Back from CO

[BDB]

Well, I got home from my CO elk hunt last night at 8pm, exactly 24 hours after leaving the hunting camp above Montrose. Had a great time but came home without meat unfortunately. The people were great, the food was amazing but the hunting was pretty slow. 1 small 4*5 taken by 17 hunters. I saw my first elk of the entire trip at 2pm on the afternoon of the last day and saw 4 cows total on the last afternoon. Not at all what I was hoping for but that's hunting for ya. 7 of the hunters never even laid eyes on an elk of any kind. We always seemed to be a couple of steps behind them in our travels. 3 of the 5 days were hard core days with about 15 miles of hiking in so I definitely worked for it but just wasn't meant to be. Now I guess I'll start planning on where on want to chase those critters next year. Where ever I decide to go, it will be with a bow instead of a rifle this time, less hunters, less pressure, more bugling

Speck: Jackie and Benny said to say hi and they hope to see you next year.

 

[wmidbrook]

Well, I'm glad to hear that the overall experience was good. Although sorry to hear that the elk weren't around...it can get discouraging when not into the elk.

Hard too keep the adrenelin from pumping when you hear the shrill of the bugle--makes it a bit easier to get into the elk too....give 'em hell next year

 

[BDB]

I hear ya, it does get discouraging. BUT !!! The trip was not without excitement.

Opening morning at sun up, I am sitting up against a tree in a bottom area full of oak brush thickets, quakies (formerly known to me as aspens) and a few open meadow areas. There is a row of oak brush 60 yards to my left that is about 20 yards wide and then a clear cut on the other side heading slightly down hill away from me. I hear a loud sharp "crack" and I immediately think it's someone firing a .22 and was briefly confused until I heard the report of the rifle a second or so later. Then it all sunk in, the shot was directly overhead but I have no idea how high. So, instinctively I duck a little lower. A couple of seconds later bullet number 2 sounded overhead followed by the rifle report. 3, 4 and 5 were also pretty quick in coming, again all overhead, same placement and from the same location. At this point however I had taken shelter behind a 3 foot rock that was between me and the shooter and I was laying on the ground. There was a quick reprieve after shot 5, though I couldn't here the sound of reloading, I am sure it was there if I were a tad closer. At this point I turned my radio on and my guide asked if that was me shooting. My response was that I wasn't shooting but that I was hiding behind a rock keeping my head near the grass. After a 1 minute break, shots 6, 7, 8, and 9 rang out in pretty quick succession. All 9 bullets went directly over head, it is pretty easy to tell when you hear them crack above you. Not one bullet connected with anything. All I can think is that there was a bull standing near the oak brush in the clear cut and that is what the guy was shooting at. After waiting about 30 minutes to make sure he wasn't reloading again I slipped through the dense cover behind me and out of the area and circled up hill to get a look down from a safe spot and see what all the commotion was about. The guy was still sitting in the middle of the clear cut about 150 yards from the edge that was between him and I and he was bugling away like a mad man. Guess he thought they may come back and visit him again. I'm surprised he had any shells left. Not the opening morning excitement that I was hoping for but it sure did elevate the old heart rate

 

[tmoniz]

Glad the hear you got out of that one BDB. There's alot of dipsticks out there posing as hunters. Totally reckless.

 

[Mr.Redneck]

BDB, What area were you hunting in???? Sounds like a miserable waste of time to only see 1 elk. I am planning a hunt next fall with a group of guys, a DIY ARCHERY hunt, will be out there somewhere for the first 7-10 days of he season. Most of the contacts I've had with people have been that if you do it right???!!!, you should have at least a couple of your group tag-out. None of us has ever been ELK HUNTING, but we are all fair whitetail archers, one of the group has a B&C 160-something buck, but the rest of us are still in the Elmer Fudd Record Book, my little 110 or so looks nice on he wall, but he ain't no BOONY. I hope if you return with a bow, your luck is much kinder, and the guy shooting over your head would've gotten a report from me!!!!

Was that a guided hunt you were one???

Hope your luck is better next time,

Doug

 

[FresnoHunter]

Seems like all that shooting over your head made me think for just a minute you were in D7 on opening day for muleys!

 

[BDB]

dmorehouse: It was area 62 in CO and yes it was a guided trip on public land. Who ever was doing the shooting was not part of our group, just some hunter who showed up after us and slipped in below me. Neither of us knew the other was around due to the hill and line of brush between us. There is no way he could have hit me after looking at where he was an where I was sitting but at the time it was no less "uncomfortable". It's never a waste of time being in the woods, seeing new areas and chasing game. Yes it could have been moe productve but thems the breaks. It was 4 cows sighted by me not 1, but 0 bulls is still 0 bulls.

