CO 3rd Season Success

elkhunterUT

elkhunterUT

Very Active Member
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It was an extremely tough 3rd season hunt this year in Colorado with warm temps (55-60 degrees most days), very low deer numbers overall (we only saw about 30-40 deer total on public huntable land), and a lot of hunter pressure, but we were able to grind it out and found some success.

My Brother Chad and I had deer tags and our buddy also had a deer tag and his son had an OTC elk tag. We arrived a day early to scout and get a lay of the land. Saw very few deer but were mostly focused on learning the roads and checking on a couple areas we had marked. Our buddy and his son found some elk and also spotted a very tall 4x4 buck and got some video of him. Despite not seeing much, we went to bed with the anticipation for opening morning that only hunters can understand.

We spent opening morning in some higher elevation but only saw a handful of does. Our buddy’s son killed a 5x5 bull at first light which was fun to see and a great way to “break the ice”!
My bro and I tried a new area opening evening and again only saw a small handful of deer with no big bucks seen. That evening we talked about the tall buck our buddy spotted the evening before the opener. He did not want to shoot it, so my brother said “put me in coach”?
We headed to that area the 2nd morning and spotted the tall 4x4 immediately at first light rutting 5 does.
D903DA0A-BC76-46A8-9F56-7B07E43B1CC0.jpeg

FFF302D7-F68E-4104-A808-BC69E4DBF096.jpeg


More to come…
 
Patience Elk?? Still trying to get caught up after being gone.

The buck was close and Chad decided he was a shooter. Things got a little “western”, but Chad was able to put a great shot on the buck and he was down before the sun was up fully. Such a pretty and unique buck and with the lack of deer seen, we were glad to have someone on the board.


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The morning of day 3 found us at a glassing spot overlooking several northeast facing slopes that looked good on the map. As soon as first light hit, I picked up the white of a deer’s hind end in the extremely thick oak brush through my binos. I could see a bit of its body as well but nothing else. I locked in on it and eventually it lifted its head and I could see antlers. Chad looked at it through the spotting scope and excitedly said “Shooter-grab your gun and let’s go!”

I quickly looked at him through the scope and confirmed he was a no-brainer shooter. We moved out of his sight and around to get a better angle on him and to cut the distance. As we got around to where I was hoping to shoot from, we lost him. We were worried he may have moved over ridge out of sight. As we debated moving to look over the ridge we spotted him on, a 2 point buck came over the ridge toward where we initially saw the buck and then Chad picked up a doe bedded facing us so we knew the big buck had to be close. As the 2 point worked his way closer to the doe, we caught movement and the big buck jumped out of his hidden bed in the thick oak and chased the small buck off. He was at 275 yards but was facing me and I didn’t have a shot. I kept the scope on him but he never presented a shot and suddenly bedded again tending his doe.
I figured we could be patient and wait for him to stand again and present a shot, but we were in an area with a lot of hunting and hiking pressure, so I was worried someone might jump him and I may never get a shot if he exploded out.

With a solid dead rest at 275 yards, I decided to shoot him in his bed. With the shot, the solid thwap of a hit sounded. My bullet went the entire length of his body and out his back ham, but he jumped up and took off to the bottom of the canyon. I was stunned he didn’t die in his bed but figured he probably just crashed a ways down lower. Chad and I decided to head down toward him and quickly spotted him standing still alive. I had a good line to get closer out of his sight and finished him off at about 75 yards. I was pretty stoked to walk up on this buck-here was my view:
9335E007-B973-4A46-8D13-37EF53B3CAB8.jpeg
 
He was a big, perfect typical 4x4 with gnarly bases/eye guards. He was everything I had hoped for with this tag:
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Our buddy also killed a stud 4x4 buck pushing 180” yesterday as well. We feel so fortunate to have killed the 3 biggest bucks we saw on public land and in a unit where we saw very few deer in general. Just goes to show that it is always good to have a Colorado tag in your pocket, whether it is a 25 preference point unit or a 2 preference point unit. There are opportunities for great bucks in every unit in the state!!
 
elkhunterUT said:
The morning of day 3 found us at a glassing spot overlooking several northeast facing slopes that looked good on the map. As soon as first light hit, I picked up the white of a deer’s hind end in the extremely thick oak brush through my binos. I could see a bit of its body as well but nothing else. I locked in on it and eventually it lifted its head and I could see antlers. Chad looked at it through the spotting scope and excitedly said “Shooter-grab your gun and let’s go!”

I quickly looked at him through the scope and confirmed he was a no-brainer shooter. We moved out of his sight and around to get a better angle on him and to cut the distance. As we got around to where I was hoping to shoot from, we lost him. We were worried he may have moved over ridge out of sight. As we debated moving to look over the ridge we spotted him on, a 2 point buck came over the ridge toward where we initially saw the buck and then Chad picked up a doe bedded facing us so we knew the big buck had to be close. As the 2 point worked his way closer to the doe, we caught movement and the big buck jumped out of his hidden bed in the thick oak and chased the small buck off. He was at 275 yards but was facing me and I didn’t have a shot. I kept the scope on him but he never presented a shot and suddenly bedded again tending his doe.
I figured we could be patient and wait for him to stand again and present a shot, but we were in an area with a lot of hunting and hiking pressure, so I was worried someone might jump him and I may never get a shot if he exploded out.

With a solid dead rest at 275 yards, I decided to shoot him in his bed. With the shot, the solid thwap of a hit sounded. My bullet went the entire length of his body and out his back ham, but he jumped up and took off to the bottom of the canyon. I was stunned he didn’t die in his bed but figured he probably just crashed a ways down lower. Chad and I decided to head down toward him and quickly spotted him standing still alive. I had a good line to get closer out of his sight and finished him off at about 75 yards. I was pretty stoked to walk up on this buck-here was my view:
View attachment 59431
Click to expand...
Nice job Cory, great buck!
 

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