Been in the mountains of CO for over a week now a d logged some serious miles on our boots. Weather is hot elk arent talkin here at all yet. The wilderness area is full of grazing sheep which pushed elk out of the aspen benches. Sign has ben non existent thus far.
From what we've learned the elk are scarce all over and holed up high. Heading up to timberline tommorrow for a 4 day bivyvto check an area a sheepherder told us he had seen elk abo e his flock. Also said hes pushing sheep down tommorrow which is good news. If that area doesnt pan out we'll head aacross the road and up high and work the other mountain.
Nothing worth havig comes easy so we'll have to work hard to find elk. Takin it easy today came into town for some sightseeing and real food. I wanted to post a couple of pics but cant figure out photobucket for posting from my phone.
The oppoortunity to travel this wilderness with a longbow and a backpack is reallyvspecial. Several hikers have complimented us for huntin the hard way and wished us luck.
I'll have lots of pIcs to post when we return. Just picture a canvas tent set in the quakies..........
Hope your luck changes!Look forward to hearing more of your story...
Good luck and cant wait to see the pictures.Leatherneck and myself are planning on going back out west in 2013. :campfire:
Good luck.
:campfire:
Good luck to you and your son John, looking forward to the pictures,
I can't wait for the rest of the story and the pics. Good luck shoot straight.
So far it has been at tough year for elk. Good Luck!
Good luck!!!
Bisch
Best of Luck! :archer:
Stick with em John. Sometimes it takes awhile. And get as far from those mountain magnets as you can. We had those in WY last year and didn't find elk until we went where the sheep hadn't been.
Post when you can - we're waiting!
Best of luck!
Best of luck with the hunt and the adventure:)
If you have an Iphone there is a photobucket app to use.
Good luck,early season is always slowif you don't know a good water hole!
Look for anywhere that doesn't have sheep. And we found that the elk were lower than normal cause of late snowmelt. Much better grass and feed lower on the mountain.
Good luck!
Good luck, and we are all looking forward to the pictures.
Hang tough, stay positive. Most of us are working or somesuch these days, so Elk or no, you already got most of us beat.
Hey John,
Good luck and you and Alex just keep at it. By the way I have Amy covered for the youth hunt weekend. I told her my deer dressing services weren't free. She told me I only had to supervise. Didn't have the heart to tell her supervisors make more.
Good luck and have fun
Howard
Here we are at the halfway point. We have left the Raggeds Wilderness. Its like hunting in a countybpark with all the hikers riders a d in some areas mountain bikers. We were descending when we spotted a rump sticking out of the brush 75 yds across a small drainage. We dropped to our knees to glass it and moments later were nearly run over by some idiot on a mtn. bike. That was the last straw.
As mnay others have experienced its tough hunting thos yr. Met a guy who gave us some good info about another area across the road in Unit 52. He had spotted a few cows while muley hunting.
We relocated our base camp to the trailhead and set a spike camp higher up at 10,000. Saw 2 cows so far but no shots. Hunting is still slow, today we took off as I'm not feelon too good today. ML. Season starts tommorrow so maybe that will stir things up a bit. Gonna hunt our way up to spike camp if i feel better.
Alex shot a double on a couple grouse uesterday with some migjty fine shooting and fast shooting. Dinner rocked! Will update as possible.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/autumnarcher/a395c82e.jpg)
I dont know how tp resize these pica frpm my phome so if pne of the mods could do it Is appreciate it
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/autumnarcher/41834ef9.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/autumnarcher/4e412251.jpg)
Good luck and when you can hear sheep the elk will stay away since the sheep are too noisy.
Nice job on the grouse.
wilderness areas are bike free - someone needs to be handing out the fines ! sheep shouldn't be in wilderness either right?
Looked like a killer dinner!
Thanks for the update, and the best of luck to ya'.
Good luck and thanks for the updates. I keep rereading your DYI thread, and planning for my own elk hunt.
I lived in Colorado for ten years when I was in school and had the same experience repeatedly. I was Ptarmigan hunting at 13,000 feet miles and miles from anywhere and got berated for hunting by some REI types. I can't tell you how many basins I would glass and see brightly colored hikers WAY back in the backcountry. As a hippie I knew down in the Marble/Redstone area would say... " Its a crowded planet man, a real crowded planet" Good luck and keep searching. The best spots IMO are almost always the small public pockets next to big private ranches. Keep that in mind and stay sharp.
I guess its where you choose to go. I have never had any issue with other back country users- either being berated or interrupted. But I don't hunt off of main trails either...
One of the hard parts of scouting from a thousand miles away is not being able to determine if an area gets heavy use by others during the season.
Good luck John!
Great shooting Alex. Hope conditions improve for you two. Keep at it and good luck.
Howard
Took a couple days off to rest our tired legs and regroup. Hunting has been terribly slow, not from lack of effort. With 20 days of humpin the mountains behind us , motivation and moralecwere beginning to fade.
Came in to town yesterdayvto learn one of my sons best friends tragically lost his life. I've known this fine young man for some time, and had been encouraging him to take up the longbow full time. He shot it well but lacked the confidence in his ability to make tue leap. I'll go in to more detail when we return home.
But with that kick in the guts we're both hurting. Struggling to find the will to climb this mountain again. But we will
When we do, wecwill pause to release a couple arrows in Roberts memory and give thanks once again for the blessing to have known such a good young man.
Alex is devastated, please if you would say a prayer for Robertvand his family. And for Alex. There things in life far more importantvthan killing a stinky old elk.
Sorry to hear about your young friend.
May I suggest that when you return to the hunt you use the first couple days to continue to recover by planning half of the day as an ambush type hunt. Its real easy to get behind physically in the mountains, then mentally. Been there, done that.
Start over. See the little bits of incredible beauty before you. Let the wonder of it all seep back into your soul. Then when the moment is right, take up the vigorous hunt again.
BTW, buy some of that recovery gel/energy stuff. Not the stuff with caffeine but that you use as you exert yourself goes right into your muscles for energy. Might help.
Joshua
Life is precious. Be thankful you are doing what others say they would like to do someday and never do.
Prayers for Roberts family!