****LENGTHY POST**** sorry for not making the recap smaller.
I thought i would do a recap of my First Season Cow ELK hunt in GMU 521 of CO, and share it with some like minded hunters for a few reasons.
A) To get my lessons learned out there in front of someone else, so they wont experience that same thing.
B) to vent a little bit
C) Maybe to give me some closure on my hunt.
The wife and Daughter and I loaded up on Wednesday Oct 11th and headed east for CO, took a solid 19 Hours to make the drive with my little engine that could RAM 1500 pulling mu 5th wheel.
Made it to my relatives house to meet up with my dad and brother, unfortunately my brothers rig broke down on his trip from AZ, so my dad went down to pick him and his trailer up, they unfortunately ended up missing the opening morning hunt due to this.
The plan for this year was slightly different than our usual years. We typically hunt with my brother, my father, and my grandfather. My grandfather fell terminally ill and unfortunately his hunting time is over, he hunted every year until he was 86. This was his first year not elk hunting since he can remember, and due to his age, he typically would blind hunt, and we would get a few blinds set up for him, and hang out in the general vicinity as his blind, so we were typically limited to area coverage. So this years plan was to cover every inch of the mountain, no more waiting around in the same area with hopes that the elk would move to us. If we didnt like the area, or see enough sign. we were off to a new area to find the elk.
Day 1:Opening morning i was by myself so i took it pretty easy with not having a SAT phone in case something happened. I spent most of the morning surveying the mountain, where camps were set up. Where gun shots were coming from, looking for sign. It was a good morning, heard a few gunshots, and accidentally jumped a 5 point bull heading to lower ground. My dad had a bull tag so it would've been nice for him to be there, he could've tagged out in the first few hours. I didn't find much new sign, so i went back to camp for lunch. My brother and dad finally made it out around noon and we headed out for the evening hunt, an area that we had planned out and scouted for quite a while before the hunt. We got to the trail head and it looked like a parking lot for ATV's. We didn't mind since we knew we were going much higher than most so we took off up the mountain, hoping to clear at least a mile off the nearest ATV trail, and get into the raggeds wilderness. On our way up the mountain, we passed and accounted for all the ATVs. Good sign. WRONG. we found a group of hikers up the trail about a mile in. Making noise, talking loud, and even overhearing them talk about how they're going to walk up to every hunter they see on the way down the mountain and tell them they know where a herd of elk is, (they tried the same routine with us. didn't buy it). Afternoon hunt pretty much ruined. Hiked back down at dark.
Day 2: Geared up and made our way to a different area, following our plan, no elk, no sign, move on. decided to hunt a a lower elevation zone in case the elk were still hanging out down near the private property. MUCH more elk sign, fresh, maybe 2 days old at the latest, some maybe even the night before. But still to no avail, couldn't locate the elk, but more sign than the day before, we were getting closer. Met up with a few guys who had been camped out at the mountain for a week or so prior to season. Said there was elk all over the mountain early in the week. Then the ranchers came in to drive all their cattle down to the ranches 3 days before season started. October 10th they began driving their "cattle" back down to the ranches. The deadline to have cattle off the national forrest was October 1st we were told. Seemed fishy to us, which it is, because most of these ranchers lease their property to Guide services who book up clientele like crazy for the first 3 elk seasons. After the ranchers drove their "cattle" back to their properties, the elk sightings almost went to ZERO. They all got ran onto the private property.
Day 3: Loaded up the ATVs and headed to an old school honey hole strip of BLM that is sandwiched by private, maybe 1500 yards wide, trail so nasty that most people dont dare to go up, and those who have typially have sworn off it after they have rolled 4 wheelers, or were too lazy to make the hike up it. Luckily, my family has been riding that trail for around 45 years. So we know how to navigate it safely, minus a few wrecked and rolled quads, and a few broken wrists. Made our spots before sun-up, and instantly were on a herd of elk. i sat atop a knob and watched at 1350yards off for more than 2 hours. 14 cows, one very large 6 Point, and a 7 point monster that was very very good at staying in the brush and hidden about 200 yards off the herd. The only problem was that herd was on private property, so we got one hell of a show that morning. After that herd bedded down, i looked down on a meadow, 250 yards off, what i had thought was a dark tree still in the shadows for the past 10 minutes, turned out to be a cow elk feeding in the meadow. I doubled checked my ONX hunting app (love the offline maps feature, absolutely game changing), and realized she was about 40 yards on private property. That one hurt, she went back deeper into the private property, and was gone to bed down in the oak brush. Afternoon hunt we loaded up and went to another area, (since we know from experience, nothing moves much in the afternoon at that area, only one elk in the last 20 years out of my group has been taken after 10AM.) New area, not too much recent elk sign, but its another parcel of BLM bordered on 2 sides by private land. Ran across one fella out cleaning out a cow he shot that afternoon. good to know, well come back another day.
