jerryt
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Well took off for Colorado and had a successful hunt but we did not kill the quality of animals that we have in the past, but you can't eat the horns. Arrived on Wednesday three days prior to the opener and was able to scout up 15 different legal bulls in the area that we hunt. Our tags were for 4 point or better bulls only and we had a couple of deer tags in the group as well. Of the bulls we saw 5 of them were quality 6x6 and 7x6 bulls. First morning of the season I sent the group into the area that had the bigger bulls and I headed off in another direction on my own where I had a nice 5x5 with 9 cows that I had been patterning nearly every morning. Sure enough right on que there they were at sunrise. Got myself in position and waited. They never showed so i got to glassing and picked them up. They opted to go up the opposite canyon they usually do. I did a quick range on them and they were at 520 yards. In the back of my mind I was here we go again. The last 4 years I have had to shoot my bulls at over 500 yards. I took aim and let one fly. I could not see the bullet hit so I figured it must have been a bit high and hit into the junipers. Took aim again and the same result. The elk just kept working there way up the hill so I took aim again and then I saw my bullet hit. It hit about 8 feet behind the elk at the perfect height. I quit shooting and decided I would wait for another opportunity. I kept thinking how in the world could my rifle be that far off. About 10 minutes later I was walking around the knob of the hill I was working my way around and I got hit smack in the face with about a 30 MPH wind. I was so nestled in a draw that I had no clue the wind was blowing. I continued hunting my way in the direction that I sent the other guys when I heard a single shot of in the distance. About 10 minutes later I got the call on my phone to say they needed some help. I am the packer and worker in the group as I am 34 years old and everyone else in the group has me by 30 years. Down the mountain I go headed for my truck. Get as close to the guys in my truck as I can and head up the hill to see what I have in store for me. It ended up being this 5x5 who was belly down in the ditch and they could not move him. With a little help I was able to get him flipped over and drug about 10 feet to where I could gut him.
After gutting him the guys said now what. I told them I would be right back. Down the hill I went. I was carrying a 3000 foot spool of rope in the truck. Hooked the the roll up to my truck and up the mountain I went. 2000 feet later I was at the bull. I told the guys he is going out whole. about 30 minutes later I had him where I could get to him with the truck. In the truck he went and off to town we headed to the butcher shop.
We hunted hard the next three days and only saw 3 cows and a lot of deer but we still hadn't seen any great bucks in our zone to get our two deer tag holders on too. Day 5 things were starting to look better. Spotted about 20 elk way off in the distance. Contacted they guys and got one of them to close the distance. I soon located him in the spotting scope and he was headed in perfect. I got about as close as he could and I saw the elk start to notice him. He got set up and soon the elk started to head up the hill. The bull finally came up with them and was a beautiful 6x6. I heard the shot as I was watching the bull in the spotting scope. I estimated our hunter to be between 200 and 300 yards away from the bull. I watched the bull wonder all the way up the hill without another shot fired. Perplexed I contacted him and he said they were too far away. I asked him what the range way and he said he thought about 500 yards. He didn't have a range finder. Later that day I went over there with my range finder. It read 212 yards. He said he held about 6 inches over his back, well that is about where the bullet went. That evening my dad was able to locate and group of Elk and he had the old man of our group with him. This guy is 73 years old been battling cancer this year and has Parkinson's. Dad was able to get him to 320 yards from the bedded bull and got him sat down on the ground. Dad asked if he felt he could make the shot and he said oh yah. He is shooting a 270 short mag with his own hand loads at 145 grain. He also has a Knight Scope on there that has him zeroed at 300 yards and has the turet, windage and level all built into it. He sends the bullet and dad says you hit him put another in him. He sends another and dad goes you got him again as the bull falls over dead right back into his bed. About 7:30 they come rolling into camp and tell me to get the truck and come get their elk. Off we go. Lucky enough I could get my truck to within a foot of the elk. A nice big 6x6 with broken tines and battle marks every where. Off to town we go with this bull. Butcher is on speed dial so he was waiting for us upon arrival. I took the only picture we got since it was too dark in the field.
The next day was uneventful as well except that right before dark we located and nice 3x3 mule deer that was worthy of a bullet. We set one of the hunters with a deer tag up in the area and then the three of us that had elk tags took off to hopefully find some elk. Dad and I hunted cross canyon from each other and right at sunrise dad caught movement. Two bulls not good bulls but bulls that would work just fine for the freezer were below me. He yelled at me on the radio and we started closing the distance. All of the sudden boom dad had sent a shot cross canyon as the bulls knew something was up and were headed out in front of me. Dads shoot made the bulls switch directions. Boom again and the nice sound of a smack could be heard. The bulls were suddenly right in front of me at 70 yards. I saw one begin to stagger and fall. This left me with one decision, shoot the one that was still standing. Two shots later the bull was laying next to his partner. Two bulls down a 5x5 with both eye guards broken off and a 4x5 with everything in tack. Dad and I quickly gutted the animals and then surveyed our situation. Dad I drug each of the bulls about 100 yards to where we thought we could get a rope tied to them and drug out with the truck. Know was the interesting part. We had the truck on one side of the river and the bulls on the hill on the other side of the river with dad. I pulled the fishing rod out from under the seat and tied a 3/8" wrench to the line. Casted the line to dad and then tied the rope to the fishing line. Dad pulled the rope across the river with the fishing line and tied one of the bulls off. I got in the truck and pulled him across. The elk had to take a dive off the bank about 10 feet above the river and dad said he was a submarine all the way across the river. I kept dragging him with the tuck until he was in a nice flat area that we could get him loaded up at. We then did the same thing with the next bull but this time I hit the gas a little harder when the elk flew off the bank of the river and they said never have they seen a bull water ski so well. As you can tell in the picture they are a little wet from the river. First picture is before the river crossing.
