Devil Diver Down
Well-known member
The first time I ever went to Colorado, I was 2. We stopped outside of Durango to eat lunch, a bee flew into my mouth (big even back then), landed on my tongue & stung me there. It swelled up like a balloon and the San Juan Nat'l Forest was filled with the crying of a tow-headed Arizona boy. I was hoping for better results on my OTC bow hunt these many years later.
Day -1
Have an ingrown partial nail removed from my right big toe. Doc says to keep soaking it in warm soapy water for a week or so. Yeah, um, okay Doc. Going elk hunting. Not a lot of warm soapy water in my plans. Putting on a boot should be a real treat.
As a new bow hunter I have 2 primary goals:
Gain experience by hunting the rut, get the feel for calling in a hunt situation, setting up, getting busted, rinse, repeat.
To kill something with an arrow, see what an arrow blood trail is like, etc.
Day 0-Travel day
Arrive in the area I plan to hunt in San Juan NF, GMU 71, with about an hour of light left. About 5 miles back, on private land, I see 2 cows and a calf so I suspect things are going to be pretty good. When I get to a camp spot I'm in shorts & comfortable. Not a great sign.
Day 1
My bivy sack is frozen solid when I wake up. Good. Start walking to my Plan A spot not far from where I'm "camped" well before light. Big mistake-truck blows by me and parks where I want to drop into the timber. Plan B--an old, closed logging road & hike in a couple miles where I find a good wallow. In Arizona, you'd need to take a number to sit this thing but after 15 minutes of walking I find another. Then another. Seems CO isn't short on H2O. Tracks are few, droppings look weeks old. No fresh rubs at all.
On the way out I run into 2 bowhunters, both from CO. One has been there 12 days (since open of bow season) and hasn't seen 1 elk. Has a buddy guiding on the bordering private ranch--they aren't seeing anything. The other guy saw a cow & spike opening morning and zip since. He's hoping for a nice mule deer buck now. Not one bugle the entire day so I drive to a new spot.
Day 2
Start of ML season & the Great Pumpkin Invasion is in full force. Pickups idling everywhere. Before light I hear my first bugle. I edge over I see it came from a blaze orange "elk" on the ridge. I glass a long valley with great meadows, good border cover and a stream. It's a great looking area & should be ashamed of itself if it doesn't have at least a dozen elk in it at any one moment.
I watch as darkness drifts away. Nothing. Run into 2 Ohio bowhunters on a quad. The looks on their faces, same as every hunter I run into, say everything: "WTF?" They say 2 years ago the whole hill was lit up with bugling and elk everywhere. Something has changed. Haven't heard 1 shot.
I drive into Dolores/Cortez to see if I can get some info. Stop at some game processors. Where they getting them? Through the lungs, he says. Sometimes the heart. Very helpful. I head north of my original spots to GMU 70 to hunt the late afternoon/evening.
Day 3
I hike the north slopes of a mountain for 8+ hours. It's beautiful country that screams elk, but somehow they're not returning the call. I appreciate all of the water around & dump the water left in my hydration bladder to refill with the real thing, pose for a cheesy picture.
There is some fresh sign but nothing much. I have decided I will shoot a cow if I get within range. Still have not heard one elk bugle, nor a shot. I ldecide to head east and north toward Telluride. Anybody who knows that area is already laughing. The NF areas around there are about the size of a postage stamp and mainly day use only. I head to an area south of Trout Lake.
Day 4
Hike north face slopes of a mountain for 13+ hours. Area has tons of deadfall trees (many still green) and slogging over/under/around them is tough sledding. A guy who spends most of his year at 1,100 feet is breathing fairly hard at 11,000.
Fresher sign and more of it but still not a lot. Haven't seen elk 1 since the drive in. I have ALWAYS been able to find elk on a hunt. I'm wondering where this alleged herd of 25,000 is.
Day 5
I hike a different area of the same mountain. It's hard to stay motivated but I keep my face in the wind, feet moving. Haven't seen another boot track in 3 days. I've called mainly in first/last hour of light and some late at night. It's almost noon but I figure I can't screw up my current standing so I cut a bugle loose. And get an answer (first of the hunt) but a looonnnnggg way off so I sit tight. After about 10 minutes I hear branches breaking below me. It sounds like bounding so I figure mule deer. Instead, a big fat coyote comes hopping through the deadfall, stops for a second, then bails.
