|
First Elk Hunt
Kenevan McConnon
 2007 was my first year elk hunting at the age of 40. I had gotten hold of some of Jay's articles from a friend and had visited ElkCamp.com. My entire plan was based on the rules on the website. I started in July to try to find my spot. I determined that Unit 38 was my best bet by using the CDOW GMU maps. Sure it was on the front range, but I already knew the terrain from years of mountain biking the area, and it was only an hour and half from my house, so I knew I would be able to spend a lot of time scouting and hunting the area. The CDOW showed decent summer density and a migration route that I thought looked like something I could work with in the coming months.
I decided I would hike a particular trail and glass the valleys and bowls as I headed south. Fourteen miles later I had picked a 16 square mile area to hunt. I had spotted two small groups of elk. Next I started to criss cross my 16 square miles looking for wallows, water, and sign. I found water and sign everywhere, but no wallows. The elk seemed like they were everywhere and no where. No elk super highways, just paths through the dark woods. At the end of July I found my first bedding area at about 10,800ft and a fairly well used game trail. I knew where I was going to be Bow Opening Day - I had a cow license. The night before opening, I was sitting where I thought I was going to get an elk at dusk and out walks a cow 35 yds from where I'm sitting. Perfect. I'm an elk hunter NOW.
I wake up at 4:30 in the morning hike back to my setup and learn something. A good setup at dusk is frequently horrible at dawn. The winds were exactly opposite and sure enough out walks a cow. She smells me, and bam she is gone. I tried that spot on and off for a week and never saw another elk on that path or any fresh sign. I must have moved that small family unit out of their little bowl.
I spent the next four weeks getting within about 80 yds of two other cows, but never even nocked an arrow. I got a lot better at interpreting sign and had the odd feeling of smelling elk on a couple of occasions, but never seeing them or hearing them. My first bow season was successful because of what I learned, but no meat in the freezer.
I bought an over the counter license for second rifle season and watched as the weather never turned. No snow, no cold. I figured rifle season would be a bust too, and I had heard a lot of complaining from friends about this hunting season was one of the toughest they'd seen. This is when I learned something; the reason that most elk hunters don't have meat in the freezer is they stop hunting. Between scouting and hunting my 16 square miles, I had spent 17 days in the filed, hike 120 miles (minimum), and lost 22lbs. I was beat down, but knew that my schedule gave me four more days to hunt. My buddy was done for the year and he needed a new pair of boots.
I knew there hadn't been much change in my 16 square miles since the end of bow season. The weather had stayed warm and dry. The elk were still doing what they had been doing all summer, and I was really surprised that I never heard a single bull bugle. I saw a couple of more cows, but I needed a bull now with the OTC license. I racked my brain, and realized that I had never seen a bull elk outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. If elk hunting was easy, they'd call it pheasant hunting.
 October 20th was opening day and a storm was moving in that was going to drop a foot of snow with almost no wind. I decided I was going to hunt Sunday morning and hope the storm moved elk lower. There was a meadow that I had scouted during bow season that would probably have some traffic as they moved lower. I woke up at 3am. Geared up and drove to the trail head. At 4:30am, I started hiking at 9,200ft into a light snow with no wind; I was geared up for a night out since I was alone. About every fifteen minutes I hit a lost cow call as I hiked. After two hour of hiking, I reached my meadow, found a spot next to tree that served as a natural blind with a good view of the meadow. I kept hitting my cow call every 15 minutes and hit a bugle twice over the next hour and half. At 8:15am, a five point bull walks into the meadow and walks straight towards me. 170 yds, walking straight towards me. Can you take a head-on shot? I don't know! He keeps coming....100 yds...he keeps coming....50 yds...he keeps coming....he's got to see me. At 35yds, four cow elk enter the meadow about 200 yds behind the bull. He smells them immediately and turns (the wind was 5-10mph in my face). I take my shot. It feels perfect; he turns back towards me, stares at me for 15 seconds, I freeze, he takes two steps and drops. I sit down shaking.
Ten hours later, I load the last of the meat and the head in the back of my pickup. Everything I learned hunting and fishing with my Dad came back to me as I worked, and I realize that I have just had one of the most satisfying experiences of my life. Scouting and hunting elk is what life is all about and I'm glad that once in my life I could experience a successful elk hunt. Jay, I really appreciate the guidance you provided.
I'll definitely be hunting elk again next season. I think I'm going to try Unit 20. I used to mountain bike there a lot in the 90s.
