There are a few Tradgangers heading to Colorado for an elk hunt in the next few weeks. I am one of the fortunate ones :)
Darren "Hackbow" Shue and I will leave Thursday for the 18 hour drive from Indy. I have spent the past 3 years since my last western hunt dreaming of my return. The anticipation is sweet; spiced with the harsh reality of trying to fit it all into a backpack. We'll be backpacking in about 4.5 miles to a wilderness area. We'll hunt from Friday 9-3 through Sunday 9-11.
I am trying my best to take the bare minimum this time around but it still seems a lot!
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-01.jpg)
Time to play "Will it fit?"
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-02.jpg)
And here it all is on my back.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-03.jpg)
I weighed in at 180 before the pack and the other stuff. I finished off right at 230 with everything on my back or in my hands. I still need a little more water and my camera so I'll add maybe 4 more pounds at the most.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-04.jpg)
I'd like to make it less but I'm pretty much resigned to it. I could maybe get rid of a couple pounds of clothes and a little food but I think I'll carry it. My only possible addition is a wool parka if the forecast calls for anything colder than 30 degrees.
You look ready for a "rocky mountain high". Be safe and enjoy the wonder of the mountains. It is always something special with a bow in your hands.
Your good to go John but you better get some better boots :wavey:
You look ready to go-that bag on the bottom of your pack might drive you crazy while hiking though. Nice bow you have there, that should do the trick on any elk you encounter-- good luck and have fun!
My packed backpack, bows and arrows are waiting for me in Pleasantville CO. I mailed it all out last week. I will be leaving Asheville on 9/2 for Durango and will fly back 9/10. We'll be hiking in about 4 miles from 10k' down to 95k' where our camp is. I got my pack to below 40# but Kenneth has already set our camp up over the last few weekends.
Best of luck to you John and have a safe trip. Can't wait to compare stories...and to everyone else sharing a hunting camp with friends...best of luck. These memories will be long lasting!
Whooeee! I'm headed out the 13-26th. Overlapping with the MLs but hope to catch the rut. My buds got several place scoped out and I should get an opening weekend report this week. Good luck to all!
John,Darren and All...Hunt hard, be safe and enjoy!!
Bring us bunches of stories...
See some of ya'll in October!!
Good luck Boys!!
Pat, John, and others.....best of luck and have a safe and successful hunt.
I dont need the pack, and my scale still says 230...Good Luck...(wondering where the truck is with all the gear?) probably a different style of huntin...
Dang John I could misplace that much gear while packing the truck and trailer. Hey where is the shower and hot tub?
LOL
Mike
Exciting for you!
I didn't see a can of peaches or canned ham in that pile? Must have been under sump'n.
Thanks for Posting... I am wanting to go for a hunt next year...
Anything you are willing to share would be greatly appreciated!!! I am watching intently for your posts, pictures, and insights!!!
Thanks
Gary
Have fun and enjoy. I need to go back to CO and chase them critters. Good luck to all.
Good luck John, and others....Can't wait till Ocotber with some of you fellas to hear the stories from this trip first hand.
I did a 2.6 mile "hike" with the pack and everything but the bow this morning in my suburban neighborhood. At least it's called "Hill Valley" Total elevation gain was 20 feet :) My house is on one of the highest hills. We are 8 feet off the street! I jogged for part of it though. Pack feels good. Took me 45 minutes. I'm figuring 1 mph in the mountains fully loaded.
Someone PM'ed me about food. Here's my daily list. Food followed by calories with the total at the bottom. Weight is about 1.75 lbs per day. This is a pretty light diet for many guys but it works for me. If you haven't done this before, try the diet out first or you might go very hungry. I lose about 10 pounds a week but my appetite is not good at elevation. Lots and lots of water helps a great deal. I'm trying some herbal supplements this year to see if it helps. Gingko biloba and ginger. We'll see.
Food Daily Cals
Pita 240
Bacon Bits 100
Rice/Pasta 450
granola bar 180
cups GORP 660
Peanut butter 360
oatmeal packs 180
salmon/tuna packs packs 180
olive oil 240
Jerky 40
Total Daily 2630
John, why the ginko and ginger?
Oh yea, good luck.
I will be back country bowhunting in Colorado in a week and a half. Leaving September 7 and won't get back until September 26. I can't wait. We will be doing a DIY elk and packing for 10 days.
Next year we will be doing the same, but the year after a DIY Alaska Caribou and moose.
Good luck
Gil
Im headed out there 9/16 for a similar hunt- you are correct John 1mph with the pack on is about what we do too. Good work on the pack weight thats significantly lighter than mine ever is.
Good luck to you!
