A few pix from the Flat Tops Wilderness. home sweet home for 9 days. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0265.jpg) Fir (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0247.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0249.jpg)st 2 days were a bit on the wet side.Some sign, but not a lot of it. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0257.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0253.jpg) some scenery. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0255.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0269.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0282.jpg)
Nice!! :thumbsup:
My son Justin. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0280.jpg)Abear at 15 yds. in a water hole (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0026.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0075.jpg)One of the c-bow guys killed one so we helped out. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0050.jpg)
I've hunted this area for close to 20 years and have never seen every thing so green and so much water. It took me 6 days just to see my first elk, i called some in before that but couldn't see them. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/IMG_0256.jpg) Fresh back straps for supper. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0087.jpg)
Nice...... :thumbsup: Great photos!
Be back later with some more pictures and mybe a story or two.
Sweet, waiting in anticipation for more! Looks like a plush camp!
Thanks for the pics, great looking camp and nice your son was with you
Great pics so far... I will agree with the green statement. I have not seen this much growth in a long time.
Looking forward the rest...love these elk threads!!
:campfire: :archer:
Great story so far, Love the pics.
Keep it coming. :thumbsup:
Thanks for sharing,i wait for more!
Hey.. I spent a few days in the flat tops around the same time you were there. Sounds like we hit the same rain storm. We couldn't find the elk after the smoke-polers had their way. beautiful spot though. We were off Owl Lake Road where were you?
Awesome ain't enuf to describe your post - tell us a story!
Great pic's Bone. I have spent a lot of time in the same area hunting and reconize a bunch of spots in your pic's.
The one thing I have never seen in all my time in that area is a bear.
Back from a little trout fishing. There was bear sign everywhere Rich, I've only seen 4 in all the time I've hunted there, one guy in camp got a small chocolate colored bear,he had the nicest fur I ever seen.Going to make a beauty of a rug. Steve, the camp ground was full when we got there and elk were hard to find, I saw 2 elk the first 8 days and finally found a bunch the last day, Everyone got close at one time or another but and 3 of the 4 of us had shots. and yes that tent is nice (12x16)need a bigger stove so we don't have to get up to toss more wood in to dry clothes in the middle of the night.
Please Lord send some elk this way. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0077-1.jpg) Got to go to a football game, finish this later.
Gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing
Glenn
That cross is on a hill east of the N.F. camp ground,you can climb up to it on a trail in 45 min. if you don't stop. On the cross it says," Thank you Lord you made it right." Well worth the climb, the view is unreal, doesn't matter what direction your facing.
(http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0067.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0066.jpg) (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0078-1.jpg)
Thank you Ted for sharing especially the photo of the cross.
("On the cross it says," Thank you Lord you made it right." Well worth the climb, the view is unreal, doesn't matter what direction your facing")
My 1st thought upon seeing the picture and reading your post was, "I bet the 1st place it makes you want to look is.... up^!!!!!!
I am humbled by the sight of it even if it's just in a photo.
God bless,Mudd
Beautiful country and photos.
Ok time for a story,this shouldn't take to long because not much happened the 1st 7 days.We left here from Luck WI.( nice name huh) on the 14th after a 10 hr. work day at 4:00 pm, Me, my son Justin and a guy I work with, Mike. Mike had made a mistake on his app. so he didn't draw a tag for this unit but there is a otc unit not far away so he was going to hunt by himself for the week. There was also 2 fellas from S.E. Minn. that we met on the way, Duane and Dale.When we got to Craig Co. we tossed our gear in Duane's truck and headed toward Meeker and Mike toward Yampa, hoping we would see him earlier than our planned time to meet the following week with some antlers and a load of fresh meat. We got to the camp at 4:00 and had camp set up between the rains so nothing got wet,filled our water jugs,cut firewood got gear ready for the morning and crawled in our bags for some much needed sleep.
I should point out that Justn and I are the only two shooting trad bows on this hunt,but Dale did bring a old Super K td as a backup if something went wrong with his wheels.When we meet at camp the 1st night we all had the same story"seen some sign but not very much."Dale did see the south end of a elk headed north but had no idea if it was a bull or cow.The 1st day it rained half the day,the second day it rained all day, wore rain gear all day and still got soaked through. I did have something close in the rain at one time. I was cow calling and heard a twig snap close by, then another so I sat and waited, calling once in a while and nothing,so I get up and take a step and get busted. Every year I have to remind my self to be patient, some day it might sink in. Got back to camp and the rest of the bunch were sitting in the tent around the wood stove, they all came in early, same story no elk.
