So I'm out in Colorado right now. I was going to come out on short notice for an archery elk hunt, but last minute I decided there was too much to prepare for so I would just do some scouting instead. After a few days online I decided to come check out the White River and western Routt National Forest areas. After two days of easy going driving I was in Glenwood Springs Colorado and ready for my adventure. I didn't realize that to get up into the area I wanted to hike was another 2hrs north and half of that was dirt mountain roads...oh well, that's part of it. It was around noon when I finally left my car and headed off. I was excited, but at the same time dreaded hauling my pack around the mountains for days. It was by far the heaviest it's ever been, I'm guessing around 60-70lbs. Here's a pic:
After about a mile or so I cut off the main trail on a lesser traveled route and headed up hill. I started at 8,600ft and quickly found myself at 9,500, then 10,000 and with sore legs. I stopped for a few minutes to take a pic of this nice little mountain pond.
After 5hrs of hiking uphill I found a nice place to setup camp for the night, 10,106ft with a view!
That evening I sat overlooking numerous mountain meadows hoping to spot some elk, but the only animal to grace me with it's presence was some distant coyotes howling away.
The next morning I decided to head over a ridge and check the view. I took a 3/4 full bottle of water, my camera, binocs, a map, and my High Gear gadget (altimeter, compass, watch...etc). After rounding the ridge I came upon some nice looking meadows and shortly after heard a distance bull elk bugling. My excitement grew and I quickly closed the distance to a few hundred yards. I was coming up to another meadow when I spotted a cow elk, unfortunately she saw me too and soon took off with another cow. I managed to get a quick pic but she's pretty far away in the pic.
After pushing on a bit more I soon found myself in a dense forest with not one bugling bull elk, not two, but three different bulls. Two sounded young and stuck together moving down this draw while the third stayed up on the hillside more and had a deeper more mature bugle. I decided to get above the big guy and try and get close enough to sneak a peek at him. After maybe 30min I was only 50 yards from the bull, but the thick forest floor kept him out of sight. I was sitting there waiting for him to make a move when I heard running from the left coming towards me. A couple cow elk ran into the area right near the bull. He let out another bugle and started to chase them, right to where I was sitting not 20min earlier...dang! I sat there with excitement and disappointment when I heard more crashing, but this time directly behind me from above. I soon found myself surrounded by a herd of elk running down the ridge. You MUST watch the video (youtube..."Routt_08"). My heart was pounding so hard, it was truly a once in a lifetime experience to say the very least.
That night I had to move down in a valley because the wind picked up so much it was going to be annoying with my tent fly flapping all night up on the hillside. I took a little walk before dark to try and spot the coyote that was howling like crazy not far from me. After a short bit I saw a coyote just before he entered the woods and disappeared. Here's a shot of the sky before I headed back to my campsite.
This morning I decided to get out of the area since muzzle loader season started and hunters were pouring into the woods like drunks to a bar. I was going to head to a new area, but as I was driving out there were trucks at every trail head sign which completely turned me off, so I headed back to civilization and am now sitting in a hotel room in Silverthorn Colorado. Tomorrow I'll start my drive towards South Dakota so I can do some antelope hunting. Hopefully I'll be posting some pics of a successful hunt soon! thanks for reading. BQ
No exaggerating here, I crawled and crawled and crawled after these critters, they are so sharp. They can spot you a couple hundred yards away lifting your head from the knee high grass to range them. After day 2 I was thinking this stuff was for the birds. The ground is so hard, the grass is all prickly, and there are small cacti that you won't see until you put your hand on one, and it hurts bad! One afternoon I crawled to the corner of some fences where many goats seemed to be crossing. It took me 3 hours to get ~1/2 mile!!! The final stalk was 2.5hrs to go 250yds before I shot this fella at 65 yards. Man oh man was this hunt hard. Next trip I'll be wearing protection on my knees, hands, elbows, and maybe forearms. I will also make a ghillie suit with the grass out there to help blend in better. Even my "open country" camo didn't hide me from their 8X eyes. 