I just got back from a trad elk hunt with my friends, Bryan Bolding and Dave Sisamis, and figured I would make a brief post with some gear info, and some details of the hunt, although the timeline is a little dicey as I wasn't keeping a log. Maybe some of the info will be useful to someone. I know that Rob Tattoo had a very informative post on his recent elk hunt. I will say that nobody dropped the string on an elk, but there were multiple sightings and great experiences.
I was able to stash away 2 weeks of vacation for this hunt, and arrived in southern Colorado 2 Fridays ago. I was eagerly anticipating this hunt, but had come down with a head cold of some sort, with lots of fatigue, which I knew wasn't a good thing. I met up with some nice folks from Oklahoma and hunted with them on Friday evening while waiting for Dave and Bryan to arrive later that same day. The area that we were hunting was public land, and had received a lot of pressure the first 2 weeks of the season. One of the hunters had taken a nice cow the previous day, and we didn't have any luck. We returned to the camp, and Bryan and Dave had arrived, and we made plans to hit a local mountain the following morning, where we knew that another crew from Oklahoma had great success the first week of the season.
We started up the logging road toward the peak and I was shortly doubled over, gasping for air. I never really experienced anything like this. My legs really never got tired on this hunt, because the altitude was by far the limiting factor for me, although my head cold and congestion may have contributed to this somewhat. We saw lots of grouse that morning, but unfortunately, we didn't see any elk or fresh sign that morning. We regrouped and hunted a nearby creek drainage in the afternoon with similar luck. It seems that the hunting pressure had changed things a little bit compared to the previous 2 weeks, and given that and the fact that there was an influx of muzzleloader hunters in the woods, we decided to head to a remote area that Bryan had been to 2 years ago and had seen lots of elk. We were very optimistic and excited to get there and get into some elk.
Bring it bro!
I apologize in advance, but this will be posted kinda a little at a time, so bear with me.
Bryan was only able to hunt the first week do to work obligations, so we loaded up our pack with enough gear for a 7 day hunt and started the steep ascent, with multiple switchbacks, that took us up to around 12,300 feet. Here is what we looked like before starting the hike, relatively fresh.
ME
(http://i.imgur.com/7A8wDqT.jpg)
Dave
(http://i.imgur.com/3Cfxw0x.jpg)
Bryan
(http://i.imgur.com/QLlIN89.jpg)
I think that all of our packs were around 70#, but obviously Dave had his gear packed more compactly, something that I need to get better at.
I developed a sinus infection when I went to CO a few years ago. Whatever you do, do no take an antihistamine! My nose bled so bad for the next seven days that I felt like I couldn't go 50' without gasping for breathe. I ended up hunting only 3 out of the seven days. Just felt miserable the rest of the trip and just couldn't have packed an elk out.
The hike up was tough, but you just had to accept that you had to stop to catch your breath frequently, and really wasn't any worse than we expected. We got to the crest after seeing spectacular views and eating service berries along the way, and opened up into beautiful meadows that we planned on setting up camp in.
Unfortunately, it didn't take us long to realize that we weren't the first people that had made he trip. Multiple campsites from the previous 2 weeks were seen, some of which had a substantial amount of garbage. One site had at least 6 or 7 empty smart water bottles left behind, and multiple wrappers from capri sun drinks, as well as a broken lead rope for horses. One site had partially burned mountain house wrappers. We moved a little further down the trail to an area with less garbage and set up camp. We were all a little disheartened by this, but were hopeful that seeing some elk would make up for it. After talking to some locals, it seems like hunters from the Amish community hunt this area, and are notorious for leaving rubbish behind, although certainly cannon prove who the scumbags were that left the garbage in this seemingly pristine area. I only know that they arrived on horseback. I stuffed my murderous thoughts into the back of my head, and hoped for the best. Around 9-10 o'clock pm, my sleep was disturbed by an elk chuckling within a couple hundred yards of camp, so my adrenaline did not allow for much sleep that night. We heard the chuckling again near morning in a nearby drainage, but never were able to catch site of the elk, and the wind wasn't doing up any favors, being atypically out of the north in the morning and with it taking a while for the sunlight to warm things up enough to put the thermals in our favor.
