Dan French Had a great hunt this morning with some great buddies. Our first two spots didn't turn up any opportunites, so mid morning we changed locations about a mile. As soon as we got out of the truck we could here several bulls going crazy not far off. We got on them quick, but ended up just dogging them to the fenceline, where they crossed onto some private land, we didn't have access to. We stayed put for about 20 minutes and layed the cow calls on as thick as we could, and were lucky enough to call this guy back across the fence. He peaked over the ridge to see who was making all the racket. He took one look at the Montana Decoy and came at a dead gallop from 300 yards, hopped the fence, and posed broadside for me. 20 yard shot, 200 yard recovery, tipped over in sight. It got pretty exciting, after I dumped the string. He lit out with an arrow through both lungs and came within about 12 feet of running clean over my buddy Ben who was set up just down the hill. Ben took a whack at him as he bailed past at mach 4.... result was a busted arrow with a little blood and hair. Autopsy revealed that he planted that quick shot in the bottom of the bulls front foot, between the dew claws and hoof. He swears it was self defense ;) That close call definitely added to the adrenilne level for all three of us. Pretty happy with this bull. He is a decent sized 6x7 with good mass, and average tine lenght. He won't set any records, but I was more than happy to notch my tag with this guy. Body wise he was a HOG!!! Two of us had a real tough time wrestling him into position to field dress, but we got it done. Dan French Brian Moore What an amazing tool. These decoys make the hunt go to a much higher level and a much better experience. We had success calling elk into the setup on 4 different occasions. Even had one cow walk up to it and all the way around it. The bull we killed was on a direct trot to our ELK 1 decoy....He hung up about 75 yards from the decoy and myself as the caller but was only 25 yds. from Brad, my buddy. Perfect broad side bow kill with a perfect decoy. Would not go bow hunting without it... EVER! Brian Moore Travis Hess I was always a little skeptical about decoys, but I hunt in some very open country in Idaho, so I thought I would give it a try. I was truely amazed at how much of a difference it made for the elk to actually see something while I was cow calling to them. Not only did he come to the decoy on a string, but it brought him by me at 6 yards. Thanks for a great product. Travis Hess Tom Wall Want to tell you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU... Your decoys are fantastic. Got my first elk II three years ago. Day one my hunting buddy and I put both ours up, started cow calling, breaking limbs got a cow call back, saw the cow at over 100 yards, she saw the decoys and busted into a run, stopped 35 yards away. I had to reach for my bow, she looked at me then the decoy, I drew, she looked at the decoy..I shot, hit one strand of 3 of a strand barbed wire fence. I was hooked. This year I had seen some elk a mile or so away, made a move got into some tall timber, elk were 200-300 yards out in a clear cut, set up "nice tail" (as I have named it). cow called with Primo's hoochie mama... broke limbs, bull bugled, came towards tall dark timber, just outside of timber saw him lock onto "nice tail" he was on a rope to it, past me at 20 yards, I drew, he caught my movement, stopped looked right at me, then up at "nice tail" took two more steps. Another male bites the dust over a "nice tail"... More fun than anyone should have. A second bull, 5x5 came in as my bull was falling down just 50 yards after the shot. If only one of my hunting buddies had come with me, we could have downed two bulls in 2 minutes. Check out the photo with the bull in the clear-cut, in the foreground you an see my bull down. I had to chase the second bull off. He came within 25 yards of me, then moved over where my bull lay dead, he was going to gore him. and "mark his area", I walked to within 15 feet of him before he would leave my bull. Tom Wall Jessee Betteridge I wanted to send you a quick email and thank you for a great product. Without the Elk III decoy I don't know if I would have been able to shoot this bull. Here's a quick story of what happened. We had been checking canyon after canyon with no sign or sounds of elk and with only an hour of light left we finally got a response to our bugle. As soon as we heard this bull answer we ran down the hill, we were on and up the other side to within 150 yards of this bull. My buddy Ryan Nelson was the caller and he set up 80 yards behind me and off to the side. Ryan then pulled out his Elk III Montana decoy and with one call the elk came galloping down the hill like a horse straight for the decoy. It was like the bull was on a string attached to the decoy. When the bull was 30 yards away and still galloping I whistled at him to get him to stop. The bull suddenly skidded to a stop with the vitals blocked by some quakes and the stare down began between me and the elk. At this time I was at full draw with the elk 20 yards away. I only had a neck shot and elected to wait until I had a better shot. Ryan saw the bull starting to get nervous and as an experienced elk hunter begin calling again and waving the decoy