DAY 4: Back to the same spot as morning of day 3. hoping the herd wouldve moved closer to the public land. Nope. Other way, deeper into private, **** elk are super smart. Had to load up my brother so he could get back to work, so no evening hunt.
Day 5: Went back to the area of day 3 evening, a strip of BLM in between more private, hoping to catch some elk moving between the properties. and where the gentleman had filled his cow tag along with 2 of his other hunting buddies. We made our way up a road, hunting the various gulleys and draws, when we walked up to an SUV, same guy as day 3. he said he put his two buddies up the road on a ridge, he didnt explicitly ask us to not go up further, but we got his vibe, so back down my dad and i went, ditched the road, made our way back over a few ridges, and i set up overlooking a small valley, and he went off to another spot. 5 minutes after sitting down, i see some elk crest over a ridge about 1000 yards to my right. so i got up and started to close the distance, crossed over two ridges, and made my way onto the 3rd, at this point i couldnt go further, the last ridge was so steep i couldnt go down it, it dropped into a large creek at the bottom, roughly 1200 ft down i would guess. so i dropped my pack, on the sage brush, tried to get it so i could lay down, which was a challenge since i was on the downward slope of this thing. the elk were on the other side of the valley in front of me, so i went to grab my range finder. ****! i gave it to my brother to use the day before..... Now its in his truck 600 miles away heading back to AZ. so i didnt my best to guess the distance. I guessed 400 yards, pulled down with .270WSM shooting 150gr Spitzer BT at 3100 FPS. set the reticle on my 400 yard cross, and BAM. silent. Re-loaded. got back on the lead cow as they were looking around, adjusted slightly up. BAM, silence, WWHHHAAAAPP. Sounded like i hit a rock, 4 elk ran back up the mountain. I thought to myself, there was 5? Grabbed my binos, and i saw her on the ground. DOWN. ****, wow. YES!! elated on my last morning elk!! Got up, checked her again, still down, went to find my dad to go get her and start working. Took around 30 minutes to find him, and we walked back to the ridge where i shot the elk. He ranged it, 460 yards. Not bad for an estimate on my part. Looked at her again, still down. Went to the trail, got the truck, and headed over. 400 yard shot equated to a 45 minute brisk hike back to the truck and 20 minute drive to the nearest area to hike up. (The valley i shot across was not cross-able. too steep.)
We hiked up to go start the dressing, ****, where is she? I swear she was on top of the rock outcropping. looked around, blood. deep red blood. Could see where she was down, blood, tracks of the other elk, more blood. NO ELK. what the hell? we followed the faint tracks, got back to the shooting spot and looked again on the mountain side, tried following a blood trail, but it had dried up. spent hours on hours scouring the mountainside, the drainage. Couldnt find the new tracks or elk. We made every possible attempt to find her, did everything in our power, and could not locate the elk. i quietly sat, and buried my elk tag in the dirt. I was not going to hunt that last evening with what happened. And i didnt feel i deserved to.
I was raised by elk hunters who never cared about antler size, the way my grandpa hunted was to fill the freezer, he taught my dad the same way, and my dad taught me the same **** thing. circumstances are different now, and filling the freezer isnt a make it or break it thing. I can fill my freezer with store bought items, and afford to.Harvesting any elk was always a trophy to me.After 12 years of elk hunting i have yet to harvest anything with antlers. And the meat never got wasted, and i couldnt imagine having it any other way. So this year broke my heart quite a bit and has actually kept me awake at night knowing that elk might not make it, and the meat may get wasted or spoil. Our mission this year was to get an elk back home for my grandpa to feel an elk hide one last time, and get to eat that wonderful loin one last time. I feel like i failed in some cases. But i know one thing, ill be back out on the mountain again next year, working even harder, and with my rangefinder. (i know what my brother is getting for christmas)
I thought i would do a recap of my First Season Cow ELK hunt in GMU 521 of CO, and share it with some like minded hunters for a few reasons.
