Caller/shooter setups

[Roj]

While mowing lawn & daydreaming about elk hunting, the thought/question popped in my head for you more experienced elk hunters.

When running a caller/shooter setup, how common is it that the bull slips past the shooter and the caller ends up with the shot? I'd be curious to hear some stories...

[twinkieman]

In the group I hunt with, we have had bulls other than the one the caller was working, come in. That has happened many times. One slips in silently hoping to steal a cow, but it has happened to us most often, when the caller is bugling.

[Wapiti]

This happens a lot as I take out many new hunters. I'll set them up and either they won't draw at the right time or are scared to draw as they don't want to spook the elk. So the bull keeps walking right into your calling location.

I'll usually stop calling at that point and let the elk turn and walk back the way he came in. I'll tell the shooter that this happens and 9 times out or ten the bull with take his same path back !! So unless I spook him the shooter can have another chance to shoot.

Although if he's a 350 bull and he comes in on me and I also have a tag then it's probably a blood trail past the other shooter !!

Trav

[Heartwood]

I have had bulls get past my shooter and come in behind me before. Usually it will be a sat. bull trying to get the wind on the spot where the calling has come from. When we think we are calling a sat. bull we will put the shooter offset to the down wind side of the caller. I have had my shooter set up out as far as 70 yards down wind from me and had bulls still swing wide but still within archery range. Generally, herd bulls will come in relatively straight when challenged and aggressive.

[Swede]

Certainly elk can slip past the shooter. The frequency depends quite a bit on your set-up.
Elk can come in silently from different directions. This can be managed by having a good setup situation. If you start calling in the middle of the forest, a bull could come in from about anywhere.

The farther out your shooter needs to be to deal with hang-ups, the greater the possibility of the bull bypassing him or her. In open forest situations we may be 100 yards apart. It is easy for the bull to pass the shooter in some brush or trees leaving no shot. Again the need for careful selection of the calling site.

Something I learned from Elknut, is calling from locations where the bull is in shooting range when they come into sight. Look over your planned ambush location. Elk like to follow the path of least resistance. I like to call from places where elk won't go behind me if possible. Where I hunt there are rim rocks and open areas in many areas that can help.

[welka]

Another scenario to think about before you do a set up is what to do if the bull comes from the wrong way and the shooter has to turn into the caller. If that happens, if at all possible, the original caller needs to move towards the bull (this assumes you heard the bugle from the unexpected direction) as that damn bull knows within a foot where the original caller was and that is where he is going to look a high % of the time. Need to think about it and really only works if you can see each other and have the hand signal for a switch. Learned this one a couple times before we got it right!! Good luck.

[ElkNut1]

I've had different experiences from our end. Rare does the elk being called to get by the shooter. It may be because we setup up rather close when using caller/shooter setups. We rarely are more than 40 yards apart but closer to 30 yards in much of the thicker country. When working herd bulls as a tag team we are generally in the 25 yard or closer distance. Once in a blue moon do we have the bull we are working get to the caller first, it's so rare I cannot think of the last time it has happened?

Now once in a while a different bull or cows may slip in silent through the back door but this is also extremely rare! Years have gone by without it happening & we have countless setups a year. You never know though, anything can happen & it's good for the caller to be prepared with an arrow nocked & his head on a swivel. (grin)

ElkNut1