It’s my second trip to hopefully film a segment for North American Hunter TV. My pronghorn hunt went well with some of the most exciting footage ever.
Hey, where are you going? You're my partner...remember?
Now it’s time for elk before I get knee-deep in the whitetails for most of the remainder of the fall. Most of the time I enjoy hunting alone, but not for elk. Two is generally better than one.
Calling is the main reason two is better than one. The shooter can work ahead 40 to 80 yards and the caller can sit back and call the bull past the shooter, even displaying a decoy to add to the illusion. As long as the bull is focused on the location of the call and possibly a decoy, the shooter has more flexibility to draw undetected and even move to get a better shot. I pulled a fast one like that on a bull last season.
We stalked up to a bedded bull and try as we might, couldn’t get him to come to the call. Since he was feeding and occasionally looking toward the sound of the call, I used the distractions to simply walk up to the bull and shoot him. Sounds easy and it was. The preoccupied bull had his head behind a huge pine and the Western winds covered the sound of my footsteps. I arrowed the bull at 34 yards and he tipped over 80 yards away.
Oh ya… there’s one more reason to hunt with a partner. Elk are big and two backpacks are better than one when packing out a bull.
Mark Kayser
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