My 1st Elk hunt...CO

[trap55555]

I thought I would post this here on TNDeer for my fellow Tennesseans. If for nothing else to give you some encouragement if you ever thought you might want to try to put together a hunt in a western state. With some reading and asking some questions it not that hard to put together, but the hunting that we did is the hardest hunting I have ever done. I will include three post that I originally posted on another forum.

First I'l give a little introduction, since I'm not a big poster and a little more of a lurker.

Background & getting started.
I'm in my early 50's and have hunted whitetails since my teen years. But I have never hunted elk nor anywhere other than TN & KY. I had dreamed of hunting Elk out West someday and was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen. So after reading this forum many times over the years, I realized I needed to start trying to get something going because I wasn't getting any younger. Part of the issue for me was that I knew no one that went elk hunting. I'm fairly conservative naturally so a complete venture on my on wasn't going to happen. So the plan was to find someone I cause talk to face to face and get info from. Then do my best to convince one of my whitetail hunting buddies to go with me to help share cost etc and learn together.
So I see this post last year here in elk hunting on 24hcf by "bwinters" who lives in area. I offer to buy lunch to talk elk hunting. He accepts but with travel and schedules it takes a couples of months before we finally have lunch. We had a great long lunch with much discussion about families, church, hunting, reloading, guns, & more hunting. And toward the end I get a great surprise when bwinters (Bill) tells me that they have an opening this year for their drop camp and I can have it. I first said "I will think about it"... A few minutes later I said "I'm pretty I'll take it", just need to make sure with the love of my life.
IT'S A GO!, let's start getting ready...( and it's January). I put in for and got drawn for a cow tag. Long story short... about Sept the outfitter has some issues and can't fulfill our hunt. My heart sinks, man I was so looking forward to this now it is all in question. But bwinters has a backup plan, I'm all ears, It a DIY hunt, Ok sounds good, let's go for it, new plans, quick acting, but expectations are lowered, cow tag is returned for refund. So what was at one time 5 persons hunt shrinks to 2 at the very end.

On to the hunt (..next post).

trap55555.

 

[trap55555]

The Hunt:
The forecast for the first days are not good, "warm"..might I add hot. Bwinters loves to hike and climb. So Friday (last minute scout day) the day before opening we wait until late morning/midday and take a scouting trip or maybe it was a test to see what kind of condition I was in.... I'm still not sure which. So after 6 miles yes 6, (on a goat trail i might add) were back at the truck. One thing I do know this country we live has some beautiful places to see and I get to hunt in some of this coming week.

Day I, Saturday - up and out early, hike in take a spot. After about 30 minutes I see game it's a doe picking her way through, she hangs out 45 minutes browsing and she moves on, but it's the first mule deer I've ever seen in the field. After a while its time to move, then move again, finally get to a place to spend the last light of the day. I see more deer, then more deer. Then about sunset another racket has my attention up on the hill about 200 yds away. It's elk, there's elk here (Wee!), those things are big. There were two, one cow for sure didn't get a good look at the other. Total deer for the day either 15 or 16, with maybe 5 of those that are duplicates.

Day II Sunday - same as yesterday up early, out late.... I go back to where I seen elk the evening before and spent all day there. See plenty more deer all does (8) plus 1 yote dog, but no elk.
Day III Monday - let's try a new place, and it's higher... More climbing,a plus more people. But I see more elk, 5 today and 4 are bulls. Two spikes, one bigger spike that might have forks, but I didn't look at it long because the one following has some points for sure. But it is running I see three to a side for sure (need at least 4 on one side to be legal), looking, looking, I think I see four, not sure, yea maybe, yes I think so, and the elk turns it back to me slips off into the dark woods. More deer, totals for the day deer=8, elk=5. Plus a lot of hunters.
Here a photo is of the meadow I hunted and where I seen the elk.