We continued hunting the high ground the rest of the day, but found fresh boot tracks and signs of littering. Bryan eventually ran into a compound hunter from Kansas who informed Bryan, between breaks to spit tobacco juice on the ground, that he had found this area last year and that members of his group were hunting the nearby drainages and had covered most of them in the last 2 days. They would be there the entire week. Perfect, hunting the drainages with the wind at their backs just to cover ground and pushing the elk out of the area. This, combined with someone camping in the meadow with a dog that was barking or being screamed at all night really ruined what we expected to be remote back country experience. We packed up the next morning and headed back to the area that we started the hunt, essentially having lost 2 days of hunting from travel/hiking. At least Bryan was able to talk to another hunter from that group and let him know how easy it was to track the group by following the trail of gum wrappers, nutter butter cookie and nature valley granola wrappers. You would have expected the 'hunter' to be more contrite than he was.
Sounds like a real bunch of slobs in that country. Sorry that your experience was less than sterling.
awbowman, I had some trouble with a bloody nose too, but I think it was from the dry air. I started smearing petroleum jelly in my nose and the problem went away.
centaur, it definitely left a bad taste in our mouths, but it didn't ruin the hunt. There were some good experiences to be had.
Pardon me, but I always have trouble following a straight path when telling a story.
Just a note on some of the prep for the hunt. I had surgery on my shoulder and knee in November of last year, and my knee had been acting up on and off since then. To the tune of putting on 40# of fat. I took a little too long to get started training for the hunt, but lost around 25# in the 3 months leading up to the hunt and another 5-10 during the hunt. My fitness really wasn't too much of an issue I don't believe, but I plan on starting next year's hunt around 10 pounds lighter with a better body composition. I just was cutting back on calories and hiking with a pack 5 or 6 days a week with weights that ranged from 45-80# and covering 2-6 miles at a time and hitting as many steep seasonal creek beds as I could in this relatively flat country. I was a little concerned about a stone bruise on my heal, but that didn't seem to be a problem. My knee brace gave me all of the lateral stability that I needed. I will say that I will have a different pair of shoes for next year. I used a pair of danner pronghorns. Very nice boots, but I have a relatively narrow ankle/hindfoot but I am fairly wide at the ball of the foot. These boots were loose at the hindfoot. It didn't bother me training at home, but when sidehilling you really notice the lack of stability when they are loose there.
I can't really comment completely on the training for Bryan and Dave, other than a few things. Bryan was greatly limited on his training because of severe plantar fasciitis. He was saved because he has some amazing lungs, possibly from his history as a runner. Dave came into the hunt by far in the best shape of the bunch, having started training immediately after last years elk hunt. His waist size was down to frigging 28", and he was fairly ripped.
Bryan lives in Colorado Springs, but Dave and I are flatlanders. We both started taking Diamox 2 days before the hunt, and for a total of 7 days. Neither of us experienced any headaches or signs of Altitude Sickness, and I plan to use that regimen every year that I go.
Some more random issues. I drove my Nissan Altima to Colorado to save on gas money, plus I am not sure that my beat up farm truck would have been reliable for that long of a trip. I will definitely have a different vehicle for next years trip. My Altima has treated me well, having had hogs and deer in the trunk, rear seat, passenger seat, and occasionally draped across my lap. It has gone places that it definitely should not have been, but nothing close to what it experiences on some of these forest roads. I got a slow leak in one of the tires from parking on a sharp rock, but consider myself very fortunate to not have been stranded from a rock poking a hole in the drain pan. There is simply inadequate ground clearance in this vehicle.
I know that the timeline is going to get a little sketchy, but I figure we hunted Saturday, hiked in to the remote area Sunday, hunted there Monday, hiked out of their Tuesday, and started hunting in a large drainage area on Wednesday further south in Colorado (the same area that we hunted before heading to the remote area).
