Here's a few pictures from the trip. Still in the car so Paul will probably end up doing a recap of the week later when we finally get home and settled. Wind mills in Iowa Storm driving through Nebraska Castle Rock Restaurant we stopped at to finally get a cold beer and a amazing pulled pork sandwich View from right by camp One of the meadows we hunted with a well used wallow Camp Few pictures from the drive in
Ok. We're back. I'm showered, shaved, and ready to give the update. I can sum it up very quickly for everyone who just wants to hear the end result. We're eating tag soup for dinner. However, I think the details are actually more interesting than whether we were able to harvest an elk. First, let me give a quick update for anyone who may read this, who hadn't read the original planning thread. Coheley665 (Nick) and I planned a week long D.I.Y. bivy elk hunt in the mountains of southern Colorado. I'm not going to share which GMU we were located in, but between what I've written already, and what Nick posted previously, with a little detective work on your part, you should be able to figure it out. Here are the details of the trip. Day 1 Picked Nick up at 8:30am EST and started the journey to Colorado. We're traveling from Michigan and would be covering over 1500 miles one way. We're going to do it straight through, sharing the driving duties. Everything went smoothly, we missed all of the rush hour traffic in all of the states and save for a pretty awesome storm in Nebraska, the drive was long, but easy with some great views of antelope, mule deer, and beautiful country side. Day 2 We arrived in Colorado. Used a local campgrounds shower facilities and prepared for our ascent. We strap on our gear and start huffing it into the high country (literally and figuratively). We got no more than .25 miles into the hike, and we run into 3 hunters, they say they're going somewhere else, there's no elk on the mountain. They can't find any sign, they don't hear any bugling, so they're leaving. We let them go along the trail, and we run into another hunter, no more than an additional .25 mile who was hunting Muleys. He says he hasn't seen any sign of elk whatsoever. At this point, we really start to question whether or not to make the trek. What's worse is we don't have a solid Plan B. We hiked back to the trailhead and slept in the car for the evening (little did we know this would be the most comfortable sleep we'd have for a week). The following morning we woke up and started aimlessly look for a different location while driving. I stopped at the local General Store for a cup of coffee, struck up a conversation with the owner, "We ran into some hunters who said that their were no elk up there". "I find that hard to believe." he said. Next thing you know, Nick and I are standing in the store with a couple of ol' timers, who show us on the map exactly where to go. Refreshed and reinvigorated, we head back up the mountain at 11,000 ft. We followed the directions, the locals had given us, and sure enough, within a couple of miles, we were in what we could only describe as elk heaven. There was sign everywhere, rubs, a wallow that could fit a semi truck, and giant hoof prints. We did a short evening hunt at the wallow, saw a mule deer, Nick called in a coyote within 70 yards of striking distance, but he hung up and walked away. At the end of the day, we head back to camp, and call it a night. I don't sleep well, I toss and turn all night, my right should (arthritis) is really bothering me, so I got very little sleep. Day 3 Wake up, grab a breakfast bar, and hit the trail. We hunt a new spot that we find up the hill, it's got plenty of sign, and the area that we were hunting the previous day has fresh tracks as well, so our hopes are high. We sat until lunch time. The bulls simply aren't bugling, we're calling, they're not answering. We can see their sign, but we simply can't locate them, because they won't bugle. I'm not feeling well for the evening hunt, so Nick heads out alone for the evening, while I situate myself at camp. At this point, I'm realizing something is wrong with me. My head isn't clear. I'm starting to hallucinate, I'm having trouble concentrating, I would walk to the tent to get something, and within 10 feet, I couldn't remember what I got up for. I can't retrieve water from the creek by myself, because I can't manage to find my way back to camp. (less than 200 yards away, on a trail) I had a rubber band on my wrist, I had no idea where it came from or what it belongs to, so I leave it on my wrist. That night, I got very little sleep, my shoulder was causing extreme pain, I'm taking my arthritis medication, along with Ibuprofin, and nothing is relieving the pain. At this point, I've went nearly 3 full days with very little sleep. While walking around the campsite, dealing with the daily chores, I