If you are hunting with a couple buddies, the 'Triangle Setup' is a very effective way to kill elk, as all 3 guys can be potential shooters.
The way we do it, all 3 guys call. If an elk comes in to a front guy, that guy stops calling and the other 2 keep calling. If elk come into both front guys, they stop calling and the back guy brings them right past the front shooters.
Here is me, my son and John Haeberle - Sept 1 2014 doing just that.
We call it the "Triangle of Death". The odd part is we still call it that even if there are more or less than 3 of us? I guess the "Rhombus of Death" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
The ‘triangle setup’ can vary to your terrain or abilities.
We like to set up about 30-50 yards out front. Just enough to maybe see the front shooters. It is best to rely on if the callers answer each other. You really got to pay attention if one of your buddies quit calling
The terrain is tight cover which works well to make the real elk look for the callers.
Each morning we have a calling circuit that takes us into the thermals or maybe a loop of sorts to get back to camp or truck. I have a slight advantage as I have hunted my areas for over 25 years so the calling is somewhat ‘blind’ but not really.
Elk have come in to this set up in all various ways… silently, slowly, fast, running, bugling, mewing
The camaraderie that comes from hunting like this is very special
It's good to put Haeberle out at the point doing that one call I taught him - the butch lesbian cow shouting, "You get on away from me or I bite yo' ass!" Works every time because the elk, bull or cow, circles warily and gives a shot to the side hunters.
If a lesbian cow comes in, John may get the shot. He might also get a bull that's warning the butch cow away from his cows, for fear she'll turn one of them gay.
This is why its so important to know exactly what is in the mind of the elk at all times!
Love this strategy! We've had good success with it too. When working a bull that's relatively close, we like to put one front man in a direct line between the bull and the rear guy in case the bull is hot and comes in on a line. Then we stagger the second front man off to the downwind side to intercept if the bull tries to circle.
Lesbian calls usually bring the herd bull, because he's so confident that he thinks that he'll make her switch teams, so yes, I do put a little more "bass tone" to it, Lou.
That was a great day, Brad. One of the best times I've had elk hunting and I didn't even have a tag!
