The Sidekick Story

How Rockie Jacobsen’s Vision Led to One of the Most Practical Bugle Tubes for Solo Elk Hunters

There are few moments in elk hunting more intense than the last fifty yards.

You’ve spent the morning climbing through dark timber before daylight, following the bugles of a herd bull that’s been tearing up the basin since first light. Every encounter has brought you a little closer. Now, after circling with the wind in your favor, you’re finally where you want to be.

A shooting lane opens through the pines.

You clip your release onto the string.

One more puff of wind checker.

A soft cow call.

The bull answers instantly with a screaming lip bawl.

He’s coming.

You settle into full draw as branches snap closer and closer.

Forty yards.

Thirty.

Twenty-five.

Then he hangs up behind a wall of timber.

He wants one more challenge before committing.

Every instinct tells you to bugle.

But your bugle tube is hanging from your pack.

Do you let down and risk getting caught moving?

Or stay at full draw and hope he takes those last few steps on his own?

For decades, that was a decision every solo elk hunter had to make.

Rockie Jacobsen decided there had to be a better way.

Great Hunting Gear Starts With a Real Problem

Long before social media made elk hunting mainstream, Rockie Jacobsen had already earned a reputation as one of the sport’s true innovators. As the founder of Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls, a champion elk caller, and an educator who helped shape modern elk calling, Rocky spent decades learning what actually works when a mature bull is closing the distance.

One challenge kept coming back: traditional bugle tubes worked well enough, but they also got in the way. They swung from lanyards while hiking. They caught on deadfall and thick brush. They had to be picked up before calling and dropped before drawing a bow. For a hunter working alone, every extra movement mattered.

As Rockie explains,

“Being a solo elk hunter most of the time, I found conventional bugle tubes to be a hamper to my style of elk hunting and calling. I wanted a system that would let me call while at full draw, reduce movement, eliminate brush hang-ups, and always keep my tube attached to my pack.”

That simple idea became the foundation for what would eventually become the Sidekick Hands-Free Bugle Tube.

 

A Partnership Built Through Elk Calling

Long before there was a collaboration, there was mutual respect.

Tom Diesing first met Rockie Jacobsen through the World Elk Calling Championships hosted by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Both spent years competing against some of the best elk callers in North America.

Although they competed on the same stage, Rockie never treated Tom like just another competitor.

According to Tom,

“Rockie was always willing to talk and give me pointers on my routines. In those days I was using Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls. He used to give me calls for free and was always willing to help. Over the years we became friends and respected each other as competitors.”

That relationship continued long after the competitions ended.

Years later, it became the foundation for something much bigger.

Turning an Idea Into Reality

Around the same time, Rockie was refining his ideas for a better bugle tube; Tom had been working on a compact design of his own called the Enhancer.

Small enough to pack easily but capable of producing impressive sound, it caught Rocky’s attention almost immediately.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, Rockie began working with Tom to adapt the Enhancer into something built specifically for solo elk hunters.

The result became the Sidekick.

Tom is the first to give Rockie credit for the concept.

“I’d like to take credit for that, but that was all Rockie. He’s always been an innovator in the elk calling industry, a true pioneer.”

Rockie brought the vision, and Tom helped refine the design, manufacturing, and production until it became the product hunters know today.

 

Why the Sidekick Works

Every feature of the Sidekick traces back to a real hunting situation.

Stay at Full Draw

Anyone who’s hunted rutting bulls long enough has watched one stop just outside shooting range.

Sometimes a cow call is enough, but sometimes it isn’t.

Having the ability to bugle without lowering your bow can be the difference between watching a bull walk away and watching him take those final few steps.

As Tom explains,

“Sometimes a cow call isn’t enough to draw that bull out from behind a tree. A bugle will work almost every time.”

Less Movement

Movement can kill opportunities.

The Sidekick remains attached to your pack, eliminating the need to reach for a hanging bugle tube or untangle a lanyard during the most critical seconds of an encounter.

Built for Timber

Anyone who spends September hunting dark timber knows how quickly gear catches on branches.

By keeping the tube secured against the pack, the Sidekick stays out of the way while remaining instantly accessible.

Directional Sound

One of the Sidekick’s most overlooked advantages is how it projects sound.

Instead of directing the bugle toward the bull, the tube naturally sends the sound away from the hunter.

That subtle difference often makes the calling elk seem farther away than it really is, encouraging a hesitant bull to continue searching rather than stopping short.

Built on Trust

For Tom, the collaboration has always represented more than another product in the catalog; it represents trust.

“Just working with Rockie, a legend and pioneer in the industry, made me proud. The fact that he trusted Mile High Note Game Calls and me with his ideas and his signature line meant a lot.”

That respect runs both directions.

Rockie shares,

“Honesty and integrity were always important to me. Seeing those same qualities in Tom and his son with Mile High Note Game Calls led me to want to develop a new signature line through them. I knew I could trust them to help get these new calls put on the market properly.”

He added,

“Tom has a great designing mindset, and that helps us both develop great products. They are well known as great callers and elk hunters with a lot of respect from all of us fellow hunters.”

There may be no stronger endorsement than earning the trust of one of elk hunting’s most respected innovators.

More Than a Bugle Tube

The Sidekick wasn’t designed to create another category of hunting call, but to solve a problem.

One experienced elk hunter saw an opportunity to make solo hunters more efficient, reduce unnecessary movement, and keep their focus on the bull instead of their equipment, and Mile High Note Game Calls helped bring that vision to life.

Today, every Sidekick is still built around the same philosophy that started this collaboration:

• Practical ideas.

• Field-tested designs.

• Gear built by elk hunters for elk hunters.

If you’ve ever found yourself at full draw wishing your bugle tube was within reach, you’ll understand exactly why Rockie believed there had to be a better way.

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