Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Southwestern Colorado 3rd season success

I wanted to share some pictures from 3rd season rifle In Southwest Colorado.


This is the smaller bull we shot. On the evening of opening day I had perfect conditions, wind in my face and light rain. I caught a movement from the corner of my eye through the scrub oak. I held for about 20 minutes before getting the shot I wanted. I had killed a dozen elk prior to this but this is my very first bull. It seemed like the whole forest shook when he fell.


The loadout
It seems like 3/4 of the hunt was the carryout. The dogs help by hauling meat in their dog packs.

The long carrys out gave me lots of time to reflect on the past 25 elk seasons, those seasons when we froze for a week and saw nothing, all the long drives home looking at elk in the back of other guys pickups, the twisted knees, rolled ankles, stuck pickups, chewy coffee, unruly horses, and so on. I think all of those tough times make you appreciate success more.



Bull #2.

Pack animal - AKA my brother.

We drew a crowd when we rolled into Montrose. The two elk racks were visible in the cargo areas. Cars were pulling beside us taking photos with cell phones. Guys were stopping and asking us about the hunt.


You can�t tell from the picture, but the larger rack measured 49 inches across and the smaller one 35 inches.

This hunt was on public land, self guided.

In addition to some success on the bulls I was very happy that in general we did everything right. We made sure shots and quick kills, we took good care of the meat (which wasn�t wasn�t because it was warm), hunters showed up with the right food, clothing, and equipment and came ready to hunt and were rewarded for it.

Nice bulls, feller. I struck out this year......Don

Mighty handsome animals! Congratulations!

I used to hunt up northeast of Durango in the Weminuche area. Beautiful country. Big bulls.

L.W.

Nice--Conglads CB

A couple nice bulls---Conglads CB

Very nice bulls, good pictures,too!
Thanx for sharing with us

Why did you list "chewy coffee" under the "tough times" category?

Right, I thought all that mentioned was SOP.
t

Congrat's on 2 fine bulls!! What unit were you guy's hunting in? I hunted 2nd rifle in unit 751 and was blessed to fill my cow tag....... Been a great year, as I was fortunate to kill a bull in New Mexico the week before.. (grin)

It was Unit 61.

I got a few more pictures back.

The temps were so warm here that Chris and I each brought 150 quart marine coolers to store the meat in. We still had to hang it in a local meat locker temporarilly, but the huge coolers really helped. We would have probably had some spoilage if not for those.


On the 1st day my brother knocked his scope and had to zero it again using a paper plate. I told him I guess that leaves me the only one than can make long shots now. He replied that he was confident he could still make long shots. On the 2nd day he got his bull from 180 yds.


Chris.
I was really pleased to have this first timer as part of our 2006 hunt. He is an accomplished mountain climber and brought much of the necessary skills and equipment to make a positive impact on the hunt right off the bat. You would never know that this was his rookie hunt. I just wish I could have got him a shot.
It is tough for a young person to break into this type of hunting if they don�t learn it from family.

Nice bulls!

How many points did it take you to draw?

Very nice bulls!

"Chewy" coffee - I thought all elk camp coffee was in sludge form?

Looks like ya'll had a great hunt for sure. The pic of the horn arbor on that house reminds me of the 30' high x 30' wide at the base deer antler Christmas tree in "downtown" Junction Texas.
Ron

All coffee, anywhere, is supposed to be in sludge form.

Congratulations on a couple of great bulls! That looks like the very spot I sat and glassed during second season while I was chasing deer and saw several bulls in the area. I ended up moving to lower country to find my buck though. Plenty of elk in that part of 61. I'll PM you to see if we were actually in the same spot - wouldn't that be amusing?

Nice bulls. I had good luck this year also getting both a 6 point bull and a 4 point buck during 3rd season

Congrats and thanks for sharing. Had no luck in unit 55 in third season. Hard work does pay.