Not to much happened the next5 days, Justin had a bear come in to a water hole he was sitting on, he seen a cow moose,and had a staring match with a bull he walked up on at 20 yds. Duane seen a couple, Dale saw none and I had yet to see one. I had another one or two close one morning, Iwas cow calling and once again heard twigs snap off to the north so I ducked behind a small pine about 4 ft tall and called again, nothing happened but I stayed put this time, peeking around once in awhile and got busted from something behind me, could have been bigfoot ,I don't know, all I saw was the limbs swaying on the tree where it had run through. Anyway that's the way things were going for all of us until Thursday night when I got back to camp and was informed we were packing out a bull in the morning! Duane had one down so the next morning there was no hunting but at least we has a "camp bitch" as we call it for the rest of the week.
Mudd, there's a little jar in the rocks at the bottom of the cross with a note book in it, it started in 2006,interesting to read what people have wrote over the years. it's time for a new one, this one only has a few pages left.
Justin and I hunted together a few mornings and had 2 bulls bugling on Wednesday, we were almost right between them so we were just taking our time, we had setup 3 or 4 times and just started to move again when a elk took off, how a animal that size can move so quite and how you don't see them is beyond me. Oh, I almost forgot ,we seen a bull and 3 cows on our way in to pack out the elk. That's 5 elk in in 8 days! I've had tough years before but not like this.
QuoteOriginally posted by Bone lake:
Mudd, there's a little jar in the rocks at the bottom of the cross with a note book in it, it started in 2006,interesting to read what people have wrote over the years. it's time for a new one, this one only has a few pages left.
Just how stinking cool is that?... Way!!!!!...I'm saying...
I'd be more than happy to purchase a new one to go in the jar if you'd place it there.
God bless,Mudd
PS: I am a very, very, very blessed man! God is awesome!
Two days left to hunt before we have to meet with Mike, I thought he would be with us telling stories about his hunt holding on to a set of horns. He's a ex marine and the word quit is not in his vocabulary.It turns out he was having the same luck we were. Justin and I hunted together again on Friday,we went up in the area Duane shot his bull, we seen quite a bit of sign on the way in to pack it out . We never even heard a bugle. Decided to go back to camp and sit on some water holes for the evening, jumped a cow on the way and she stopped 50 yds. away, there was a pine between us so I got 10 yds. closer but that's a little to far for me to be shooting at a animal. Not that I couldn't hit her, where I would hit is what I worry about.Seen nothing in the evening on the water holes, come back to camp with supper already started, and full stack of wood, it's nice to have a maid to take care of thing while your out in the mountains doing what we love to do, hunt.
Mudd, That's on my "to do" list for next time, I'll take care of it.