A Successful 2007 Elk Hunt
Randy Matthews
Bruce, Vance, and I were in elk all day. The forth guy/Andy got a touch of food poisoning and didn't make the pack into camp until noon on opening day Saturday. We had about 30 cows in the meadows right above camp at first light. The three of us went after them, but something happened, probably the winds swirled, and they blew out of meadow before anyone could get a shot. I had a cow and calf at 40 yards when they busted. Since I have a cow tag and an either sex tag, and we were close to the trail, I was willing to take a cow and pack her the four miles 'down' the trail to the car.
After blowing the first opportunity, we saw some elk across the drainage and heard some bugling. We watched them until they went into some timber and never came out, so we figured they had bedded down. With that we decided to swing around and get above them to keep the thermals in our favor. In the process of 'swinging around', Bruce and I bumped a cow. We waiting about 10 minutes and then walked in the direction that the cow went. After about 100 yards I cow called and a bull bugled back from a couple hundred yards away. We set up and called some more. The bull would bugle back but he wasn't coming in. We figured that he had at least one cow that was a little spooked, so we closed the distance and cow called again - he bugled right back about 60 yards away and a cow started talking too. We sat up again, and he bugled back a couple more times as we called.
Bruce was about 40 yards from him at one point but it was so thick that he couldn't see him. I tried a new call technique that I learned from the 'Elk Nut video - Worse than Wolves' called the threat. The threat is suppose to sound like a cow being harassed by a young bull - although with my calling it probably sounded more like a cat being molested by a wild dog - and we never heard from the bull nor the cow after that.
We continued to work our way up and around to the elk that we heard earlier that morning. In the process we came across a big bowl that looked like great elk terrain. We decided not to drop down in to the bowl and continued with our original mission of getting up on the ridge above the elk we had seen earlier.
Once on top, we heard lots of bugling down in the timber where we had seen the elk bed up. Although it was so windy we couldn't tell for sure if they were real elk or hunters bugling. Since we were above timberline, we found a row of stunted pine trees that allowed us to drop down into the timber without being seen. Once in the timber, which blocked noise of the wind, we heard only one bugle, which was that of Andy. Andy uses his fingers to whistle/bugle so his bugles are easy to identify and it works very well for him. After listening for about 30 minutes and not hearing any thing more, we decided not to drop further down in the timber and instead we went back on top to wait and watch to see if anything came out to feed for the evening. However, once back on top we found another hunter had taken up the location and was watching some elk down in the drainage on the other side of the ridge. Since the ridge was several miles long, there was plenty of room for all of us, Bruce sat up and watched the head of the drainage right above our camp, and I went back to the bowl that we had seen earlier in the day.
As soon as I reached the bowl, I saw a cow out in the open feeding and not far away from her was 4 more elk bedded in the shade of some trees. They were a good mile away and I didn't see any horns so I decided to wait and watch the bowl a little longer. After a short wait, more elk started coming out of the dark timber into the bowl. Even though I hadn't seen any bulls, I said to myself that I'm not going to kill an elk sitting here, so I dropped down into the bowl and started working my way toward them.
The elk were in the upper end of the bowl and I was in the lower end, which was perfect since the evening thermals were starting to shift downward. As I was getting close to where I thought the elk would be, I kept telling myself to stay on the down hill side of them and not get up to high and have the wind betray me. Dang it, there is a cow broadside just less than 40 yards from me and down hill/wind. She stands for just a few moments and then turns and runs. I try the 'Threat' again, but no response. I didn't hear any others run off, but in the back of my mind I'm thinking that I pretty well just blew it.
Easing up further through the timber, I see a small bull and a couple of cows about 80 yards in a meadow above me, they are acting nervous and walk into the trees, but I know they haven't smelled me. I also hear a bull in the distance bulging, sounds like it is coming up from the steep dark timber. I ease up further and start hearing cows chirping. I come to another meadow and I see cows and another bull at the top of the meadow. To far for a shot but they are relaxed.
As I start to ease up to them, I hear cows mewing on the down hill side but in front of me, and it sounds like they are coming to the meadow, so I move back to the edge of the meadow and set up. In the distance I still can hear that bull bugling. It would be nice to take one of the big bulls in this area, but this bowl is just a little over a mile from the car and my main objective is to put meat in the freezer so I'm taking the first good shot opportunity I get!
Straight across from me, a cow comes out into the meadow mewing. She's headed up hill and is about 70 yards away. I cow call to her hoping to bring her in for a shot. She get nervous, turns around and walks back into the timber she just came out of - aghhhh, stinkin ole elk don't know a good call when they hear it! The bull in the distance is now closer and still bugling, so, thinking I don't have much to lose I cut loose with a bugle. The cows relax and come back out into the meadow - at least they can appreciate a manly call! More elk come out into the meadow below me, including a small 5X5, but he's not the one doing all the bugling. The little 5X5 lets out a little squeal and walks over to a wallow about 70 yards directly below me and starts playing in the mud. Two calves walk straight towards me with some cows walking behind them. Since the bull is straight down hill from me, I'm afraid that he's going to smell me and skedaddle, taking the herd with him. The calves are also coming in below me and if they keep on the same course they are going to walk right on top of me. Things are getting pretty intense and I feel my heart pounding, and I'm thinking 'God this is what hunting is all about, what an awesome experience'.