Day IV Tuesday - rest day, get a shower....... No hunting, well we do hunt but it was for a shower. With big weather changes coming. Snow starts falling in the evening. I needed the rest day, this is the hardest hunting that I have ever did, I have never walked so much, hunted so hard, carried so much while hunting, and climbed so much while hunting in my life. But I was happy to find that i had my muscles in fair condition because they were not sore, but I couldn't get enough air, as we live at about 1000 feet ASL. And I had to rest much more than bwinters as he has a motor when it comes to hunting and climbing.
Day V Wednesday - wake up to about 3 inches of snow at camp. Hike back to the place where I seen the 5 elk, get there and find about 6 inches of snow and it is beautiful, the morning was so quiet it was erie. Unfortunately this time no elk, and no others hunters in the area. Camp is thinning out some also, the weather forecast for our area was much worst than what came, plus some people not seeing more elk I think sent some people packing. The temps are dropping and it is suppose to get much colder.
Same place as Monday but with snow (notice tall tree in center of both photo's).

Day VI Thursday - it's cold, nothing seems to work, the CO detector in the camper is chirping, it not working because the batteries are bad but because the batteries just barely work at these temps. My eye contact solution has ice in it. All on the water is now it the hard form. There is frost all over the inside of the camper. We have to thaw the water to get something to drink for breakfast, the eggs yokes have turned to a stiff gel. Start the generator and get some heat going.

The thermometer in the truck indicated 5 degrees F. We hang around camp and get stuff functional, lose the morning hunt and have thoughts of pulling out early, bwinters has only seen 2 elk. And the sign that we would have hoped to see it the snow on Day 5 wasn't there.

Bill tells me that if I want to go we can go, if I want to stay we'll stay. The original plan was to stay until Saturday. But its Thursday and the elk have appeared to moved out.
There was one place that we wanted to look at earlier but we didn't because there was a group camping at the trail that told us that they were staying all week and were hunting deep back. But we had noticed they had pulled out early along with others. So I suggested that we go there this afternoon and check it out, with the snow from Tuesday night and Wed. morning we should see if there are elk in the area fairly quickly. If nothing was there we could pull out in the morning (Fri). So that was the plan.

We hit the trail late morn or so, about 1.5 miles later, we get to the area where the hunting starts. Bill goes one direction and I go another, we have radios for comm. and gps's after 2 or 3 hours we talk and both of us have tracks in the snow. Bill is going to sit over a meadow, I'm going into some dark timber and see if I can pick up some tracks.
Time passes and I'm not seeing much more, I haven't heard from bill. Also I have remember that I have left my petzl headlamp in camp (Grrrrr). So I don't want to be in the timber without a backup light so I start ezzzing my way ever slowly down off the mtn, at least out of the dark timber. I break out of the DT and get to an opening and stop and start hunting the Aspen.

I notice what looks like part of an animal off to my right about 200yds. Pull up the Minox (thank you Doug for the deal) and see that it is a beautiful 4x4 buck moving ever so quietly & slowly. I continue to watch him and the woods below for other movement. He moves on and I start moving on down again too.

Along about 5:45- 5:50 +/- I here a shot a good distance away, then another shot. Then my radio breaks it's silence an I hear Bill's voice, "I've shot a bull but I can't find it", "do you want me to come and help?", "no not yet, let me see if I can find it", delay, delay and I continue to go a little lower on the mtn. Radio again, "hey I found it, and I'm going to need your help", "ok, where are you? How big is it?", "it's a 6x6", "cool, give me GPS coords". "ok hang on". I've now started in the general direction that I believe him to be in. We try to relay the gps coords but the distance between us keeps the signal form being clear but I know the general direction and I am making my way. Time to rest so I stop for some air, try the gps coords again but no luck but something doesn't sound right, but I keeping moving.

I stop again to take a short break. As I'm standing there I hear something coming through the woods, and it sounds heavy. I look up and see elk coming across above me at about 100yds and running first I noticed a cow... nope, not the target next, then another, then a spike, nope,nope,nope, then they slow down and seem a little hesitant, the first group moves on then a second group right behinf them moves in. Hey there one that might be a shooter, put the 3.5x10 lupy up and start counting points from the top 1,2,3,4... that's as far as I got then moved the X the target area, squeezed and "nothing",.... Take the safety off dummy, second try is successful bullet is away. Felt good about the shot, the bull ran a short distance (7-10 yds) up a little hill and I have a new 165 gr Acubond in the tube and ready. But now I don't have a shot for the trees. Then I noticed another bull maybe better than the one I shot at, about that time, he crumples back down the hill and has expired.

