season cold calling. You're the caller and set up at the top point of the triangle; your buddy (shooter) is set up at one of the bottom points of the triangle, behind you to your left or right perhaps 20-30 yards away, as you face the little opening seen. Thermals are ever so lightly flowing from the bull's direction into your face. After a "few" trophy series of soft to whiney cow calls, some award winning brush raking with a scream mixed in, you believe it's time to move on after being at it for 20 minutes or so and are almost ready to signal your buddy when........... a bull appears out of nowhere, silently, and from the wrong direction! They can be very quiet and sneaky buggers, and, in thicker terrain don't always play the wind as they normally would. The bull came in silent and did not come in downwind (towards/by your partner) as you expected he would. Your buddy (shooter) is completely unaware that this bull came in silent. The bull is now standing where he is now, a bit more than 40 yards away from your position and has locked his senses on to where he believes he heard the commotion from. What are your options here and what should your team do to maximize a shot opportunity?

Silent%20Bull.jpg (15.44 KiB) Viewed 5078 times

[Lefty]

Likely Im on my knees already Im slowly drawing and taking the shot, If I m hunting with Dave.
The bull doesn't know what I am.
If Im hidden well enough and hopefully I have some sort of planned soft signalling call, ( calf) that my daughter will recognize we have a bull. Seems like interested bulls tolerate a lot of movement if they dont recognize me during movement.
Ah maybe I would do the same for Dave as I do for my daughter.

Hey! maybe because a bit round isnt the general shape of a bow hunter

[B.Sentman]

I don't see a way to notify my hunting partner without spooking the bull and there is no way to know for sure if he has a shot from his position. So, as long has my tag isn't punched im staying as still possible until the bull turns to leave or turns his eyes away from me and then I'm drawing my bow and stopping him with a nervous grunt. If I am unable to take the shot I will watch him leave and then gather up my partner quick and devise a plan to get back in front of him.

[Wyo67]

It's early season, I'm not moving, calling or anything until the bull turns or starts to move away. You have been calling and the bull has walked into the open and within 40 yards of your calling position. If he's staring you down as he is in the picture, as soon as you make another noise, he's going to know EXACTLY where you are and if he doesn't see the expected elk there, he's going to bust. Play it cool and wait for him to turn and start to walk, draw, stop him with a nervous grunt or mew and take the shot if it's there.

My 2015 bull played out under similar circumstances. We came up on two bulls in a clearing and one sensed us moving in on them around 40 yards. The three of us discussed who was going to take the shot. He stared us down for a few minutes at a severe quartering to angle while I was kneeling with an arrow nocked. As soon as he started to leave, I rose and one of my partners stopped him with a mew.

[Swede]

It's early season, I'm not moving, calling or anything until the bull turns or starts to move away.

Ditto

[ishy]

Same as above no moving till he looks away or moves. One addition you have to have set up with calling partners in advance is to have some way to tell the shooter to call, i.e. a certain call, whistle, rock to the melon. Anything that will get their attention and not alert the bull that something is amiss will work. Three short quiet mews back to back is what we use to inform the shorter they are now calling. This call be a real game changer as getting back doored happens a ton and being able to swap places at a moments notice can save lots of shots that wouldn't happen otherwise.

[Kentrek]

Have you been following me around phantom? This exact scenario came up opening day of September elk....I got busted and froze just as everyone above suggested but there was no way to keep my partner from keep on coming....my partner finally got the message but I think it was one step too late and the bull really locked on....we froze and froze and finally the bull stepped behind a big stump...we then hunkered out of site and repositioned to find the bull again....we never saw him again...even with world champion elk calling....he was a ninja

[Waygoner]

BANG! (I have a muzzle loader)

[Mike_Parson]

I am not going to move at all until he turns his head away from me or walks behind a bush or something. then im going to draw my bow and let one fly as soon as he is cloeared of anything between us or if he hasnt moved, im letting it fly with the pin just behind the shoulder. Then gather my buddies and track my very dead elk.... lol

[poisonarrow]

Deploy your decoy! This is where a Poison Arrow decoy shines.

[Trophyhill]

Without reading the responses, this to me is too easy. Dead bull. The caller now becomes the shooter and kills him

[Shawn Ryan]

If I give my "we're swapping roles" call, the bull will have me exactly pinned down. I'd like to wait until he isn't looking right at me,then "swap roles" call. That should get his attention again, unfortunately, and we're waiting until his attention turns to the new caller/partner, who, I'm hoping is able to divert his attention 20-40 degrees to one side. That still means I'm in his field of vision, but counting on the Poison Arrow decoy to hide the draw. If he doesn't divert his attention, I'm still drawing. Nervous grunt to hold him at the shot.

However, most every time--or every time--I've shot at an elk that was staring at me, they jumped the string. Hate that. 40 yards is a long distance for an arrow to fly to an elk that jumps the string.