Caribou Gear Tarp

No sleep until...

rjthehunter said:
The typical "Colorado Public Land Elk Hunter" is evolving! You're going to have to change your tactics to stay a few steps ahead of them. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
it would appear that the evolution is moving from side by sides to long-range rifles and teepees... that or every single person has a side by side now and needs something new to spend that hunting season cash on...
 
Day 7:
I skipped work for the morning, heading back to the spot I had seen the big bull day 2, it was dumping snow as I walked in, encouraged that there were no trucks in the parking lot where there had been 17 the 2nd day… I made my way 4 miles in before it got light enough to see and as I eased around a corner into a huge meadow I saw cows feeding into a stand of timber in the bottom of the draw, in the game now, I quickly ranged them at 240 and got set up, assuming that the bull was still with them, I was maybe 400 yards from where I had seen the bull day 2… as I was scanning the timber I realized there were elk everywhere, probably 30-40 of them, spread out through a large timber patch on the same aspect as I was, this wasn’t going to be easy… by now the wind was really ripping, visibility would drop to 20 yards with blowing snow, then open up and I could see the herd again, then close for minutes at a time, I caught a glimpse of antlers once to confirm that the bull was in the mix but never saw enough of him to have a shot, finally the entire herd made their way to the bottom of the draw where it was impossible to see and at the same time the storm picked up to a point I decide I should bail to be sure I could get my truck out… I had a dinner party to attend that night so didn’t get out…
 
Day 8:
It stormed all night so I made the call to go to the spot I’d been in on day 1, this spot usually gets huge herds pushed into it by any decent-sized storm and it had had almost a week to rest after the opening day mayhem, some of my best elk hunts have been there the day after a storm… I knew it would be a little bit of a roll of the dice, it would be one of two options, elk everywhere or completely dead, worth the risk given the conditions... as I hiked up the ridge in knee to thigh deep snow I was getting more and more excited, conditions were as good as they get for this spot! As I got to the top and daylight came along I realized that unfortunately, I had chosen the wrong option… snow was from mid thigh to waist deep and there wasn’t an elk or even a track to be seen... I made a large loop to be sure I wasn’t missing anything and then dropped back to the road the opposite way to cover my bases, the storm closed in again and visibility dropped to less than 100 yards again, not a single track crossed…

I ate lunch and decided to go back to the day 2 bull, as long as the storm broke and I could see, if it stayed fogged in I was getting to the point of taking an evening off to catch up on sleep…

Fortunately, the storm broke and it started to get COLD! I walked in the familiar 4 miles wearing a puffy this time, and before I even got to the usual spot started encountering elk tracks all across the trail, again heading onto a nasty north facing dark timber hillside, I pulled my rifle off my pack just in case and soon started seeing cows across the drainage in the timber… all well within range, where was the bull? I spent most of the rest of shooting light jockeying around trying to find a bull with the herd, eventually picking out at least 8 cows and 2 raghorns, no mature bulls again… I was beginning to kick myself for spending too much time around cows, however, I also wasn’t seeing lone bulls in the usual nasty sanctuary areas so I wasn’t sure what the best plan of attack was…
 
full

this guy thought my spot choice was ok...
 
Day 9:
I decided to break out of the rut I was in and check out a different unit, a couple hour drive away, I had a friend hunting there and they had been on elk every time they went out so I figured it was worth a look… as it got light I hiked to the first glassing knob and immediately picked up elk, great! Unfortunately all cows and spikes… thus went the rest of the morning, I saw a couple of legal bulls but nothing worth going after… I decided to change it up again and go into one of my lowland spots for the evening… however that plan was foiled when I managed to get my truck stuck 2 miles short of the parking while chained up and with the back axel locked… fortunately I could hike from the truck and check a different drainage, finding a bull that warranted a closer look almost right out the gate, unfortunately, he had places to be and I watched him traverse about 2 miles in 20 minutes as I struggled to close the gap, never even getting close...

I managed to reach a high point and glassed up a large herd on the border with private land, several bulls, nothing of interest, but at least I knew they were low… on the bad side I could barely make it into any of those spots with the muddy roads, getting out was a serious epic and it wasn’t supposed to even freeze that night...