A) To get my lessons learned out there in front of someone else, so they wont experience that same thing.
B) to vent a little bit
C) Maybe to give me some closure on my hunt.
The wife and Daughter and I loaded up on Wednesday Oct 11th and headed east for CO, took a solid 19 Hours to make the drive with my little engine that could RAM 1500 pulling mu 5th wheel.
Made it to my relatives house to meet up with my dad and brother, unfortunately my brothers rig broke down on his trip from AZ, so my dad went down to pick him and his trailer up, they unfortunately ended up missing the opening morning hunt due to this.
The plan for this year was slightly different than our usual years. We typically hunt with my brother, my father, and my grandfather. My grandfather fell terminally ill and unfortunately his hunting time is over, he hunted every year until he was 86. This was his first year not elk hunting since he can remember, and due to his age, he typically would blind hunt, and we would get a few blinds set up for him, and hang out in the general vicinity as his blind, so we were typically limited to area coverage. So this years plan was to cover every inch of the mountain, no more waiting around in the same area with hopes that the elk would move to us. If we didnt like the area, or see enough sign. we were off to a new area to find the elk.
Day 1:Opening morning i was by myself so i took it pretty easy with not having a SAT phone in case something happened. I spent most of the morning surveying the mountain, where camps were set up. Where gun shots were coming from, looking for sign. It was a good morning, heard a few gunshots, and accidentally jumped a 5 point bull heading to lower ground. My dad had a bull tag so it would've been nice for him to be there, he could've tagged out in the first few hours. I didn't find much new sign, so i went back to camp for lunch. My brother and dad finally made it out around noon and we headed out for the evening hunt, an area that we had planned out and scouted for quite a while before the hunt. We got to the trail head and it looked like a parking lot for ATV's. We didn't mind since we knew we were going much higher than most so we took off up the mountain, hoping to clear at least a mile off the nearest ATV trail, and get into the raggeds wilderness. On our way up the mountain, we passed and accounted for all the ATVs. Good sign. WRONG. we found a group of hikers up the trail about a mile in. Making noise, talking loud, and even overhearing them talk about how they're going to walk up to every hunter they see on the way down the mountain and tell them they know where a herd of elk is, (they tried the same routine with us. didn't buy it). Afternoon hunt pretty much ruined. Hiked back down at dark.
Day 2: Geared up and made our way to a different area, following our plan, no elk, no sign, move on. decided to hunt a a lower elevation zone in case the elk were still hanging out down near the private property. MUCH more elk sign, fresh, maybe 2 days old at the latest, some maybe even the night before. But still to no avail, couldn't locate the elk, but more sign than the day before, we were getting closer. Met up with a few guys who had been camped out at the mountain for a week or so prior to season. Said there was elk all over the mountain early in the week. Then the ranchers came in to drive all their cattle down to the ranches 3 days before season started. October 10th they began driving their "cattle" back down to the ranches. The deadline to have cattle off the national forrest was October 1st we were told. Seemed fishy to us, which it is, because most of these ranchers lease their property to Guide services who book up clientele like crazy for the first 3 elk seasons. After the ranchers drove their "cattle" back to their properties, the elk sightings almost went to ZERO. They all got ran onto the private property.
Day 3: Loaded up the ATVs and headed to an old school honey hole strip of BLM that is sandwiched by private, maybe 1500 yards wide, trail so nasty that most people dont dare to go up, and those who have typially have sworn off it after they have rolled 4 wheelers, or were too lazy to make the hike up it. Luckily, my family has been riding that trail for around 45 years. So we know how to navigate it safely, minus a few wrecked and rolled quads, and a few broken wrists. Made our spots before sun-up, and instantly were on a herd of elk. i sat atop a knob and watched at 1350yards off for more than 2 hours. 14 cows, one very large 6 Point, and a 7 point monster that was very very good at staying in the brush and hidden about 200 yards off the herd. The only problem was that herd was on private property, so we got one hell of a show that morning. After that herd bedded down, i looked down on a meadow, 250 yards off, what i had thought was a dark tree still in the shadows for the past 10 minutes, turned out to be a cow elk feeding in the meadow. I doubled checked my ONX hunting app (love the offline maps feature, absolutely game changing), and realized she was about 40 yards on private property. That one hurt, she went back deeper into the private property, and was gone to bed down in the oak brush. Afternoon hunt we loaded up and went to another area, (since we know from experience, nothing moves much in the afternoon at that area, only one elk in the last 20 years out of my group has been taken after 10AM.) New area, not too much recent elk sign, but its another parcel of BLM bordered on 2 sides by private land. Ran across one fella out cleaning out a cow he shot that afternoon. good to know, well come back another day.