 

[Mr.Redneck]

BDB
I didn't exactly mean "waste of time," but I would certainly be frustrated if I were on a guided hunt and had that few sightings. Though I am sure the rifle season cmpletely changes their pattern and I have heard that you can bump them 5 miles off if you screw up. And you probably didn't even have to be the guys that bumped them. I am extremely excited about our trip, we will be roughing it in a big way though, each of us will carry in about 60-80# of gear for 10 day stay probably 3-4 miles off the roads. Camping out like that will make it worth it to me, but if I get the opportunity to hunt elk and maybe even stick one, that would make it worth every penny. Hope you have better luck next time.

Doug

 

[FTTPOW]

dmorehouse, it should be worth every penny whether you see an elk or not. Elk hunting is NOT like hunting whitetails here in Ohio. Different tactics need to be used and you'll spend tons more "sweat equity" just trying to cover ground. I always thought of myself as a fair whitetail hunter as well, and that's a big advantage if you are, but even though some of the techniques will help, you'll need to adapt to the terrain, weather, altitude, and the habits of the game. If you've never hunted out West before, be ready for a major difference. You can also be ready for the time of your life.

 

[ChrisS]

I also hunted unit 62. I saw elk every day just not alot of them. I had a 5X5 bull at about 15 ft. from me staring me down forever before he finally caught a whiff and hit the deck, man that was exciting! I saw his antler tips coming up a steep hill so I sat down and curled up by a log leaning against a tree. I expected him to jump the fence 25 yds. in front of me but instead he walked the fence right to me and stood directly in front of me! I had a shot at another bull at about 75 yds. the day before. Why didn't I shoot? I had a cow tag!!! I did have a shot at a cow the first day but passed it up cuz it wasn't perfect, man I was kicking myself later in the week! Oh well thats hunting! I'm heading over for third season with a couple friends then will hunt with another cow tag during the 5th season. By the way we got 3 elk out of six hunters, two cows and one 4X6 bull.

 

[Mr.Redneck]

I guess I was maybe a little over ambitious with my first response, but I'd still be pretty frustrated if I'd paid a guide and not had at least a decent opportunity at a bull. I may have exceedingly high expectations, but I am expecting when I go on my DIY Archery hunt to bring home something. After the first 6 days of a 10 day hunt, the cows better steer clear, cause I am not ashamed to tag out for a little meat, instead of horns when it comes to crunch time.

 

[Speckmisser]

Steve,

Glad you at least had a good time. Kinda a bummer about the elk not showing.

Did ya'll stay on public land the whole time? Also sounds like he had a full house of hunters.. 17 guys. Dang!

Drop me a line, and I'll dig for more details then.

 

[SierraExplorer]

BDB-

Glad you had a great time, a fun trip and reaped a welth of info.

Were you able to take any pics of the terrain/scienery where you were at?

Dan

 

[BDB]

Dan,

Didn't really take many pics. It was pretty country but we spent quite a bit of time in fairly dense timber and didn't feel like taking too many pics of the trees if you know what I mean. Here are two that I took.

Opening morning this was the area I was still hunting in and watching (after the ducking behind the rock incident anyway).

 

[BDB]

There was one spot about 1.8 miles from the lodge that had cell coverage, it was aptly named "the phone booth" this was up high looking down over a big meadow in area 61 and looking towards the rockies. Here is a shot from that spot.

 

[SierraExplorer]

Beautiful

Thanks BDB-

Did you ever have a need for or use a GPS?

 

[BDB]

Dan:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

Did you ever have a need for or use a GPS?[/b]

Not really. I had it but it stayed back at the cabin until the last afternoon hunt. Most of the time we were will a guide or at least placed in a spot and then picked back up later. The last evening myself and 2 other guys (who were very experienced elk hunters) from Oregon headed out away from the rest of the guys. They dropped me off at 2pm and I had 5 hours to work down a ridge to be picked up about 6 miles away, near where the first pic was taken. I took the GPS as I had no maps but I studied the map before leaving and only turned on the GPS 3 times just to see a "progress report" as to how far down the ridge I was.

 

[Taos]

BdB,

Glad to hear you had a good time without shooting an elk. I went to Wy. this year for the 1st time in since I left there. Hunted with friends that I had not hunted with for quite a while. Had a ball and it made no difference whether we killed any or not.
I will be headed over to 61 for the last rifle season.

Also glad to hear from someone who holds W.Z. in as high regard as I do.


Lee

 

[BDB]

Good luck in 61 Taos. We had one hunter in camp who took 10 years to draw 61, the rest of us were in 62. Unfortunately he didn't connect either. I don't think he had the physical ability to hunt really hard (I could be wrong), they mostly drove around glassing and sat on a couple of spots to glass but never far from the truck. They saw 2 legal bulls in 4.5 days of hunting. 2 big boys who ran across in front of them in the truck and then they had a chance at them at 310 yards while the bulls were on a dead run clearing out of the area.

Maybe I'm a little slow on a Monday AM but what is W.Z.

 

[SierraExplorer]

BDB-

The 2and pic looks like another wine bottle labeling in the making to myself