like a kite. The bull saw this and took one step necessary and I hit the trigger and watched the arrow go right threw him. The bull not knowing that it was hit ran continued on towards the decoy and the calls of Ryan. The elk only went 19 yards and stopped with his full attention on the decoy. The elk had been shot through both lungs and was starting to feel the effects of the arrow, but still standing on all fours I elected to put another arrow in him. The second arrow hits it target and the bull ran right at Ryan who was still holding the decoy calling. When the bull got to within 10 feet of Ryan, he dropped the decoy and dove for cover as he didn't want to literally know what the rut was really all about. The bull then turned and stood there for a few minutes before he expired. Thanks for a great product, looking back on the hunt I don't think I would have had a shot at the elk or had him stay so close after the shot if it wasn't for the elk III decoy. Thanks, Jessee Betteridge JB Klyap Chasing the wildest elk in North America with a bow is a challenge. These elk are call savvy and don't allow for any mistakes. The average bow hunter only has a few seconds to close the deal. You won't find me guiding any of my clients without a Montana Decoy strapped to my pack for a quick set-up. I've been in countless situations where the Montana Decoy held a bull in place long enough to make that small difference between a shot and just another blown opportunity! They're light, easy to carry, easy to set up and take down. After being in the industry for more than a decade, I've noticed more and more gimmicks that claim to make you a better hunter. Montana Decoy isn't a gimmick, it's the real deal and invaluable tool for the serious hunter. It's almost like cheating! By the way I don't use the decoy legs much anymore, but did adapt the use of an old boot lace which allows me to reach behind me and pull the decoy from my pack, hang it on a branch and keep calling. I can putll this whole setup off without altering the rhythm of the calling situation. I've also been able to move it. Word to the wise, if you plan to hold this decoy up in front of you make sure you are quick enough to get out of the way of 800 pounds of lovey-dovey bull elk...especially a hyped up spike! JB Klyap Steve West The Montana Elk decoy has become our most valuable tool during the rut. I have personally used it successfully everywhere we have hunted elk, from northern British Columbia down to Southern Colorado and all points in between. We set the decoy up away from the shooter and with the caller near the decoy. In almost every instance the bulls come in and focus directly on the decoy, walking right by the hunter who is free to draw and shoot without being seen. WE also use the decoy when we accidentally walk into elk that are on the verge of spooking - within minutes they are calmed down and sometimes we are able to get a shot or back out of the area, and we use the decoy just as much during late season hunts as during early season rut hunts. The Montana Decoy will always be in my pack! Steve West Kelsy Gonzales First I would like to start by saying thank you for making a product that actually works. I have used many decoys in the past, some homemade, but none work the way yours do. Their ease of use, compactness, and realism are the reason for much of my success. As a guide it is invaluable in having the upper hand on much of the game that I put my hunters on. My hunter and friend Jake were having a tough time coaxing the herd bulls away from their harems. Fortunately after 4 days of hard hunting I remembered I had your decoy strapped to my pack, this forgetfullness will never be repeated. After locating a lovesick heard bull we moved into his safety zone, which due to the wind, was conveniently located on an open sagebrush hill with only a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" for cover. I quickly deployed the decoy and presented it in the direction of the bull and his cows. After blowing a symphonly of lonely cow calls to him he decided it was worth his time to come round me up. His heavy hoofs could be heard as well as felt as he barrelled out of the timber above us and into the opening where we crouched. After locking onto the decoy he b-lined it for our position, quickly leaping over a 3 strand barb-wire fence and pushing through about 8 feet of dense chokecherry brush. I could hear Jake behind me asking how far he was and I told him not to worry, he will be under 20 yards. After pushing through the brush to claim his prize he began to turn to our left to heard us towards his current harem. It was at this point that he realized something didn't jive, but it was too late. Jake loosed the arrow and at 10 yards it impacted tight behind his shoulder and passed clean through. We watched as the bull sprinted downhill away from his cows and into the drainage again. In reflection if someone had told me that a guide and his hunter could hide behind that decoy in the wide open and fool an elk into ten yards I would have called them crazy. It was without a doubt the most exciting experience I have had yet with a bull elk. I have also had great success using the antelpe decoy during the rut. That is some fast paced action! I am also happy to see that you are producing mule deer