Maybe Dave will chime in when I make a mistake. I think that we may have not hunted Wednesday morning to recover from the trip down the mountain. It rained while we were up there, and on the way down it was very difficult to tell what was the trail and what was runoff. We got split up, and at times you had to follow horse tracks to know that you were on the right trail. Unfortunately, both Dave and I ended up veering off onto game trails which took us out of our way. I backtracked and got back on the trail, but Dave wound up being in some thick country with decent elk sign and a close up bear sighting, and came out further down the mountain. He powered his way back to the car uphill but was paying for it the next day.
We hunted Wednesday evening with Dave and I heading to the south end of a drainage, and Bryan coming to meet us from the adjacent drainage. When we got to the top, we slowly came down through some dark timber and were trying to get a little lower to anticipate the evening thermals. We heard Bryan give a cow call, and Dave gave a cow call to let him know that we were there. Bryan heard a bugle in the distance further up the drainage in response to the cow calls, and when we joined up, he gave a bugle. (Bryan is very good at bugling and chuckling, and I basically suck at all calling but plan to remedy that by next year).
Bryan had barely finished bugling when it sounded like a stampede. Elk were pouring over the top of the hill, coming from the drainage that Bryan had slowly worked on his way to the top. We didn't see them, but Bryan and Dave were nice enough to tell me to get into the cover of small pine trees closer to the elk, and they held back to make some calls. From where I had heard the elk, and where Dave and Bryan setup, it seemed like the cows would cross downhill of me toward them. I looked through the binocs through the tree between me and the cows and saw nothing, so I tried to get in a good position for a downhill shot.
I never saw the elk, but apparently a cow had circled uphill of me and was 30 yards broadside before they winded me, and made their way back where they came from. Crap. I guess I just wasn't alert enough. Dave said he clearly saw the cow, and was just waiting for me to drill her.
It wasn't over yet, though. We still had a bugling battle between Bryan, a mature bull, and a Satellite bull, with the mature bull heading our way, and us running out of daylight.
Dave and I went into a strip of cover as the bull made it's way toward us ever so slowly. It was getting close to too late to shoot when a muzzleloader shot rang out from a couple hundred yards away. I nearly browned my britches, then remembered an orange clad hunter that was making his way across the drainage as Dave and I made our way up. Our hearts kind of sank, but that is a risk when hunting public land. We met up with the hunter the following morning, and he made a clean miss on the bull. It can be tough shooting when you are out of breath and using iron sights, which is the law in Colorado.
:campfire:
It was an exciting experience, but Dave's back was starting to act up, and by the next morning, he was so bad that he didn't go out for the morning hunt. Anyone that knows Dave knows that he needs to be near on his deathbed to not be hunting, so we knew he was in a lot of pain. Bryan and I went out Thursday morning, while Dave took my car to find the only chiropractor in the area. He had a rib out of place, as well has his hip. Most likely from side-hilling with a heavy pack. Hard to train for that. He got an adjustment later on that afternoon, which allowed him to grit his teeth and bear it, but he was far from fine, and was hoping that it was just soreness that would get better.
Bryan and I made it up to the head of the drainage that morning and had some good entertainment, but no elk activity. We got up on a hill and saw a couple compound hunters come in from a different direction and split up, with one going just a couple hundred yards from us up the adjacent hill. We had been hearing a lot of turkeys on the roost on that hill, and surmised that they were going to go after one. We had a good time, with Bryan talking turkey, while the hunter tried to pin us down but never locating us. It was amazing how close they came to us in this big country. On top of that, here comes an older guy in orange up the hill that walks right to the tree that the other guy is at! We see him throw his arms up in surprise when he sees the hunter. What are the odds? This whole time Bryan is turkey calling as we try not to laugh too hard, as they scan the hillside for us. Then the guy in orange starts nearly yelling into a walkie-talkie trying to direct someone to where he was at. Apparently his son was hunting the area and got lost. Pretty much ruined the morning hunt for elk, but was very entertaining. Shortly after, the compound hunter that had gone on further returned with the orange clad muzzleloader hunter from the night before. He spotted us, and we headed down for a brief chat. Nice folks that were local Colorado residents, and this is how we were certain that the muzzleloader hunter missed his shot the previous evening.
