My 2011 Colorado Archery Deer & Elk Hunt

[bear402]

=============================================

 

I just returned from my bi-annual trip to Colorado for archery elk and deer .

 

It's bi-annual because of cost and the fact that Ya need a couple of preference points to draw a deer tag.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

First off let me qualify what kind of crew was in attendance for this hunt. Basically we were all elkless elk hunters with this being My 4th archery elk hunt, Cousin Gib's 3rd archery elk hunt while his son Gary & Cousin Marc were on their 1st archery elk hunt. The bottom line is that we were looking for any legal elk. In addition I had drawn an either sex deer tag in the unit we were hunting in.

 

Anyway, myself and cousins Gib & Marc + Gibs son Gary left Bakersfield Ca. on the evening of August 31st. We drove until around 1:00 A.M on the 1st of September and then pitched out sleeping bags along I-40 Just past Ashfork Arizona. Catching about 4 1/2 hours of ZZZ's we hit the road and proceeded down the road through Flagstaff , 4 corners monument , endind up at Walmart in Cortez Colorado to purchase final supplies and across the counter archery elk either sex tags.

 

 

Proceeding onward through Dalores, we arrived at our final destination just outside of the " ********* **** Wilderness". We pitched up camp with a central kitchen & B S ' area stringing my 12 X16 ' Cabelas tarp off my little quad / camping trailer.

 

 

 

As usual I laid back and piddled with other stuff as Gib, Gary & Marc set their tents. I always prefer to set my tent a minimum of 60 to 80 yards away from others so I don't get Snored out at night. I swear Marc could wake the dead when he falls into a deep sleep. :shock:

 

I did not take any other pics of camp but here's Marcs tent with an extra tarp fly for the rain and thunder storms that is guaranteed to show up at this time of year.

 

 

By the time camp was set up and we wound down from the long drive it was time lay out hunting clothes, load our packs and hit the sack .

 

Morning came quickly and after a quick bowl of oatmeal and cup of stout coffee we headed out for the first days hunt. Gib & his son Gary walked out of camp to some familar territory from past trips that included fir groves , aspen, open parks and a few wallows while Marc and myself drove up the road about a mile and bailed out for a climb to a little higher country.

 

Our camp was based at 10,200 Feet in elevation and before the morning was through Marc and I had climbed to at tree line at 11,800' .

 

 

The weather was unusually warm and dry peaking out in the lower 80's The elk didn't seem to be moving much , although we did find some sign around 11000', on our trek up the mountain. Just at treeline we found a nice bowl off to the the side of a creek drainage's head waters .

 

We could smell the elk as we eased in and after a good look around it was obvious by the elk pellets and patties that a small herd was using the bowl. I had Marc set up about 80 yards down from the bowl in the creek drainage and proceeded to call a few sequences . After an hour of calling with no action , we pulled out to to check out some more real estate for signs of action.

 

Arriving back at camp at the end of the day we had a quick dinner and compared notes with Gib & Gary. They had found little sign and had seen no elk. The first day of the hunt came up blank.

 

4:30 A.M. came quickly and once again after a breakfast of oatmeal and stout coffee we struck out for another day of fun. Not long into the morning hunt that coffee hit bottom and I had to throw up the ol' "one cheek comode"

 

 

After the morning hunt , lunch break and short nap Marc and I split up to cover more area . Elk sign was tough to find and the weather was still hot and dry. Worst of all the elk were tight lipped with no elk talk or bugles going on whatsoever.

 

I poked around some old haunts, hunted until sundown and headed back to camp. Shortly after my arrival, Marc came in looking a little worked up. He said that he had shot a cow at 44 yards right before dark. Describing the shot he said it was a broadside shot and he heard the arrow hit the cow elk. It had done a mule kick on impact. Marc was unable to find blood on the ground and could not find the arrow either. Marking where the cow had stood on the shot with flagging tape and Gps coordinates he ruturned to camp for help.

