PEAX Equipment

Feeding the Rat (AKA GrantK's elk hunting obsession)

on this hunt you get weird looks for having binos, I can't even begin to list all the bizarre things I have witnessed, last time my brother was glassing and had a grown man with a daisy BB gun set up below him glassing through the scope?
I hope I'm not disparaging someone on here because I literally can not remember who I was with...but they would strap a little spotter (like maybe one of those 50mm Leupy compacts) to a very homemade wooden rifle stock thing and pack it around as a way to employ said spotter, in addition to all their other stuff. My mind was boggled as to how that was better than a tripod, or even just bracing it on your pack, but to each their own.

Sorta like this but made with a sawzall and a 2x8.

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I hope I'm not disparaging someone on here because I literally can not remember who I was with...but they would strap a little spotter (like maybe one of those 50mm Leupy compacts) to a very homemade wooden rifle stock thing and pack it around as a way to employ said spotter, in addition to all their other stuff. My mind was boggled as to how that was better than a tripod, or even just bracing it on your pack, but to each their own.

Sorta like this but made with a sawzall and a 2x8.

View attachment 298473
I would look at someone with that rig as being well above the median as far as glassing tech on this hunt... did said person also use a side-by-side as a part of the rig?
 
Day 4

I was pretty much out of great ideas after seeing zero elk the day before, I figured I’d give this zone one more morning before going into my last ditch plan, which involved crossing a rather large river and what looked to be a really unpleasant climb, I’d spent a good part of midday glassing it and had picked up at least a couple cows, no confirmed bull but every herd I’d seen at this point had at least one bull, and on the bright side I could hunt how I prefer, sitting and looking for a cross canyon shot, not 40 yards in the timber…

I rolled out and walked through a light rain into a spectacular sunrise…
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I spent probably more time than I should have just enjoying the show, at this point, I was able to relax a little from my usual “keep going until I find elk” mode, I was pretty content with the effort I had put in and just decided to cruise right down the ridge that had all the elk sign, if I blew up the entire area I wasn’t too worried, this was the last hunt in this zone.
 
It was dead quiet as I crunched my way along, feeling more in tune with the woods than I had at any point so far this year, I was moving pretty quickly when I saw a patch of color in the timber that looked out of place, I froze, and as I did it disappeared, I was in the game, maybe? I chambered a round and sat dead still, waiting to confirm I had actually seen something, after maybe a minute a cow walked through an opening at 30 yards…

I stayed still and slowly realized I had walked into the entire herd bedded, I was able to pick out 4 cows within 50 yards, and one calf on its feet walking around, and then I saw antlers! It was the same raghorn as Sunday night, up and feeding at 40 yards, I eased the rifle up and waited as he fed toward a tiny lane, having to turn the scope down all the way to get a view of anything more than just hair…

As soon as his head went through the lane I was taking the slack out of the trigger, and the shot broke the second vitals appeared, he instantly disappeared and elk were going everywhere, I could hear him crash about 5 seconds later…
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shot was just left of the very orange tree...
 
I waited a couple of minutes soaking up just how quickly things had turned around, then walked toward where he had been standing, from there I started looking downhill, hey, that looks like an elk...
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This may be the smallest bull I’ve ever shot, but with the amount of effort and completely winging it in a new area I was stoked! Proof things can go from zero to elk on the ground in a minute if you just keep trying…

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this is how you long arm a raghorn...
 
At this point it was 8:50 AM, I had the elk quartered and hung by 9:30, per my watch quartering an elk solo burns about 450 calories and is classified as a “moderate” workout… I disagree with this a little... I loaded up the backstraps, tenderloins, neck, and trim and headed back to camp to get a bigger backpack, arriving there at 10:50…

I switched to my big backpack and headed back, packing the rest in three light loads, the guy with the huge camp was packing out a bunch of his family and passed me a couple times, a little surprised that I was willing to pack a whole elk myself… he offered to help out but by the time he was free I was ¼ mile from the truck with the last load, grand total of 24.5 miles for the day, all wrapped up at 5:50 PM…

the horse packer did mention I should check the weather and consider moving camp lower as the storm coming in was supposed to dump a considerable amount of snow… I loaded the elk and then decided to load up everything, by the time I made it down low I decided I’d just continue all the way home, arriving at 12:45 AM, a long but very productive day to end hunt 2.
 
Good work @GrantK .
Fun following along.
Enjoy this "time", running over the mountain for a quick peek .
Congrats and thanks for the story and pics.
 
Sounds like you left elk to find elk (knuckleheads related) and stayed on that herd until they were nothing but putty in your hands.

No way I could do 24.5 mountain miles, let alone hike a bull out on my back.

I‘m really enjoying your adventures afield
 
How much freezer space do you have left?

Some epic hunts, great job story telling and making us feel like we were there.
I prefer to hunt solo but I do well with my brother and cousin, but then again we have never hunted the mountains or elk so might be different in those scenarios.
 
Sounds like you left elk to find elk (knuckleheads related) and stayed on that herd until they were nothing but putty in your hands.

No way I could do 24.5 mountain miles, let alone hike a bull out on my back.

I‘m really enjoying your adventures afield
Given the short season lengths on this one and the upcoming CO options I have really limited patience with trying to ferret elk out of thick cover they don't want to leave, if I knew there was a giant in an area I would approach it a lot differently, but to just fill a tag I like to keep covering ground looking for an elk that wants to get shot...
 
Seriously excellent, journal-quality hunting recap so far. I loved reading it. I hope the man in the white track suit and the man with the scoped Daisy make an appearance during your Colorado hunt, riding elephants and dueling in a distant park...
 
Seriously excellent, journal-quality hunting recap so far. I loved reading it. I hope the man in the white track suit and the man with the scoped Daisy make an appearance during your Colorado hunt, riding elephants and dueling in a distant park...
if only we got that sort of thing here, the best I can hope for is that it stays warm and the naked yoga chicks are out...
 
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