John, if you did a 2.6 mile hike with your pack on in 4 minutes, you don't need no stinkin' bow! Just take a big knife and run 'em down :biglaugh:
Seriously, have a great trip and be safe. Looking foward to pics and stories upon your return.
Gingko for cardio and oxygen absorption and ginger for gastro. Gingko also helps with your head and a lot of western hunting is mental. I'm not all into herbs and such but modern medicine isn't always the answer for me either. It's mostly an experiment.
StanM, yea I wish. Damn typos. Should have been 45.
Thanks to all.
John, the Gingko biloba really helped me at 7000 to 8000 ft on a New Mexico 2007 Elk hunt. They really help with leg cramping.
I wish I was going this year but a couple of broken toes stops that. September, Elk just doesn't get much better. Good luck !!!
Good Luck John!..... Terry
Here's my full pack list as it stands now. I might add just a couple things depending on the weather forecast.
2011 Colorado Elk Hunt Pack List (http://jdspics.webs.com/2011coloradoelkhunt.htm)
Here's the weather forecast. Warm and dry the beginning of the hunt.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/weatherforecast.jpg)
Good luck, John. Is that an REI xt85 pack?
Good Luck! Be Safe and shoot straight!
When isn't there isolated storms in the Rockies? When I've been out there it seems like clockwork almost every afternoon. But that's a small price to pay for hunting out there.
You could cut down on weight a little by only carrying one arrow. That's enough to do the job, right? Good luck and travel safely. Looking forward to hearing how it went.
John, our weather forcast looks similar to yours. I wish it were a little cooler but it doesn't look too bad as shown.
North Face Terra 60 pack.
Best of luck John!
I'll miss sharing camp with you this year but I see that the quiver is still hanging in there and so at least a piece of me will be there. Tell Darren hello for me and we'll need to share stories after our hunts are done. Hope you enjoy the mountains!
--Steve
Good luck, John. Is that an REI xt85 pack?
good luck shoot straight.
You, Darren and the rest have a great hunt!
Wayne
Hi John I will see you on the tenth or eleventh I will be bringing 11 lbs of food for 11 days I do not know what the cals will be but I will not be hungry. My goal was to be at one lb per day and I reach it with more food than last year at less weight. I hope to be at no more than 40 lbs in my pack my buddy John is a 35 lbs right now and can go lighter if he wants. I cant wait till Im in the mountians again feeding my addiction man you just gota love it. Widow
Steve,
You too. I want all the stories buddy. I'm still using the armguard every time I shoot. No telling how many arrows I have pulled from the quiver and shot while wearing the armguard! I gave them both a healthy dose of Sno-Seal this weekend and they look great!
Wayne,
Man I wish I coul dhave met you. Hope all is well with you.
Widow,
We'll be in camp on the 10th but leaving out early on the eleventh to head home. But I don't even want to think of that now.
I get 3 more nights in my bed and 3 more days of hot showers! I'm going to relish them but man I am ruttin' hard for the mountains!
Good luck,dont forget to post pics when you get back.
please please PLEASE make this a picture heavy thread when you get back !!
next year is my year - good luck and BE SAFE
I suggest a tube or 2 of crazy glue added to the first aid kit. It does wonders as a replacement for sutures and would also work as a blister cover..I'll be calling you guys periodically on the way out for a play by play update...Have fun.
I do have a few first aid things that didn't make it to the list. Superglue is one of them. I will definitely take lots of pics.
Here we go! John & I are on the road & I'm supposed to be sleeping while he is driving, but the excitement & anticipation have taken over.
Elk beware!
:campfire:
Darren you take care of John!... If you do I guarantee that he'll do the same for you.
I wish you guys all the best and look forward to your stories and photos.
God bless,Mudd
Hey guys, good luck. Like others have said, this post should be heavy with pictures in a few weeks.
Thanks Roy & Aaron. Just ate our last non-camp meal in Laramie. At base of the mtns and will lose cell coverage any minute. The next post will be after we tag out!
Good luck guy's.
:thumbsup:
:campfire:
Good hunting. Looking forward to the stories when you get back.
Cyclic-Rivers and I made it back in one piece from our first elk hunt, looking forward to your tale of the trip......hope you had a good time!
Also when out here hunting for elk there is bird who just sounds a lot like a cow elk so do not get taken in by there call
Ok John. I know you're home. when do the stories begin??
:bigsmyl:
Maybe later in the evening.
Looking forward to the stories and pics on this one.....
David
:campfire:
:campfire: ;)
:pray: :coffee:
:campfire: :archer:
:campfire: waiting oh so patiently on this one.
Friday, 9/2/11, Day One: After 18 hours on the road with a couple stops for last minute supplies, we got to the trailhead at about 8500 feet. I usually get a couple days to acclimate but that was not to be this time. I took some gingko biloba that is supposed to ward off elevation issues. We'll see.