Later that evening, Bryan and I tried a different area a few miles away, but didn't see any elk or fresh sign, so we kind of wrote that area off for the rest of the hunt.
I hate seeing litter anywhere....but in the backcountry....give me a break. Thanks for sharing your hunt and keep giving us the details.
I am having trouble remembering where we hunted Friday morning, but I remember what we did on Friday evening. We hit a different portion of the mountain that we had hunted the previous Saturday morning, with each of us taking a small drainage and planning to stay low and slow to take advantage of the prevailing winds. The thermals had everything going up the mountain, and we each individually ditched the plan and headed up high, and hunted our way back down. I didn't see anything or any fresh sign, Dave saw a lot of nice mule deer, but only Bryan had a tag. Bryan didn't see anything fresh on the mountain, but from his vantage point he could see through his binoculars a bull and some cows in the drainage that we had hunted the other day. (I will mention here that I only brought 6x binocs, and plan on bringing a better pair of 10x next time, as the differences in our glassing capability was significant).
Bryan was nearly shaking with excitement when he met us at the car. We briefly thought about packing up and camping under tarps in the drainage overnight, but decided to head out around 3 am to get deep into the drainage well before daylight and going as quietly as we could with our green lights.
This takes us to Saturday morning, but I am going to make a few comments on gear before talking about that:
Storms can pop up out of nowhere, so having a tarp to set up until the storm passes by is a very useful item.
Baby wipes are nearly a necessity for this type of hunting, and I would wipe down every morning from the stickiness associated with the sleeping bag. It I also useful as toilet paper, but I would bring some camp toilet paper as well.
I am usually pretty cheap regarding hunting clothes, but on other people's recommendations picked up some first lite clothing before the hunt. I got rained out one day 10 days into the hunt, and headed in to town to do laundry that day. I wore that same pair of pants and shirt for the entire hunt, supplemented at various times by a puffy jacket and vest. The Kanab pants were comfortable, quiet, and handled the temps that ranged from around 30 to the mid 70's with not troubles and my legs were neither hot nor cold. I needed only 2 pair of first lite red desert boxers for the trip, and they are 100% merino wool. I always pack Desitin for trips, because I almost invariably get a rash on my thighs from sweaty hiking. This is the first time that I did not need to use Desitin and didn't develop a rash, plus the boxers and pants developed no odor that I could detect. Awesome products that I don't think you can fully appreciate until you try.
I also purchased a quarter-zip Chama shirt from first lite. The quality was awesome. If any of you are considering a purchase, it has good sleeve length for those with broad shoulders and is durable. Hiking up those mountains, you have no choice but to get sweated up. The quarter zip helps minimize this, and is well worth the added expense IMHO. Also, when you get to the top and are settling down to glass, the wool does a great job keeping you from freezing while it quickly dries. I can't say enough about this product. Some say wool is wool, but I whole-heartedly disagree at this point.
Having a brimmed hat of some sort to block some of the glare is very helpful, particularly at dawn.
Never forget lip balm, lol. Try to get some with some degree of spf, and it works well as sunblock on the nose as well.
I am sure that I will think of some other things later.
Another side note. I drove into town and met a gentleman that had harvested a fine bull in NM. Here are a couple of pics. The bull scored 411 an had some freaky mass.
(http://i.imgur.com/6PvqIbz.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/HdyhRME.jpg)
Here are some views of the northwest side of the drainage that I hunted. I will refer to these photos a bit later.
(http://i.imgur.com/LL65GLz.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/QmdOx7p.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/U8UrMbn.jpg)
Nice story Patrick!
And here is a pic of Dave striking a pose from the top of the drainage.
(http://i.imgur.com/Flxy1xh.jpg)
Am I wrong or I see some Tips there?
Could you do any recommendations or comments about the backpacks you guys used?
