Colorado 3rd Report-Long

Calif_Mike

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LAST EDITED ON Nov-14-13 AT 10:31PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Nov-14-13 AT 10:26?PM (MST)

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The end of October once again found us prepping for our annual elk hunting trip to southwest Colorado. With the great salmon fishing we were having on the Sac I was a little behind on my prep work which made for some long nites prior to departure day. Monday, Oct. 28th Dad, Keith and I headed south from Modesto and after about 800 miles we spent the nite in Kayenta, AZ. We arrived in Cortez, CO mid morning on Tuesday and picked up some fresh groceries and bull tags for Keith and Dad. I already had a cow tag.

Shortly afternoon we were on the hill and ready to setup camp, however it decided to snow a little bit.

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We got camp setup despite the snow and it continued to snow most of the nite and a good portion of Wednesday. We got around 8 inches of snow, not enough to make them migrate but they were thinking about it. Wednesday we got out and did some glassing of the backcountry and saw some elk. We also managed to get the truck stuck three times, twice in heavy snow and once in a sippy hole of mud and muck. The snow spots just took a little shoveling. The sippy hole required a lot of shoveling and a couple come-alongs. The weather remained mixed for Thursday and part of Friday but we saw elk each day while checking some of our areas.
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Saturday?s forecast was for clear, low in the 20?s and high in the 40?s. Not the best elk weather but we would take it. Hunted opening morning with none of the 3 of us seeing anything. Walked back to the truck about 11 and were met by the Game Warden and the local Forest Service cop; the same one who tried to give me a ticket a few years back for getting stuck. No issues this go around and we were soon on our way back to camp for lunch. Back to our hunting spots for the evening. It was quiet and not much going on when I heard a shot back behind me and uphill. A few minutes later the radio broke the silence with Keith telling me he had a bull down. I walked down to get dad then we walked out to the truck to drop off our gear and pick up the sled. By the time we got to Keith it was DARK! We quickly got some pics then got to work processing his bull.
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We loaded it up and began the hike out, man it was dark! Even though I knew the meadow he was watching and we all had headlights, if we hadn't been able to follow our tracks in the snow it would have been easy to get turned around. Got Keith?s bull back to camp and processed and hit the rack about midnite.

We blew Sunday taking Keith?s elk to town, getting showers, etc. But we were all pretty thrilled to have an elk in the bag. Since we had an elk in the bag I pretty much decided to eat my cow tag and work toward getting dad a bull. I began putting dad in all the good spots I knew and had Keith helping him with caring gear and spotting for him.
It began to snow on Monday with a predicted 4 to 6 inches for both Monday and Tuesday. If this came true we were in for some epic hunting as the animals would move. Monday we got a good 6 inches but Tuesday totally petered out. The animals that had begun to stage to move, moved back into the backcountry due to the amount of hunters working the main road and a couple guys on horseback that would ride up and down the mountain each day. Never did see them get off their horses, guess truck hunters come in horse models too.

Wednesday it got cold! Apparently 6 degrees is too cold for Diet Pepsi.
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The weather quickly resorted back to 20?s at nite and 40?s or 50?s during the day. Had some beautiful hunts but just no elk.
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By Friday it was apparent we were either going to die on what we were doing or we needed to make a change. Friday afternoon I decided to try to get back into one of our old areas, through the section of road we go stuck on during our first scouting day. We went to check it out and found the sippy hole frozen solid and got back into the meadows I wanted to check and man we found the elk! There were tracks, beds and elk stink everywhere! Put dad under a tree watching a large meadow and I went to the back side of the mountain watching down the hill.
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We didn't see anything for the evening but we knew the elk were around. Thought about what to do for Saturday morning and decided dad and I would hunt together on the top and Keith would watch the back of the mountain just to see if elk were using. We really didn't want to shoot anything down in that hole so late in the hunt.
We parked the truck in the dark and Dad and I walked into our spot in the dark. While walking we could hear some animals moving parallel to us through the timber. Dad and I crawled under a nice overhanging tree and got setup to sit for the entire day. We had carried extra water, food and clothes to make a comfortable day. As the dark began to turn to grey light I heard the elk start coming, imagine the sound of horses on the run. I told dad to get ready and here they came. First, four cows came out of the timber and through the clearing right in front of us, I could have hit them with a rock. They moved into the large meadow and over to our right. Then the rest of the herd started out; cow, cow, calf, cow, calf, calf? all of these animals were parading past us at 10 yards. Right at the end of the group came a bull, not a big one but legal. As that group filtered past us to the right another group of two cows and a calf came out and stopped right in front of us. I told dad not to move but he was focused on the bull to his right. He tried to turn to get the rifle on the bull and the cows saw him and bolted down the hill. All the other elk that were to our right started to bolt and head toward the group of three. I yanked the cow call out of my pocket and started squealing on it like a mad cow and damned if they didn't all stop about 150 yards out. I told dad now or never and BOOM! He fired. The bull went 30 yards and toppled over. We had our second bull of the trip down.
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We spent the rest of the day getting him out then boned him out and bagged him in camp. Took a rest day and slowly went about breaking as much stuff down around camp on Sunday, the last day of the season.
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We hit the road on Monday morning and were home my midday on Tuesday. It was another great trip and the first where we have ever tagged two bulls on the same trip. This made nine elk in the past 7 years for us. Can?t thank my Dad and Keith enough for being such great hunting partners and friends.
 
How the Hell did you get a Picture that BIG to load on MM?

Looks like Fun & Work!

Doesn't look like you had to worry about any Meat Spoiling?:D

Refresh us on the Warden that was gonna give you a Ticket because you were Stuck?

Sounds like the same Warden that was gonna give me a Ticket a few years ago cuzz I didn't have any Orange on while I was in my Truck!













I used to know of places worth Hiking in to for Elk & Deer!
Thanks to Illegal Bastards & the USFS not enforcing Rules you can Zing in to them Places on Wheelers now & not see a Damn thing!
But by GAWD it don't take long for them U-Tards to get there with all the Unethical BS and the New Technology!
 
Yeah not sure what happend to that first pic. Looked ok at home and on Image Shak. Will try to fix it tonite.

Back in 08 or 09 I missed a crossing on a road due to snow and ended up in a bog burried to my doors. Truck was stuck for a week until I found a local rancher with a small dozer that was able to pull me out. Prior to that we had several 4WDs hooked together and they couldn't even budge me. Anyway one of the locals reported me a couple days later because we tagged a bull and he was unhappy about out of staters shooting his elk. The forest service cop (not a game warden) wanted to give me a ticket for getting stuck even though everything I did and every place I had my truck was legal. One of those new forest service people who thing visitors should come and look at the forest but not touch.
 
Congrats. Sounds like great times and lime you have it figured out. Well done and thanks for sharing with
 
Looks like a great time, and fine area.
2 out of 3 are good odds. See Pops kill his bull Priceless.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
>[Font][Font color = "green"]Life member of
>the MM green signature club.[font/]
 
Great Memories and 2 Great Bulls!

Thanks for sharing a detailed story of what hunting is all about :)

Congrats, Ed
 

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