Hunted with Spur Outfitters last week in Walden, Colorado. This was my son Carl's first trip out west and I booked it last year in February. My son had a bull tag and I had a cow tag. Unfortunately, northwest Colorado had the largest elk die-off in over 20 years due to deep snow and ice this past winter. Walden is further east but was still affected to a lesser degree.

We arrived at the lodge last Sunday got settled in and checked the zero on our rifles. Took a ride after dinner and saw a half dozen cows from a ridge top near an old cabin.





Views from the deck





The old cabin



Monday we still hunted a cut over area a few miles SE of the lodge. We got close to a few bulls but they stayed out of sight. It seemed like they weren't really fired up yet. We had a cow run in to 15 yards after lunch but I was in back of my son and our guide Gary and couldn't shoot. She got downwind and switched ends quickly and was gone. Watched a few cows at the back of a meadow before dusk hoping for a bull to come out but nothing showed.

Tuesday we went to the upper side of the same area and almost immediately had a bull bugling below us in the timber but he had cows with him and they were moving. We spent the next couple hours trying to get ahead of them but never could before we hit the back boundary. We heard a few other bulls and setup near a meadow after lunch and had a thunderstorm roll in with high winds before dark.





Wednesday morning we decided to try and kill a cow so we went to the cabin to glass the valley. As we were looking at the snow on the mountains from the rain our guide spotted a big bull with 30-40 cows about a mile away across the valley heading for the bottom. We got in the truck and drove around for a stalk as they were still on the plateau. We made a run for the bottom and tried to get in front of them before they dropped off the edge but the wind swirled and they were gone. We went back to the cabin to glass and saw a few moose in the willows but the elk were in the thick stuff out of sight. A group of 6 cows came in from the west after lunch and we tried a stalk on them. It seemed like a sure thing as we were out of sight and a few hundred yards back from the edge of the ridge but some gusts of wind from an approaching front pushed our scent to them and they were gone. Had a rainbow come out before dusk as the storm was passing. Maybe a good sign!







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Thursday morning we went back to the cut over area and heard a couple bulls bugling as we got out of the truck at first light. We stayed just inside the woods as we hustled along the edge of field and could see a bull and a cow still in the field but the other bull was already in the woods. My son got set up on the sticks and Gary gave a little squeal on his call that turned the bull almost broadside and Carl touched off a shot with his Tikka T3 in 300 WSM. I could see the bull was hit and he only made it about 20 yards before piling up. After some high fives we walked over cautiously but the bull was done. He was hit just in front of the shoulder and the 180 grain Norma Bondstrike bullet exited just in back of the offside shoulder. We did quite a bit of shooting prior to the trip and it definitely paid off.

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I gutted the bull with my deceased brother in laws Buck 105 that my father in law bought him. He was kind of a troubled guy that never wanted to hunt although my father in law bought him guns and hunting equipment it just never worked out with them hunting together. So it seemed kind of fitting that the knife was finally put to use.

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We took the bull right to the processor and got him in the cooler. Gutted weight was 455 lbs and the hanging weight was 352 lbs. There wasn't any jellied up meat from the shot and there was about a 1" hole on both sides of the ribcage. The Bondstrike seems like a pretty good elk bullet!

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We went back to the same spot after lunch and hunted the back edge of the property. The weather was perfect but nothing showed up.

Friday morning it was windy and we glassed by the cabin spotting 3 cows way across the valley. We drove around above them to pinpoint the spot and tried a stalk through the willows along the brook but they moved off before we got there.

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The wind picked up after lunch and we set up at the edge of a field where we had been seeing cows but nothing showed up. Had a nice sunset though!

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Although I didn't get my cow I wasn't disappointed. It was a great week with my son! We saw a lot of game including elk, moose, deer, antelope, coyotes, rabbits and all sorts of birds including a golden eagle.

The elk population seemed fairly healthy despite the bad winter. We saw a fair amount of elk and quite a few calves. The deer and antelope got hit much harder according to the guides. The outfitter decided not to hunt antelope this year although we did see quite a few.

Very nice! Nothing like those memories with your son.

Very awesome!!!!

Todd

Good job. The first bull sets the hook pretty hard and I imagine you and your son will go back. I see lots of backstrap steaks in your future. 😊

I always wonder what stories those old cabins could tell.

Congrats, pm sent

Great story. Congratulations to your son.

Memories to last a lifetime. Well done.

Congrats! Great job.

Awesome hunt! Congrats!

Congratulations, dreams that turn into memories, can't beat that.

Cool story and great father son time. Glad you liked Colorado. Walden is an interesting area, and one of the first areas in the state to have a know wolf population. I have to ask, what season where you hunting?

Spur participates in the Ranching for Wildlife program so they can start rifle hunting when the state muzzleloader season starts. I've hunted the muzzleloader season twice; once in the Flat tops (unit 25) and once south of Craig (unit 13). It seemed like the rut was in full swing both times and I wanted my son to experience that. We might've been a little early this year but the bulls were still bugling.

Thanks, Bill

great summary. thanks for taking us along in the write up.

congrats to the young man.

A RFW hunt. Super cool. I'll be close to that area in two weeks. Scouted same weekend you were there and the popular public land hunting areas were definitely hunted out. Interesting to know you were seeing them down low. Great story and pictures.

Probably wasn't a RFW tag as they are for residents only, but they do sell private hunts too. Great story though. Always great to be able to hunt with your son.


I hunted a RFW cow moose hunt up there in 2016 I think it was. I sat in back of that old cabin until day break. Spotted the moose. I walked out from there and was done in about 30 minutes. By 1 PM we had the moose on ice . CPW aged her at 7+. Said they could not tell much after that. Since it was put on ice right away, it could have caused it, but she was the toughest big game animal I ever ate.

Nice folks at Silver Spur.They treated me right.

BTW.Hope you moved that tag on the antler to the leg

They gave us vouchers to buy our tags with. Lots of moose in that area. Usually in the willows wherever we saw them. One morning at the cabin there were 4 moose in sight. 3 bulls and a cow but no elk.

My son found a piece of newspaper in the chinking that was from 1912. I went inside one day when it was raining. The door frames were about 5’ 8”. I guess folks were a little shorter then.

We had a great time that week! There were 3 father and sons there from different parts of the country. I enjoyed talking with them about their experiences hunting.

Congratulations

Congrats

Those memories you made with your son will last far longer than any meat from a cow you woulda shot. I congratulate you both on a fine tripM

Looks like you guys had a great time