Bill on radio, "hey I've got this down and I'm going need your help to get him out", "hey I've got one down too", "was that you that shot?, what is it", "yea, I don't know but it is legal", "go find out and tell me what it is", "Bill, it's a 5x5", "great, well tag it and come up here and help me then we'll go quarter yours, it going to be long night", "ok, give me those coords again"..... we had our GPSs setup to display the coords differently, got that straight and seen that he was 0.81 miles away. And of course it was up hill for me.

Both elk quartered, back strap out, all hung in the trees. On a clear moonless night you could see every star in the sky like i had never seen them before. We get back to the truck @ 11:30 and the thermometer reads 9F. It sure didn't seem that cold.

 

[trap55555]

Random thoughts, observations, stuff we were told, miscellaneous things we said or heard. All of it on this trip. Maybe you can relate to some of these. You are warned; sarcasm, smart remarks,...are included no offense meant.

Dang! Illinois has higher fuel tax.
Note to self, don't follow road GPS in St.Louis. (it doesn't matter, something happened going West and coming East).
Cabelas (Kansas City store this time) is like SAMs club (Costco,..) you can't leave unless you spend $100.

Kansas has very rich & fertile looking soil (I normally just say "dirt"... But trying not to look like an hillbilly and all (keep reading)).
Kansas seemed real "windy" good place for a wind farm.

I would need a little time to get used to navigating in the fields in certain parts of Kansas without a gps... How should I say this... Kansas does not have a lot of geographical references.

Places we stayed going to & from.
Place #1, attendant, "you guys want a king, or two doubles?", our reply, "TWO DOUBLES, TWO DOUBLES!!!!" Gee...I'm thinking what does he think we look like? I'm looking at Bill, Bill looks at me....NAH NO Way! he could think...
the next day,
place #1, "that place was a dive"
place #1, "that place would not have passed the 'smell' test", "what do you mean?", "well if I took my wife in there, she would have sniff around, and we would not have stayed there", "ok, I gotcha, I think I married her sister".
Place #2, "what do you mean, you don't have any rooms".
place #3 "breakfast was much better that the other place".
Return trip:
place #4 "Well, that place was about like I remember it was from before, clean, quiet, reasonable, and the breakfast sucks".
Place #5 "I stayed at one of these before,.... I was thinking it was better that this.

Misc stuff:
This is a conversation we had with a Coloradan that went something that this. Super nice guy by the way.
Us, "so what do you use to hunt with"
Him, "338-378"
Us "WOW"
Him, "yea, it does a number on elk and it will reach out there, but the thing is really expensive to shoot, the ammo is about $5 a round".
Us, "sure is, and bet you get a good kick for your dollar".
Him, "nah, you don't never remember it when you shoot an elk".
Us, "I guess not, but what about sighting in and practice?"
Him, "well you tend to forget about it after walking back from the 300 yard target to see where the impact was"
Us, "Oh...ok"
Him, "yea... Two is about all I shoot, things are so expensive".

Conversation with the same guy a little while later. We hadn't been any joking or kidding around at this point (of course we thought some of the earlier conversation was entertaining, he had not showed a lot of humor).
Him, "so where are you fellows from."
Us, "Tennessee"
Him,"so your hillbillies huh?
Us, .... Long pregnant pause, as we didn't say anything as we were kind of caught a little off guard.
Him, "I'm only kidding around"
Us, (or me anyway) before he could say, "I'm only kidding around"... I'm thinking "yea ok, TN is known to have had hillbillies, call me a hillbilly, heck throw in a little redneck too, I don't care, but your the guy who shoots two rounds for practice and for sighting in for 300yd shots. Neither of us were offended. If your going to call us something, be sure when it is time to eat smile

Did I mention Kansas is really flat.

Horses are really good for carry lots of heavy stuff.

God is great and gaiters are good... Don't wait for snow to wear them.

A good GPS with some practice using it is worth it's weight in dollars bills (maybe $5 bills).....
If you are communicating coordinates be sure both parties are in the same format... Dd.ddddd,dd.mm.mmm, or...

My North Face Elkhorn zero degree sleeping bag is worth more than I paid... But don't tell them that.

Accubonds don't bounce off elk when leaving the muzzle at 2850.

My Petzl headlamp was money very well spent.
Just because it is light out when you go in the woods, don't mean you won't need a light.

Places are further and higher than they look in Colorado.... Especially when going there on foot.

In the Denver area, they are towns within towns within the metro... I'm talking about Prairie Dog towns IN THE INDUSTRIAL PARK area.... I thought that was strange.... But "heck" what to I know I'm just a hillb...

