11 Days Solo in the Colorado Wilderness High Country... and my Best Buck Ever

[SC Living Outdoors]

I love high country deer hunting. Whenever I get asked what my favorite thing to hunt is I always say early season high country deer. The reason I say that is because its basically a sheep or goat hunt that I can do almost every year. I don't live in Alaska or Canada so sheep and goat hunts are few and far between for me, but I can do high country deer on a yearly or semi-yearly basis. Plus, mule deer are just cool. They come in all different shapes and sizes and can live down where its flat or up on top of a nasty mountain at 13k feet. I'm going to attempt to tell this story on a day-by-day basis, but honestly, some days there wasn't much going on, so I won't write as much about those days. An 11 day solo hunt is a grind. On top of that it's a 27hr drive on each end of the hunt. It was difficult physically and mentally. I talked to God a lot. It was all worth it in the end and I can't wait to do it again. I'm already making plans for next year in September.

Here's a teaser pic before I get into the story.

 

[npaden]

Looking forward to it! Don't keep us in suspense too long, I'm leaving for a hunt on Thursday!

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Im sitting above 8000ft waiting for the evening hunt. Hot and nothing to do but snooze and wait for your updates. Let's go!! Haha

 

[WNC2500]

Looking forward to following along @SC Living Outdoors

 

[jvanhoy]

Heck yea. Always look forward to your hunt threads.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Love that fuzz!
Matt

 

[Kiwi]

Looking forward to hearing more. I missed out on a CO high country deer tag this year. Hopefully next year.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

This story starts a while back. I don’t mean back at the draw results day I mean about 5 years back. I’m fortunate that I get to meet a lot of people. This is one of those instances. This gentleman I met is a good bit older than me. When we connected he began to tell me stories about how he used to hunt early season deer in Colorado in the high country every year before he moved east. This was back in the good old days of CO muley hunting. They went in with horses and killed some massive bucks. He invited me to meet him at his office and when I got there he had all his old paper maps. He showed me high basin after high basin and bowl after bowl. He said he did could tell I loved to hunt and wanted to share the info with someone. He knew what he was talking about. I had my laptop and I’d make pins as he pointed them out on the map.

Colorado releases there 5 year draw plan and I always pay attention. It tells you future dates so you can plan. 2025 was the year I really wanted to draw because the season would open on September 6th which were the earliest dates for 5-7yrs. I wanted to kill a big velvet muley and I knew the earlier the dates the better the odds that I would get it done. I applied in 24 but was unsuccessful. I thought 2025 would be the same but it wasn’t, I drew. I was lucky. Only a few people at my point level pulled a tag and I was one of them. The planning began in earnest.

I had/have some fun hunts planned for this year but this hunt was the one I was looking forward to the most.

1. CO is my favorite place to muley hunt.
2. High country deer is my favorite “normal” hunt.
3. The stories I’d heard and pictures I’d seen had my mind going crazy.
4. A big velvet muley was way high up on my list.

Back in March I didn’t like how my body was trending or how it felt after my NZ hunt so I made a change. I switched what I ate completely. Vegetables, fruits, wild meat, rice ect. No sugar, no dairy other than eggs, no processed food, no preservatives, no chemicals, minimal flour, if it came in a package I said “no thanks” unless it was only 1 or 2 ingredients. Water and juice. The weight began to fall off. Then I learned I drew this tag. I knew this area was massive and steep so I stayed at it along with my twice a day workouts, weights in the morning and cardio at lunch. By the time late August rolled around I was 46 pounds lighter. My clothes from my senior year of high school fit. I felt great and I was ready to go. On top of that I had a little more added pressure. I killed a Sitka Blacktail in velvet on POW on August 8th then on August 21st I killed a Whitetail in velvet here in SC. Now I’d have an opportunity to kill 3 different species of deer in velvet in the same season. That would be a crazy start to the year!

I left for Colorado after work on August 29th. I drove up through Asheville taking I40 because I hate ATL. The interstate up there isn’t in good shape due to the road washing out last year in the mountains so I didn’t make good time but eventually I made it up into Tennessee where I stopped for the night to sleep in my little camper. I was up before the sun and back on the road driving through STL and KC. I honestly don’t remember where I stopped that night. The next day I saw antelope on the plains and soon the mountains rose up before me and I was through Denver on the way to my unit. By the time I got to my trail head it was late afternoon on Aug 31. I decided to wait and head in the next morning. That evening I met a retired guy from Arkansas that I really hit it off with. He was there scouting for elk to hopefully help his brother kill his first bull. We talked for a while. I ate a good big meal and went to sleep. I’d hike in the next morning.

HS/College clothes. Yes that is a double popped collar. My wife did not think I was cool….


Velvet Sitka Blacktail and Whitetail



A little before the gravel road to my trail head I saw a nice bear cross the road. Didn’t get much of a pic.

 

[KipCarson]

Congrats! Can’t wait to see how this plays out!

 

[rjthehunter]

Along for the story as always! Looking forward to it.

 

[BuckhunterBen]

Awesome! "Patiently" waiting for the rest of it.

 

[JVon13]

Always enjoy your write ups of your adventures! Can’t wait to follow along on this one!

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Day 1 - September 1

I decided to take 8 days worth of food in with me. I brought 12 days total of hunting food. If I ran out of food I would hike back to the truck for more. I make my own meals for my hunts. The food for each day consisted of a breakfast meal of rolled oats, coconut, chopped pecans, sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, raisins, powdered milk and stevia in a ziplock bag. Just add hot water. Lunch was 2 bars made of rolled oats, mixed nuts, honey and dates that my wife makes for me (crazy good). Dinner is seasoned minute rice (different flavors each night), mixed with freeze dried veggies (from amazon) and chopped up deer snack sticks in a mylar bag. Just add boiling water. It's good. I also take a pack of bone broth and in the evenings I will boil a cup of water and drink the broth. By the time I've drank the broth the rice/meal is ready. I've been slowly perfecting this food over the years and it works well for me. Its healthy and tastes good. I don't carry snacks or any other food/drink that's extra weight and it's good to be a little hungry while hunting.