decoys now. As you well know hunting muleys can be difficult if not frustrating in the open terrain. Especially with a bow. I look forward to purchasing one and giving it a try. Keep up the good workand good luck this season. Sincerely, Kelsy Gonzales John C Martin I just thought I'd drop you a line to let you know how happy I am with the Montana Decoy Elk Rump and Cow Elk that I used on a do it yourself hunt in central Oregon. We had a group of between 150-300 elk who lived in an alfalfa field with no hunting pressure. We did not have permission to access the private land so we had to ambush and call the elk who left the alfalfa. The decoys worked great to bring this 6 x 5 Oregon bull into shooting range. When he came to the calls he hunt up 60 yards from my position, but when he caught a glimpse of the decoy up the hill it pulled him on a string across in front of me for a lethal bow shot at 35 yards. Once he was hit and we followed up with cow calls, he even circled around to try to get joined up with the other "elk" he saw up the ridge. He fell dead 70 yards from where I shot. I would be happy to endorse the Montana Decoy and would be happy to continue to send success pictures. I'm seriously considering a turkey decoy for this spring. John C Martin Ronald Wetch Thank You Montana Decoys! This cow Elk worked great during my Arizona Bull hunt. While working to get down wind on a herd that we had seen earlier in the day we heard a lazy bugle. We started in the direction of the bugle and as it got closer I reached into my trusty pack and pulled out my "cow elk" decoy. I worked in on the herd using the decoy as a shield, at one point a satellite bull who was bedded down stood up and looked right at us (we were protected by the decoy). Once we got in close enough to the herd bull, I set the cow up and got into position. The rest is history, 110 yard shot and a beautiful Arizona Bull later. Thanks again for an excellent product that definitely contributed to the success of my hunt. Ronald Wetch Suzy (Smith) Woodward My husband is the game warden in our part of Colorado. I have been bowhunting a long time and have done and taught a lot of elk calling classes to becoming an outdoors woman workshops in the past. I drew a good unit this year and knew where the elk were. My husband just learned to cow call well, and I set him and my cow elk Montana Decoy up. We found a bull who was screaming his head off, thrashing bushes, and so on... he finally poked his head out, saw the decoy and made a beeline for her! He came around the other side of where I thought he would go and I was in the open on that side. He never even saw me draw... all he cared about was that decoy. He walked within 20 yards broadside on his way to the decoy and my husband and I shot him. He is a nice 5 x 6. This was a public land hunt in a limited unit. Thanks for your great products! Suzy (Smith) Woodward Tom Thiel This nice 6 x 6 herd bull came right into the decoy. We first closed the gap on him and several other vocal bulls. We bugled at him once, very close, which got him mad, he came straight in. I was set up in front of the decoy 15 yards; my son was next to the decoy cow calling. (Thomas shot his bull the previous evening) The bull came right pass me on my left. He ended up about 7 yards from the decoy while I tried to find a shooting lane, which I finally did. He bolted and then bedded and died 60 yards away. While this was going on another bull came in on my right side - 10 yards away but with no tags left we let him go. The Montana Decoy has worked many times for us over the years as well as for the many customers I get in my shop. Thanks Montana Decoy for the awesome product. Tom Thiel Dominic Santucci My hunt with the decoy was as successful as you could be without being successful. (If that makes sense) It was my first time hunting elk during archery season and it was awesome!! The first night I had four elk come right accross a meadow and stare at your decoy until the swirling winds gave us away. But it definitely froze them and kept their attention (enough to come back a second time even after they caught wind of us). My party purchased two of your elk silhouettes at the advise of some friends of mine who have had great success in Utah hunting elk (with your decoys). We had many encounters, all with your decoys, throughout the week (as close as nine yards) but never got a good clean opportunity to release an arrow. I can't wait to do it again. Thank you. Dominic Santucci Chris Leonelli I just wanted to send a couple of pics and a success story of the elk I killed this year in Southern Utah with my bow. I bought your Montana Elk decoy a couple of years ago and I can't tell you how many times it has closed the deal for me. The bull I killed this year wouldn't come in until he seen the decoy, he sat out at 150 yards and bugled but never would come any closer. We had his attention by cow calling but until he took a few more steps and noticed the Montana Elk Decoy did he start to move closer and he came straight to the decoy on a trot to 30 yards and I was able to slip an arrow through both ribs. He grosses 371" and he is my best bull to date. I just wnted to say thanks for designing such a incredible product, we call it the "deal closer". Since that time my buddy that was with me has