Good luck buddy! We're all here just waiting on a report.
Got a hunt off a lifetime today
- Thread starter tree_ghost
- Start date
double browtine
Well-Known Member
Good luck! Keep us updated
This is me too!Good luck buddy! We're all here just waiting on a report.
JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I've been there!JCDEERMAN
Well-Known Member
I leave at 6am tomorrow morning for Steamboat Springs, CO for 2 weeks. Can't freaking wait! Didn't even hear a bugle last year after hiking 52 miles. Sure hope it's different this year!
Update us when you can, man. Best of luck!!!
Update us when you can, man. Best of luck!!!
DoubleRidge
Well-Known Member
Good luck JCDeerman and tree_ghost!! Looking forward to the updates!!
Keep us posted on your trip. I had plans of being out chasing elk for 3 weeks but the Lord had other plans for me this year
Good luck guys! Hunting elk vicariously thru you this year. Look forward to your reports.
Wiley
Well-Known Member
It has just now occurred to me that I did the same thing to my right arm about 10 years ago. The recovery didn't require a brace or anything and was relatively quick.
Anyway, I hope you stick a monster .... maybe ALL of y'all will get hoss bulls!
tree_ghost
Well-Known Member
Well boys it's time to write the final chapter of this insane adventure…I began this journey 13 months ago not knowing that it would be anything more than an elk hunt with good friends, in a cool place. Well it definitely was those things but it was so much more than that as well. As a young child I was blessed to have a grandfather, my Pappy, that instilled in me a love for the outdoors as a very young child. My Pappy loved to fish and spoke often of hunting adventures that he wanted to experience. Unfortunately my Pappy was severely disabled and was very limited in his physical capabilities for adventure. But like any dreamer you couldn't break his spirit even if he had a broken body. My Pappy passed away when I was 13 years old and my Nanny gave me his old Puma Whitehunter knife. He purchased this knife back in the 70's with the intention of using it to skin game. Well his health condition never allowed him an opportunity to hunt and use that knife on wild game so As I began to pack my gear for this trip I decided to take my Pappys knife with me in the event we needed to dress a bull. As I climbed those mountains day after day I thought of the times I had shared with my Pappy and how much he wanted to do this. I thought of how I missed talking with him and laughing at his jokes. We had some close encounters the first couple days with some nice bulls, 3 of which were inside 100 yards, but just couldn't get them to fully commit. The next couple days were very slow. Not seeing or hearing much. On the second to last day we glassed a bull up on a slide about 1/3 of a mile away. With the bulls having lock jaw the last few days I decided to simply try and stalk up on him and try to get a shot. I began my stalk towards him at 5:30pm. By 6:30 I had reached my waypoint at the bottom of the slide he was bedded in. By this time the bull had began to work to my left paralleling me instead of dropping straight in. I continued towards him closing the distance of about 400 yards with only 30 minutes of shooting light left. As I get to the thicket I had last seen the bull enter I steadied my nerves and made my final approach. I searched the darkness to spot movement….there at 15 yards he stood behind some spruce. I drew my bow as he stepped forward into an opening. With only 5 minutes of legal shooting light and being in the dark timber I could barely see my pins on him so I whistled softly to stop him and recheck my aim point. Assuring myself that I was tight to his vitals I began to break my shot off when the wind swirls and the bull gets a huge whiff of me…as my arrow leaves the bow, simultaneously the bull wheels left on me and the arrow hits back on him. I backed out immediately given the hit in order to give him time to bed up and die. It was a good decision. We went back in the next morning and walked right to him! The hit was hard quartering away but ended up getting gut, liver, lung. I laid my pack out and retrieved my Pappys knife that had been passed to me 23 years before. As I opened the hide of this elk with the edge of that knife I was overcome with emotion and appreciation for what God has blessed me with. I'm not one to normally do this but I cried like a baby hauling that elk down off that mountain knowing that my Pappy was with me every step of the way. Together up there we shared our greatest adventure. It may sound crazy but that mountain changed me…I harvested the smallest legal bull allowed in Colorado and it is the pinnacle of my adventures and most proud moment bowhunting. This year and this trip have taught me so much. My perspective has changed in the last 8 days tremendously. The end results are no longer my trophies, instead it is the process that is my crown jewel. I have to live in the moment and appreciate every step from A-Z.
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BigRod
Well-Known Member
beautiful bull, story and view! Congrats sir! You're one lucky man!
Amazing story with a beautiful ending, congrats!
Congrats Chase! It looks like you made the most of the opportunity. Kudos to you!
Amen and HALLELUJAH brother. I'm pumped for you and as we spoke earlier. The mountains of God's creation will leave you in awe and overwhelming with the sense of HOW GREAT OUR GOD IS. I'm thrilled that you had such a amazing journey and connection with the great outdoors.
Buzzard Breath
Well-Known Member
Awesome story and pics. Congrats!!! Thanks for sharing.
Awesome!!! Congratulations!
megalomaniac
Well-Known Member
Awesome, congrats! Can't believe there was that much good grass up there!
An old man once told me you arent due an elk until you have hiked at least 100 miles.
An old man once told me you arent due an elk until you have hiked at least 100 miles.
tree_ghost
Well-Known Member
Thank you buddy!
well I'm a little short of that mark but not by much lol the warm temps this month made an abundance of grass in the high country and that didn't help our cause for sure
Congrats my man! Glad you were able to put that knife to use. Let me know when you're grilling elk steaks. 
