My Elk Hunt
My Elk Hunt
I am going to start with I am probably going to get bashed when people see how far the shot was that I took but I dont care. My hunt started with my arrival in Norwood Colorado on Sept. 23rd at 2:17 pm and a phone call to the outfitter. Kevin came to town and met me and we went to the local hardware store and I bought my Elk licsense. Before we could get out of town Roger and Mark from LSBA arrived in town so we all headed out to camp together. Buff, Stoney, and Bale' were already in camp. Buff, Stoney, Roger, and Mark all headed out that afternoon to try and get a shot at a Muledeer but they were unable to get anything done. Wednsday morning arrived bright and early at 4:30 a:m. We ate breakfast and all the hunters and guides made their game plan and headed out to the different ranches they were hunting. The deal was 1 guide and 2 hunters so my guide which was Kevin "Huntquest" the outfitter took myself and Bale' to the ranch we would be hunting. We waited until we had enough light to see our pins" because in Colorado sight lights are illegal" to head out. We cow called a couple of times and a bull answered us so we headed up the mountain after him. We got about half way up and called again. The bull answered again so we continue up the mountain. We got to the bench the bull was on and called again and again the bull answered. He was only about 200 yards from us in the "quakies" aspen trees. Kevin cow called him off and on for about 30 minutes but he would not come to the call. We discussed it and decided that the bull was bedded down. It took us about an hour and a half to climb up to were we were and it was going to take an hour or so to get back down so we decided to head back down. I did not have a deer tag on this hunt and I had 2 decent bucks less than 30 yards from me up on top of the mountain. We started back down and I took a picture of the truck and I will post it to give you an idea of how high up we were. Wedsnday eveningturned out to be a little more exciting on top of the mountain as we had 4 or 5 bulls bugling at us from less than 200 yards. The only problem was they were across the fence on another ranch that we didn't have permission to be on. We called at them for about an hour. One of the bulls would start toward us then stop and back off. When you have those big suckers that close screaming it is a huge adrenaline rush that I cant describe. It was getting dark so we headed down off the mountain. Thursday morning was more of the same so i will not waste your time with the details. Thursday evening we moved to a different part of the ranch. Bale' sat in a ladder stand over a natural spring and Kevin and I worked our way through the quakies. We saw a lot of fresh sign but no elk. It was getting dark so we headed back to the truck. Friday morning we headed back to the same spot. We worked our way up the mountain without seeing anything. We split up and I stayed up on the boundrie fence and Kevin and Bale' headed down to the edge of the quakies. I worked my way back toward the truck along the fence. I cow called once and had a bull come in to me without making a sound but I could not see his horns well enough to tell if he was legal or not. He stopped at 60 yards and the wind swirled and I was busted. I worked on down to the truck seeing a lot of fresh signs. That evening we headed back to the same area but Bale' went elswhere. Kevin and I worked our way down into a draw full of quakies. We traveled 200 or more yards down hill without ever touching the ground. We walked on top of deadfall all the way down to the bottom. We worked the draw all evening and shortly before dark we heard a bull raking his horns on a tree less than 100 yards from us. We worked toward him but could not find him. We headed on back to camp at dark. Saturday morning We headed back to the same area but we decided that I would work the side of the mountain I wanted to hunt by myself. I saw an incredible amount of fresh sign in the area I was working. I stalked up behind an elk that was standing behind some oak brush but the wind swirled just as I was about to step out from behind the brush and the elk busted me. I think it was a cow but I never saw the elk clearly enough to tell. I headed back to the truck excited about the evening hunt. That evening I went back to the same place but I had Kevins nephew Ryan with me. We were working our way down to the area that we were wanting to hunt when we saw a cow elk and 2 bulls in the area we were headed. We had to back track to avoid being busted by the wind. We worked our way around the elk and started back toward them. We got below them and were started back up to them when Ryan saw a small cow bedded to our left. We stopped and he ranged her at 92 yards. I had an arrow nocked and was ready when she moved toward our right. Ryan cow called and she froze. I came to full draw and asked him the range. He told me 80 yards so I put my 80 yard pin behind her shoulder and squeezed the trigger on my release. I watched the arrow fly toward her and it sounded like some one hit her in the ribs with a baseball bat when the Rage broadhead hit her. We waited 30 minutes knowing she was hit hard then we started looking for blood. We found a good trail of blood and found her laying down 80 yards later. She was still alive but real weak and she jumped up an ran off before I could shoot. We waited another 45 minutes then trailed her for a ways until it got to dark to see blood. We decided as much as I hated to to back out and come back the next morning. I spent a long sleepless night waiting for sunday morning to arrive. Ryan took Roger up above were my elk should have been laying to try and find th elk we had seen the night before. Kevin and I headed back up to were I had lost the blood. After a little bit of back tracking I found her laying in a thick clump of brush. She had tried to double back but I guess she was to weak and layed down and died. We took some pictures and then dragged her doen to get the four wheeler to her. I was pumped as much when I found her as I was when I shot her. The rest of my hunt was spent taking pictures and video of deer.
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