 

At 9:00 P.M. GIb , Gary. Marc and myself all headed up to the shot location to see if we could find any sign of blood , the arrow or the elk itself. Of course now was the time the weather decided to shift as it began tp sprinkle . We searched carefully at first by headlamps and my bloodrunner tracking light, but the clouds started really opening up and knowing that any blood sign would soon be lost we started a 4 man grid search which turned up nothing in the end. We called off the search for the night and returned to camp to dry beds in our tents.

 

As morning arrived I encouraged Gib and Gary to get on with their hunt as I accompanied Marc up the mountain to look things over with some daylight to assist us. We were able to find the arrow within a few minutes and after examination it revealed that there was fat and hair on the broadhead with nothing on the shaft and a couple of traces of blood on two of vanes. I told Marc that it looks like a solid brisket hit to me and I have unfortuntely seen a few of em' in my Bowhunting career . We kicked around for another 1/2 hour and then pulled off satisfied that the elk had been insulted more than hurt in the episode.

 

( It's amazing how much easier it is to find stuff during the daylight as compared to a dark rainy night !!)

------------------

 

Fast forwarding a little through the hunt , the weather pattern had taken a change for the better as afternoon Thunderstorms started rolling in wetting and cooling down the elk country , which got the elk more interested in moving a little bit. We were all seeing a few elk on our daily hunts and fresh sign was more apparent.

 

By the 6th day everyone had seen a few deer and acouple of small Bucks around. (Except me the Guy with the deer tag.) :roll:

One evening Gib had seen a very nice 4 point Buck right up behind camp grazing a meadows edge . He took a couple of pictures but the lighting was poor so the pics were fuzzy and really only showed the size of the rack which were out past those big muley ears. I went up and set up the next evening for a 3 hour sit but nothing showed up but a few "Slow elk". (MooOooooo cows. )

 

 

On the 7th we lost half of our hunting party as Gib and Gary had to pull out and make the 15 hour drive back to California to work and family. It's to bad that they weren't able to stay a little longer for more elk punishment ! I'm pretty sure those elk were havin a lot fun dodging them and I know that Gib and Gary would be missiing all that slipping and sliding down the sides of those hills off of those sneaky dead wet aspen limbs into the muck & goo

 

 

-----

 

 

Marc & I continued on with the hunt , somtimes hunting together and other times splitting up to cover a little more ground. We were starting to get a feel of what the elk were doing as we found more & more elk sign daily. We both were seeing a few elk now and again , cows and calfs but no bulls . There still was no Bugling going on but the females were starting to talk a little with mews & chirps . One evening at dark when Marc and I met at our rendevous point on a trail by the edge of a meadow . A bull cut loose on the other side of the meadow in the treeline with Glumps , Belly grunts and a couple of Barks. I think he was saying " Hey I'm over here , I know your there , but you can't get me ! " ' Naaa naaa naaa ! " :x

 

I was now concentrating my efforts in the low drainages sitting and watching the bogs and wallows along with still hunting elk trails in fir and aspen grove bedding areas . Marc was doing the same as we continued to have a few encounters but no shots. We had pretty much given up on calling . I don't think we very good at it because all we had were negative results.

 

I should have taken a few more, but I did take some photos of the scenery as I hunted along in the Wilderness.

 

Here's an overview of the country we were hunting in .

 

 

A view Of ******* **** Wilderness . Still patches of snow way back in there.

 

 

 

Small Wallow in a Bog

 

 

---------------------------------------

 

As our limited hunting days continued to quickly fly by, frustration started to set in a little and we were beginning to think that our trip was going to be a bust ending with a big Goose Egg on the meat pole . The Ol' Skunkaroo !! That stinks.

 

I decided to hunt for a big ol' Milkin Mule deer doe to at least fill my deer tag , but although I had several encouters and close calls , it never came together to stick an arrow in one. I continued mixing it up, alternating looking for deer and then elk as Marc stayed on the Elk trail every day.