Yeah, that law requiring muzzle loaders to be out of breath causes a whole lot of misses. :p
Felix, I was using a Silvertip that I got from Bill Webster that was around 62#@29" with canebrake skins and antler limb tips. Usually I use longbows, but my thunderchilds aren't well suited to a bow quiver. Dave was using his beautiful Dale Dye bow that is black and white ebony that Bryan was kind enough to modify for him on the hunt. Bryan was using his trusted ACS that he killed a cow with last year. Dave and I practiced a fair bit with broadheads at distances up to 50 yards prior to the hunt, and we all shot in camp. I would say that we all shot about the same and felt comfortable out to 40 yards, but were really confident 35 yards and in. You know when a shot feels right.
Here are some pics. Dave texted me a pic of his first 2 shots of the day with broadheads at 30 yard.
(http://i.imgur.com/7bE9QXz.jpg)
I grabbed my bow. First 3 shots with field tips into crosswind at 50 yards.
(http://i.imgur.com/u4ejjbS.jpg)
Then 2 shots with broadheads at 34 steps, straight into the wind.
(http://i.imgur.com/DMAt9R1.jpg)
Next two shots at 44 steps.
(http://i.imgur.com/CKVyb8t.jpg)
Then chips shots at 20 yards.
(http://i.imgur.com/QS1oZmW.jpg)
That silvertip doesn't shoot half bad.
lmao, Monterey.
QuoteOriginally posted by pdk25:
awbowman, I had some trouble with a bloody nose too, but I think it was from the dry air. I started smearing petroleum jelly in my nose and the problem went away.
centaur, it definitely left a bad taste in our mouths, but it didn't ruin the hunt. There were some good experiences to be had.
Yes the antihistamines aggregated the situation
el Greco, I will tell a little about the packs.
Bryan would using an ICON 7000 pack from Kuiu, which he likes but we didn't talk much about it.
Dave had decided on the pack from EXO mountain gear, and he got the 3500 ci model. He was nice enough to send it to me to try out as I was deciding on a pack. I appreciate the pack more now than I did then, and it is a very sturdy pack with an innovative titanium frame capable of handling very heavy loads.
I chose a nomad pack from kifaru with a camp bag mounted on a lightweight bikini frame. I added a longhunter lid and a couple of belt pouches to increase the storage capacity. All of them easily had the capacity for a 7 day backcountry hunt and are well suited to hauling meat out, although we didn't get the opportunity. Dave's pack and mine also had a good capacity to be reduced down to a daypack. Bryan packed his smaller Sitka gear pack along to use as a daypack.
Ha Pat, trucks are a little better. I drove my Audi A4 to Montana on my elk hunt 10 or so years ago and ripped the metal stone guard off trying to back out a creek I found to deep to cross in a car. Folks in town heard me coming from a mile away as it dragged on the road. Had to used the tire iron to finish the job the rocks started.
Hopefully theres a happy ending yet to come? If not and knowing you, you'll dissect this hunt a hundred times and have a better second half game plan for the next hunt.
QuoteOriginally posted by el greco:
Could you do any recommendations or comments about the backpacks you guys used?
I was using EXO hunting pack, Pat was using a Kiafaru pack, and Bryan was using a Kuiu pack. My pack performed great carrying the loads I had packed.
I also second Pats decision on the firstlite merino. Hands down the best merino I have used.
Ok, I will try to get started on the Saturday hunt, but I am going to the movies with my wife, so likely won't finish.
We already know that it is Bryan's last day to hunt, and it also will be Dave's last day because his back is killing him, and he is catching an early flight back home out of Colorado Springs to get to his regular chiropractor.
We set the clocks for 3:00 am, and are hiking our way into the drainage by 3:30, with Bryan in front and me in the back and both using green flashlights, and Dave using no light at all, using the light from our flashlights as a guide. He did a better job than I would have, and we did a pretty could job of being quiet up until the end of the hike in. We were about half way there, when we heard bugling. A total of 3 different bulls were in the drainage bugling, and we were trying to get ahead of them before daylight. We might have been able to do it, but we were literally surrounded by cow calls. In every direction, you could here 'eeoo', so we got bogged down waiting for them to move off and hoping that we wouldn't get busted by the wind. We thought we were in the clear, but could only make it to a lookout deep in the drainage, but we could here the sound of bugling heading deep in the dark timber on the far side of the drainage as daylight broke. We periodically would hear a bugle in the timber from the same location, and decided the best bet was to wait all day until he would come down the drainage to get a drink and feed rather than likely get busting working through the timber with a disadvantageous wind.