Darren and I finished stowing the last of our items in our packs and hit the trail to get back in a couple miles on a stream we thought might be a good place to start. The first couple days were to be a scouting effort aimed at covering some ground that Darren hadn't been able to fully explore last year. The pack in was uneventfull except we mispolaced our stream and for a while thought we might not have water to camp near. We finally got our heads on straight and set up camp with great anticipation for the next day.
Camp 1
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-06.jpg)
Karumba....Sasquatch :thumbsup: :campfire:
:campfire: :coffee:
Alright, looking good! :campfire:
Well, that's a start at least. ;)
Ready for the next installment.
:campfire:
more! more! lets here the rest john :campfire:
Saturday, 9/3/11:
We woke a little after first light and headed up the creek. The plan was to cover the area from camp all the way to the bowl at the top, about 2" miles and 800 feet or so. Then, depending on what we found, we would head to the next drainage over and see what there was to see. There was definitely some elk sign but nothing fresher than a week or so.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-08.jpg)
We had some fun near a couple old beaver ponds.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-09.jpg)
Up at the bowl, we shot a bit and ran across another elk camp. We saw some nice benches on the next ridge and tried them out. There was a little fresher sign up there but also yet another camp. We finally decided there was too much company in this one drainage and we would head deeper in the next day.
Back at camp, Darren discovered he left all his extra socks back at the car and would have to make the 4 mile round trip early in the morning before we packed up for some deeper woods and fewer other hunters. With a nice dinner of some kind of noodle or rice, we got to bed with dreams of wild country.
Sunday, 9/4/11:
Darren awoke at sunrise and readied for his sprint to the sock nirvana that awaited back at the trailhead. I silently giggled at his misfortune as I snuggled more deeply into my sleeping bag on this chilly, 32 degree morning.
Not long after he left, I heard what sounded like a herd. Somewhere up the creek a ways. I initially talked myself out of going after them but the desire to kill something got the better of me. I got dressed and gave chase. As I neared where I thought the herd might be, I decided I better warm myself and my bow up. At half draw, I was shocked by the top limb letting go. The belly lam basically disengaged itself from the core.
Immensely glad that I had brought a backup bow, I wandered back to camp and made the quick decision to make my own trek back to the car knowing full well that Karma had smacked me upside the head for giggling at Darren. About 500 yards from camp, I met up with Darren and showed him the reason I was mirroring his unanticipated journey. I made it the 1.9 miles downhill in 23 minutes but the uphill back to camp took 47 minutes.
The end result was that both Darren and I had put on almost 4 miles before we even started our 7 mile pack-in to the promised land of elk hunting back at what had become known as "Darren's Mountain".
We made coffee and had some food before packing up. It was at this point that I discovered my water purification tabs had dropped from my camera case where I had put them the day before. Unfortunately, I had no backup for them. Stupid I know. Darren had enough for about 4 days for the both of us. We would either drink meltwater from the high creeks or hope that someone at base camp had some extra.
We began the hike that became a near-death experience by the end of the day. About 2.5 miles out, we came across a yuppie couple from Denver that we originally met at the trailhead. They had made a magnificent backpacking loop that was probably in the 20 mile range that inspired me to be certain not to fail my bloodthirsty hunting brethren. Truly though, they were very nice and even recognized that we were using trad gear v. arrow launching machinery (not that there's anything wrong with that :) )
We made a single rest stop 5 miles into the trek and then made Camp 2 right at dusk. We lucked into an old outfitters camp with a great tent pad and large fire ring which we put to good use this night and the next few.
I don't have any pics from this day because I was too dammed tired to pull out my camera. But here are a couple Hunting GQ totally unposed pics for your viewing pleasure.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-10.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-11.jpg)
:campfire:
I am enjoying this very much! Keep it coming!
:campfire: :archer:
Monday, 9/5/11:
We awoke to 35 degrees about 4:45 and got ready to head the mile or so to Darren's Mountain. As we walked the trail up, we found an elevation we thought would put us in a place to intercept the elk as they moved from the meadows below to the bedding areas above. We were at about 10,600 feet. We found a spot where a couple trails intersected and set up a calling sequence. Darren positioned himself behind me about 40 yards and I found a spot that would afford me the chance for a shot if he called anything past me. He began calling and I scrambled to get my facemask on, find a comfortable position, make sure I had clearance for a shot all things that kept me moving a bit. This was the first time I had hunted elk or set up for a calling sequence in 3 years so I was a bit rusty. 10 minutes later I looked back at Darren after seeing or hearing nothing and he gave me a shoulder shrug, arms up, "what the hell are you doing" look. I was puzzled. Then he came up to me and informed me that a large 5x5 bull had eased into the setup just a few minutes after calling started. The bull pulled up 25 yards from me, behind and to the left, and stood broadside as I fiddled with my setup. He eventually got nervous after not seeing a cow and turned to leave. I missed it all! I was watching where I assumed elk would come from forgetting that they cme from wherever they want. Daggonit!
