Colorado Elk Hunting Communication Tips Day 2

Q: Dear Laura, what’s taking you so darned long to tell us about Day 2 of your elk hunting trip? We’re beginning to wonder if you really did “bring home the bacon”!

A: Okay, okay. Now just simmer down. We all know a good story takes time and because of a few skeptics who shall go unnamed, (“I can’t believe a creampuff like you could bring down an elk!”) I want to make sure I get this story right.  So thanks for your patience and here it is: Day 2 of The Big Elk Hunt.

If you’ll remember back to day one of our hunting trip, our party consisted of the five guys and myself. You may also remember some of the communication lessons that came from that experience. Day 2 is also chock full of helpful learning points, including:

Communication Tip 1: Don’t take yourself so seriously

You can see from the photo below why I chose the hunter handle, “Teletubby Hunter”. Yes, indeedy. It’s not just your butt that looks fat in those insulated Carhart pants, the puffy blaze orange jacket doesn’t do much for one’s self image either.

But who cares when you’re warm? The issue is not how you look – it’s what you bring home at the end of the day! And the secret to fitting in is to make sure you don’t act like a prima dona. A little self-deprecating humor goes a long, long way!

Communication Tip 2: Words may matter, but things aren’t always as they appear

For example, those early morning discussions over who plans to follow what fenceline up which hill are more important than you might think. You might be tempted to think this was only casual small talk, but ”oh contraire”, this was a crucial conversation. It could easily impact who saw the elk first, who scared the elk so far away no one could get a shot off or who would drive the elk straight into the sights of THE OTHER HUNTERS! (These are the guys you nod to when their truck drives by, being careful not to appear too friendly. They’re the competition, ya know, at least until you’ve filled your tag and then you can smile up a storm!)

Let’s listen in to how this high stakes game played out:

• What they said was: “So, what direction ya think you’ll be headin’?”
• What they meant was: “I’m hopin’ you head up thataway ’cause I know you can’t hit the side of a barn door, and sure enough, you’ll spook ‘em down that draw and I’ll just be sittin’ here waitin for ‘em with my trusty 308.”

Here’s what else is going on behind the scenes: The dominant male in the group is typically the first one to raise that “…where ya going?” question so he can sit back, chew on the toothpick for a bit and carefully consider where he’d prefer to go. This highly sophisticated communication maneuver is designed to out-flank your hunting pals. You might think he’s being considerate, when really, the first person who speaks up loses. Now that they’ve committed, the Alpha Male is free to do whatever the heck he wants, knowing the others are stuck with their first choice.

Communication Tip 3: Silence is golden

When you’re stalking the elusive Wapiti, you quickly learn when to whisper, when to be quiet and how to use non-verbal communication.

So there’s Dave and I slogging up the hill making enough snowshoe noise to wake the dead. I’m chatting away, “Isn’t this beautiful up here? Look at how the moon is shining through the mist. Do ya think we’ll see some elk soon? Are we there yet?”

All of a sudden, he grabs my arm. (An important non-verbal signal that usually means, “Please stop talking” or perhaps, “Please shut up”.)

“Shhhh, there’s elk” he whispers.  “There’s elk! Right - over – there!”

Since he’s taller than me, he sees them first. Being shorter, I can only see the sagebrush tops, so I grab my field glasses and quickly scan the horizon.

“What elk? I can’t see ‘em!” I shout.

Now he’s tapping me on my arm. The more he taps, the more my hands jiggle and the more the horizon jumps up and down, up and down. I whisper back between gritted teeth, “Quit tapping my arm! I can’t see a thing!”

Yes, folks, it was easy to misread his non-verbal cues. What the tapping really meant was, “Let me take off your snowshoes so we can sneak up on ‘em”.

Communication Tip #4: Elk and people use ALL their senses to survive

So off came the snowshoes and we dropped to our knees, slowly creeping from one sagebush to another. With every move, I came precariously close to breaking through the crust covered snow and falling flat on my face. To avoid an accident, I balanced that rifle carefully across my arms and waddled forward, ever closer to the still grazing animals.

“I can’t believe they haven’t heard us”, I whispered.

“We’re upwind. They can’t see you and it’s hard to hear through the fog so they’ll probably smell you first.”

Fortunately, I didn’t have time to over-think that last comment ’cause just then, their ears, eyes or noses must have kicked in. Heads perked up and legs started moving. For such big animals, they sure can hop-to when they want to. A few careful shots and there was meat for the freezer. One tag filled and one left to go!

Communication Tip #5: There IS an “I” in team

While I’m a big believer in teamwork, it was a mighty fine sight seeing that snowmobiler make quick work moving a 600 lb. elk down the hill, over the bumps and up to the truck. I can brag about as well as anyone about the day’s adventures, but I also have no problem sharing the spotlight with the guy who saved us another 3 hours worth of work!

Whoops! Nope, not this little guy. This is his son, the mighty Hunter Helper.

Speaking of teamwork, there’s nothing more appreciated than the ”atta boy” my hunting partners offered when we regrouped back at the truck. No matter how many times I made them wait (for one thing or another) and for putting up with all my concerns that they could have cared less about (“Does mascara freeze at 10 below?”) they always made me feel quite welcome.

See what a welcoming group they are? They’re very happy the day was over! (The result of all their hard work was just out of sight in the foreground of this photo, carefully cropped so as not to offend anyone’s sensibilities.)

A special thanks also to the good folks at Elhorn Outfitters and Blue Gravel for their hospitality and for sending out that snowmobile! We couldn’t have done it without you, John!

Your “Teletubby Hunter”, writing from 6711 ft. above sea level

Coming up next: Day 3, the baby elk encounter and how I made peace with the ethics of elk hunting

Tagged as: Colorado elk hunting, humorous stories