I loaded up my pack and headed in. The season started on September 6th so I was going to have 5.5 days to scout before the season opened. My pack with all my gear including rifle, spotter, tripod, food, 2 liters of water, 2 power banks, solar charger etc was just under 63lbs. I've been working on upgrading/lightening my gear and I didn't feel like that was too bad with all my food. I didn't know exactly where I was going to camp, but there was an area about 5 miles in close to a stream that I had my eye on. This area would allow me to access lots of bowls and basins that would all be within 3ish miles (most within 2.5). I loaded up and headed in working my way up the valley. I'm not a super fast hiker. I set a pace that I can keep and go. I definitely took my time on the way in. I live at 460' above sea level. I was hiking in on a trail that was 10k and I'd be camping at over 11k and hunting/glassing up over 12k. I've never had a problem with altitude sickness, but I never push it too hard on the first day and drink plenty of water. Thats what I did. When I got about 3 miles in I stopped to take a break. I wasn't tired, but like I said I never push it too hard when acclimating. When I sat down I decided to glass and it took me about a minute to spot my first animal. There up on the hill 500 yards above me was a nice 5x5 bull in the sun feeding at 11am. I hung out for 15 minutes and took some pics and videos before heading farther in.

About an hour later I'd found a camping area and was unpacking my gear to put my camp together when I realized I'd made a mistake. Like I said above I'd been working on lightening up my gear and I'd been packing for a couple weeks getting everything right. I was literally weighing tent stakes to see save grams. As I opened my tent I realized I'd screwed up. About 6 weeks ago I'd ordered a brand new dyneema shelter from z-packs. I'd been eyeing this shelter for a while and this hunt was the perfect excuse to get it. The shelter only weighed 8.2oz. add in a 6oz carbon fiber pole and stakes I was at 17.2oz for my entire shelter! ....... I brought the wrong tent. That wouldn't be a huge deal except, I brought the single carbon fiber pole for my z-packs shelter and the Big Agnes tent. I sat down and let myself be in disbelief for a couple minutes then I went about trying to figure out how to "pitch" my tent. Its not like I could hike back to the truck and get it. The correct tent or correct poles were both 1800 miles away. I literlly said to myself "adapt and overcome". This was a tag I'd wanted for years and I wasn't going to let this slow me down. I figured out if I broke off a sapling at the right height, I could use that as a rear pole and put my carbon pole in the front. Stake it down tight and I had a shelter. It wasn't perfect, but it really wasn't too bad, I just had to sleep around the middle pole. I put it up under a thick evergreen and I was good to go.

That evening I climbed up to a glassing point I had marked that allowed me to see a big portion of the side of a ridge. It was one of the closest to camp glassing point and a good spot for the evening. I was able to locate a 8-10 elk and even saw a couple elk sparing, but that was it. I headed back down to camp to cook up some food and make a game plan for the next day.



The bull I glassed on the way in.


My rigged up tent.


The couple small bulls I saw sparing that evening.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Day 2 - September 2nd.

For the most part my scouting days went like this. I would get up early depending on my hiking location and do my best to be there at daylight. I would glass until around 11 or 12pm then head back to camp and eat some lunch and relax for a couple hours then back out to another location for 3-4hours in the evening. The morning of my first full day I headed up to a saddle above camp. It was only a 35 minute hike so I didnt have to get up too early. I ate my breakfast and headed up the mountain. This location would allow me to glass the side of a different ridge that was spotted with lots of rocks and trees here and there. Lots of places for animals to hide. After 90 minutes or so I spotted a doe with a fawn. A few minutes late I found a couple elk. I could see a ton of country, but I only saw a few animals that morning. I headed back down to camp after a while and ate some lunch.

After lunch I headed up to a high saddle that would allow me to pass over into a high bowl that wasn't visible unless you came in a long way from the bottom or came in over this saddle. I got set up and began to glass. I didn't see anything until 6:40pm when all of the sudden there were 2 billies. Goats are so dang cool. These were no different. They would stand completely still for 5 minutes at a time looking over their domain then they'd feed a bit. I watched them until it got dark and headed back to camp. Those 2 goats were all I saw that evening. Time to get some food and sleep. Tonight's screening would be Jack Ryan Season 1 with Rice and snack sticks.

Glassing area in the morning.



Old mine entrance I found.



Goats

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I don't carry snacks

BANNED!!!!!

 

[rmyoung1]

Man… that’s a well-fed billy

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

BANNED!!!!!

I don’t eat snacks at home either, lol. A boiled egg when I get home or some mixed nuts sometimes. I eat dinner every evening between 5-7pm. That’s pretty much it. My goal is to be able to look at the map and know I can go to the best looking spot I find no matter where it is.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Man… that’s a well-fed billy

The first 2 pics are one Billy. The second 2 pics are the second Billy.

 

[TOGIE]

My goal is to be able to look at the map and know I can go to the best looking spot I find no matter where it is.

See I need like a truckload of mcdoubles and oreos in my pack to accomplish this.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I don’t eat snacks at home either, lol. A boiled egg when I get home or some mixed nuts sometimes. I eat dinner every evening between 5-7pm. That’s pretty much it. My goal is to be able to look at the map and know I can go to the best looking spot I find no matter where it is.

Love the discipline man keep up the hard work!