Roamer
Member
In 1992 my buddy Kevin his brother and dad all drew elk tags in colorados unit 201. I taged along for 3 days and knew I had to hunt it myself. The next yr Kevin our friend Ralph and myself started applying ,we never thought it would take 21 yrs.
We finally drew our muzzle loader tags last yr and what an awsome experance it was. I spent a little time there shed hunting in the past and made 3 scouting trips with my wife over the summer.Every trip we saw more bulls and they kept getting bigger.
September finally arrived and Ralph and I went up a week before the season opened to set up camp and do a little scouting. My wife Dawn came up on the 11th ,Kevin and our buddy Kirk came up on the 12th. The 13th was opening day and finally it was real.
My wife and I hunted Dimond mtn.opening day ,Ralph and Kirk hit a big aspen patch on the state land and Kevin went to the west side of cold spg mtn. We all got into lots of elk but no shots fired. The next Dawn and I went to middle mtn and again plenty of action but we couldnt get close enough to the one I wanted.Kevin and Ralph were the same way ,lots of elk but nothing they wanted to put their tag on. Dawn had to leave so that afternoon I wound up on the west side of cold spg mtn. I thought I was going to get a crack at a beautiful bull but a satalite that i hadnt seen blew up and took the heard with him. The next morning Kevin and I went back to where I was the night before but there was not an elk in sight. We heard a faint bugle so we droped down the ridge ,after an hour and a half of nothing Kev started angleing up and I kept heading across. I crossed a small valley that was loaded with elk sign so I decided to bugle and got an answer right away but it was a long way away. I put it into high gear and headed in that direction ,as I closed the distance I could here a small bull as well. As I got closer I slowed down then spoted a couple of cows ,then I spoted him as he walked through the cows bugled then stuck his antlers as high as he could reach in a tree and scraped. I didnt breath for a few seconds ,after i regained my composure I moved up to a tree and decided to wait and see if sometning good would happen. I didnt have to wait long the cows headed right at me at 20 yards the lead cow stoped ,unfortunatly the bull was right in the middle. After a few seconds the cows moved and I shot ,saw the bull hunch up and they all took off. They only went 40 yards and stoped unsure of what happened, they milled around for a few and then took off down the ridge. I took a minute to soak it all in then called Kev on the radio. I grabed a drink and a candy bar then went over and marked the spot where he was and followed them to where they stoped. There was only a few drops of blood ,not what I was hoping for. About that time Kevin showed up I retraced what happened and we started following them down the ridge. After 150 yards and no blood I told Kevin we missed something so I went 50 yards north and he went 50 south and we headed back up. About half way up I stoped and pulled out my lucky penny (my moms name was Penny) I said mom I cant loose this bull. I went about 20 yards and saw antlers ,then I saw them move. I eased up to where I could see his chest and shot again. He tried to get up but couldnt , I reloaded just in case and waited for him to pass. A minute later Kevin showed up and after a few tears of relief we walked over and said thanks then I put my hands on him a beautiful 7 x 7 and was blown away.As it turned out he only went about 100 yards.
The next day while I was going to the taxidermist Ralph shot his a real nice 6 x 7 our other friend Ramone showed up just in time to help pack it out.
To make a long story short I was hunting with Kevin fri afternoon and he missed a BIG one ,380 or better. Then on Sunday, the last day of the season we were walking back to the 4 wheelers about 1030 and we jumped a nice 6 x 6 with a death wish. He stoped and looked at us at 80 yards Kevin missed I was cow calling while he reloaded he was kinda shook up and missed again. The bull just stood there while I called and he reloaded then he hit him on the 3rd try. He was a real semectrical 6 x 6 , 50 in long and 50 in wide. What a trip.
We finally drew our muzzle loader tags last yr and what an awsome experance it was. I spent a little time there shed hunting in the past and made 3 scouting trips with my wife over the summer.Every trip we saw more bulls and they kept getting bigger.
September finally arrived and Ralph and I went up a week before the season opened to set up camp and do a little scouting. My wife Dawn came up on the 11th ,Kevin and our buddy Kirk came up on the 12th. The 13th was opening day and finally it was real.
My wife and I hunted Dimond mtn.opening day ,Ralph and Kirk hit a big aspen patch on the state land and Kevin went to the west side of cold spg mtn. We all got into lots of elk but no shots fired. The next Dawn and I went to middle mtn and again plenty of action but we couldnt get close enough to the one I wanted.Kevin and Ralph were the same way ,lots of elk but nothing they wanted to put their tag on. Dawn had to leave so that afternoon I wound up on the west side of cold spg mtn. I thought I was going to get a crack at a beautiful bull but a satalite that i hadnt seen blew up and took the heard with him. The next morning Kevin and I went back to where I was the night before but there was not an elk in sight. We heard a faint bugle so we droped down the ridge ,after an hour and a half of nothing Kev started angleing up and I kept heading across. I crossed a small valley that was loaded with elk sign so I decided to bugle and got an answer right away but it was a long way away. I put it into high gear and headed in that direction ,as I closed the distance I could here a small bull as well. As I got closer I slowed down then spoted a couple of cows ,then I spoted him as he walked through the cows bugled then stuck his antlers as high as he could reach in a tree and scraped. I didnt breath for a few seconds ,after i regained my composure I moved up to a tree and decided to wait and see if sometning good would happen. I didnt have to wait long the cows headed right at me at 20 yards the lead cow stoped ,unfortunatly the bull was right in the middle. After a few seconds the cows moved and I shot ,saw the bull hunch up and they all took off. They only went 40 yards and stoped unsure of what happened, they milled around for a few and then took off down the ridge. I took a minute to soak it all in then called Kev on the radio. I grabed a drink and a candy bar then went over and marked the spot where he was and followed them to where they stoped. There was only a few drops of blood ,not what I was hoping for. About that time Kevin showed up I retraced what happened and we started following them down the ridge. After 150 yards and no blood I told Kevin we missed something so I went 50 yards north and he went 50 south and we headed back up. About half way up I stoped and pulled out my lucky penny (my moms name was Penny) I said mom I cant loose this bull. I went about 20 yards and saw antlers ,then I saw them move. I eased up to where I could see his chest and shot again. He tried to get up but couldnt , I reloaded just in case and waited for him to pass. A minute later Kevin showed up and after a few tears of relief we walked over and said thanks then I put my hands on him a beautiful 7 x 7 and was blown away.As it turned out he only went about 100 yards.
The next day while I was going to the taxidermist Ralph shot his a real nice 6 x 7 our other friend Ramone showed up just in time to help pack it out.
To make a long story short I was hunting with Kevin fri afternoon and he missed a BIG one ,380 or better. Then on Sunday, the last day of the season we were walking back to the 4 wheelers about 1030 and we jumped a nice 6 x 6 with a death wish. He stoped and looked at us at 80 yards Kevin missed I was cow calling while he reloaded he was kinda shook up and missed again. The bull just stood there while I called and he reloaded then he hit him on the 3rd try. He was a real semectrical 6 x 6 , 50 in long and 50 in wide. What a trip.