Last day, time to get it done, Justin and I hunted together again this morning and ran into a couple elk right away, one ran up to the east, one ran north, we split and followed them calling to keep track of each other and hopefully get one to come looking for it's buddy.Justin got to the top of hill and could see tips of tines going through the brush but nothing else. I had moved maybe 100 yds up the trail and see a cow standing on the hillside looking around. she was 60 yds away and not much cover between us, she headed up the hill and I let her go hoping she would get close to Justin. I waited a while and hunted my way up to a big meadow, 15 minutes later Justin shows up and we decide what we should do. He decides to hunt back down the other side of the timber we had seen the elk in, the wind was in his face and this is where he had seen the bull earlier in the week, I wished him luck and headed toward some black timber with a couple little water holes in it that some of my friends have killed bulls on before. Getting to the timber at the end of the meadow I start seeing sign, lots of sign, fresh tracks, fresh crap, then a big racket on top of the bench, I'd spooked a bunch off, Ok, got to slow down and pay more attention.It was 12:30 when I got to the water hole, it was muddy with a dozen aspens that a bull had stripped and broke the tops off, I sat down,had a candy bar and a drink of water and waited.Then I heard it, a bugle and another, and another, it was one right after another and then I thought there was another hunter coming the way the bugling sounded, so I just sat and listened for the next half hour. This bull, hunter what ever it was did not stop,it was at least every minute it would let loose again,then another bull bugles, this one I know is the real deal, so I'm off towards all the racket.I get close to where the all ruckus is and cow call, imedeatlly a bull answers back and this continues for 10 to 15 minutes, then the wind starts swirling and I bail off the bench and repeated this two more times. The last time I bailed off I see a cow below me and then 3 more walk over the edge and out of sight,I sit and wait right there for the wind to settle down.All of a sudden there' mewing coming to me, a calf walks by at 25 yds. and goes up to where the bulls are still screaming at each other.So back up there again,I call and the calf walks right to me 10 yds away and is looking right over the top of me, it stayed there for ever, nice to be that close but I didn't want it to bust me. finally it turns and walks away and then a patch of tan hide is coming below the calf and it gets behind some pines, the next thing there's a big horn sticking out from one side of them, it's walking 30 yds. below me and there's a wide open lane 15 feet in front of it. Then he stops sniffs the ground stands there a minute and turns around and walks right back the way he came. He was one of the biggest bulls I've ever seen out there and now he gone. That calf is still standing there and there's another elk walking to it, it's another bull, 5x2 a straight up beam on one side with a big club coming down almost under his jaw, I call and the calf comes and he's right behind it.
:campfire: :archer:
The calf is 10 yds. away standing right where it was before and the bull is 20, just below it, there's nothing between them and me except the big down tree I'm kneeling behind. the bull walks broadside and stops with his head behind the closest pine, I glance over at the calf and it's looking the other way, I draw and decide to shot him a bit higher than I would normally because there is one dead branch the size of a pencil right across his chest, ok pick a spot , draw, anchor. release. I can't believe it, I hit that twig and the arrow deflects up and rattles through the branches above him, he jumps down the hill and I call, he stops and starts walking to my right, call again and he starts coming back and makes a loop below me and goes over to the calf who is 40 yds to my left and stands there.I call again and he walks right to me straight on and stops 10yds. away and I can't do anything. He stood there a couple minutes and then picked me out and turned to go away, I tried to draw as he turned but he saw the movement and took off. All this time there is a 3rd bull bugling up above me. I called but he just kept getting farther away. It's getting late in the afternoon and head toward camp.
Cutting through the timber I hit the pack trail and got to the area where Justin and I seen the elk in the morning and two cows spooked up to the west, so I called and a bull answers on the east side of the trail on top of the ridge. A cow comes half way down and the bull come and chases her back up. Another cow is walking on the top of the ridge , I let her get out of sight and head up to the edge and set up and call. The bull answers every time but won't come in,moving closer the cow is crossing a little meadow,I wait until shes out of sight and get across the opening and see antlers moving off. i think he must have seen me. he would answer my calls but kept getting father away every time he answered back. It's close to dark now and I headed to camp for sure this time, I had my chance,can't ask for more than that. (http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff211/bonelake/DSCN0065.jpg)
:campfire:
Great pics! :thumbsup:
I am so envious one day IL get the chance. :)
Hey guys it's really not that expensive to do a hunt like this, and if you have a couple buddy's go with to share gas it just makes it cheaper. The tag is about half the cost of what I spent on this trip. Do some research, save a little cash,get 3 or 4 good friends together and go for it, you won't be sorry.
Thank you for sharin' BL!
Keep the wind in your face!
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
Awesome Pictures and story , I just love Elk country :)
QuoteOriginally posted by Bone lake:
Hey guys it's really not that expensive to do a hunt like this, and if you have a couple buddy's go with to share gas it just makes it cheaper. The tag is about half the cost of what I spent on this trip. Do some research, save a little cash,get 3 or 4 good friends together and go for it, you won't be sorry.
This is very true. found out this year on my 1st elk trip.
Great pics, Great Story. Thank you for sharing.
I could feel your excitement when shooting at that bull! Great pictures and story. I can hardly wait to get back to the mountains.
Bernie Bjorklund
NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin
Total immersion into the elements of the hunt have served to make this excursion even more special.
Thanks for sharing!
Awesome country! :thumbsup: Thanks for taking us along!
Great story and hunt.
ttt
Way to go ...beautiful pics thxs for sharing