All was not lost as a couple minutes later, I spotted 2 cows 40 yards off and feeding towards us. Darren spotted a few more and we figured it was only a matter of time before we got a shot.
Then the bull showed back up. 20 yards away, opposite from where he was before. But, he was behind a bunch of trees and I couldn't shoot. He seemed to want to circle downwind but just couldn't convince himself to open himself up. His 6th sense was in overdrive and despite not knowing what was up, he never gave a shot. A couple times he began to move and I almost drew once but then he would turn so that all I had was a partially blocked, frontal shot. The cows were still ambling to us this whole time and had closed to under 30 yards. 5 more and they would offer broadside shots to either me or Darren. It was not to be however as the bull eventually turned to leave and one-by-one, the cows turned to follow. None of them had spooked but they just faded away. It was an exciting but frustrating encounter.
Cool stories John. You had lots more action than we did, already.
It amazed me how strong I thought I was until I got to altitude and tried to do what I normally could do.
Looking forward to "the rest of the story"! ...and more pics.
this is awesome! cant wait to read more.
5 minutes later we heard another group moving down the mountain. Darren took up his original position only now I was the caller. The herd of elk moved down a clearing directly downwind and as they hit our scent, they blew out of there. Somewhere around 22 elk moved through without offering a shot to Darren. We tried a couple more sequences but I guess 2 herds was all the mountain could hold :)
We ended up hiking to the top of the mountain which had 2 rocky "peaks". The shorter of the two was my mountain.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-12.jpg)
The second, higher peak was Darren's.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-13.jpg)
The temps had climbed to over 70 degrees by this time so we messed around, glassing and pondering our evening hunt.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-14.jpg)
Do you see that meadow about halfway up the opposite side of the creek? It plays a large part in the evening activities. In the meantime, we returned to camp and made a new friend. This is "Camp Meat". A young muley doe who was completely unconcerned about our presence.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-15.jpg)
She fed around our camp and in a small meadow right in front of our campfire for a very long time. Darren was gonna offer her a cigar but she clearly has heard they are bad for you.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-16.jpg)
Your killing me! I've been on CO four days now. Terrible weather so far, but it breaks tomorrow and we are headed back out to the back country. Hope to see my first elk of the trip. Been a lot of muzzleloader hunters out. Hopefully quieter next week. I'll have to catch your thread when we emerge from the woods later this week. Hopefully with a story of our own.
:coffee: More please!
:clapper:
:campfire: :coffee:
:thumbsup:
After spending a little time resting and planning we headed up the mountain for the evening hunt. There were several benches above camp including the one with that meadow on it. We hiked up the trail and found where a game trail crossed it and followed it into the woods. There was a lot of fresh sign on it so we decided a few blind calling sequences might work. Darren was first up but my plaintive cow calls and whimpy bugle elicited no response.
We moved a bit farther along the trail and set up again. Darren started his sequence as I scanned the forest ahead. Immediately after his first few calls, 2 heads popped up about 40 yards away. They were eyeballing Darren's position really hard. After a few more calls, a bull screamed a bit and the cows moved out. He seemed to be assembling his harem. We knew the meadow was several hundred yards ahead and assumed we would find them there. The cow calls from Darren brought more bugles but nothing closer than before.
We assembled a little later and made the plan to ease along the trail and see what there was to see. Glassing carefully revealed an opening far ahead and as we stalked up to it, we could see elk out in the meadow. There were a couple cows and the bull visible to us. They were feeding our way and were about 100 yards away. As they dropped their heads to feed, we eased up to a spot that would allow them to feed to us with the wind and cover in our favor. We assumed they would not come to calls so ambush might be in order.
Unfortunately, we had to cross a fairly open area and although we could see the elk in the meadow, those grazing unseen at the edge of the trees busted us and one barked and then they all went on alert. They crashed up the mountain and out of our lives.
It was an exciting day of hunting and we assumed the week would allow us to zero in on the elk and be successful in the end.
Even getting busted in elk country can be exciting. As long as this story is taking I assume the ending is even better than the rest of the story. d;^)
Oh yeah. Good stuff. Lookin forward to some more. Seems like you guys were in a pretty decent spot for sure.
Great story John. I didn't get this good of an account from you at base camp. What's up with that? :^)
I'm not intentionally dragging this out but 3 kids in at least 2 activities each take some tradgang time away from me.
