elkhunter49
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I'm off work for a few days and just got thru watching yet another guy I don't know elk hunt on a ranch I'll never get to hunt. In the middle of my self pity party I got to thinking about some of the better hunts I've been lucky enough to be a part of.
I'll do my best to recount one hunt that I took with a lifelong hunting buddy and co worker.
Roger and I were Elk hunting GMU 66 near Lake City, Colorado in 1988 or 89 and we both had muzzleloader bull tags. It was the 3rd evening of a 5 day hunt and we were not seeing many elk. We had hunted at about 9500ft the first 2 days and decided we would move up higher to timberline at about 11,000ft. We were in the LaGarita Wilderness Area and had not seen another hunter all day.
As soon as the sun went behind the mountains we spotted several cows and a nice 6x6 bull come out of the dark timber and move into the open area above timberline. They were only about 600yards from us but between us was a creek drainage that would take at least an hour to climb down into,cross and climb back out of. We didn't have enough time so we planned on intercepting them in the morning when they headed back to bed down.
The anticipation of the next days hunt made sleep impossible for me that night.
Finally it was time to head up the mountain. It had snowed about 2 inches during the night and it was cold as hell.
We decided we would try to set up our ambush as close to the trail that they used the night before as the wind would allow. After finding what we thought was the ideal spot we waited for daylight. We could hear the cows chirping at each other but the bull never bugled. We had plenty of shooting light when the bull decided to take his cows to timber and bed them down but they were heading away from where they emerged from the evening before. Instead of walking into our trap the old bull took his girls to a patch of timber that was only about 200 yards long by about 70 yards wide.
We watched the herd enter the timber thinking they were just passing thru to the north facing dark timber. Wrong again !!! They never left that small patch of Blue Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, and Quakies.
Well we sat and watched them for about an hour then decided we would try and and move in on him and maybe one of us could get a clear shot.
We agreed we would take all day covering the 100 or so yards if need be and spread out by about 50 yards to get 2 different angles for a shot.
We checked the wind for the 1000th time and moved up a step at a time. With every step we took we would wait and make eye contact with the other before proceeding. It took us about 2 hours to get where we could see elk. The set up was perfect, wind was still good and the bull had only one cow between us and him. At about 90 yards I thought I had a shot but I just didn't have enough of his shoulder or neck so we pressed on. We were moving a foot at a time and every sense I have was at warp speed as well as Rogers. I felt like I was only 5 or 6 steps from a shot when Roger locked up like pointer on a covey.He wouldn't look left or right and I swear he wasn't even breathing. After staring at him for several minutes I finally saw the problem. Roger had a spike bull about 10 yards from him that had to have crawled out of a hole. That spike was not with the group when they entered that small patch of timber but he was dang sure was there now. The young bull was already flaring his nose when I finally made him out. Seconds later he stomped his front right leg and barked one time.
The next few seconds were closer to a stamped than anything else and the last I saw of the herd they were headed for Creede. We never fired a shot.
Sorry for the long post but it is nice to take a trip down memory lane ever so often. Man we had a great time and I'll always rate that hunt as one of my favorites even though we never busted a cap. Later Baker
I'll do my best to recount one hunt that I took with a lifelong hunting buddy and co worker.
Roger and I were Elk hunting GMU 66 near Lake City, Colorado in 1988 or 89 and we both had muzzleloader bull tags. It was the 3rd evening of a 5 day hunt and we were not seeing many elk. We had hunted at about 9500ft the first 2 days and decided we would move up higher to timberline at about 11,000ft. We were in the LaGarita Wilderness Area and had not seen another hunter all day.
As soon as the sun went behind the mountains we spotted several cows and a nice 6x6 bull come out of the dark timber and move into the open area above timberline. They were only about 600yards from us but between us was a creek drainage that would take at least an hour to climb down into,cross and climb back out of. We didn't have enough time so we planned on intercepting them in the morning when they headed back to bed down.
The anticipation of the next days hunt made sleep impossible for me that night.
Finally it was time to head up the mountain. It had snowed about 2 inches during the night and it was cold as hell.
We decided we would try to set up our ambush as close to the trail that they used the night before as the wind would allow. After finding what we thought was the ideal spot we waited for daylight. We could hear the cows chirping at each other but the bull never bugled. We had plenty of shooting light when the bull decided to take his cows to timber and bed them down but they were heading away from where they emerged from the evening before. Instead of walking into our trap the old bull took his girls to a patch of timber that was only about 200 yards long by about 70 yards wide.
We watched the herd enter the timber thinking they were just passing thru to the north facing dark timber. Wrong again !!! They never left that small patch of Blue Spruce, Lodgepole Pine, and Quakies.
Well we sat and watched them for about an hour then decided we would try and and move in on him and maybe one of us could get a clear shot.
We agreed we would take all day covering the 100 or so yards if need be and spread out by about 50 yards to get 2 different angles for a shot.
We checked the wind for the 1000th time and moved up a step at a time. With every step we took we would wait and make eye contact with the other before proceeding. It took us about 2 hours to get where we could see elk. The set up was perfect, wind was still good and the bull had only one cow between us and him. At about 90 yards I thought I had a shot but I just didn't have enough of his shoulder or neck so we pressed on. We were moving a foot at a time and every sense I have was at warp speed as well as Rogers. I felt like I was only 5 or 6 steps from a shot when Roger locked up like pointer on a covey.He wouldn't look left or right and I swear he wasn't even breathing. After staring at him for several minutes I finally saw the problem. Roger had a spike bull about 10 yards from him that had to have crawled out of a hole. That spike was not with the group when they entered that small patch of timber but he was dang sure was there now. The young bull was already flaring his nose when I finally made him out. Seconds later he stomped his front right leg and barked one time.
The next few seconds were closer to a stamped than anything else and the last I saw of the herd they were headed for Creede. We never fired a shot.
Sorry for the long post but it is nice to take a trip down memory lane ever so often. Man we had a great time and I'll always rate that hunt as one of my favorites even though we never busted a cap. Later Baker