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

[Deleted member 16014]

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.

 

[GrantK]

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?

 

[GrantK]

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…

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.

 

[GrantK]

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…

shot was just left of the very orange tree...

 

[GrantK]

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...

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…

this is how you long arm a raghorn...

 

[SaskHunter]

I almost blew it and bumped elk while I was taking this photo of the grain of a burned-out log...

My dumbazz when I first looked at this picture: "sweet topo map!"

 

[GrantK]

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.

 

[Deleted member 52098]

Congrats man! Nice work

 

[Pahoundsman]

Nice work and a great recap, love those pictures.

 

[F250]

Great hunt !! Thanks for sharing !!

 

[Hem]

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.

 

[Caseknife]

Great story and pictures @GrantK. Beautiful country even if it is populated by different folks. Glad you got some meat for the freezer.

 

[Oak]

Good times. Warming up for a sweet CO OTC hunt now?

 

[GrantK]

Good times. Warming up for a sweet CO OTC hunt now?

Unless I snag a better option off the reissue list this week that's the plan.

 

[Oak]

Unless I snag a better option off the reissue list this week that's the plan.

You and me and 6,482 other Rs...

 

[kansasdad]

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

 

[BenP]

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.

 

[GrantK]

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...

 

[rtraverdavis]

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...

 

[GrantK]

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...