Tuesday, 9/6/11:
We awoke at 5:00 am to rain. I'm not afraid of hunting in rain but it can make a long, elkless day even longer. And Tuesday was long, and it was elkless :(
We decided to give Darren's Mountain a break and headed south to a small alpine lake. The area below the lake was mostly meadows and they were torn up with elk sign. Fresh crap, tracks and a busted up pine tree showed at least some of it was bull-sheet. (BTW, Darren and I are marketing elk crap as the newest aphrodisiac. It's also a great camo makeup. So a slick campaign will launch our new "Bull Sheet" line of Viagra competitor and male cosmetics. Look for it in 2012.)
Back to hunting. We tried a couple calling sequences but the rain and wind drowned us out, literally.
The size of the bed next to the trashed tree had us dreaming of giant bulls in this godforsaken hell-hole so we tried a screaming, bugling tree smacking sequence trying to wake up King-Kong. It didn't work.
By 10:00 we were done. On the way back to camp we came across a trio of puddle-ducks. They tempted us even more than "Camp Meat" Several days of pasta and rice washed down with bags of tuna make a man hungry for fresh meat. But, alas, ethics and Federal law saved their little souls. Plus they flushed pretty quickly :)
Back at camp, we discovered a small lake under Darren's tent. We built a fire and kept it big to try to dry things out. The rain returned in its full vigor and we retreated to our respective shelters for a while. In the end, that was horrible so we stood in the rain, as close to the fire as our plastic ponchos would allow. Thankfully, the rain slacked up enough to get me out to a nearby meadow for an evening sit. Darren stayed at camp and dried his home out. I saw no elk but Darren reported that "Camp Meat" returned and tried to get into our food bags so he had to chase her off.
The rain stayed sporadic through the evening but we were able to get relatively dry and relatively comfortable for sleeping.
Tomorrow we hunt the morning but pack into base camp in the afternoon. That's a 5.5 mile trip with the first 2 miles bushwhacking. Looking forward to it :)
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Here's a few more pics from earlier days.
These are the meadows I watched on Tuesday evening.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-32.jpg)
Here's the top of Darren's Mountain.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-38.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-39.jpg)
The trail split down to Camp 2 after the 11 miles day on Sunday.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-35.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-40.jpg)
Pretty.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-31.jpg)
Looks like lots of the evergreen trees there are dieing also like they are in the San Juan Mountains. I noticed a big difference from when I was out there in '06.
I credible country ain't it John?
Keep it coming John. :campfire:
Hey John,
Great write up of the hunt. You haven't mentioned me and Tim. I guess it is not time yet. I did run across these two male models grazing in a meadow though.
(http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/46876/2079369990102155225S500x500Q85.jpg) (http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2079369990102155225rJgZfj)
Soon, Bob, soon. Don't want to steal your thunder though so feel free to post your first couple day's experience if you like.
Pat, from what I understand, this area is the epicenter of the beetle kill. There are lots of young trees in the wake of the dieoff to replenish the forest though. The elk still like it though.
One thing related to the dead trees and our trip though. We found this old camp which was great but I deduced why it had not been used in several years. Everything nearby is dead. After I had this epiphany, I worried about a sudden death by falling tree a bit. But there are worse places to die and I be willing to venture that my chances of falling out of bed and cracking open my head are greater in the grand scheme. Certainly my daily 52 mile commute around the lesser known Indianapolis Motor Speedway called I-465 is more dangerous. Still...
I'm anxious to hear the rest of the story! Missed you guys this year... but am already planning next year's hunt!!
Wayne
Wednesday, 9/7/11:
We awake to no rain. Yes. But it was still really gray and foreboding. We worked our way up to Darren's Mountain close to where we had called the elk on Monday. As we got close to where we had called, we tried several sequences but got no response. We eased our way around the mountain but nothing ever showed. It spit rain every once in a while but no showers like the day before. Still, it was disheatening to be in the midst of a lot of fresh elk sign and have nothing respond. We were still using fairly aggressive cow calls but my doubts about the rut timing were beginning to creep in. We rarely had bulls bugling and only a few times was I sure they were answering us. We knew bulls were with cows but they seemed to be lesser bulls just kind of tending the herds until the real action started up. Still we persisted.
As we got about halfway around, we decided to see if there was a path lower down that would allow us some easier travel to basecamp. Damn that was a mistake. The lower we got, the tougher it got. At times we were going up and down so much around deadfall and marshes that I thought we would never get out of there. Eventually we did though and that pretty much ended our morning hunt.