 

The weather pattern really cooled off and it rained at night quite a bit as we worked into the 10th september. For some reason Marc and I both had a good feeling that morning as we parted ways to both hunt the low drainages, flat ridgeline and sloping bedding areas for elk. As we parted Marc said "it's going to happen" and I concurred. Marc cut off the pack trail first and I continued on towards the ******** **** Wilderness to a Huge park with a large pond on the lower end where I intended to cut down into the lower drainages crossing through a few elk bedrooms on the way.

 

I hugged the edge of the park on a treeline as I slowly approached the pond. There was a depression followed by a slight rise which hid the pond from view until you were right on top of it. As the little pond edge came into view I spotted a deer feeding in a small grassy ravine running to the left and down the hill . The deer had it's head down in the tall grass and I thought to myself , " There's a doe feeding right out in the open. I immediately slipped into the treeline and slowly worked through it with the intent of ending up on the point of the finger that it formed , ending within 4o yards of the depression the deer was feeding in. With the rain we had the last several days , the forest floor was nice and quiet and I had the wind in my face. I was thinking to myself that , "something good could happen here !"

 

My heart was starting to pump pretty good as I eased up to the end of the finger and peeked out into the open meadow expecting to see my doe. I was totally shocked as I looked out through the branches to see two bucks looking right at my little hiding spot . My jaw dropped as I saw the rack on the Monster Muley that was staring down at me. He was at least a 190 to 200 inch deer , the biggest I have ever seen while I was hunting ! I was in amazement whith the heighth of his tines as he swung that head back and forth trying to figure out what I was. I don't know how but that big buck was on to me , not spooked but on red alert that something was up. I hardly took notice of the Buck that was with him as he looked tiny in comparison .

 

The 2 deer had moved out away from where I had originally spotted the first one so I knew that I would need to range them to get any kind of a shot. They looked to be approximately 70 yards from me standing in the open. As I slowly raised my range finder I realized that I was looking east directly into the morning sun and past experience has taught me to never range a deers body directly into the sun as the lens reflection will spook em' every time. I thought to myself , " Now What " and then decided I would range a tree near the Monster and hope he didn't catch the glare . I inched my range finder over to the nearest fir preparing to press the button , but as I did the Big boy jerked his head up, wheeled and ran up the hill and disappeared into the next little tree line on the far side of the opening.

 

I was thinking to myself, "bummer game over" as I walked off the point and strolled across the open meadow towards where the deer had vanished. I made it about to the bottom of the depression that the little buck had been feeding in, when I caught movement again in the treeline. It was the Monster Buck and his little buddy again and they stepped right out on my side of the treeline hugging the firs as a backdrop. They hung there checking me out as I squirmed around trying to figure out what to do. I knelt down in the tall grass and the Big Guy started getting a little antsy dancing on his tiptoes trying to pick me out of my hidy hole . He had all he could take and disappeared back into the treeline . His little buddy hung back still looking down the hill towards me , but not looking overly concerned about the situation.

 

Well I thought , "theres the consolation prize , been hunting 9 days , meats meat ! " I had to convince myself that any chance at the the freakin Monster was gone. I ranged the treeline that the buck was hung up against . It was a long poke but I'm capable as is my Evo , so slowy raised my bow and took the shot. I saw the arrow arcing towards the Buck in the final few yards and heard a Thwop and knew that I had hit him. The Buck ran straight out past the point of the treeline and then hooked a left as The big boy busted out of the trees behind him and passed him up . I watched as those massive horns ran straight away never to be seen by my eyes again.

 

I walked over to where the Buck had been standing and looked around about 15 minutes for my arrow. I finally found it and after a quick glance, knew that I was not happy with what I was looking at. It had some blood on it and a whole bunch of gutty stuff .

 

 

I didn't have very much blood to follow , but I did have a good line on the diection of travel the Buck had taken since it was open meadow until he dispappeared into the treeline at the far side of the park. I waited a bit and then started a very slow tracking job on hands and knees at times with 2 or 3 arrows stuck inthe ground marking blood to give me a sight line to find more blood and tracks. It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach the treeline that he entered approximately 200 yards away. I found blood on the far side of the treeline where the deer entered into more open ground dropping into a steeper incline. I didn't want to push to hard with such a gutty arrow so I sat down for a break and carefully scanned the hill down below .