Hey pat!
Sorry I never called you back, when you were driving home. There alway something getting in the way. Glad you had a semi good time. And it seems you were well prepared.
we had our best elk encounter last night. Julie called a nice 6x6 about 15 yards away (from her) and about 25 from me. I just needed one more step. But it didn't happen.
Write on. I'm still reading
Wish you guys could of had a better time but you give the upmost effort and had a great time it's just a shame that some people don't treat the outdoors like most of us do and have respect!!
Thanks for the update. Beautiful country but wayyy too many people in that area.
That is what happens on public land with over the counter tags.
Sounds like a good opportunity, Matt. You figure with enough of them something good will happen.
Back from the movies and back to the story. So we spend the daytime alternating between taking naps, taking a few shots without risking getting busted, and with Dave and Bryan seeing if they can catch a brook trout with a sapling some serving material, and a small sharpened piece of wood. Great fun, but we are eagerly awaiting the evening, and moved a little down the drainage to better glass the meadows and to keep the wind in our favor. We moved a few hundred yards, and it is drizzling now, but Bryan forgot his bugle at the last spot, and goes to retrieve it, while Dave and I wait for him. In the drizzle, it is hard to see Bryan even with binocs. Well in this time interval, two local muzzleloader hunters that are not wearing the requisite orange come into the picture. One heads down into the drainage and up the other side of the drainage near where the elk is bedded, and one stays up on the other hill. Now personally, I don't really care about the orange. What I do care about is how obnoxious it was to cut Bryan off, plus the fact that the only way they got there was to illegally ride their ATV's into the drainage. Well, Bryan lets out a bugle before the guy can get all the way to well the bull is bedded, and Dave and eye get quite a view. A nice 4x6 bull runs full tilt down the hill and stops 35 yards from Bryan, looking around. He is a little confused because at this point both of the muzzleloader hunters are cow calling to him. All Bryan needs is one more step to his left to clear some brush, but the bull puts his nose in the air and runs full tilt back up the hill, having winded fat boy up on the hill. Then to make matters worse, stops 30 yards broadside from the other hunter and the shot goes off. The bull stumbles down into the drainage to die around 40 yards from Bryan.
I guess I should mention how I know they were riding ATV's. Dave had previously said that he thought that heard an ATV. I didn't hear it, but Dave's hearing is much better than mine. After the bull was shot, we went over to take a look at the bull, and noticed they had daypacks that could barely fit a sandwich. I commented that they would need a bigger pack, and the younger of the two said they would ride the ATV's down into the drainage to get the meat.
We took the long walk back the truck, vowing never to hunt during the muzzleloader season again.
Sunday morning saw Dave and Bryan packing up to head back to Colorado Springs, and I intended to stick around for some solo hunting until the following weekend. I didn't know a lot of the adjacent country and was barely getting competent at cow calling, but figured I couldn't kill one if I wasn't I the woods. I took Sunday morning off from hunting to see Dave and Bryan off, and prepared to get back in the woods Sunday evening.
Time for some more gear comments. I had packed several items for having clean water during the trip. A camp bag gravity filter system that holds around 10 liters, a sawyer one liter squeeze filter bag, and an older msr pump filter. I opted to leave the pump filter in the car when we made the back country ascent to save weight. Mistake. The one liter squeeze bottle would fill in the low flow creek near our camp and is basically useless unless you have a source like deep water are water with a much higher flow rate. The gravity bag also was very difficult to fill without having tons of debris from the creek bottom in the bag. Fortunately, Bryan spotted a small pan that one of the prior hunters/slobs left behind, and I could use this to dip water out of the creek to fill the bag. Once filled, it worked like a charm and was more than enough water to supply me for 2 days when my camelbak bags and msr dromedary bags were filled. It made the half mile hike to water worth the trip. I won't leave my pump filter behind anymore, though.