All of a sudden a year and a half old cow (i.e. good eating) steps out from behind a few trees in the middle of the meadow and stops at 20 yards with her head down feeding. I come to a full draw but her front leg is back so I wait. Have you ever noticed how women have a way of taking their sweet little time when you are in a hurry! Finally after a long wait, she takes another step forward and gives me the perfect broad side shot. Slow motion sets in, pick a spot behind the shoulder, not to far back, squeeze the trigger - well the best squeeze I could muster considering the circumstances! You've probably heard the Sam Elliott 'What's for dinner - BEEF' commercial, where Sam is talking about grilling steaks and time stands still until a dog barks, we'll that's what it was like, time stood still until that arrow hit it's mark and then all heck broke loose and elk started running every where.
From slow motion to a blurrrr, she spins and runs back down the hill, for a split second I see an arrow protruding from right behind here shoulder - Yes, good shot! Then I see her and the herd running into the trees - mark the spot where she went into the trees in case I have a hard time picking up a blood trail, but I'm sure she didn't go far with that shot, I'm thinking that is one of the best shots I've ever made on any animal.
OK, now it's time to 'try' to slow things down and compose my self. Check my watch, it's 7:45. Replay everything in my mind, and everything seems good, feeling confident that the shot was good. Bull still bugling in the distance. What a day! Mark a way point on the GPS, fill the water bottle out of the stream near by, try to call my buddy on the radio - where is that slacker when you need him!
Finally, 20 minutes have gone by and time to pick up the trail. It's getting dark and I have to use my flashlight to trail here. Pick up a blood trail within the first 10 feet, the blood is spewed everywhere - reconfirming a good shot. Follow the blood trail into the trees where I saw her run. To make a long story short, after a few loop-dey-loops and her still going another 50 yards after bleeding out, it took me an hour and 15 minutes to trail her 150 yards. It was kind of weird in that she piled up about 15 yards from a young bull that had been dead for over a year. I actually found the bull skull with some chewed up antlers first. Think about that, trailing a wounded cow in the middle of the night and walk up on the skeleton remains of a bull, then go another 15 yards and find your cow - a little creepy!
It was 9:15 when I found her. I said a little prayer of thanks, put my watch in my pack and then proceeded to get to work, using the 'gutless method' and hung the quarters in a tree. That gutless method is the way to go, and I'll never gut another animal, unless it's a situation where I can drive the truck right up to it.
Turns out, it wasn't the shot I thought I had made. I thought I had perfectly broad sided her with a double lung shot, but I actually hit her behind the last rib on the left side and it came out right behind the front shoulder on the right side.
Perfect shot for a quartering away shot, but not the shot I thought I had made - another 'Thank you God' moment! It was almost a full moon and bulls were bugling all around while I quartered her - several times I just had to stop and thank God for such a wonderful experience. Even during the hike out, I heard bulls bugling all around. Finally stumbling into camp, trying to be quite, not wanting to wake my buddies, but was glad to hear one of them say 'is that you Randy?'. Then trying not to sound to excited, but not hesitating to give them the readers digest version of the evening adventure. I eat a little jerky and trail mix, check my watch as I climb into the sleeping bag, and thinking it's later than I thought as my head hit the pillow 1:30.
Going back up on Sunday to pack her out, I tell the guys that I think I can de-bone the quarters and get her out in one load and probably won't need their help - famous last words! Bruce being a lot smarter and wiser that I, said that they would hunt until about 11:00 and then meet up with me to see if I needed any help getting her out. It turns out that it took three of us, five and a half hours to pack her out. The GPS said that it was 1 and 1 tenth of a mile to the car, but the topo said that there was some really steep terrain between us and the car, so we took the 'easy' route - which turned out to be the wrong way! I owe Bruce and Vance big time for all the help they gave me. I'm sitting here as I write this with a swollen and bruised right foot, barley able to walk, and that was with those two guys helping me - I'm not sure I'd be off the mountain yet had they not been there - another opportunity to thank God! Something about sitting at a desk all year and then packing out an elk without any conditioning it hard on the feet!
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. Obviously, it was dark when I found her and I didn't know how to work the timer nor flash on the digital camera I was carrying - pretty disappointing considering it was such a great hunt, but that's my fault for not figuring out how to use the camera before hand.
Not a huge bull story to tell, but it was one of the best hunts I've been on!
Cheers,
Randy
|
