Had a great trip with some good company for my first hunt in Colorado. A while back a good guy here on tradgang put up an invite for his Colorado elk camp and we made plans to meet up at a base camp. Turns out Don knows his stuff and killed a nice cow on the second day with his Bear recurve , but I was several miles away looking over another area. After meeting back up on day three I moved over into the area he had been hunting. This is a DIY with OCT tags hunt on public lands , heavy packs and lots of lung busting fun. That said I spent a total of 20 days in the backcountry living in my tent bow hunting and fishing for trout with my Tenkara rod ( many good campfire fish meals ). All my gear worked out great and that was a good thing cause we had rain for prob 14 of the 20 days and many cold frosty mornings and nights. I don't think I went a single day without seeing elk an  in total called in 18 bulls ( only cow called never once used a tube ) with many close encounters but never the right shot , well one shot but that's for later. Many things went wrong as the old list goes , wind changed , moved to soon , set up wrong , did not get out of the sleeping bag til noon , and on and on blah blah blah...
I was only about 5 miles back but in plenty of elk and was having a great time. My last trip in the mountains was 3 years ago and I was soaking it all in. Don only ventured out and gave a visit once and did some fishing and checked on his 2 buddy's that were with me. They were seeing elk and learning the ins and outs of this type of hunt as it was there first trip for elk ( both great guys ) but left with no tags filled but I'm sure they will return and tag elk in the future. I saw elk , murderer , moose , bear , pine martin , pine squirrel , marmot , and caught many fish. So an elk kill would just seal a great trip........

Sounds like a great time!

 

The I was hunting with a Bear Takedown GreenStripe and old bear razorheads with an old bear quiver. The guys I was camped with decided to head back a day early and I watched as they walked down the valley and out of sight so now I'm all alone. I was sitting and pondering my next move should I go catch some fish for supper or should I go look for elk. So I put my pack on and headed up the mountain for elk. I  did not get very far up from camp and thought I heard something above me so I got my cow call out of my pocket knelt down and let out some seductive cow talk. Next thing I know 2 cows and 5 Bulls come screaming down the mountain on a path that would run me over so when they were about 25 yds away I hit the call again and they turned to my right then stopped. The biggest bull was in the back and I never saw him til it was too late the best bull I could see was just in front of him. So they are up hill and standing side hill from me at about 25 or 30 yds, I lock in on the bull and cut loose the arrow. Right then the bull I never saw pushed my bull forwards and I see my arrow hit my bull back and penetrate up to the crest. He humped up and ran about 30 yds up and stopped and watched the other elk run down the mountain then he just walked around the corner and out or sight. I marked the spot and backed out as quite as I could , made a mad dash to my tent then a mad 5mile dash to base camp to see if my new friends could lend a hand. I played the shot over and over in my head and knew he would not go far as long as nothing pushed him it was a hair popping sharp 4 blade Razorhead.....

My home for the trip....

So I had a very sleepless night in the high country and we headed out after sun up to search for my bull also keep in mind these guys have a 24 hour drive home I'm now keeping them from. I knew the bull was down it was just finding him ( many thanks to the great guys that was helping me on this task ). We get to the spot and I show them how it all went down I walk up and say this is where he was then walk over and say this is where he watched the others go down the mountain. Then walk his path and say here is where I lost sight of him. We stand there and over think everything and say well he prob did this so we need to go look here then there then over there this went on for an hour or more. Long story of how we thought wrong so we went back to the spot I lost sight of him and wouldn't you know he was down only 35yds to the left of the last spot I saw him. So he was a total of 78 yards from where the arrow hit him , the shot was back but the angle had been good enough to get the job done ( Don't over think like I did stat from ground zero Always ). I was a happy fellow and had 4 strong backs for the pack out. He is my second DIY public land bull and I am very proud of him.......

 

Nice bull Sam, congrats!

While looking for him I saw a big bear so I go buy a bear tag cause I still have 11 days to hunt. Anyway we get him boned out and packed back out and my new friends start out for home and I'm now alone again for a few days til my Tx buddy arrived to hunt elk.I spent many days fishing and looking for bears with no luck on the bears but had a great trip with new friends and old and I'm sure I will do it again...

Great job!! great pics. great story. congrats

Congrats Sam! Sounds like a great trip in some beautiful country!

My last day of hunting , sad to leave but glad to be home....

,,,,Sam,,,

Alone in the mountains hunting bear! Your the Man!


Is watching over a large gut pile considered baiting Bear!!??

Great hunt and story.  

Congrats on what was a great hunt.  Always mic when you can find a spot where you can get a little fishing in to break up the days.

Nice hunting story and pictures!  Congrats on a well earned bull and a lot of great memories!    

Bernie

Simply Outstanding........    

Congradations!  Thanks for sharing the pics..

How was it Sleeping alone in the back country?

Great stuff......thanks for sharing.....