DAY 4: Back to the same spot as morning of day 3. hoping the herd wouldve moved closer to the public land. Nope. Other way, deeper into private, **** elk are super smart. Had to load up my brother so he could get back to work, so no evening hunt.
Day 5: Went back to the area of day 3 evening, a strip of BLM in between more private, hoping to catch some elk moving between the properties. and where the gentleman had filled his cow tag along with 2 of his other hunting buddies. We made our way up a road, hunting the various gulleys and draws, when we walked up to an SUV, same guy as day 3. he said he put his two buddies up the road on a ridge, he didnt explicitly ask us to not go up further, but we got his vibe, so back down my dad and i went, ditched the road, made our way back over a few ridges, and i set up overlooking a small valley, and he went off to another spot. 5 minutes after sitting down, i see some elk crest over a ridge about 1000 yards to my right. so i got up and started to close the distance, crossed over two ridges, and made my way onto the 3rd, at this point i couldnt go further, the last ridge was so steep i couldnt go down it, it dropped into a large creek at the bottom, roughly 1200 ft down i would guess. so i dropped my pack, on the sage brush, tried to get it so i could lay down, which was a challenge since i was on the downward slope of this thing. the elk were on the other side of the valley in front of me, so i went to grab my range finder. ****! i gave it to my brother to use the day before..... Now its in his truck 600 miles away heading back to AZ. so i didnt my best to guess the distance. I guessed 400 yards, pulled down with .270WSM shooting 150gr Spitzer BT at 3100 FPS. set the reticle on my 400 yard cross, and BAM. silent. Re-loaded. got back on the lead cow as they were looking around, adjusted slightly up. BAM, silence, WWHHHAAAAPP. Sounded like i hit a rock, 4 elk ran back up the mountain. I thought to myself, there was 5? Grabbed my binos, and i saw her on the ground. DOWN. ****, wow. YES!! elated on my last morning elk!! Got up, checked her again, still down, went to find my dad to go get her and start working. Took around 30 minutes to find him, and we walked back to the ridge where i shot the elk. He ranged it, 460 yards. Not bad for an estimate on my part. Looked at her again, still down. Went to the trail, got the truck, and headed over. 400 yard shot equated to a 45 minute brisk hike back to the truck and 20 minute drive to the nearest area to hike up. (The valley i shot across was not cross-able. too steep.)
We hiked up to go start the dressing, ****, where is she? I swear she was on top of the rock outcropping. looked around, blood. deep red blood. Could see where she was down, blood, tracks of the other elk, more blood. NO ELK. what the hell? we followed the faint tracks, got back to the shooting spot and looked again on the mountain side, tried following a blood trail, but it had dried up. spent hours on hours scouring the mountainside, the drainage. Couldnt find the new tracks or elk. We made every possible attempt to find her, did everything in our power, and could not locate the elk. i quietly sat, and buried my elk tag in the dirt. I was not going to hunt that last evening with what happened. And i didnt feel i deserved to.
I was raised by elk hunters who never cared about antler size, the way my grandpa hunted was to fill the freezer, he taught my dad the same way, and my dad taught me the same **** thing. circumstances are different now, and filling the freezer isnt a make it or break it thing. I can fill my freezer with store bought items, and afford to.Harvesting any elk was always a trophy to me.After 12 years of elk hunting i have yet to harvest anything with antlers. And the meat never got wasted, and i couldnt imagine having it any other way. So this year broke my heart quite a bit and has actually kept me awake at night knowing that elk might not make it, and the meat may get wasted or spoil. Our mission this year was to get an elk back home for my grandpa to feel an elk hide one last time, and get to eat that wonderful loin one last time. I feel like i failed in some cases. But i know one thing, ill be back out on the mountain again next year, working even harder, and with my rangefinder. (i know what my brother is getting for christmas)