On my way down I hear a bugle about 300 yards below me. There's 200 yards of deadfalls and little cover between us. I bugle back. He bugles/chuckles. I bugle/chuckle. He starts to bugle and I cut him off with my own bugle. I hear running back and forth and raking, he starts grunting. I'm climbing over deadfall like a cat and closing the distance to 150 but I run out of cover so I drop my pack and I'm crawling over & under downed trees. We trade a few more calls each and I get to about 80 yards but there's no way to cross. Finally he straight chuckles, then silence. I never get a look at him but he "sounds" like a big-bodied hog. Easily the best 10 minutes of the hunt so far.
I get to my truck an hour after dark. My headlamp is strong but the footing is brutal and I roll my left ankle slightly working through deadfall. I meet a couple of Texans--real solid guys. One of them has been coming to this area every year for 48 straight years, takes an elk home with him almost every year. Says this year & last are the worst he's ever seen. The numbers just aren't there and the heat is really working against us. It's hard to fall asleep but easy to wake up the next morning.
Day 6
I head to the area of yesterday's exchange, rolling my right ankle, but nobody's home. I chase my tail for about 12 hours before heading to the truck. The deadfall is taking its toll--knees and ankles are getting sore & my attitude sucks.
When I get to my truck, which has been parked under the same trees for the 3rd day (and 2 nights), there's an SUV wedged into the trees behind my truck. A tent & table are set up and 2 people are sitting in chairs farther into the trees. Maybe the altitude is getting to me too and I'm seeing things but a woman comes out & asks if I'm just day hunting. I tell her I'm not & that I've been throwing my bivy sack & bag on the ground and back in the truck in the morning. She says they took the spot because they "didn't see anything." I asked how they missed the truck considering they probably had to make an 8 point turn to get between my truck, the fire pit & the trees. She says they're here for a music festival (in Telluride), assumed I was day hunting & "offers" to share the spot. I tell her to keep the spot & resist the strong urge to share some other choice words with her. I toss my pack & bow in the truck and drive to a meadow to watch the sun go down on a bomber mule deer buck the Texans told me about the night before. He's a toad and he makes the very nice 4 point with him look like a dink. I watch him from 250+ yards and he gazes back at me while he feeds.
Day 7
I hike into a more gentle series of meadows and timber in the dark. When I get to the third set of meadows it's just light enough to shoot. I scan the meadow from inside the timberline and see a head pop out of a drainage. My binocs are at the truck as there hasn't been much space to glass on mountain sides. I work along the tree line to get closer as the head bobs into and out of view. I close the gap to about 80 yards and realize it's a cow...
MOOSE. After a few minutes, she ambles up out of the drainage and crosses into the opposite side timber. It's very cool but I have to laugh, even out loud. Colorado has almost 300,000 elk and less than 1,000 moose by DOW counts. That pretty much sews it up and the hunt is pretty much over. Hardly ever felt like a hunt, actually. I spend the morning looking for elk, but really trying to spot the moose again to get pix.
In the afternoon, I talk to a 20-something kid who has been guiding & hunting on his cow tag. He has seen few elk but lights up when I tell him about the moose. That's worth your whole hunt right there, he says. Not to me but it was cool.
In the afternoon, I hike a 6th area. Many mulies and on the way out I spot 2 cows and a spike in the failing light about 800 yards away. Too far to close the distance of 15 minutes of light.
The evening brings the weekend hunters, trucks rumbling in from everywhere, and the weather report is for more of the same so I say goodbye to the Texans and bail back home with my tail between my sore legs. :W:
--------
It was a disappointing hunt. Didn't come close to meeting either of my main goals. I've never, until this time, had trouble finding elk. Even on late season (December) cow hunts where they've had hunters in their kitchens, bedrooms and in their faces for 3 solid months. Never worked so hard in what should be great elk country for so little. It hardly ever felt like a hunt. I've helped guys on Limited Opp hunts that had more animals around but I know it's a temporary thing and the area will bounce back.
