They're only hours old. Junior doesn't move the way I do, all sneaky and tense. He moves casually, as if he's just another animal filtering through the trees. Several times we see cows and spikes up ahead. He blows softly on his cow call, and the elk relax and move on.
Problem is they blow everything out of the woods.
You wanna be giving back the same calls you hear. We press on, the woods getting thicker. Suddenly, Junior sinks to one knee and motions with the hand behind his back for me to come up. Forty yards ahead, two bull elk are raking alder bushes in earnest. One is hidden by the swaying bushes.