Talking about elk trips... a reprisal of my last trip

Getting a few PMs about my trip(s) out to Colorado to chase those majestic wapiti around... did a quick search on HuntingNet where I shared the experience with everyone when I came back. Thought I'd throw it on here for those that didn't get to see it back then...


It simply wasn't meant to be this year. Every legitimate chance I had something was JUST off a bit to keep it from coming together; I had a few stop JUST on the other side of my shooting lane with the back half of the rib cage exposed. One big, fat cow that I'd stalked to within 40 yards who had her face buried behind some shrubbery had NO idea I was even on the planet; I came to full draw and took a step to my right, needing another good foot or so of frontal ribcage exposed to get into the vitals, and JUST as I stepped to my right, she took a step forward, taking her vitals out of sight.

There were a bunch of things like that. Had a solid 290-class bull, maybe 300", made me about crap my pants as I slipped down the side of a canyon at mid-day when he busted out of his bed 20 yards in front of me. He'd been hidden by a smallish clump of trees -- the ONLY clump right there in the immediate area. If I'd happened to have been on a line 10 yards above him or 10 yards below him, I could have probably spotted him lying in his bed before he blew out of there.

About had a mulie buck pogo me to death the last night as I sat over a water hole on the very edge of a mountain overlooking three canyons coming together. I could literally hear his "boings" getting louder and louder coming down the mountain until he finally stopped one "boing" short of me. I thought I was about to feel like a bullrider getting stepped on!

I had some close calls, including a misjudged yardage shot on a decent-enough 5x5 across a canyon who had managed to slip by me as I checked out a sound up above me. Something told me to look back across the chasm, and there he was, already by me and walking down the mountain. I had to count points (bulls have to have four points to a side), come to full draw, stop him with a "mew" and shoot in a split second; I shot him for 45, and later ranged the distance at 51. I nicked his chest right below where his heart would have been. I was able to hold him in the area after he bolted up the mountain a short dash by calling with my hand in my cargo pocket on the Hoochie Mama for at least five minutes, and even after all that I only found a few little drops of blood. So he's no worse for the wear -- only wiser.


Had a good time, saw some incredible scenery again and marked a bunch of new wallows and watering holes as waypoints on my GPS.


I'll be back.



A couple canyons I worked my way down one day:





A beautiful secluded marsh I discovered on the side of the mountain behind camp:



We sustained what felt like near gale-force winds for the duration of one day... here's a tree down I came upon working my way up a mountain the next day. You can't tell it in the picture, but the trunk of this tree is about twice as big around as me... snapped in half like a toothpick. There were several like this littering the ground:



Fall Gray or Spring Green... I love my Gray Wolf Woolens Predator:



The other side of the mountain... simply awesome views:



Home sweet home for a week and a half:




Our shower. These things work surprisingly well:



We did eat well, though... especially since one of us put down a big, fat cow elk on opening morning. Those are thickly cut backstraps in the other skillet frying up:



You get those in the skillet by concentrating on finding areas like this:



And my new background for my home computer:

 

Beautiful pics Greg!!!

 

That looks like some breathtaking country Greg! Thanks for sharing.

 

Nice pics , great story Greg .

 

Thanks for sharing the story here and of course the pics. I haven't been elk hunting since 2005 and it was in Colorado also. Best time I've ever had without my wife. Magnificent scenery hiking in such vast areas makes memories we as sportsman just can never forget.

Greg, your camp looked similiar to ours. We also had 3 tents set up just off the road of perhaps the worst road I've ever been on in my life before the trailhead.

If I may, a couple pics of the areas I was hunting:

 

Another

 

Nice pictures Coug , where in Co were you hunting and were you successful in Getting an Elk ?

 

Thanks BK. In the Flat Tops, but I doubt I'll ever go back to those units again(25, 26). I was invited along with a buddy who hunts a certain area there regularly and he has had opportunities at elk in other years, but screwed up I guess. My buddy has a prosthetic leg and he has a certain spot that is relatively easy for him to get around. No, never shot at anything but could have easily with a mule deer tag or a black bear tag, but had neither. Only had an either sex elk tag and never came close. Sat on a fallen down tree one day and had to watch a nice mature mule deer slowly trot by at 30 yards..........lol.