purchased one and said he couldn't believe how well it worked. We are going to Idaho in a couple of weeks and hopefully I will be able to thank you again for the product. Thanks, Chris Leonelli Corey Gall I was finally able to draw my Black Hills Archery Elk license after 9 unsuccessful draws. Having hunted elk in Colorado a few years earlier, and having bulls hang up at 50 - 60 yards, I figured your decoy would be a logical choice to bring them in for a closer look, so I purchased one of your decoys. On the second to last day of the season, the bulls were extra hot. We worked numbers of bulls, but all that came in were smaller satellite bulls. Around noon, we worked ourselves in between two different bulls and their herds and we began cow calling like lost cows. After a few minutes of calling, the bull from the closer herd broke off from his cows. As the bull closed the gap my buddy Tim screamed like a smaller bull, infuriating the bull more. He was soon at a run coming through the trees and he dropped into a deep creek bed in front of us. After 10 minutes the bull popped up in front of us rather than taking the easiest route, suprising me and Tim. As I repositioned, the bull had stopped at 70 yards to look for the cows. After a few seconds, the bull turned his head to bugle back to his cows. It was at that time when Tim popped up the decoy and cow called. The bull immediately snapped his head in the direction of the call and the decoy. At the site of the decoy he began to trot through the trees closing the gap on the decoy. As I drew my bow, the bull stopped and I was able to slip an arrow down his windpipe and into his heart at 20 yards. This was a very exhilarating hunt and without the help of your decoy, I know this bull would have walked away without seeing any cows. Thanks again for such a great, easy to use product. Sincerely, Corey Gall Glenn Goldfuss Dear Montana Decoy, I purchased your Elk Cow Decoy on my way out to Colorado this year from Cabelas. I was a little skeptic about using a decoy but had heard great stories about yours. I set decoy up the 1st time and was cow calling and a spike Elk walked right up to it, smelled it and just walked away. I was bow hunting and wanted a larger bull. To make a long story short, in my 12 days in Colorado I had seventeen Elk both cows and bulls in which they saw the decoy and walked in. I'm convinced that without those animals seeing another animal they would not have come all the way up to me. On the 11th day I called in a 5x5 he saw the decoy and almost ran me over getting to it!! While he was walking around it I harvested him. By the way I also called in 2 different sets of HUNTERS! who saw the decoy and were stalking it until I called to them! They were pretty embaressed. They said they were gonna get one cause it looked so real. Thanks again and I'm looking forward to purchasing one of your whitetail deer decoys. Glenn Goldfuss Rick Lovelace Well my hunting buddies all laughed at me when I unveiled "Elkvira" as I call her. Well guess who's laughing now! Our annual bowhunt to New Mexico couldn't have been more perfect. I took this 6 x 6 the first morning of our hunt with the help of "Elkvira" This was the largest elk ever taken with a bow on the property we hunt, and it's my first Elk! I cow called him in, but got caught in the wide open after trying to move to cover to setup. Fortunately I was out in front of the decoy, and he looked past me at it. He didn't have a clue that I was in the world, and when he passed by at 25 yards, I nailed him. He ran about 60 yards and I cow called again to stop him. He just stood there watching that decoy as I kept calling to him. After about 5 minutes, he turned downhill and just tipped over. I credit your decoy with drawing his attention when I got caught in the open and then keeping him close, instead of running off into one of those deep draws, never to be seen again, as this is what happened to me last year. Needless to say I was excited about my elk and to make it better one of the guys had to have my decoy for his hunt! Well we all five tagged out this year on bulls! My 6x6, three 5x5's and a 5x4. What a hunt!! Oh yes, I also took a bear, also my first and another one of my buddies took a pope & young bear! 21 inches green score! Thanks for a great Product that REALLY WORKS!! Good Hunting! Rick Lovelace Ben Wieseler I shot this 6x6 bull with my bow in the Black Hills of Woming. I shot him at 40 yards after he responded to my Montana Decoy and a cow call. This was the second bull that we took in a week using my Montana Decoy. The first bull was a 5x5 that my brother-in-law and hunting partner Rick Hanson shot when he came into our Montana Decoy setup. With the help of a cow call this big 5x5 was within 18 yards of the Montana Decoy when Rick shot him. Thanks Montana Decoys for a great product. I would recommend using the Montana Decoy to anybody who is planning an archery Elk hunt. Ben Wieseler Rex Rogers Thanks for a great decoy... This is the answer I was looking for to bugle in bulls and get a good shot when hunting by myself. This bull stopped at 15 yards and bugled then came right on by at 10 yards headed for the decoy. I have had people look at the pictures and not realize that one of those elk is your decoy, obviously the bull was fooled also... Rex Rogers