So sunday afternoon comes, and I head back into the drainage that we had been hunting, but in the lower end hoping that the elk wouldn't be spooked from the activity in the upper portion the day before. I head to the top and sneak through the timber, hoping to catch site or sound of some elk. On Saturday Dave had see a cow and calf in this area and I was hoping they would still be there. I didn't see or hear anything, but I would stop and glass and cow call occasionally working my way back toward lower elevation and trying to keep the evening thermals in my favor. I hadn't heard anything and was relocating when I caught sight of a nice 5x5 bull in an area that I called the gap, on a hill between stretches of timber. He was silently looking for me, and I was not in a great spot. He was only a couple hundred yards away, and when he headed downhill through the gap I quickly closed the distance using the available cover. If he would have kept his same line, I would have had a 40 yard shot, but instead, when he was out of site, he circled into the lower timber. I think he my have caught my motion and I heard him take off. I made a couple of cow calls, and surprisingly he came back. Unfortunately, he stood there broadside at 60-70 yards for a few seconds, lifted his head to sample the air and the thermals gave me away and off he went. A great experience, but if I had gone straight downhill I would have had a shot. It just seemed risky, with not enough time or cover to get where I needed to be. Live and learn.
Monday came, and it basically rained on and off all day, and was so foggy that you couldn't see anything more than 50 yards in front of you. I opted to take the day off, drive in to town, and do some laundry.
That brings us to Tuesday morning, and I am up at 4 am to head to the southeastern crest of the lower drainage. I get there, and wait for dawn to do some glassing. It is a beautiful morning, and this is my view for a portion of the other side of the drainage:
(http://i.imgur.com/LL65GLz.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/QmdOx7p.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/U8UrMbn.jpg)
Good stuff Pat. Glad you at least had a learning experience. Public land can be a drag at times.
Around 7:15am, I see a bull and cow on the crest on the opposite side of the drainage. In the bottom picture, if you see the bald know to the left and see there is a little strip of mixed pine and alder just to the right, the elk were just to the right of that grove. Too far away, so I just continue glassing, as the elk drop into the timber on the far side. Maybe 45 minutes later a group of mule deer run from the opposite side down into the drainage, so I know they are spooked by something. The answer become clear another half hour later, when I see 2 cows and a calf head down into the drainage, and 2 compound hunters emerge on the crest. I am only using 6 power binocs, but can see that they are beginning to process the meat of the bull that I had seen. They processed it on the hill to the far right side of the bottom picture. Nice job on their part. Wish I could have caught up with them to get the details from their perspective. I decided to head back to the truck in order to see if I could find the gentleman and congratulate them, but never found them. I did find 2 locals hauling a mule deer to their truck that had been shot next to the road the previous rainy night. I am no expert, but to me it was clearly shot with a firearm and they returned the next morning with a compound bow to make it seem legal. I had no phone number to call, or cell service to report it. I don't want this to sound so bitter, because I actually had a great time and considered it a learning experience. It is just very difficult to truly get away from other folks to hunt, it seems.
I think that is going to be all for tonight. Will try to finish up tomorrow.
Thanks for posting for our enjoyment.
In the early afternoon on Tuesday, I headed back on the mountain and wound up spooking an elk out of a very small drainage right off of the trail. It was really just scouting trip, and I got out of their early to head back to the gap for the evening hunt. I didn't see anything the rest of that day.