After getting them across the river I headed to get the trailer while the other guys picked up the dad from the other side. Upon arriving at camp I found our deer hunter there and asked him if he had any luck. He told me he shot at him thought he hit him but looked for him for three hours and could not find him or blood. I told him after we got back from town with the two elk we got this morning we would go look. A few hours later we were back and loaded up to go look for the deer. I dropped the shooter off at his shooting position and told him to range exactly where he thought the deer was since he had ranged him before he shot and so he ranged 322 yards. I headed across the sage to where he thought he shot and the others came from the other direction looking for sign. I looked around for about 5 minutes and saw nothing. Since everyone was headed further out I decided I would head closer and I noticed one tall patch of grass a little closer to the shooter. I headed right for it and right away I could see horns sticking out of the tall grass. I drug him to where the shooter could see him and I could see him jump with joy. I started looking around for blood and realized there was no blood to follow because this buck just dropped in his tracks. I had him gutted and Dad and I drug him to the pickup location before the shooter made it down the hill. This buck was with 12 does when he was shoot.
That was the end of the killing for the trip for the trip but our last night there which was Friday I was able to get our other deer tag holder on a giant buck that I had seen on the edge of our zone. I just figured this buck had to be bedded in our zone and then at night was crossing over to the other zone after dark where we were seeing him every morning. He was about a 25 inch wide 4x4 that was also about 24 inches tall. I would be dammed if I didn't set up the spotting scope and instantly picked up a doe that stood up in the willow bottom. I got to looking around and there 15 yards away was he bucks horns hiding in the brush. As quickly as I could I got the shooter our 73 year old with Parkinson's set up at 300 yards. We were looking directly into the sun and he could not locate the buck. We had his tripod set up for the gun and I was able to get all the knobs tightened down tight and found the buck in his scope for him. I had to hold my hat over the scope so he could see and he sent one his way. Right between his horns went the bullet. The buck moved about 10 yards and stood there. He could not locate the buck so I got him lined up again and he sent another bullet. It sounded like a hit but I could not tell since I could not hold the shade up and look through the binoculars at the same time. I caught a glimpse of the deer go behind a bush fully out of few and we sat there for about 5 minutes. I saw no movement except the doe here and there. Light was fading fast so I told him I was going in for a look and for him to keep his eyes peeled for movement. I ran into the bottom and headed to where I last saw the deer. I got to within about 10 feet of the bush and out he explodes. Followed his tracks for a little ways and there was no blood to be found anywhere. Upon further discussion that night I found out that he was trying to shoot him in the head. He didn't realize that his body was actually exposed for both shots. All in all it was a good trip with all but one bull tag and one deer tag filled and both of those tags would have been filled if it had not been for missed shots.
After gutting him the guys said now what. I told them I would be right back. Down the hill I went. I was carrying a 3000 foot spool of rope in the truck. Hooked the the roll up to my truck and up the mountain I went. 2000 feet later I was at the bull. I told the guys he is going out whole. about 30 minutes later I had him where I could get to him with the truck. In the truck he went and off to town we headed to the butcher shop. We hunted hard the next three days and only saw 3 cows and a lot of deer but we still hadn't seen any great bucks in our zone to get our two deer tag holders on too. Day 5 things were starting to look better. Spotted about 20 elk way off in the distance. Contacted they guys and got one of them to close the distance. I soon located him in the spotting scope and he was headed in perfect. I got about as close as he could and I saw the elk start to notice him. He got set up and soon the elk started to head up the hill. The bull finally came up with them and was a beautiful 6x6. I heard the shot as I was watching the bull in the spotting scope. I estimated our hunter to be between 200 and 300 yards away from the bull. I watched the bull wonder all the way up the hill without another shot fired. Perplexed I contacted him and he said they were too far away. I asked him what the range way and he said he thought about 500 yards. He didn't have a range finder. Later that day I went over there with my range finder. It read 212 yards. He said he held about 6 inches over his back, well that is about where the bullet went. That evening my dad was able to locate and group of Elk and he had the old man of our group with him. This guy is 73 years old been battling cancer this year and has Parkinson's. Dad was able to get him to 320 yards from the bedded bull and got him sat down on the ground. Dad asked if he felt he could make the shot and he said oh yah. He is shooting a 270 short mag with his own hand loads at 145 grain. He also has a Knight Scope on there that has him zeroed at 300 yards and has the turet, windage and level all built into it. He sends the bullet and dad says you hit him put another in him. He sends another and dad goes you got him again as the bull falls over dead right back into his bed. About 7:30 they come rolling into camp and tell me to get the truck and come get their elk. Off we go. Lucky enough I could get my truck to within a foot of the elk. A nice big 6x6 with broken tines and battle marks every where. Off to town we go with this bull. Butcher is on speed dial so he was waiting for us upon arrival. I took the only picture we got since it was too dark in the field.
