I just got back to ND yesterday after a 19 hour drive and am still flying high! I have wanted to get a bull for a long time. I have went on DIY hunts in MT, CO and ID in the past. I got close a couple of times, but no cigar.
Earlier this year, a friend asked if I wanted to hunt with him in southern CO. He has hunted there for years with great success. He didn't have to twist my arm. I put in for the tag, drew, and we were making plans for the fall. I met him on Wednesday Oct. 8. After getting camp ready, we went to a lookout to watch a couple of his favorite meadows at just over 11,000 feet. We saw a few cows and heard a few bugles. I thought it was great, but he said the action was slow and we could do better. Thursday and Friday were spent checking out a couple of other likely areas. We did find more activity here and planned to hunt two meadows about a half mile apart on opening morning.
We were up at 3:30 am on Saturday, Oct. 11, opening day. After breakfast, we took ATV's up the only approved trail and parked them. Each of us had about a 90 minute hike up the mountain to our predesignated spots. I sat in the dark for about 45 minutes until it started getting light. I heard a few shots over the next hour, but nothing was going on in my area. I started to get cold and stood up to move a round a bit. I wanted to look for a new area to sit that would give me a better view into the bottom of the meadow. I had just found a new place to sit and turned around to go get my pack when I saw a bull trotting through the aspens. He stopped quartering toward me about 150 yards away before coming across the meadow. I was kind of in shock by actually seeing a bull. I steadied against an aspen and shot, hitting him square in the front shoulder angling back. I shoot a 7mm Rem. Mag. with 160 grain Nosler Partition handloads and this bull acted as if he had not been hit!! He trotted out into the meadow and stopped broadside 100 yards away. I shot again offhand and hit him again in both shoulders. This time he immediately went out of sight. I couldn't tell if he dropped to the ground or ran off, but I was sure I had hit him hard again.
At this point, I was trying to put two more bullets into my gun and was shaking so badly I kept dropping them on the ground. I haven't been that wound up in years!!!!!! I gained some elevation and worked my way over the hill and found him piled up. Dang that is a great feeling!!! I then realized how big these critters were. I took a bunch of photos and started breaking the bull into more manageable pieces.
My friend shot a smaller bull the next morning, Sunday, and we spent a good part of Saturday, Sunday and Monday packing out the quarters. We hung the quarters we couldn't pack down about 8 feet up a tree. When we went to get the last load on Monday morning, we found a bear had pulled both of my friend's front quarters down and worked them over quite well.
It was a lot of hard work, but extremely fun. He is an average 4x4 and I couldn't be prouder if he score 350+. I still can't get the goofy smile off of my face when I look at the pictures. I was hooked on elk before I ever got one. Now I really want to go again soon. With any luck, it might be in AZ next year. My 12 elk bonus points have to pay off soon!
God bless and have a great fall.
Earlier this year, a friend asked if I wanted to hunt with him in southern CO. He has hunted there for years with great success. He didn't have to twist my arm. I put in for the tag, drew, and we were making plans for the fall. I met him on Wednesday Oct. 8. After getting camp ready, we went to a lookout to watch a couple of his favorite meadows at just over 11,000 feet. We saw a few cows and heard a few bugles. I thought it was great, but he said the action was slow and we could do better. Thursday and Friday were spent checking out a couple of other likely areas. We did find more activity here and planned to hunt two meadows about a half mile apart on opening morning.
We were up at 3:30 am on Saturday, Oct. 11, opening day. After breakfast, we took ATV's up the only approved trail and parked them. Each of us had about a 90 minute hike up the mountain to our predesignated spots. I sat in the dark for about 45 minutes until it started getting light. I heard a few shots over the next hour, but nothing was going on in my area. I started to get cold and stood up to move a round a bit. I wanted to look for a new area to sit that would give me a better view into the bottom of the meadow. I had just found a new place to sit and turned around to go get my pack when I saw a bull trotting through the aspens. He stopped quartering toward me about 150 yards away before coming across the meadow. I was kind of in shock by actually seeing a bull. I steadied against an aspen and shot, hitting him square in the front shoulder angling back. I shoot a 7mm Rem. Mag. with 160 grain Nosler Partition handloads and this bull acted as if he had not been hit!! He trotted out into the meadow and stopped broadside 100 yards away. I shot again offhand and hit him again in both shoulders. This time he immediately went out of sight. I couldn't tell if he dropped to the ground or ran off, but I was sure I had hit him hard again.
At this point, I was trying to put two more bullets into my gun and was shaking so badly I kept dropping them on the ground. I haven't been that wound up in years!!!!!! I gained some elevation and worked my way over the hill and found him piled up. Dang that is a great feeling!!! I then realized how big these critters were. I took a bunch of photos and started breaking the bull into more manageable pieces.
My friend shot a smaller bull the next morning, Sunday, and we spent a good part of Saturday, Sunday and Monday packing out the quarters. We hung the quarters we couldn't pack down about 8 feet up a tree. When we went to get the last load on Monday morning, we found a bear had pulled both of my friend's front quarters down and worked them over quite well.
It was a lot of hard work, but extremely fun. He is an average 4x4 and I couldn't be prouder if he score 350+. I still can't get the goofy smile off of my face when I look at the pictures. I was hooked on elk before I ever got one. Now I really want to go again soon. With any luck, it might be in AZ next year. My 12 elk bonus points have to pay off soon!
God bless and have a great fall.
