Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Trophy Cow/Calf Hunt. Colorado 2022

It has been an awesome fall so far for me. I had a Colorado muzzleloader deer and elk hunt so far. I didn't punch either of those tags as I was holding out for a bit better animals. My oldest daughter has 2 cow tags with plenty opportunity to hunt through December. For the first time since I've had kids I've felt zero pressure to put meat in the freezer feeling confident my oldest daughter can be the designated Thayn family freezer filler. That said, public land elk hunting is far from ever being a sure thing. I managed to put a nice Utah muzzy buck in the freezer earlier and figured I'd shop the leftover list for a chance at a cow hunt for myself. I was able to snag a list B cow tag off the leftover list for Colorado's 1st season, but I only had the first two days (opening weekend) to hunt.

I guess this hunt started in 2014... That's when I first had a tag for this unit. I walked into a pretty hard to get to area at the advice of an awesome Colorado Parks & Wildlife Game Warden, Nate Martinez. You may have heard of him before.. I was able to tag a huge old nanny on that hunt.

2014 Cow


Please note this bush the 2014 cow's meat is shaded in.


Saturday October 15th found my daughter and I hunting some lower country cedar benches. We found plenty of elk this day, and had elk within 50 yards of us several times. They have the thick PJ game figured out though and they ran circles around us several times through out the day never offering a shot.

Sunday October 16th, I figured I'd hike back into the same area I hunted in 2014. I'm going to give a little shout out to the Frankenstud Sling Keeper. If you are sick of having to babysit your rifle on your shoulder, look it up...


I got there a little late and saw a small herd of elk with an okay bull in it filter into some thick aspen trees that then filter into some private land. I was too late. It was 08:30ish, but what I had going for me is the bull the cows were with was pretty rutty and bugling fairly hard. I figured I'd plant right there and wait them out for the evening hunt. I thought if I was close enough, I may be able to call them in if I could wait close enough to the bull he wouldn't feel threatened pushing the cows out in the clearing. I actually staged my hunt right at the same bush I killed my 2014 cow by. There are only a few bushes with leaves on the top of the ridge I was hunting and knew without a doubt I was at the same tree. I thought that was cool but kind of left it at that.

It was a long wait all day. I kept the bush between myself and where the elk went into the trees. Through out the day, every time the bull would stand to shift position from his bed, he'd bugle. They were close. I napped as much as I could in my hide but luckily I had Larry McMurtry's "Berrybender Narratives" downloaded on my phone and I was able to pass the day with some quality reading. About 5:00pm the bull started bugling. Not very often at first, but with every passing minute toward dusk, he was getting pretty worked up. There were other bulls around bugling back.

At about 5:50 PM I could tell he was up and moving about a little as his position was shifting a bit just inside the tree line. At that point, I put on my best elk lipstick, got into hot cow character and sang him my best "come here lover boy" song I could muster. That was enough. It turned him 100% rut wild!

Here they come! about a half dozen cows with calves. I had already settled on trying to get a smallish cow. Ideally I wanted a 1.5 year old as they are small enough to pack in 2 trips. This was evening and I had to work at 06:00 the next day. I didn't want to spend all night packing elk and I figured even with 2 pack trips it would be a very late night as is. Plus, my daughter still has those 2 youth cow tags and I have a lot of hope she will be the main elk freezer filler.

They closed fast. The bull never quit screaming. The wind was right in my face and I got the full sensation of his rut musk. It was happening quick. I picked an elk that was a bit bigger than the other calves but noticeably smaller than the cows. I picked a window through my bush, I flicked the safety off on my Model 700 BDL .300 Win Mag, picked a spot on my elk for a full frontal chest shot and sent the 175 gr Barnes LRX. It was instantly over for the little fella. I say little fella because it turned out my elk was actually a big bull calf from this year. Not quite the 1.5 year old I thought it was, but yielding plenty of delicious meat regardless. Trust me when I say I had enough gun. Shot was around 20 yards.



Here is a short clip I took immediately following my shot. The cows got out of there in a hurry but the bull was so love sick, he didn't want to leave. I was trying to get him to bugle again but he was done with that after all the other elk left. I don't think he ever heard my gun go off and he didn't leave until I came around the bush and started talking to him.



Here is a pic of the bull for those that don't want to play the video. You can see my elk laying in the brush between us.



Here is the coolest part in my opinion. This is the remains of my 2014 cow. If you look in the clearing in the shadow just above, you can see my elk from this year laying there with my rifle and pack. I didn't notice the bones until I walked up on my elk.



I quartered up the elk and was actually able to get it out in one trip with the help of my Frankenstud and treking poles! I can't hardly move two days later as it was a crazy heavy pack and I'm not as young as I used to be, but as the saying goes... "I'm not as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I ever was.".. I walked through my door about 11:00pm.

I don't know that a calf elk is worthy of such a long internet post, but it sure is to me and I appreciate you all joining along.

Todd

Great write up Todd, can't wait to see what success your daughter finishes out the hunting season with.

Talk about a hot spot. Amazing finding the remains in the same spot. Very nice!

Congrats on your success. Nice write up with good pics. Looking forward to seeing pics of your daughters hunt.

Awesome report. Great story - Congrats on the elk!

Great write up, thanks for sharing.

When you said that you had more than enough gun, does that mean that the bullet over penetrated? Seriously, nice job and I hope your daughter does well too

Actually, the bullet didn’t exit. Not a speck of meat loss. I didn’t go fishing for it. The little I dug in to get the T-loins told a gruesome story. We’ve all seen what a 22-250 does to a coyote when hit with a frontal chest shot at close range. That is exactly how this elk acted after being hit. Immediate lights out with a couple twitches on the ground. It was definitely enough gun. A .22 in the base of the skull would have worked nicely in this scenario…

Todd

Congrats on meat in the freezer, nice story and photos!


Though I have a question, in a Kolorado Trophy “Cow” hunt are trophy’s classified as a4 point or a 2x2? Asking for a friend! 😉 memtb

Good read, congrats.

Growing up in CO I often targeted a calf is I could. Some of the very best meat you can get. Every elk taken off public land is a trophy.

Too cool! Thanks for the great story and pics.

Too bad you didn’t have a bull tag! that’s a good bull for public land.

Awesome write up.

I'll be in Colorado Friday to start my first ever elk hunt. Gonna be fun no matter what happens.

great read, Todd. well done.

great story ,nice pictures and CONGRATS ! and when it happens its always the 11th hour with little time left, thank you,Pete53

Found the bullet in the back ham. Hide stopped it.





I’m impressed!

Todd

Nice work!

Will be good eating

Nice.

Great hunt!! Nice write-up!