I went to bed with the plan to wake up extra early and check the temp, if it looked like it had frozen to the point I felt comfortable venturing on the low country roads I would hit a really low elevation sanctuary hole, if it didn’t freeze I would go back to the day 5 spot where I had seen the decent bull and hope there were fewer people…
 
Day 10:
It was foggy and warm, 36 degrees at my house at 4:30 AM, no go for the lowland roads… plan B it is, I arrived well before sunrise and was set up glassing as it got light, almost immediately I picked up a big herd in a good spot, I put the spotter on them and there is a good bull, no time to waste, they drop into a gully and I do the jog down the hill program, for what is starting to feel like the hundredth time this season… last I see of them they are moving but slowly, I drop out of sight and push myself as hard as I can going up the other side, knowing that if I can catch them where I saw them I will have an easy 300 yard shot, if I don’t catch them I will be in some nasty brush and have to gain a bunch of elevation to see anything… I make it to the ridge where I should have a shot and ease over using a lone tree for cover, ready to shoot if they are where they should be, it’s been 24 minutes since I dropped out of sight… I see the back half of the last cow going over the ridge, Crap! Off to the races, I go as hard as I can, aiming to go through the next saddle on the ridge where they disappeared, not wanting to exactly follow them in case they stall or bed just on the other side… I make it to the next ridge in less than 30 minutes, again ready for action as I ease over the top, well covered by brush this time around… nothing… where did they go? I can see most of the options for them to go, not an elk to be found...

I glass long enough to make sure they aren’t bedded right below me and start hoofing it again to get to the only place I can’t see, blocked by the knob I’m climbing… I top out and again, nothing, I glass for about a half hour, knowing there Is one spot I can’t see into but figuring as early as it is if they went in there they should pop out before they bed… Nada… I decide to drop down where they were first thing and confirm I didn’t lose them in the brush by going too fast, again Nada, but the tracks tell the story, half split and went out the bottom, onto private land, the other had gone up into the little hole I wasn’t able to see from the ridge… crap, back up the ridge it is, I reverse course and climb back up, sure enough, there are 5 elk bedded in the tiny sliver I couldn’t see from the top…bad news was it was the big bull wasn’t with them, all 5 are small raghorns.

As I was glassing these elk trying to grow some respectable antlers on one of them I noticed an elk walk across the hillside behind them way out, 3.5 miles away, I looked closer and found 5 bedded bulls… checking onX they appeared to be on a tiny strip of BLM connecting larger parcels, I moved a ways to triangulate them and sure enough, they were on public, and maybe 400 yards off of the main county road… I made the trek back to my truck, moving slower and slower as the mud was getting to the point of weighing about 10 lbs on each boot…

The new bulls were in a rough spot to hunt, tall cedars and PJ, no opportunity for a cross canyon shot like I would prefer, oh well, worth the 400 yard hike... I parked as far away as I could, eased out of the truck and started slowly easing through the woods, soon finding fresh tracks and beds everywhere. I’ve hunted tons of spots close to here but for some reason hadn’t thought to check this one out, it seemed too small, apparently, everyone else though so too… I was getting close to where the bulls had been when the wind abruptly changed, blowing straight at my back, hard, I rushed to the edge and saw the last of the bulls disappearing into the bottom of the canyon, followed by 20 cows I had not seen from my perch on the opposite ridge earlier… I got ready yet again but there were no bulls with the group…at least it was a short walk out this time, this was getting exhausting…
 
I regrouped and decided to hunt the other side where the bulls had gone as my last evening, it is a good sized chunk of public land that’s maybe 20 minutes from my door, but for some reason I rarely hunt it, it had probably been 10 years since I had been there and I was trying to jog my memory of how to hunt it… I drove around and parked, again doing a rough climb right off the bat to get on top of a big mesa, I hadn’t been on the top for more than 10 minutes when 2 raghorns popped out of the brush, feeding along without a clue.. always a good sign? I continued along, hoping that I would get a look at something better before I ran out of time, I was walking the fenceline when another bull fed out.. a one-antlered 4 point.. the raghorns were thick where were the better bulls? I kept easing along and jumped two more bulls, both raghorns with racks that would look small on a mule deer, of course, they stopped and looked at me at 40 yards… at that point I pretty much decided I had enough for this season, I got all the hunting in that I had hoped to in archery season and was able to take it to the bitter end, sticking to my commitment to not shoot a raghorn, even though they were making it really, really tempting...

I walked back to an overlook where I had a great view in 3 directions and sat enjoying the sunset that signified the end of a thoroughly great season chasing elk, exhausted and happy.
 
Darn good read!

I spoke to a friend today that’s hunting elk and deer down there. His comments on tents and hunters just appearing out of nowhere right where the elk had been made me think of this thread
 
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