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Champion caller is all ears
By Charlie Meyers, Denver Post Outdoor Editor
January 21, 2003
On a Montana elk hunt last autumn, Chad Shearer - world champion elk caller and pretty darned good guide - spent an hour and a half working a bull elk within 12 yards of the spot where a client waited with his bow.
During that time, he called precisely twice.
On an earlier rifle hunt in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains near West- cliffe, Shearer bagged a majestic bull that approached to 86 yards while filming a segment for "Hunter's Journal" on The Outdoor Channel. This time he didn't call at all.
Strange doings for a man who made his reputation as a competitive caller who'll host the Colorado Elk Calling Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Gart Sports International Sportsmen's Exposition at the Colorado Convention Center.
"We've found the last couple of years that bulls are a lot more wary than they used to be," Shearer said about his rationale for calling less and enjoying it more. "Some wise old bulls can tell what brand of call you're using."
It's not that Shearer, who won his world championship in 1997, doesn't still believe in calling. Far from it.
"The key is to call at crucial times, to make the right call at the right time," he said.
To achieve this, Shearer uses a more circumspect approach that involves more listening, coupled with the ploy of stalking closer to the animal before beginning his end of the conversation.
"Typically, I'll hear a bull bugle 1,500 yards away, then move up to 400 yards before starting to work him with the call," said Shearer, who guides both hunting and fishing adventures from his Central Montana Outfitters business in Great Falls. "I used to do a lot more location calling. But with the shy bulls you often find today, I do a lot more listening than calling."
When sitting in wait with a client or friend, Shearer stations his companion 20 yards away to avoid the temptation to talk.
"That allows me to listen better," he said. "Often I hear just a grunt or a faint cow call. Most hunters listen for bugles, but a call-shy bull is more likely to do small grunts or lesser vocalizations. You need to have your ear tuned to every sound, to listen for the nonobvious."
Shearer lays out all this in a new video that details how and when to call.
"Rather than a hunting video, it gives instructions on using elk calls, whatever the brand," he said. "It teaches how to use tongue pressure and air flow to make diaphragm calls work."
Shearer will sell the video from his booth at the Denver show. It's also available online at http://www.cmontanaoutfitters.com The cost is $12.
To compete in the calling contest, which offers $1,000 in prizes, including a Fred Bear TRX bow, register by noon Sunday at Shearer's booth, No. 1037, where you'll also meet Charles Buck, chief operating officer of Buck Knives. Entry for the adult and youth divisions is free. Contestants are allowed to perform one minute of cow and bull calls.
The Denver show, which runs noon-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, features a wide variety of hunting and fishing personalities, along with more than 500 booths offering merchandise and trips.
Admission is $10 for adults, with children 12 and younger free. Discount coupons ($2 weekday, $1 weekend) may be obtained at Gart Sports. Free shuttle parking is available from Coors Field.
The show also headlines Mike Eastman, noted mule deer expert, publisher and filmmaker, who'll display a number of outstanding trophies, including a 46-inch buck taken near Meeker.
Fishing luminaries include Lefty Kreh, Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, Denny Rickards, Marty Bartholomew and Pat Dorsey.
A "Best of the West" distance fly casting competition involves a daily qualifying - minimum 90 feet for men, 65 for women - at the fly casting pond.
By Charlie Meyers, Denver Post Outdoor Editor
January 21, 2003
On a Montana elk hunt last autumn, Chad Shearer - world champion elk caller and pretty darned good guide - spent an hour and a half working a bull elk within 12 yards of the spot where a client waited with his bow.
During that time, he called precisely twice.
On an earlier rifle hunt in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Mountains near West- cliffe, Shearer bagged a majestic bull that approached to 86 yards while filming a segment for "Hunter's Journal" on The Outdoor Channel. This time he didn't call at all.
Strange doings for a man who made his reputation as a competitive caller who'll host the Colorado Elk Calling Championship on Sunday afternoon at the Gart Sports International Sportsmen's Exposition at the Colorado Convention Center.
"We've found the last couple of years that bulls are a lot more wary than they used to be," Shearer said about his rationale for calling less and enjoying it more. "Some wise old bulls can tell what brand of call you're using."
It's not that Shearer, who won his world championship in 1997, doesn't still believe in calling. Far from it.
"The key is to call at crucial times, to make the right call at the right time," he said.
To achieve this, Shearer uses a more circumspect approach that involves more listening, coupled with the ploy of stalking closer to the animal before beginning his end of the conversation.
"Typically, I'll hear a bull bugle 1,500 yards away, then move up to 400 yards before starting to work him with the call," said Shearer, who guides both hunting and fishing adventures from his Central Montana Outfitters business in Great Falls. "I used to do a lot more location calling. But with the shy bulls you often find today, I do a lot more listening than calling."
When sitting in wait with a client or friend, Shearer stations his companion 20 yards away to avoid the temptation to talk.
"That allows me to listen better," he said. "Often I hear just a grunt or a faint cow call. Most hunters listen for bugles, but a call-shy bull is more likely to do small grunts or lesser vocalizations. You need to have your ear tuned to every sound, to listen for the nonobvious."
Shearer lays out all this in a new video that details how and when to call.
"Rather than a hunting video, it gives instructions on using elk calls, whatever the brand," he said. "It teaches how to use tongue pressure and air flow to make diaphragm calls work."
Shearer will sell the video from his booth at the Denver show. It's also available online at http://www.cmontanaoutfitters.com The cost is $12.
To compete in the calling contest, which offers $1,000 in prizes, including a Fred Bear TRX bow, register by noon Sunday at Shearer's booth, No. 1037, where you'll also meet Charles Buck, chief operating officer of Buck Knives. Entry for the adult and youth divisions is free. Contestants are allowed to perform one minute of cow and bull calls.
The Denver show, which runs noon-8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, features a wide variety of hunting and fishing personalities, along with more than 500 booths offering merchandise and trips.
Admission is $10 for adults, with children 12 and younger free. Discount coupons ($2 weekday, $1 weekend) may be obtained at Gart Sports. Free shuttle parking is available from Coors Field.
The show also headlines Mike Eastman, noted mule deer expert, publisher and filmmaker, who'll display a number of outstanding trophies, including a 46-inch buck taken near Meeker.
Fishing luminaries include Lefty Kreh, Jack Dennis, Mike Lawson, Denny Rickards, Marty Bartholomew and Pat Dorsey.
A "Best of the West" distance fly casting competition involves a daily qualifying - minimum 90 feet for men, 65 for women - at the fly casting pond.