Back to camp for a little rest and then the pack in to base camp to see some fresh faces and some new country. We knew we would not get to spend a whole lot of time with the other guys since they were just getting there and we were on the downhill side of our hunt. But we still had 2 full hunting days left and were still optimistic.
The bushwhacking part of our pack was not as bad as we thought but it was still a relief to hit a trail again. We arrived into base camp tired but happy and did not have the energy or really the time to get a hunt in that evening. A nice conversation with Doug Treat, our host rounded out the day. The next day a couple more guys, Tim Antoine and Bob Brundage were to arrive. By the end of the weeek, 4 more were going to be there. Here's base camp in a beautiful meadow full of moose and other critters.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-27.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-26.jpg)
i wanna register a complaint here! a while back someone asked if you were telling this tale sssslllloooowww to keep us on the edge of our seats, and you said no, you were just to busy to get it all on here! im SERIOUSLY starting to question this lol!! cant wait to read more..
Thursday, 9/8/11:
We slept in today. The area we were in was home to a couple other camps and one outfitter. Muzzlelader season was to start on Saturday and a few folks were already coming in. No big deal as there is lots of country and plenty of room to separate. Base camp was at 9500 feet or so and we knew the elk we had seen were all over 10,000 so up we were going to go. Darren and I met Tim and Bob as they came in to camp. Doug had to head home for a few days so we would not see him again until Saturday.
After lunch, we headed up the mountain to hunt some meadows up top and a drainage that pretty much ended in the meadow we were camped. The hike up was about 1.5 miles and 600 feet of elevation. Our bodies were used to the work by now so it wasn't terrible at all :)
Up top, there was a hiking trail that went north and south, following the mountain spine basically above the creek valley we had hunted in the whole week. We headed north until we got to the bowl at the head of the drainage we were going to hunt that evening. We came across some decent sign but not as much as we had seen earlier in the week.
A few blind calling sequences with light cow calls escalating to more plaintive estrous calls and a whimpy bugles didn't get us aything in response. We came across likely bedding areas with steaming fresh elk crap thoughout but no live elk to be seen. As we worked our way down, our chances grew slimmer in our minds since we were dropping below the 10,000 feet mark and entering the easy access zone from below.
The elk did not seem to be hitting the meadows near the creek since all the vegetation up high was so lush. In the end, we worked our way down near the meadows below and slowly called our way back up the drain. Nothing showed. We covered 5.6 miles in total and felt like we worked hard but I think we stuck with aggressive calling too long when the elk weren't ready for it.
At any rate, we were happy with our effort and decided that the final day would be Friday and we would get a hotel and good meal on Saturday before heading home on Sunday.
Back at camp, we found no one at home. Obviously Bob and Tim decided to hunt that evening. As dark settled in, we built a fire, ate dinner and hung out. An hour after dark, we decided either Bob and Tim were lost, had been eaten by a mountain lion or were trailing an elk.
john if you could let me know how the terra 60 worked out for ya. i have the same pack that i hope to use on an elk hunt in the future. so far it has only seen use in the smokey mountain backcountry on flyfishing trips. looking forward to the rest of the story. thanks brad
I like the Terra 60. Quality made and forces you to prioritize. I always took too much stuff with a bigger pack. It doesn't have the greatest suspension and I wouldn't carry more than 60 pounds with it but it does a good job at what I use it for.
By the time we had seriously considered calling out a rescue party for Tim and Bob, we saw first one, then two headlamps bobbing across the meadow. Tim went straight to his tipi but Bob quickly reported the "I got a 5x5!" Handshakes and backslaps abounded and then Tim and Bob told the story. I'll try my version which goes something like this.
The hunters headed north of where Darren and I had worked the evwening out and were cowcalling and bugling a bit I think. One of them hears what they think is a bugle and then they answer. Across a meadow comes a bull's mating call. Tim sets up as the caller with Bob somewhere between the bull and Tim. Tim had a cow head decoy after some hangups last year and he used it to good advantage.
I guess Tim had spent considerable time learning to call too since he got the bull really worked up. He rushed the caller, blwoing right by Bob at some point but he didn't get a glimpse of the decoy. Tim had to call him back until he saw the head and then he committed to coming in until he noticed it was just a head and then he retreated. This apprently put him in Bob's range and a 10 yard shot was presented. Bob made good and the bull blasted to the edge of the meadow.
Bob and Tim convened a committee on tracking and eventually walked straight to the dead bull. Bob has some pics of the recovery tat I seem to have misplaced. Maybe you can add them Bob???
Here's what I have.
The cow head.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/elk%20trip%20012.jpg)
The processing with the happy (?) hunter :)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/elk%20trip%20004.jpg)
And the caller with the decoy.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/elk%20trip%20002.jpg)
Great bull there and love the story so far John, well done!
