JF, interesting questions.\"JohnFitzgerald\" said:
My background: I started into \"hunting\" by being dragged out of bed at an uncivilized hour to elk call for someone. I am NOT a morning person and had never been hunting. I have since adapted to the morning ritual. The hunter was also brand new to hunting. When we setup, I occasionally lucked out and called in an elk, however, the hunter would drift off to sleep and bolt up when the elk approached. Keep in mind that I did not call in that many elk, so there was a lot of waiting and failures. After 3 years of only being a caller and having a hunting partner that was halfhearted in this quest, I bought a bow and became the hunter.
On my 1st opening morning hunting by myself, I called over a 4x4 to 16 yards without that other hunter with me. I did botch the shot (elk jumped bowstring). I am convinced that this encounter never would have happened if that other hunter was with me. The hunter had a bad habit of making too much movement. Granted, I am not known for my patience. However, this other hunter was terrible at waiting a mere 30 minutes for an elk to show up. After my first season as a hunter, I dumped this hunter and went solo.
Fast forward to this past season and my 5th season as a hunter, I occasionally went hunting for the first time with a veteran elk bowhunter. He spent a bit of time chatting on our first day hunting together. We did not share a camp. I bet new hunters that share a camp get to know each other back in camp. Even when we were setup, he chatted a bit on the first day. However, 50% of the time he was teaching me. Once the amount of chatting was reduced, we started spending 90% actually hunting. We had not really known each other before, so the chatting was a good way to get to know each other.
I thoroughly enjoy solo hunting which may seem odd since I still have not tagged out on anything. However, I am extremely grateful that a seasoned hunter took me hunting. I learned more in this past season than the sum of my previous seasons. If I had not clicked with this hunter, I never would have hunted with him more than the first day.
Bottom line, NO, I would not hunt with the very best elk hunter if they had an attitude, a mouth, was reckless, unethical or a jerk. Even if they guaranteed that I would be into elk every single day. Hunting is not all about getting elk meat. I need to enjoy my time in the woods, otherwise, I would never get out of bed at that uncivilized hour. I spent 15 years trekking in the CO mountains long before I started hunting, therefore, I may have a different perspective than other hunters when it comes to elk hunting. Yes, I really do want elk meat, but there are limits to what I will do to get that meat.
