Colorado unit 441 elk hunt - 11/16/11
My old hunting pard slymule and I arrived at the campsite mid-afternoon Friday the 4th. The temp was in the 50's and no snow on the ground but with the threat of snow coming in early Saturday morning. We set up camp and tended to the mules. The forecasters were correct in their prediction of snow. Saturday morning we had 4"-5" at camp and 8"-10" up the mountain a ways.
The first day of hunting we saw only 6 head of cows we jumped from their beds. Day two consisted of one lone set of elk tracks leading uphill into dark timber, I followed them a little ways but could tell this was going to be futile. Day three took us a different direction. We hiked off at first light into promising looking country. After a mile or so back in we cut tracks freshly left by a fair sized herd, 20+ we were guessing. Less than a 1/4 mile later as we opened up out of the aspen below us 150yds I spotted a cow bedded in a meadow just above a small pond. We were walking through chest-high oak brush and she did not spot us. With a little glassing we were able to pick out half a dozen more cows that were bedded a little further back in the quakies. We edged further up the trail to a better vantage point on a little knoll. We were belly crawling part of the way as the oak brush thinned down a bit. From the knoll we were able to stand full upright again behind chest high oak brush. By now we were seeing the better part of 20 elk, but no antlers. After a minute or so back in the quakies a bit I see a particular elk walking towards an open area and he's rolling his head back and forth as bulls do. After a short whispered discussion on whether he had enough points to be legal...it was decided he was. I picked out a lane and he slowly walked into it. The shot was offhand at what we both estimated to be 175yds, the bull was quartering slightly towards me. The bullet entered his neck just forward his shoulder and he dropped like he'd been hit with a hammer. I jacked in another round as 40+/- cows came out of the quakies and lined up and slow trotted right in front of us and straight up to the trail in front of us, over the top and out of sight. Only one bull in the herd, and he was now dead.
This picture shows where we were standing halfway up the hill in the background.
I'd forgot to bring the camera so we just opened him up and went back to camp. We were 1.5 miles per GPS from the trailhead, likely 2 miles as the trail winds.
The following day we rode the mules in.
We boned him out and estimated the young bull netted about 220lbs of meat. This was loaded up on one mule and slymule rode the other leading the now pack mule. I had a good hike back carrying the antlers.
We had a great time. It's been a number of years since I've been able to get done with harvest early enough to do an elk hunt. There were supposed to be a couple other guys going but they backed out the last week so it was just the two of us with me holding the only tag.
[img]http://i212.photobucket.com/albums/cc309/scottscritters/064.jpg [/img]
The first day of hunting we saw only 6 head of cows we jumped from their beds. Day two consisted of one lone set of elk tracks leading uphill into dark timber, I followed them a little ways but could tell this was going to be futile. Day three took us a different direction. We hiked off at first light into promising looking country. After a mile or so back in we cut tracks freshly left by a fair sized herd, 20+ we were guessing. Less than a 1/4 mile later as we opened up out of the aspen below us 150yds I spotted a cow bedded in a meadow just above a small pond. We were walking through chest-high oak brush and she did not spot us. With a little glassing we were able to pick out half a dozen more cows that were bedded a little further back in the quakies. We edged further up the trail to a better vantage point on a little knoll. We were belly crawling part of the way as the oak brush thinned down a bit. From the knoll we were able to stand full upright again behind chest high oak brush. By now we were seeing the better part of 20 elk, but no antlers. After a minute or so back in the quakies a bit I see a particular elk walking towards an open area and he's rolling his head back and forth as bulls do. After a short whispered discussion on whether he had enough points to be legal...it was decided he was. I picked out a lane and he slowly walked into it. The shot was offhand at what we both estimated to be 175yds, the bull was quartering slightly towards me. The bullet entered his neck just forward his shoulder and he dropped like he'd been hit with a hammer. I jacked in another round as 40+/- cows came out of the quakies and lined up and slow trotted right in front of us and straight up to the trail in front of us, over the top and out of sight. Only one bull in the herd, and he was now dead.
This picture shows where we were standing halfway up the hill in the background.
I'd forgot to bring the camera so we just opened him up and went back to camp. We were 1.5 miles per GPS from the trailhead, likely 2 miles as the trail winds.
The following day we rode the mules in.
We boned him out and estimated the young bull netted about 220lbs of meat. This was loaded up on one mule and slymule rode the other leading the now pack mule. I had a good hike back carrying the antlers.
We had a great time. It's been a number of years since I've been able to get done with harvest early enough to do an elk hunt. There were supposed to be a couple other guys going but they backed out the last week so it was just the two of us with me holding the only tag.
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