Hope you guys get some action of your own soon!
Congrats!!! :campfire: :clapper:
Awesome guys!!
Look at the last picture! that bull is looking right at the camera!! he looks alive, kinda sent chills up my spine.
After getting the bull to respond to a location bugle, I cow called sparingly. We were set up with Bob in front and I back on a ridge were I could call then move my position. When I spotted the bull on the edge of the clearing, he was definately looking for the location of the calls. I sunk slowly to a little ditch and crawled up to position myself directly behind the decoy. As a last resort, I cow called with a estrous wine with a hot coaxer mouth call. The bull ran directly at me, he covered so much ground in just a few seconds. He ran by Bob at 6 yards and I saw his rack coming over the knoll as I was kneeling behind the decoy. I had to hurry but he only offered me a frontal shot at less than 10yards. Also, from my up hill position, Bob would be down range of my shot. The bull looked confused, he could not figue out where the rest of the cow was so he ran a short distance down the hill and stopped again to take a second look. He was then in position for Bob to get a 10yard shot. He as probably only 15 yards from me but I could only see the upper third of his body and I still had Bob down range. The Bull ran off and I cow called to him. He stopped on the edge of the field about 40yards. I still did not know if Bob made the shot. After walking down the hill, Bob told me that he had put it behind the shoulder. We waiting for a bit then found part of Bob's wood shaft. After a while and Bob's confidence in the shot, we started to trail him. As we trailed him, I heard noisy wet respirations coming from the direction so we back out and waited about another half hour. We went back and walked right to him. I think he went about 50yards.
Thanks Tim!
Friday, 9/9/11:
After Tim and Bob's success we were stoked for our final day. We were going up the same mountain and then head south along the hiking trail, hitting several bowls along the way. I was especially interested in one area that seemed to have some meadows nested up top and plenty of north facing slope. We made it up right at sunrise and the views were astonishing.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-19.jpg)
We made our way down to the first bowl area. We tried a bit of gentle cow calling trying to get something to answer but nothing did. There was definitely fresh poop and tracks in the area but no elk wanted to play.
Heading back down the trail, we found the spot I most wanted to visit and it was gorgeous.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-18.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-17.jpg)
We called a bit and looked a bit but again, we could not get any response or find any elk. Still it was a magical place. After spending considerable time here, we decided to cover a little ground and see what else we could find. There weren't any really accessible spots from the top so we mostly just sightsaw. It was awesome. Some of the views literally took my breath away.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-21.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-20.jpg)
Darren had found a 40 foot rock outcropping last year that he bouldered up and was rewarded with not only great views but fresh raspberries. He made me climb up there by bribing me with fresh fruit.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-22.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-23.jpg)
Darren is out on this little rock ledge, 40 foot from death and look at that smile!
We found an awesome spot for a high country nap, took our boots off and lit a cigar. Nice.
As we made our way down to the apex of our trail for the day, I started to realize I wasn't really up for killing an elk too much anymore. I wasn't bummed at all, just content. Still we got to a couple wonderfull looking places and had to stop for some calling and looking. One spot turned out to be real popular with the large felines in the area as several piles of cougar scat with deer and elk hair were apparent.
This was prime elk country and we could no believe we couldn't find one. We made our way down to "No Idea" Lake and bumped into this "li'l" lady.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-24.jpg)
A little further on we found this young man and his much larger brother who was a bit camera shy.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-25.jpg)
A couple other bucks were spotte in the meadows along the creek we were following. About the time we had given up on finding an elk, a bull bugled no more than 200 yards away. We couldn't believe it. Might we pull out a last minute miracle???
Darren and I planned that we would play this pretty aggressively. I sent him ahead and bugled back at the bull. He screamed back to me. I started crahing around and grabbed a large branch, banging it on trees and crashing brush, raking it like I was a seriously pizzed off rival. He screamed, I screamed. I cow called like I was being ravaged. He was seriously upset. Finally, he got quiet and I wondered what had happened. On elast tentaive bugle from me and then nothing. Then a few minutes later, a plaintive cow call and whiny bugle. And again, nothing. A few minutes later, I see Darren rushing through the woods. I was almost about to start the high fiving, thinking he had shot the bull. But I saw all his arrows, and none were bloody. But, he was smiling.
It turns out the bull, really ticked off, came straight into the calls. Darren had positioned well if the bull had continued straight to me but the stupid guy decided to try to circle quietly downwind. Undfortunately, this put him on a collision course with Darren. As he closed to 30 yards, he offered nothing but a frontal shot. As he tiptoed through the woods, he started turning broadside and Darren had to kneel for a shot. The bull didn't exactly see him move as much as he noticed that the blob that was there was suddenly shorter. He got nervous and then turned and walked out of our lives.
