Colorado Elk Hunt 2009 Journal
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Arrived at our campsite on Thursday. Drove up a muddy road for 6 miles to a spot very close to the wilderness boundary. Set up camp and enjoyed the warm evening. On Friday I took a hike into an area I wanted to check out 2 miles in. Found some older tracks. Got a good nights rest that evening and then up at 4 AM for the long hike in the dark. Set up at the edge of a rocky park but saw nothing all AM. Another mile away we spent the evening at another large meadow. Not a lot of sign here either and we saw nothing.
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On Sunday we decided to hunt closer to our campsite. In the AM a cow and calf sauntered by my stand site at 20 yards. They were headed to my buddies stand site so I let them pass by me. When they got within 30 yards of him they spooked probably because of the wind. My friend didn�t see them till they spooked and didn�t risk a shot at a running elk. That evening we saw nothing.
The next morning we hiked in a bit more and sett up in two different meadows. A front came through early and it began to freezing rain. I quickly put on my rain gear and put some things back in my pack. About 20 mins. later a cow and 2 calves came in behind me at about 30 yards and trotting. I thought about taking one but had decided I would wait until Wed. to take a cow (I had a cow and bull tags but only wanted to tag one animal). In the afternoon we visited a different park area that had an upper and lower meadow. Here we found LOTS of sign in the form of fresh tracks and droppings. We set up some blinds to hunt in the afternoon and caught a cat nap in the sun. Unfortunately nothing showed that night.
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Tuesday we again took a day to hunt closer to camp. There were more hunters hunting here and we thought they may get the elk moving around. We watched a semi-open hillside but saw nothing all AM. We took the evening off and went to check out a bull in another camp that a guy had harvested on Sunday. It was a beautiful chocolate heavy 5 point� Inspiring
The next AM we were off into the wilderness area. We headed to an area near where I�d seen the cow and 2 calves. Bothe of us walked up on elk in the dark in different areas that mewed at us. I used my Hoochie Mamma to mew back and backed out of there and set up close by. I saw 6 mule deer come through and then bed 60 yards away. Never saw the elk though. That PM we hiked back out to camp so I could call my wife on the cell. We hunted close to camp that night and again saw nothing.
Thursday I hunted a spot I was told about where several drainages came together It was only about a mile from camp. There was a freezing precip and thick fog all AM, could only see about 50 yards. 4 mule deer came by at 5 yards. I was able to snap a few photos of them before they moved on. Cool, but no elk. That evening set up on a hillside park, saw sign but no elk.
The next AM we awoke to the sound of precip pelting the tent. Sounded like rain. We decided to sleep some more. At 7AM I still heard it so I rolled over again. Next thing I know It�s 1PM. Ive� probably never slept that long before. Must have needed it. We hung around camp till later in afternoon then headed back out to the park area in the wilderness that showed so much sign earlier in the week. Got in there a bit later that we would have liked but as we snuck up on the meadow I could see elk out in it. I got really excited. They seemed relaxed and our wind was good. As we settled in to see what there was in there the 4 cows turned and walked slowly back into the woods across the meadow from us. I repositioned a bit to get a better look at the rest of the meadow and saw a lone bull and several other cows.
My partner and I raised our guns to find rests on opposing trees. He shot first a calf and missed. At the report the elk trotted a short distance seemingly confused as to what to do. The bull walked right into my lane and stopped broadside He was a beautiful site to behold and I admired him for a few seconds. Then I leveled my 200 yard dot just behind his shoulder and squeezed one off. At the report his front knees buckled but he stayed up and took 4 or 5 steps forward. He wobbled a bit and then went down on his side. I was so pumped. At this the rest of the cows came in a row 100 yards in front of us. We both hit our hoochies and the stopped. My buddy then took one of the cows he had a clear shot at. We were done, well not really, better said it had begun. These being our first elk we had little idea of the amount of work that lay ahead of us in that meadow.
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We dressed them out and both took a hind quarter back to camp, 2 miles away. We made another trip that night and got back around 1:45AM. We got 4 hours sleep and were back in there at first light to finish the packing out. It took 2 more trips.
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I was using a custom built rifle in 6.5mm x 55 and 140 gr. custom ammo with Hornady interlock bullets. I was wondering if this would be adequate for elk sized game but was very pleased with the performance. The shot took out both lungs and seemed to pack a big punch. This is the first animal I�ve taken with this gun.
I thought my bull was a younger one because he�s only a 4x4 but I was later told by a more experienced elk hunter that he was actually an older bull whose rack was on it�s way down. He could tell this by the wear on it�s ivorys.
This was a very special trip for me and I count it a blessing from the Lord to have been able to go on this hunt with a good friend and to be able to harvest such a majestic animal. I�ll never forget how regal he looked standing in that meadow with all of those cows. Thanks to everyone on this forum who offered so much advice and insight to me over the past several months, especially exbiologist. I believe it really helped me harvest this animal.
God is good all the time!
I leave in 11 days for a 4th season hunt in the Maybell area, can't wait.