Elk go fast, high, and far.
Elk understand property boarders.

Somebody had the nerve to put a curve in I70 in Kansas.
Who won the World Series? We were kind of out of touch with that stuff.

I'm at the hospital as I initially write this(Monday), wife is having an out patient procedure, a lady comes to get me and take me back and says "we're are going to take a 'long' walk down this hall", I'm thinking... lady if you only knew.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

Awesome! This is a dream of mine.

 

[trealtree]

Neat story! I am currently building points for a wyoming elk hunt.

 

[easy45]

congrats

 

[BIGROCKREB]

Great story! Awesome pics too. Congrats!!

 

[warpheagle]

Thats a great story. Brought back some good memories for me as I also went on my first elk hunt this year. Thanks for sharing.

 

[JohnnyBond]

Great story! Awesome pics too. Congrats!!

x2

 

[mike243]

 

[MWoodard]

Great story, what unit did you hunt?

 

[LA man]

great story also. ive been out there once but didnt get a shot. ide love to go back but the guys i hang around with cant afford to go so i dont go.

 

[Crosshairy]

I've been looking very seriously into going as well. Unfortunately, neither I nor my family members have any experience out west, so we're most likely going with some sort of guide or outfitter service.

I've certainly been thinking a lot about physical conditioning before going out. It sounds like lung-busting work!

Thanks for the cool story.

 

[Dean Parisian]

I think this is the POST OF THE YEAR.........some guy, a lurker just mans up and gets it done.......i love this approach to life, to hunting, to reaching goals..........congratulations on filling your freezer with elk meat.

It really doesn't get much better!

 

[mike243]

not a lurker,just a quite man,listens more than talks ,qaulity over qaunity lol ,thanks for sharing,helps others hold onto the dream .

 

[trap55555]

Neat story! I am currently building points for a wyoming elk hunt.

Good Luck to you. Wyoming has some great bulls. But they are also dealing with the wolf issue. But I don't think it is as bad there as it is in ID and MT.

trap55555

 

[trap55555]

Awesome! This is a dream of mine.

It was/is a dream of mine also, definitely already thinking of going again.

For me it was (or almost) a "bucket list" item. Once I started working on it, I thought the soonest it would happen would likely be 2012. But I met a super nice guy from Maryville and we made it work this year, but he had been before and hunted this area before also, that was a big help.

DIY hunts on public lands can be done, done right they are a lot of work. But they are certainly cheaper than guided hunts. And you may not harvest the first year or every year. But just like the place you deer hunt, the more you go the more you learn.

 

[trap55555]

Great story, what unit did you hunt?

I'm going to keep the unit close to the vest, but I will say we were in NW CO. Hope that helps.

trap55555

 

[trap55555]

great story also. ive been out there once but didnt get a shot. ide love to go back but the guys i hang around with cant afford to go so i dont go.

Thanks, as I said we were very close to pulling out and heading back and as the day was winding down I thought I was going to be shotless also. But the Lord put a blessing on me.

I certainly understand the money aspect. As you can tell we stayed in the less expensive places going and coming. The license was the single biggest expense (~$550) for each of us, as we split everything else.

We all have to make choices, I gave up some things that I normally do to help on expenses, plus this being my first year, I had to buy equipment that I didn't have but felt I needed. Like a 0 degree rated sleeping bag, I good GPS, and list that list goes on and on. I had a bought a lighter weight rifle over a year ago thinking that if I did go it would go too.

 

[trap55555]

I think this is the POST OF THE YEAR.........some guy, a lurker just mans up and gets it done.......i love this approach to life, to hunting, to reaching goals..........congratulations on filling your freezer with elk meat.

It really doesn't get much better!

Thanks so very much. I say lurker because I don't post that often... I've been here a while, just don't post a lot.

I wanted to share and to maybe encourage others to give it a try. Even before the harvest I decided that I had had a very good experience and would try to do it again. I have traveled this great country on business from California to Vermont to Washington state to Florida. But I had never hunted out West. So the views, the hikes, the lay of the land, the mountain peaks, the different game was a great blessing to see and experience. I got to see game and animals in their habitat that I had never seen before, I even seen a porcupine in the field haha... much bigger than I expected.

The meat will be enjoyed,
Thanks again,
Trap55555