 

An odd formation caught my eye as I sat there that didn't look quite right. It kind of looked like a downed grey log but then again it just wasn't quite right. I looked at it with my rangefinder at 84 yards and there was a definate dead limb sticking up at the end of it, but in front of that looked an awful lot like and ear sticking out parallel to the ground . I wasn't sure so I left my bow and pack where I sat and headed on down the hill for a closer look.

 

This is where he left the treeline and dropped down the hill.

 

 

About half way down to the spot I recognized the downed buck eliminating all doubt. This is how he lay as walked up to him.

 

 

As it turned out the uphill shot hit with him a little quartered to me and a bit back . The 125 Grn. T-head busted though the diaphram and liver and exited midway through the upper paunch. The deer bled out internally, was good & stiff and already had blow flies laying laying eggs on his hide, so I believe that death came pretty quickly.

 

Here's the entry shot.

 

 

 

 

I took the shot on the buck at 8:35 A.M., had the buck propped up and was taking Pictures with the self timer using my Diablo daypack as a tripod at 12:30 P.M.

 

Little Fork with the Evo

 

 

Me and the Fork .

 

 

After taking the photos , I deboned & sacked up the meat , cut the horns off strapped them and my Evo to my day pack and packed it all out to a road below . It was kind of rough trek with 1000 foot drop in elevation. At one point I had to pitch the meat sacks down the hill about 18 feet to a flat spot so I could climb down a rock outcropping handsfree.

 

I hit the road turned on the radio to check on Marc and he told me he was on his way to the SUV with elk backstraps . I told him that he was the man and didn't mention the deer . I had him to pick me up down below as he pulled up right at dark I congratulated him on the Elk and said I got a little baby forky. Of course he was surprised when I pulled out the nice velvet Forky horns to throw in the car.

 

We had previously discussed what to do if an elk was downed , so Marc skinned and quartered his elk, put meat sacks on the parts and pieces and hung them and the head in nearby trees to cool. There were plenty of coyotes in the area so it was definately the thing to do. We let the elk hang over night and then went in the next morning to debone the meat and pack it out. It was only in about 2 1/2 miles off a reasonable trail so it wasn't to bad . We made 2 trips each Marc with his Badlands 2200 and me with an old framepack and had it all hanging in camp. By late afternoon. It was quite a bit of work. but we managed pretty well.

 

Here's a few pictures of the kill site and Marcs 5X4 Bull.

 

Bull & Marc's 05 Bowtech Alligience

 

 

Marc & his 5x4 Bull taken on his first elk hunt.

 

 

Old fart whittlin' on a hind quarter. ( Oh Yea !, that's Me )

 

I hunted elk one more day after the elk packin with no success . We packed up camp & stopped in Cortez Co. to pack the cooler with enough dry ice to keep the elk and buck in good shape on the 15 hour drive home on the 13th of September . The trip was long and we rolled into Bfield at 11:30 P.M Wednesday evening, backed the trailer into the garage , pulled valuable equipment like bows and stuff out of car and called it a hunt. After unpacking and little equipment drying, I took a down day to rest up before the butchering began.

 

Elk Backstraps:

 

 

The first meal off the elk . (Elk Liver & Heart cooked with onions & mushrooms Served with gravy mashed potatoes & corn. )

 

 

It was a good hunt !

[Mr. Jonathan]

I really loved reading this story, thanks for sharing and the great pics too!

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

Excelent! Congrats and thanks for sharing!!

[Hunterjohnny]

That is some gorgeous country. Thanks for the story.

[bear402]

Thanks for the positive replys !

 

I love that Colorado High country.

 

Coach provide me with the T-heads Via CWT classified. Thanks Coach, they worked good.

 

I'll be down in southern AZ come Mid December trying to fill my 2011 Archery deer tag.

 

Bear huntin this coming weekend in the High Sierras.

[izquik72]

Outstanding story! Thanks for sharing

 

Congrats to both of you.

[bstpeter]

Great Pictures..looks like a great time..congratz