Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Colorado Freezer Queen to Start the Season

I had a great albeit short Colorado muzzleloader season. Hunting the high desert of NW Colorado. Homefield advantage for me but it is a tough hunt. There just aren't that many elk out in this country, but a few do call it home year round.

I was on-call opening weekend and don't feel good about hunting when I'm on-call. Sure enough the phone would ring as soon as I pressed the trigger... I also didn't have hardly any PTO left this year so I was resigned to hunting the afternoons and evenings after work. I was going to take Friday off to give me one more full day but ended up needing Tuesday off instead ....

My oldest daughter and I were able to break away and build a blind on Sunday on a water hole I had found earlier in the summer. Like it or not, regardless of my patience level, I had committed myself to hunt this blind for the remainder of my season.



My view from the blind.



There were a few fresh elk tracks around. If you zoom in on the above picture, you can see some on the bottom right of the pond.

Monday afternoon found me walking into the pond. I parked the SxS about 3/4 of a mile from the blind and walked in from there. It was hot and a cool front was moving in so it was blustery and the wind was swirling really badly. No matter what though, I had promised myself I was hunting this water hole for my season, win lose or draw.



I got to the blind about 4:30 PM. I nestled into the shade the best I could and tore into CJ Box's Trophy Hunt.. I knew the wind was going to kill any chance I had at this pond tonight but I stayed anyway. Sure enough, about 6:30 PM I hear the clicking of hooves making their way to the pond just off to my right. Just like I had figured, shortly after the wind carried my sent to that animal and it wasn't long until I hear hooves running away. It didn't sound like very many animals and I continued to sit in the blind until 7:00ish.

I finally had enough and the sun set behind the horizon so I thought I would glass my way back to the Side by Side. I got on a vantage point and was glassing a sage flat about 1000 yards from where the pond is and as soon as my Meopta's landed on the flat, I spotted a lone singe elk feeding in the sage. My Meopta's are 8x42's and very high quality European glass but I couldn't tell if the elk was a bull or a cow. Fortunately, my tag is an either sex tag and my personal ethics could care less if the elk was a bull or cow. Meat is meat.

I knew the elk was by itself and I figured if I could get closer to the elk, there was a strong possibility I could call it in because of their gregarious nature. I was running out of daylight but I knew if hurried I could have a chance at making it happen. I had two ridges to cross though so off the first I bailed. I was huffing and puffing really badly by the time I topped the 2nd ridge and I was careful not to skyline myself as I crested. I settle into a lone, small pinion and started glassing for the elk. I couldn't see it or find it anywhere. I gave myself a couple minutes to catch my breath and hit my cow call a few times. shortly after I got a HUGE response from the elk, the likes of which I have never heard before. "MEEEEEEEEYYYYYEEEEEEEEWWWW"!! the elk screamed and the next thing I heard was running hooves and soon after a cow elk crested the ridge I was on and was heading at me at a full run.

I wasn't quite prepared for how fast all of this was happening, and I was scared the elk was going to run me over. I had to wave my arms to get it to stop. It realized something wasn't right and finally turned and blew at me at 4 paces away. It never slowed and I never could get a shot. It ran off the edge of the ridge I was on. I thought I might have a chance if I can stop it when it hit the bottom. It ran and crossed a wash and when it came out on the other side, I gave a few more chirps from my cow call and the elk turned broad side. It was on the outer edge of my comfort zone, but I practice a bunch and I knew I could make the shot. I didn't have time to range her before I shot but I settle the fiber optic sight a bit high on her chest and sent the bullet.

"SMACK"... from that sound I knew my shot was true. The elk turned and ran up the draw about 40 yards and she suddenly stopped. It didn't take long for the bullet to work its magic and the cow made it another 10 wobbly steps before her beautiful existence came to an end.

By this time I was loosing light fast and I bailed off the ridge top, crossed the wash, and came to where she was standing when I shot. I ranged the tree I shot from to where I found where I hit her. It was 161 yards. There was good blood spoor to right where she lay in the sage. She is a 1.5 year old cow and a perfect freezer queen. I'm very thankful for this contribution to nourishing my family. It will be delicious meat.



I got her quartered and in the Caribou Gear game bags. I built a rack out of sage brush and laid the meat up so it could cool and breath good over night. I left my shirt and orange vest on the meat and marked my territory all around it to keep the coyotes and other scavengers off of it and would come back in the morning and pack her out.



I finally got back to the SxS at 10:30 PM, home around 11:30 and didn't sleep well because I was worried about the meat even though I knew it would be alright. I was back at the meat at daylight and was relieved to find it was just as I left it and had cooled out nicely in the 42 degree morning air. The elk was 16 miles from my front door step.

I got her packed out in two trips and she is currently in the meat cooler and I'll cut her up this coming weekend.



I was using the new this year Hornady Bore Driver bullets and I'm very impressed with the performance. They are very accurate in my CVA with 100 gr. by volume of BH209 and CCI Magnum 209 primer. The elk was slightly quartering to me. I hit both lungs and nicked the liver. The bullet was stuck in the offside rib meat.







Thanks for following along and good luck to all of you this year!



Todd

Congrats on the fine elk - and thanks for the great write-up it was a good read!

NICE! Well done sir.

Congrats! Great elk and story.

Congratulations! Awesome write up and hunt.

Congrats!

Very Rewarding Trip!

Congrats on a great cow to fill the freezer! And thanks for a great story! It whet my appetite for my upcoming muley hunt in 3 weeks.

Thanks for sharing. Congratulations.

Congrats on a great hunt. Thanks for sharing it with us, and thanks for posting the great pics. I really enjoyed that.

Congratulations on your hunt. Freezer with fresh meat hard to beat.

Nice shot on the best eating animal a guy could ask for! Where did you find those Bore Driver bullets? I’ve looked all over for them and have had zero luck! They look to be a great bullet!

Elk Country

I just happened upon them at muzzle-loaders.com but they are out of stock now. Just like anything they are hard to find. I have notifications set to email me when they become available again.

Thank you all for the awesome thoughts.

Todd

Congrats! Some good eats there I’m guessing

Good story. Tenderloin this weekend 😊

Nicely done.

Nice work and great story

Nice pics and story! Congrats on a successful hunt/adventure. Thanks for sharing!!

Congratulations. An elk will be good in the freezer.

We dont have elk way up here in north Louisiana, so it's always nice to read a hunting story. Great write up and Congrats.

Well done and thanks for the story.