Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting First Season Backcountry Elk

Owen (my 14 yr old Elk Slayer son) and I went out for the 5 days of Colorado first season. We packed into a spot for the dreaded dry camp I always try to avoid, but it was where we had been seeing elk. We had very unusual weather and a stunning sunset our first night before the season opened. These are the type of views, that you can only get in a back country camp. Here are a few photos.
Sunset


Camp at sunset, with Seek Outside Redwood brown 4 person tipi


Paradox Pack in Coyote



The first day, we followed our plan A , but quickly found out it was not feasible. The meadow we planned to work had plenty of elk sign, but was a good 45 degree and steeper, with about 400 vertical feet of blow down at the top. A pack out up, was not really going to work, and our location and lack of water meant a pack out down would require moving camp and would need more water etc. The first day, plan "A" was a lost day.


The second day a weather system came in. It was windy, cold, snowing, hail , all day long. It was a good day to move camp and go on to plan B.

Here is camp from plan B. The 4 man was setup for a bit better snow handling, using the side guy outs to get a steeper wall and allow a place for snow to accumulate.


The next morning after the weather cleared, Owen connected on a 5x4 bull.


We packed the bull out and went home and he returned to school.

I reorganized my gear, and packed back in with about 30 hrs left to fill my tag. I packed in as light as I could, using a BT-2 and nothing that required cooking.
I went up a nasty drainage, and finally found a nice place to set up camp that had good glassing opportunities.


The evening, I almost connected on a cow. I had a small group in trees at about 120, downhill from me, and as I was getting ready to shoot they spooked like I rarely see elk spook. The following morning I came within seconds of connecting again as a small group, disappeared over a little knob. That day I needed to go get more water (now kicking myself for not sucking it up and carrying more in), so I hunted up another drainage, where I was busted by a bull near the top. Needless to say, I was getting frustrated. I glassed a couple cows later in the afternoon but had no way to close within 550 or so without loosing 1000 feet of elevation and going up another ridge. Finally that evening, I watched a small group from about 140 yards and could never close the deal. I watched a bull with his rear facing me in some scattered trees, and a cow that the vitals were covered by a tree for some 20 minutes before the wind kicked up and they moved back in the timber. Feeling snake bitten , I headed back to camp with about 30 minutes of shooting light left, when I spotted a small herd moving across some gulleys below me not far from camp. I sat down, and picked out a nice cow who then proceeded to tumble a long ways down the gulley before coming to rest in a depression underneath a fallen aspen (about the only trees in the gulley). Since she was difficult to move up from the depression, and the tree blocked moving her down hill, I called in a couple friends who found me and helped out and I returned to the TH at 2 am with a nice cow in our packs.

Overall, a very good 5 day season.

Very well done! Two elk in that short of season is good work. Congrats to the both of you.

Congrats Kevin and Owen! Awesome pictures too.

+1, great pics and congrats.

Unreal pics. Congrats.

Thanks for bringing us along!!!

Awesome pics and story Kevin, you guys are doing it right!

I need to buy one of those tipi tents...

Cool photos, way to go. It's refreshing (and rare) to see actual hunting trips in the backpack forum these days.

Thanks for your narrative and photos. Good stuff! What were your rifles and cartridges?

Great photos and story there mate, that's a lot of quarters to pack out in 5 days! I bet the legs were a bit sore afterwards.

Regards,

Mog

Lots of packing yes and I needed a couple days for recovery.

Owen shot a Tikka 7mag with 150 grain TTSX , I used a Tikka 30-06 with 168 TTSX distances were 420 for the bull, 300 for the cow. I prefer closer shots, but the area mostly runs long, and all my closer attempts fell through for one reason or another.

Outstanding! Well done, and great pics!