I did learn a bit about the lay of the land, where I might go in the future & some nice folks. I'll be back. Maybe not next year but I will return. Still waiting to get that bad feeling out of my mouth that Colorado gave me nearly 40 years later.
Day -1
Have an ingrown partial nail removed from my right big toe. Doc says to keep soaking it in warm soapy water for a week or so. Yeah, um, okay Doc. Going elk hunting. Not a lot of warm soapy water in my plans. Putting on a boot should be a real treat.
As a new bow hunter I have 2 primary goals:
Gain experience by hunting the rut, get the feel for calling in a hunt situation, setting up, getting busted, rinse, repeat.
To kill something with an arrow, see what an arrow blood trail is like, etc.
Day 0-Travel day
Arrive in the area I plan to hunt in San Juan NF, GMU 71, with about an hour of light left. About 5 miles back, on private land, I see 2 cows and a calf so I suspect things are going to be pretty good. When I get to a camp spot I'm in shorts & comfortable. Not a great sign.
Day 1
My bivy sack is frozen solid when I wake up. Good. Start walking to my Plan A spot not far from where I'm "camped" well before light. Big mistake-truck blows by me and parks where I want to drop into the timber. Plan B--an old, closed logging road & hike in a couple miles where I find a good wallow. In Arizona, you'd need to take a number to sit this thing but after 15 minutes of walking I find another. Then another. Seems CO isn't short on H2O. Tracks are few, droppings look weeks old. No fresh rubs at all.
On the way out I run into 2 bowhunters, both from CO. One has been there 12 days (since open of bow season) and hasn't seen 1 elk. Has a buddy guiding on the bordering private ranch--they aren't seeing anything. The other guy saw a cow & spike opening morning and zip since. He's hoping for a nice mule deer buck now. Not one bugle the entire day so I drive to a new spot.
Day 2
Start of ML season & the Great Pumpkin Invasion is in full force. Pickups idling everywhere. Before light I hear my first bugle. I edge over I see it came from a blaze orange "elk" on the ridge. I glass a long valley with great meadows, good border cover and a stream. It's a great looking area & should be ashamed of itself if it doesn't have at least a dozen elk in it at any one moment.
I watch as darkness drifts away. Nothing. Run into 2 Ohio bowhunters on a quad. The looks on their faces, same as every hunter I run into, say everything: "WTF?" They say 2 years ago the whole hill was lit up with bugling and elk everywhere. Something has changed. Haven't heard 1 shot.I drive into Dolores/Cortez to see if I can get some info. Stop at some game processors. Where they getting them? Through the lungs, he says. Sometimes the heart. Very helpful. I head north of my original spots to GMU 70 to hunt the late afternoon/evening.
Day 3
I hike the north slopes of a mountain for 8+ hours. It's beautiful country that screams elk, but somehow they're not returning the call. I appreciate all of the water around & dump the water left in my hydration bladder to refill with the real thing, pose for a cheesy picture.
There is some fresh sign but nothing much. I have decided I will shoot a cow if I get within range. Still have not heard one elk bugle, nor a shot. I ldecide to head east and north toward Telluride. Anybody who knows that area is already laughing. The NF areas around there are about the size of a postage stamp and mainly day use only. I head to an area south of Trout Lake.
Day 4
Hike north face slopes of a mountain for 13+ hours. Area has tons of deadfall trees (many still green) and slogging over/under/around them is tough sledding. A guy who spends most of his year at 1,100 feet is breathing fairly hard at 11,000.
Fresher sign and more of it but still not a lot. Haven't seen elk 1 since the drive in. I have ALWAYS been able to find elk on a hunt. I'm wondering where this alleged herd of 25,000 is.
Day 5
I hike a different area of the same mountain. It's hard to stay motivated but I keep my face in the wind, feet moving. Haven't seen another boot track in 3 days. I've called mainly in first/last hour of light and some late at night. It's almost noon but I figure I can't screw up my current standing so I cut a bugle loose. And get an answer (first of the hunt) but a looonnnnggg way off so I sit tight. After about 10 minutes I hear branches breaking below me. It sounds like bounding so I figure mule deer. Instead, a big fat coyote comes hopping through the deadfall, stops for a second, then bails.