I had hiked around 13 miles the on Tuesday and was getting a little fatigued with the hiking and lack of sleep. This combined with not setting the alarm clock properly, and I woke up on Wednesday late, at around 5:30am. I had planned on hitting the large drainage, but didn't have time to get there so I decided to get back up on the mountain. At least I might run into some grouse. By the time I got to the trail, I could see to walk without a flashlight, so I eased my way up as quietly as I could, with the wind in my face. I was looking, but apparently not well enough. A little more than half way up, I spooked a 4x4. I was less than 10 yards from him, but couldn't see him because he was behind a small pine tree on my left and as I started to step clear of it he saw me. He ran out to 35-40 and stopped quartering away, but there was brush behind him and me. In hindsight, I believe that I could have knelt down and had a shot, but I thought that he was probably unsure of what he was running from, so I waited a few seconds and when he took a couple more steps into cover, I eased back behind the pine and gave a couple of cow calls. No response, and he continued away through the clearing that he was in. Exciting, but I obviously wasn't alert enough. Live and learn. I continued to hunt the mountain the rest of the day, but the only fresh sign that I saw were the tracks from that bull. I wonder if he was just wandering through, looking for love? Saw a bunch of grouse, but didn't take any shots since I was really after elk. I went back to camp, took a quick lunch, and made plans for the afternoon. I had now spooked 2 elk in that same small drainage, possibly the same elk, but I decided to sit further up the drainage in the evening, into the night, in case elk were making their way to the creek for a drink, and if I didn't see anything, I brought a blanket and planned on sitting into the night to listen for bugling or cow calls, trying to pin them down. I wound up not seeing anything during daylight, and sat until 3am without hearing any elk activity. At that point I packed up my gear and headed down the mountain, planning on going to the crest of the drainage before daybreak again.
So, it is Thursday, and I am climbing back up to the crest of the drainage. The forecast was for very little wind out of the NE, and by the time it shifts to out of the south, the thermals should be in my favor for that vantage point. As daylight breaks it is another beautiful view, and I am hoping to catch elk making their way to the timber on the south side of the drainage. 7am comes around, and to my surprise, there is a fairly large herd of elk on the far side again. This time, they are on the crest just to the left of the largest yellow grove of aspen trees in the previous picture. I didn't figure to see them back in that area again so soon. Decision time, as I watch them alternately bed and feed. As they ease over the hill slowly, I make the decision to head down into the drainage, and over the other side to try to catch up with them. I get their pretty quickly, with lots of cover between me and the elk, and staying a little down the drainage, as the wind is actually taking my scent down that way. I get over the crest, and try to find them, but I am unsuccessful. I think that I may have heard them far down the side in the Timber, but don't feel confident that I can quietly get down to them, so I watch and listen in the top of the timber. I waited until maybe 11am with no sign. Maybe I should have been more aggressive and called, but I didn't want to do anything to push them out. I headed back to the car, and back to camp. I packed up my tent and gear, and planned on going back and hunting the afternoon and sleeping in the drainage to be ready for them early the next morning. I knew that it was supposed to rain on Friday and Saturday and hate packing up camp in the rain. By the time I was going to head back to the drainage, it had started raining already and was to foggy to see. I decided that rather than packing in and setting up in the rain with limited chance of success, it was time to finally head back home, and end my hunt. I had a great time, with a lot of sighting, but still have an awful lot to learn.
awesome dude. Good you got into them that last day the later th season gets the better it gets it seems. Nice pictures too, interesting terrain it doesnt look like theres a lot of Beetle kill in that area like there is in MOST of colorado.
you did the right thing by not calling on that last group, If there was a bull he only would have bugled back at you to get youre butt over to them. they arent going to go to you once the heards are established. A satelite bull might take the leap.
glad you were able to come out and give it a shot...
Thanks, Matt. There us plenty of beetle kill, though. Especially on the mountain. Lots of people cutting firewood from the dead trees.
Maybe I will get lucky and get to hunt in a draw unit next year. Maybe a little less pressure, but I feel fortunate to have seen the elk that I did get to see. Lots of improvement to make in my game, in any case.
Pat,you did everything was possible,so this is been a great success and a heck of an experience.
Thanks, Felix. I have to learn how to be productive working the timber on pressured elk. Both after glassing them and seeing them go in, and when I suspect they may be there. Around 80% of huntable hours, I think that they are in cover, but you can spend alot of time slowly stalking through timber unsuccesfully. Anyone with any suggestions or descriptions of what they do would be most welcome.