The next day was uneventful as well except that right before dark we located and nice 3x3 mule deer that was worthy of a bullet. We set one of the hunters with a deer tag up in the area and then the three of us that had elk tags took off to hopefully find some elk. Dad and I hunted cross canyon from each other and right at sunrise dad caught movement. Two bulls not good bulls but bulls that would work just fine for the freezer were below me. He yelled at me on the radio and we started closing the distance. All of the sudden boom dad had sent a shot cross canyon as the bulls knew something was up and were headed out in front of me. Dads shoot made the bulls switch directions. Boom again and the nice sound of a smack could be heard. The bulls were suddenly right in front of me at 70 yards. I saw one begin to stagger and fall. This left me with one decision, shoot the one that was still standing. Two shots later the bull was laying next to his partner. Two bulls down a 5x5 with both eye guards broken off and a 4x5 with everything in tack. Dad and I quickly gutted the animals and then surveyed our situation. Dad I drug each of the bulls about 100 yards to where we thought we could get a rope tied to them and drug out with the truck. Know was the interesting part. We had the truck on one side of the river and the bulls on the hill on the other side of the river with dad. I pulled the fishing rod out from under the seat and tied a 3/8" wrench to the line. Casted the line to dad and then tied the rope to the fishing line. Dad pulled the rope across the river with the fishing line and tied one of the bulls off. I got in the truck and pulled him across. The elk had to take a dive off the bank about 10 feet above the river and dad said he was a submarine all the way across the river. I kept dragging him with the tuck until he was in a nice flat area that we could get him loaded up at. We then did the same thing with the next bull but this time I hit the gas a little harder when the elk flew off the bank of the river and they said never have they seen a bull water ski so well. As you can tell in the picture they are a little wet from the river. First picture is before the river crossing.
After getting them across the river I headed to get the trailer while the other guys picked up the dad from the other side. Upon arriving at camp I found our deer hunter there and asked him if he had any luck. He told me he shot at him thought he hit him but looked for him for three hours and could not find him or blood. I told him after we got back from town with the two elk we got this morning we would go look. A few hours later we were back and loaded up to go look for the deer. I dropped the shooter off at his shooting position and told him to range exactly where he thought the deer was since he had ranged him before he shot and so he ranged 322 yards. I headed across the sage to where he thought he shot and the others came from the other direction looking for sign. I looked around for about 5 minutes and saw nothing. Since everyone was headed further out I decided I would head closer and I noticed one tall patch of grass a little closer to the shooter. I headed right for it and right away I could see horns sticking out of the tall grass. I drug him to where the shooter could see him and I could see him jump with joy. I started looking around for blood and realized there was no blood to follow because this buck just dropped in his tracks. I had him gutted and Dad and I drug him to the pickup location before the shooter made it down the hill. This buck was with 12 does when he was shoot.
That was the end of the killing for the trip for the trip but our last night there which was Friday I was able to get our other deer tag holder on a giant buck that I had seen on the edge of our zone. I just figured this buck had to be bedded in our zone and then at night was crossing over to the other zone after dark where we were seeing him every morning. He was about a 25 inch wide 4x4 that was also about 24 inches tall. I would be dammed if I didn't set up the spotting scope and instantly picked up a doe that stood up in the willow bottom. I got to looking around and there 15 yards away was he bucks horns hiding in the brush. As quickly as I could I got the shooter our 73 year old with Parkinson's set up at 300 yards. We were looking directly into the sun and he could not locate the buck. We had his tripod set up for the gun and I was able to get all the knobs tightened down tight and found the buck in his scope for him. I had to hold my hat over the scope so he could see and he sent one his way. Right between his horns went the bullet. The buck moved about 10 yards and stood there. He could not locate the buck so I got him lined up again and he sent another bullet. It sounded like a hit but I could not tell since I could not hold the shade up and look through the binoculars at the same time. I caught a glimpse of the deer go behind a bush fully out of few and we sat there for about 5 minutes. I saw no movement except the doe here and there. Light was fading fast so I told him I was going in for a look and for him to keep his eyes peeled for movement. I ran into the bottom and headed to where I last saw the deer. I got to within about 10 feet of the bush and out he explodes. Followed his tracks for a little ways and there was no blood to be found anywhere. Upon further discussion that night I found out that he was trying to shoot him in the head. He didn't realize that his body was actually exposed for both shots. All in all it was a good trip with all but one bull tag and one deer tag filled and both of those tags would have been filled if it had not been for missed shots.
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