Editor's Note: Wayne Carlton, host of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation's "Elk Country Journal" TV show, has hunted and guided for elk for more than 32 years. Carlton's the father of the diaphragm elk call and a member of Hunter's Specialties' Pro Staff. This week, Carlton will tell us how he called-in eight bulls in 2 days.
In two days, we called-in and videoed eight different bulls. A 5x6 bull came into within 15 yards of me and started raking a tree with its antlers. He was so close that he frightened me. Because of this hunt, I've completely changed my entire way of calling-in elk. In the past, I've always felt confident about my ability to call-in elk. However, I've found that a better and a much more reliable method of taking elk is to use the tactic used by most turkey hunters - find out where the elk wants to go, and then get ahead of him.
During this hunt, we located a spot with big, heavy, black timber with no understory spread-out in all directions. In the middle of this black timber, we discovered a little oasis with a small park, a watering hole and a bog. This oasis had water for the elk to drink and mud where the elk could wallow. The black timber surrounding the spot created security for the elk from predators. By watching this oasis, I learned that elk went to the wallow to drink first and then to wallow. So, if I could locate a place where elk wanted to come and then started calling, my calling would be far-more effective. I'd have a better chance to see and take more than one bull.
By making a few elk calls in this one section, I could tell every bull within earshot that cows were at the wallow waiting for them. Elk hunting isn't much different from turkey hunting. If you see a turkey strutting, and you can't call him to you, then next day, you move to the region where the turkey was strutting to take him. So, I need to hunt where bulls want to be instead of calling the bulls to me.
Too, I've learned that the Medalist clothing with the SilverMax technology in combination with Hunter's Specialties' Scent-A-Way products is the most effective scent-elimination system I've ever used. I didn't know about the Medalist clothing with SilverMax until David Forbes, the head of Hunter's Specialties, asked me to try it. I used it last elk season. Two nice-sized bulls came in downwind of me, and normally, the elk would have smelled me and moved out of the area. Because of the Medalist with SilverMax clothing the elk didn't smell me, and I was able to take a bull.
I use all the Hunter's Specialties Scent-A-Way products - the detergent, the body and hair soap, the Advanced Formula spray and the Cow Elk Urine Cover Scent Wafers. Also, I wear the Medalist outer garments, underwear and base layer clothing with the SilverMax technology. The more scent-free you are, the better your odds of taking elk. If I hadn't been using the Scent-A-Way products and wearing the Medalist clothing with the SilverMax technology, those two elk would have smelled me. Then I wouldn't have had the opportunity to take them. By using Scent-A-Way products combined with the SilverMax technology used in the Medalist clothing, I have twice the protection against human odor than I've had in the past.