montana decoy or not ??

[Titan_Bow]

I'll be headed up in week to spend 8 days in the backcountry. I hunt solo and have had success in the past on elk but looking for things to maximize my effectiveness hunting solo. Looking at the the montana decoys, the rump decoy and the RMEF cow. They are both approx. 3 lbs. I was wondering, how effective are these? Are they worth the weight and bulk to haul 4 miles or more back into the backcountry? What are some strategies you use to employ them?

 

[IdahoElk]

If you are by yourself then I would say no and here is why,most of the time when you set up your decoy hunting alone you put it away from you,call and hope the bull zero's in on your decoy offering you a shot.
Nine out of ten times on any given bull you will set up multiple times,that's a lot of running back and forth when you should be paying attention to what the bull is doing, because things can happen in an instant I found using a decoy by myself was too much of a pain.
With multiple hunters that's totally different and I think they are great.
Just my opinion though.

 

[DaveS]

I hunt with a group of guys and all of us carry a Montana Elk Decoy. I have the Cow Elk 1. We don't carry the legs which saves a lot of weight. We modified our decoys by cutting a little hole at the top and adding a string or zip tie and just hang it on a tree branch or bush. One of the guys carries his opened most of time. I watched one of the guys walk across an open meadow about 100 yards from a bull. He blocked most of his body with the decoy as he walked. The bull looked up watched him for a minute or two then went back to feeding.

I always have the decoy in my pack. I don't use it all the time but there are situations where it comes in handy.

 

[missjordan]

I've carried mine for 3 seasons and rarely ever use it, just never think to pull it out when you get into a good situation


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[Arrowslinger]

I hunt with a group of guys and all of us carry a Montana Elk Decoy. I have the Cow Elk 1. We don't carry the legs which saves a lot of weight. We modified our decoys by cutting a little hole at the top and adding a string or zip tie and just hang it on a tree branch or bush. One of the guys carries his opened most of time. I watched one of the guys walk across an open meadow about 100 yards from a bull. He blocked most of his body with the decoy as he walked. The bull looked up watched him for a minute or two then went back to feeding.

I always have the decoy in my pack. I don't use it all the time but there are situations where it comes in handy.

This!

 

[12ring]

I have a couple extra large safety pins on mine to attach it to something (versus the string/zip tie). Might have to try string.

 

[steve s]

I have a couple extra large safety pins on mine to attach it to something (versus the string/zip tie). Might have to try string.

I changed to a string as well - I just heard someone recommend carrying a thumb tack for those times it's tough to find a branch to hang it on...