pull a muscle in my right leg, where the muscle attaches to the hip. It's not terrible, I can walk on it, but when I need to go up hill, it's painful. Day 4 I skip the hunt altogether. For obvious reasons, I stay at camp, and work on getting my head straight, and resting my leg. I'm becoming concerned about my ability to get back to the trail head. The hike isn't easy, and it's even tougher with 50lbs worth of gear on your back. Nick finally has a successful day. He runs across a spike bull, from 50 yes broadside, but Colorado has a 4 point minimum. So there's no shot. Still no bugles. Day 5 Still dealing with the pain of my shoulder, my leg feels better, but most importantly, my head feels normal. So we hunt all day. Like the days before, sign everywhere, unfortunately you can't put a tag on sign. Skunked again. Day 6. Nick Hunts the morning as I pack up camp, we're back at the car by 11:40am. and back on the road. Now that my head is getting back to normal (as normal as you can be for driving 3000 miles in a week, and being awake for nearly 26 hours straight) I think I can make a stab at what happened to me while I was on the mountain. First, I thought I had acclimated because in my research, I kept reading about "headaches". I wasn't getting headaches, but I think that's because I was taking all of the medication for the shoulder. It was unintentionally keeping the headaches at bay. If I would've had a headache, I would've realized that I was dehydrated and/or suffering from Altitude sickness, but other than my shoulder, I felt fine. Throw in some pretty serious sleep deprivation, and I had mixed up a recipe for disaster for myself. Because my head was so mixed up, I was forgetting to eat. (I ended up throwing away nearly 3 full days worth of food) So, that's the ins and outs of the hunt. Nick was able to work the hunt like a pro, and I simply could not. That being said, the experience was incredible. As you can see in the photos, the sheer magnificence of the place is overwhelming to say the least. I'm glad I did it. We truly roughed it for a week at 11,000 ft. We drove 3000 miles and walked over 20 miles in a week. In the end, yes, we would've loved to have harvested and elk, but I loved the experience, and I think this experience for Nick simply added to his resume of things he can do in the woods with confidence. Would I do this again? Personally, I probably would not. Simply because I know how my body reacted this time, I don't think I would risk it again. However, I would do a drop camp or a guided hunt without question, and I'm sure I will next year. I'm sure Nick will have plenty to add. After I get some rest, I'll talk about some of the gear that we used, etc.
Sounds like a very tough hunt. I'm sorry you didn't feel well most the week. A family in my church just got back from Colorado this week as well and said the same thing. No bugling, and had a tough time locating elk. They didn't kill any either. I pray that by my trip they are vocalizing more and I can have an "easier" time getting to them!
Your going around the 20th right? Im thinking we where a week or two early of the "rut".The spike I ended up seeing still had all of his velvet to say the least so that was a key indicator to me that we where to early.Theres no doubt in my mind if we would of been there a week or two later we would of been going bull to bull.All the sign we where seeing just blew me away. Like Paul mentioned above it seemed as we where in elk heaven. My guess is that they where moving a lot during the night time hours since we would see fresh sign every morning.
I would think that you would be hitting it at a perfect time. Im not sure if norther and southern CO have differnt timing but I think you should be good.
Dont tempt me!!!!!! I would love to. But only bad part is that I am using the rest of my time off from work for deer season. Are you going by yourself.
Well it was an experience nonetheless!! Sure hated to hear of all of the problems you went through Paul. Hopefully you still had a great time considering everything and hopefully it still burns a desire to get back out there again to give yourself another crack at it!
I'm using all my time for this trip! I am driving out alone and going to meet everyone at camp No Name! You need to hear a bugle! Lol
Your telling me I wanted to hear one so bad. Friday morning I had one do a half A** bugle about 200 yards away but never got to see him. Once the spike moved off I played around with him with the calls and almost had him come back in. He let out a few chirps at about 75 yards and it put a smile on my face.
Yeah I was starting to get a little down then running into him picked me back up and gave me motivation for the rest of the time. I can bet I will be back there some time. Already might be planning a trip to wyoming next year since I have a buddy that lives out there.
