Hand signals and mouth call signals

[live2huntelk]

Interested in hearing what others do ….

Elk~ caller back/ shooter out front. What hand signals or mouth calls do you make to communicate with each other.


Mule deer~spotter back watching & signaling /shooter sneaking into range. What hand signals or mouth calls do you make to communicate with each other?

 

[pyrotechnic]

Here are a few you might be able to use.

 

[mtnwrunner]

My hunting partners and I have basically narrowed it down to three hand signals. We don't do radios, never have, never will.
Some of the area we hunt is really open and you could have more than a mile of distance between you and your spotter so you have to be able to see the signal.

1. Spotter is standing, arms extended out like an airplane. Means buck is still there everything a go.

2. Spotter is standing with both arms extended straight up. Means you are still in the game, buck is still there but moved or is moving.

3. Spotter is standing with arms straight up and waving arms back and forth waving you off. Means you are ********* and you blew it.

All of these work very well, are simple and you can see them.

Randy

 

[Hunthigh1]

For spot and stalk you want to develop a system of passive signals that the spotter can do from his ass. your spotter won’t want to be off the optics to comm w/you and won’t have to jump around like an idiot. We use the position of a game bag or orange vest to signal.

 

[mtnwrunner]

For spot and stalk you want to develop a system of passive signals that the spotter can do from his ass. your spotter won’t want to be off the optics to comm w/you and won’t have to jump around like an idiot. We use the position of a game bag or orange vest to signal.

The op asked for what others do for hand signals and several replies were given.
No reason to call anyone an idiot that uses a different method than you use.

Randy

 

[Rich M]

The op asked for what others do for hand signals and several replies were given.
No reason to call anyone an idiot that uses a different method than you use.

Randy

I didnt take it as an attack on you or anyone else.

You never mentioned jumping around…. All of your signals could be done sested…

 

[Hunthigh1]

The op asked for what others do for hand signals and several replies were given.
No reason to call anyone an idiot that uses a different method than you use.
O

That wasn’t intended to call you out in any way. It was a reference to myself trying to flag a friend in on a buck before we had hunted together and hadn’t established any type of system yet. We were pretty frustrated with each other by the time that one ended. haha.

Diff areas require diff methods. I’m sure your method works fine for your area. My stalks tend to be very far from the spotter so the passive system is the best way we have found.

 

[mtnwrunner]

It's all good. Our system developed over several years of the same frustration and "teaching moments."

Randy

 

[Rocky723]

Similar to mtnwrunner we have developed a few hand signals for different things but have added a few that aren't too complicated and help with more specific directions
Spot and Stalk:
1. Arms at your side like a pencil-Everything is a go animal has not moved or is very very close to where we planned them to be/have been(
2. Spotters left arm out- animal has moved to the left by 50-300 yards depending on terrain
3. Spotters left arm out and right arm straight up- animal has moved to the left significantly but there is still a good possibility of getting it
4. Arms up in the air like a V buck has moved up from his position but you can still get him
5. Arms to the right the same thing applies as 2 and 3.
6. Jumping around or moving like a psyco means the stalk is busted and to come back.

For calling elk
1. hand on top of the head with fingers spread like an antler means bugle
2. hands near mouth mean cow call
other then that the caller should be able to bring the bull in and if he is experienced be able to tell when/when not to call so usually don't have to use those much.

While still along the lines of elk we use 3 quick cow calls as a way to find each other if we end up splitting up and just need to find our way back to each other. we also use 3 aggressive bugles as a signal that we have a. an animal down or has been shot and want you to come to their location or b. an absolute emergency and we need people there asap. Either way you usually end up there pretty quick either out of excitement or worry.

Lastly like Hunthigh1 we will use a game bag or orange vest if there is someone new that we haven't hunted with before.

This may seem like a lot of different signals and very confusing but I've hunted with my partner for awhile and we both know what everything means so it works.

 

[mtnwrunner]

The refreshing part of this thread is that there are others out there still using hand signals. In this day and age of technology, it's nice to see some still prefer to do it.


Randy

 

[Foldem]

We use trekking poles with game bags on them. Place them in the direction from the spotter that the animal is from the stalker.