 

Thats a bummer , i was going strictly Elk in Co , but think i may put in for a Muley tag aswell now you've said that

 

Great pics, Coug!! Look very similar!

I can't wait to get back out there in September.

 

Great pics.

Sadly, when I took my elk trip I didn't have a digital camera and the only one I have scanned and entered is the hero shot. Elk are amazing and I truly wish I could hunt them every year. 850 lb turkeys with noses and large antlers, what's not to love! :D

 

Rob, I love seeing that pic!! What a magnificent animal an elk is.

 

Nice Rob! I agree. When God created elk, he did so after creating whitetail and turkey. He set about to refine his effort. An elk is a combination of a wary old whitetail buck and a savvy gobbler-for sure. Getting one to successfully take the bait, placing an arrow through him/her, and enduring the hardship that comes with the rugged terrain they inhabit is second to nothing I have every experienced. Hunting elk is MAGICAL! Thanks for sharing Greg!

 

Greg and or Rob, did you encounter any black bear while hunting? On my trip, I encountered a bear at 25-30 yards while hiking by myself. After nocking an arrow for self defense purposes, I took my pack from my back, sat it down and tried to get my camera out for some pics. About the same time the bear finally noticed me and took off like a rabbit the other way. Not sure I could have shot that bear had he charged...........didn't realize how fast they are.

 

I saw elk, mulies and a moose but no bear. We also found mountain lion tracks and believe me when I was carrying my meat down the mountain, I WAS LOOKING FOR THE TRACKS OWNERS. :D

 

Coug,

Three years ago, in the unit we will be hunting, I came across a cow elk carcass (I followed coyote tracks in the snow to the kill site). I came around a pine tree, noticed the boned out elk, and then saw a blackie standing not more than ten yards away. I had a bear tag. I started talking to the bear-you know, like I was the bear whisperer or something. I went slowly for an arrow. The bear gently slid over a downed tree never to be seen again. I hung out at the carcass for an hour...the bear never came back. I continued elk/bear hunting. I hadn't walked 100 yards and encountered another chocolate phase bruin. This time I was ready. I came to full draw as I thought the bear would circle around the pine in front of me. Had he stayed the course, I would have had a broadside shot from seven yards. He didn't! He turned and came right through the tree instead. This path put him directly under my bow and not more than three feet in front of me.I had a horrible angle for a shot, but "angle" was the last thing on my mind. I screamed "HEY BEAR" at the top of my lungs! He popped his teeth; I popped my trigger (filled my drawers). The arrow struck him right under the chin-he was looking up. I thought I had made a fatal shot. The bear leapt from the ground and off half of the arrow-the head half was stuck in the ground. He tumbled down the hill, got back to his feet, and dashed away. I could see my arrow fletching sticking out under his chin. Long story short, I never recovered that bear. I think the frontal angle was too steep. The arrow must have tracked around his chest taking nothing but fat and meat as it exited. To this day, I will never forget that close encounter-it was a shot I was forced to take. It happened so fast.

 

Great pics...thanks for sharing Greg (and Coug).

It's been on my mind for years - will all come to reality this Sept! (Thanks again Will for offering me a spot in camp!)

 

Awesome pics, this is something i want to do atleast once in my lifetime.

 

Coug, the year these pictures are from it seemed everyone was seeing this one ginormous chocolate-phase bear BUT me.

I've still got mixed emotions on whether I'm glad or not I didn't see him... for a lot of the reasons Will wrote about up above.

The last time I was out there, I was seriously more concerened about mountain lions... I hiked into some VERY remote canyons by myself where no one had a clue where I was except me and my GPS that just SCREAMED "cat country"...

Let's just say I was glad I had my trusty CZP-01 by my side locked and loaded with two full mags with me...

 

Greg, Rob, Will, thanks for sharing your stories.