Elk decoys for caribou?

[Deerkilr]

My buddy and I are headed up to the haul road in AK this year to chase caribou with our bows. Everything I've been reading says that its pretty easy to get within 100-120 yards of them, but closing into archery range has proven to be difficult. We got this wild idea to take a couple of Montana Decoys Elk decoys with us to basically crawl behind into range. Has anyone tried this or know of any regulations forbidding it? I've scoured through the ADFG reg's and haven't seen anything to lead me to believe it's not legal to do so.

We will be staying well within the five-mile corridor to prevent any rifle accidents while using the decoys.

 

[mooster]

my N=1, one group of bulls didn't seem to like my bow mounted bull moose decoy. i was moose hunting later in the week, so thought to try the decoy on the bou since i was having a hard time in wide open country. i didn't try it again since i wasn't seeing tons of nice bulls that I wanted to risk scaring off.

 

[Deerkilr]

my N=1, one group of bulls didn't seem to like my bow mounted bull moose decoy. i was moose hunting later in the week, so thought to try the decoy on the bou since i was having a hard time in wide open country. i didn't try it again since i wasn't seeing tons of nice bulls that I wanted to risk scaring off.

So they weren't to keen on the bull moose. I have a the RMEF elk, and the Backcountry elk from Montana decoy co I want to use. If you glance at them with your eyes squinted they almost look like a cow caribou. Do you think that they might not have liked the bull moose since its something they're familiar with?

 

[WI Shedhead]

I have contacted predator decoys and they assured me I would have available for purchase a caribou decoy before I went on my Alaska hunt on September 18.

 

[WI Shedhead]

Correction— the company is ultimate predator decoys. I have a deer and elk decoy from them and really like them

 

[Deerkilr]

Correction— the company is ultimate predator decoys. I have a deer and elk decoy from them and really like them

I believe I checked them out before. I saw Montana Decoys used to make a caribou, but don't anymore. You going up the Haul Road or somewhere else in Sept?

 

[WI Shedhead]

Kotzebue with RAM

 

[Deerkilr]

Kotzebue with RAM

Good luck! I'll be sure to add in on here a post hunt review of how it all works out.

 

[mooster]

Next year when I bou hunt i planned to being my cow moose decoy to stalk behind just for fun. Maybe try it in some small bulls or cows to see how they react.

 

[Deerkilr]

Next year when I bou hunt i planned to being my cow moose decoy to stalk behind just for fun. Maybe try it in some small bulls or cows to see how they react.

Awesome! I was talking with my buddy down here about them not liking the bull decoy and (100% guessing here) but we thought that maybe the bou didn't want to be around the moose since they know what they are. Like they know the moose are bigger and badder than they are so that may be why they kept their distance. What do you think about that theory?

 

[WI Shedhead]

Heck I don’t know. I’ve never been to Alaska and the only caribou I’ve ever hunted were in Quebec about 20 years ago on a winter hunt. Hoping to try out th theory

 

[MightyWhitey]

I hunted the haul road last year and brought a ultimate predator mule deer decoy that ties to the front of your bow. I never used it but my partner tried it once. He started at 400yds with it and got to about 150yds of a heard of about 40 caribou before they took off. He never tried it again.

 

[Deerkilr]

I hunted the haul road last year and brought a ultimate predator mule deer decoy that ties to the front of your bow. I never used it but my partner tried it once. He started at 400yds with it and got to about 150yds of a heard of about 40 caribou before they took off. He never tried it again.

Sounding like the decoys are going to be a bust.

 

[WI Shedhead]

I’ve spent money on worse things. Thiers a chance we could be very limited where we can hunt out of kotzebue this year due to the closure. If the animals are in wide open country I’m gonna need every trick I can get to kill one

 

[Deerkilr]

I’ve spent money on worse things. Thiers a chance we could be very limited where we can hunt out of kotzebue this year due to the closure. If the animals are in wide open country I’m gonna need every trick I can get to kill one

I read a post on here about it closing down over there. Hopefully it all works out

 

[Deerkilr]

Update: didn't wind up even taking the decoys out of our packs. Only saw two shooter bulls in the area we were hunting and didn't want to take the chance to mess anything up with so few opportunities. I did harvest my first caribou though! Had a great time as expected!

 

[Deerkilr]

I sent a questing in to Montana Decoys and they replied and said that they still do make the caribou decoy. That it is under the "custom shop" for anyone still looking for them!

 

[wildwilderness]

I wonder if a "Car" or a "truck" decoy would work since they cross the road all the time

 

[MNHunter92]

I made one myself a few years ago. I believe the YouTube video that explained the process was something called the “Freecoy” or something to that effect I’ll see if I can find the video later. I used thin panel board and then cut into small segments and reassembled infield using a few nuts, bolts and small flat brackets. Kinda a dick around but just assembled it once and then left it strapped to roof the rest of the trip. Price was right Probably spent 10$ since I had the panel board laying around from bathroom renovation.

 

[BowMan86]

I made one out of corrugated plastic sheeting from Lowe’s and painted it. It turned out pretty good but I never actually used it. I had the same experience that you have read. I was able to get within 100 yards pretty easy but struggled after that. I shot one with my bow and then hiked out 7 miles and shot another with my rifle. I wish I would have tried it out though. Just seemed to be too much of a hassle when chasing caribou over the tundra. I really do think it would work though.