Has any one ever used these cow elk decoys. If so, how did they work for you? Seems they would be great for single bowhunters, like myself, to pack up and use successfully. I would rather hunt with a partner calling from behind me and vise-versa but with work schedule and such it' s hard to get teamed up with a friend that he and I will have the same days off to hunt. Thanks for any info.

http://montanadecoy.com/montanadecoy/elk.htm

I hunted with a guy several yrs back that had one of those decoys. It really looked lifelike. We took it out hunting with us one morning, I was going to do the calling for him. He started out carrying it. It was one that rolled up, but had no sticks or anything, very lightweight. It looked to me like it had promise. Anyway about an hour into the morning we had a bull going, so he sets the thing up, it must have taken him 10 minutes, I swear I could have sculpted it out of wood by the time he was done fussing with it. The bull lost interest because we wasted so much time, well we picked it up and moved in the bulls direction, got him going again and set it up. Same thing. We did this 3 or 4 times you know having to resetup and all. Well between setups instead of rolling it up he' d just drag it along, well it got caught up on everything, I was quickly losing faith in both the deek and him. To make a long story longer, I had him put that thing away for good.

We went along, called a different bull with cow in heat calls, got him going good, the deek stayed in his pack this time. We rushed the bull (he was 300yds away) crashing banging stomping and calling all the way, we setup quickly at 75yds and gave the most mournful long gated mews you ever heard, he came a running to see this swimsuit model, we took that bull, a real heavy 5 point.

Now don' t get me wrong, I believe those decoys have their place. The example above just wasn' t one of them. I would be more inclined to use one around a freshly used wallow where I' d set it up and then myself, I' d give some raggy to spike squeals along with a couple excited cow calls, I' d do it for a couple of minutes if need be, you know drumming up some buisness. 90% of the time the bull will bugle this type of setup instead of sneaking in. But always stay on your toes.and be ready for the other 10%. Or do this same setup between bedding and feeding grounds, in early morning or in the evenings. Be very persistent in calling if nothing is happening, you know mix it up. Especially if you know elk are nearby. (within 1/2 mile). Hope I didn' t get to windy. elknut1

Yeah elk nut, I have seen the ones you are talking about. Seems they would be pretty hard to get set up real fast. These caught my intrest cause they use a steel band around the edge so you could pop it up real quick. The area I hunt has too many bulls to count so finding a few isn' t a problem. I can actually afford to be a little picky. Getting them to take those few precious steps from around a tree is a problem. It truely is remarkable how a bull a couple of hundred yards away can pinpoint almost exactly where the calls were coming from. Just want something to keep them coming by for a shot. Thanks for the story and experiance.

I have used the montana decoy with tremedous success i have the braodside decoy it really works we have been hunting with two of us and we set it up behind the shooter in front of the caller we try to leave a place for the bull to show his stuff while giving the shooter an opportunity try to set it up so that the bull will not see it from along ways off or he will want to come starit to it wich will almost always be right over the shooter (murphys law) we have had plenty of times this has happened. If the area allows try to set it so that the bull won' t be able to get in line with the decoy and shooter. If i had to buy another one i would definately buy the hind end version if for no other reason than safety. We called in a hunter in colorado that was intent on shooting our cow. Had it been a muzzleloader it might have been scary. Other thought is that the hind picture makes the bull think this cow is leaving or that it might be another bull i know of a buddy that swaers that this decoy makes the bull circle around to try to find out what he is looking at and almost always gives a good shot opportunity. He likes to set this one a little different they set up to the sides instead of front to back and do no calling after the bull sees it. Good luck.

Thanks for the info elksniper. Sounds like you got a good grip on these. Hunting by myself I would try to set it up so the bull would have to walk past me to get to the decoy. I would try to put a tree between myself and the bull with the decoy a few yards opposite where the bull is coming from.

How fast can you honestly get one of these set up in the heat of the moment if a bull is coming in fast? And, are they hard (heavy) to pack around all day on your back?

elksniper

I' ve never been one much for decoys, but I like your method of use, I just may have to try it, we haven' t had much problems getting bulls in but this sounds pretty interesting, thanks for sharing. elknut1

These decoys are a little hard to set up fast. And you know how fast things can get if the bull is really coming. The one that i have wich is the broadside one is a little bigger than i would like but well woth carrying. I have put some looped fishing line on the head and hind area wich will loop to a limb in a hurry or i have made some stakes out of carbon arrow blanks that i keep in the quiver the stakes that you get with these are a little bulky and heavy and don' t really need them unless you are out in semi open country with wind. The loops get used most of the time even if i get time to set up. The spring type outline like your car windshield cover folds up pretty small and the only thing you have to watch is that you don' t put a permanent bend in the head cuz it looks pretty weird. they don' t weigh much and probably only take seconds to put up unless you use the stakes and then probably under a minute. Like i said earlier i loop some fishing line thru the top and usually make 3-4 loops so if one cinches down there are others to use and always have some extra line with me. If your really handy sew some eyelets on these it keeps the material from running after you stick it with a few holes. Good luck let me know how they wortk for you this season.

Elknut i agree that decoys are not my top choice but they really work good on the bulls that want to hold up and if the bull is hot we don' t usually set it up. The other thing i forgot to mention is that the breakdown is really quick so if you got to leave in a hurry it doesn' t take too much time to grab fold and go. I would think up in idaho might be too thick for these things to really work. I have never hunted id but i have heard that a long shot in the timber is 15 yards.

Elksniper

I live in West Central Idaho, the timber isn' t bad to hunt or get around in these parts. We' ve taken elk from 5 yds. to 45 yds. Most from 30 and inside. It' s certainly not open like Wyoming or Utah or similar states, but it' s not to brushy around here either. We had a big burn several years back and that opened things up some. I think a decoy would not only work but would add excitement to the hunt as well. Feel free to add any more advice on the use of decoys. I found your other post interesting. Thanks elknut1.

I just visited the site for montana decoy and i noticed that now they are making them with a pole that inserts into the back. I might try to find out if they still have some of the older types available if you got to stick a pole in everytime it would probably not be very handy or fast not to mention a pian to pack around a long pole. Or that hind end one probaly doesn' t have a pole. I sure did not like the picutre i got in my mind when i read that advertisement about that. And yes elknut it will definatlely add more excitement ,if that is possible, to some of your meetings the only downside is if it is any elk that you are not intersted in they usually will stick around and investigate until they end up winding you and of course they blow out of there.Hence an educated elk. Try it and let me know what you think. By the way nice website.