It was cool though. Our very first calling sequence and our very last one we called bulls into eachother. They were our Bookend Bulls. It was a great close to the great hunting week!
Great story John. Thanks for sharing!! :clapper:
Thanks for taking us along, John. I miss that beautiful high country.
...and Congrats to Tim and Bob on their bull.
I still have hope!
Sounds like you had a great hunt. Thanks for sharing your story.
Now you all know why I let John do our story tellin'. Thanks bro - great job! I think our only regret was not getting to spend more time with some high quality guys. Our schedules just didn't match-up this year.
I can't thank Doug enough for doing the leg-wok of organizing us or be happier for Tim & Bob for a great hunting success. I am still savoring the backstrap we had over the fire. NOTHING compares to that hard-won taste. Thanks for sharing!
See link below for another description of the successul hunt.
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=97;t=000502;p=1
John and Darren, Thanks for taking me along. It looks and sounds like you had a really good time and a really good hunt.Someday I'll get to hunt the west again. But for now I-Owe,I-Owe it's off to work I go.
Thanks,
Lee
Friday night was pretty great. Bob had brought a backstrap into camp and cooked it on the fire for us. There is absolutely nothing better than bloody, fresh meat after a week of rice and pasta. I'm ashamed to say that Darren and I might have taken more than our fair share. There were a couple pieces left over so maybe Tim and Bob were not quite as hungry as we were yet :)
A shot of bourbon and a good cigar finished off the day, and really the hunt.
Saturday, 9/10/11:
I'm pretty sure Darren and I were not ready to leave but we were ready for a shower, a hot meal and a bed. So we ate the remaining pieces of meat, packed up, took a few pics with Bob and Tim and headed down to the trailhead and then on to Ft. Collins. The other Darren and John who were paired up for the trip showed up for camp as we were finishing up our prep for leaving. It was a brief meeting that made me wish we were staying a few more days.
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-05.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-28.jpg)
(http://jdspics.webs.com/photos/2011-Elk-Hunt-Pics/2011Ellk-29.jpg)
Alas, time to leave. Darren goes faster than me downhill since I have one bad knee that resists speed. So he forced the march down. On the way we bumped into the remaining group, Barry and Rob, heading to camp. It was a very brief conversation as they were 4+ miles into the uphill with camp on their backs.
There was a brutal uphill a couple miles from the trailhead that I took the charge on. I was sick of packing so I just powered through the pain and got over it. It felt good to have some thicker air down a little lower.
The drive out was incredible as we passed through a canyon that has to be the nicest single drive I have ever made. Darren and I jammed our way out, happy with our efforts and anticipating a shower, giant cheeseburger, fries and a beer, followed by some real soft pillows. I'll upload a video of the drive out maybe.
We found a cheap motel, got ur showers and heded out for a great buffalo burger and some microbrews at an over-the-top western style saloon :)
The drive home was predictably long and tedious but we made it and I am happy with the trip. There are always times during these trips where it is harder than I want where I generally proclaim that "I'll never do this again!". But, in the end, I have to. I love the Midwest and will never leave but something about the call of the Rockies brings me back. Despite the discomfort, the work, the expense and the time away from family.
Dead elk, fresh elk backstraps cooking over a campfire, a fine libation, a good cigar and the company of brothers of different mothers......how ya gonna beat that?
:thumbsup:
:campfire:
QuoteOriginally posted by skilonbw:
Also when out here hunting for elk there is bird who just sounds a lot like a cow elk so do not get taken in by there call
I hate that bird. Heard it all week. Heard a big elk bugle but never heard a cow calling.
It looks like you had a great adventure. :thumbsup: :campfire:
Thanks for sharing!!!!
Great stuff!!!......... :campfire:
:archer:
:cool:
Loved the story....Thanks
John. Must be hard findin your way around with trail signs with no info on them! How we supposed to hone in on your spots?!
Great story by the way. I've got three days left to SEE my first CO elk! Your stories have given me inspiration and helped keep my chin up!
Yea, all the signs around there were like that. We got lost a lot!
Great story all the way around! Thanks. :archer2: :archer2:
Thanks for taking us along, sounds like you had a great time.
Thanks for sharing John,nice story!
Cool trip John. I'd like to hear where abouts you were. My first Elk season I was living in Ft. Collins and hunted 3 hours west past Walden near Rabbit ears pass.
Thanks for the pics and stories.
Dont forget your boots!!
great, great story and pics. sounds like one helluva trip! thanks for the killer read!
John/Darren-thanks for taking us along! great pics and story!
Kenny :clapper:
Let's get some elk hunting stories rolling. Almost time :)