On my way down I hear a bugle about 300 yards below me. There's 200 yards of deadfalls and little cover between us. I bugle back. He bugles/chuckles. I bugle/chuckle. He starts to bugle and I cut him off with my own bugle. I hear running back and forth and raking, he starts grunting. I'm climbing over deadfall like a cat and closing the distance to 150 but I run out of cover so I drop my pack and I'm crawling over & under downed trees. We trade a few more calls each and I get to about 80 yards but there's no way to cross. Finally he straight chuckles, then silence. I never get a look at him but he "sounds" like a big-bodied hog. Easily the best 10 minutes of the hunt so far.
I get to my truck an hour after dark. My headlamp is strong but the footing is brutal and I roll my left ankle slightly working through deadfall. I meet a couple of Texans--real solid guys. One of them has been coming to this area every year for 48 straight years, takes an elk home with him almost every year. Says this year & last are the worst he's ever seen. The numbers just aren't there and the heat is really working against us. It's hard to fall asleep but easy to wake up the next morning.
Day 6
I head to the area of yesterday's exchange, rolling my right ankle, but nobody's home. I chase my tail for about 12 hours before heading to the truck. The deadfall is taking its toll--knees and ankles are getting sore & my attitude sucks.
When I get to my truck, which has been parked under the same trees for the 3rd day (and 2 nights), there's an SUV wedged into the trees behind my truck. A tent & table are set up and 2 people are sitting in chairs farther into the trees. Maybe the altitude is getting to me too and I'm seeing things but a woman comes out & asks if I'm just day hunting. I tell her I'm not & that I've been throwing my bivy sack & bag on the ground and back in the truck in the morning. She says they took the spot because they "didn't see anything." I asked how they missed the truck considering they probably had to make an 8 point turn to get between my truck, the fire pit & the trees. She says they're here for a music festival (in Telluride), assumed I was day hunting & "offers" to share the spot. I tell her to keep the spot & resist the strong urge to share some other choice words with her. I toss my pack & bow in the truck and drive to a meadow to watch the sun go down on a bomber mule deer buck the Texans told me about the night before. He's a toad and he makes the very nice 4 point with him look like a dink. I watch him from 250+ yards and he gazes back at me while he feeds.
Day 7
I hike into a more gentle series of meadows and timber in the dark. When I get to the third set of meadows it's just light enough to shoot. I scan the meadow from inside the timberline and see a head pop out of a drainage. My binocs are at the truck as there hasn't been much space to glass on mountain sides. I work along the tree line to get closer as the head bobs into and out of view. I close the gap to about 80 yards and realize it's a cow...
MOOSE. After a few minutes, she ambles up out of the drainage and crosses into the opposite side timber. It's very cool but I have to laugh, even out loud. Colorado has almost 300,000 elk and less than 1,000 moose by DOW counts. That pretty much sews it up and the hunt is pretty much over. Hardly ever felt like a hunt, actually. I spend the morning looking for elk, but really trying to spot the moose again to get pix.
In the afternoon, I talk to a 20-something kid who has been guiding & hunting on his cow tag. He has seen few elk but lights up when I tell him about the moose. That's worth your whole hunt right there, he says. Not to me but it was cool.
In the afternoon, I hike a 6th area. Many mulies and on the way out I spot 2 cows and a spike in the failing light about 800 yards away. Too far to close the distance of 15 minutes of light.
The evening brings the weekend hunters, trucks rumbling in from everywhere, and the weather report is for more of the same so I say goodbye to the Texans and bail back home with my tail between my sore legs. :W:
--------
It was a disappointing hunt. Didn't come close to meeting either of my main goals. I've never, until this time, had trouble finding elk. Even on late season (December) cow hunts where they've had hunters in their kitchens, bedrooms and in their faces for 3 solid months. Never worked so hard in what should be great elk country for so little. It hardly ever felt like a hunt. I've helped guys on Limited Opp hunts that had more animals around but I know it's a temporary thing and the area will bounce back.
I did learn a bit about the lay of the land, where I might go in the future & some nice folks. I'll be back. Maybe not next year but I will return. Still waiting to get that bad feeling out of my mouth that Colorado gave me nearly 40 years later.
