Back from Colorado

[Calif. Hunter]

I am home from Colorado, after hunting deer and elk with Moe ( a buddy) adn meeting with Steve (Elkfarmer) and Al, his friend. Here is the story and pictures -

Moe and I drove straight through to Eagle from So Cal - an 18-hour journey that I will not repeat. Next time, I will take an extra day and stop after 10-12 hours of driving. Towing the toy hauler took longer, too. At the price of diesel, I will keep my V-10 gas truck, thank you very much! It was 100 bucks every time we filled up at over $3.20/gallon!

We got to Eagle at About 10 PM and got our room and crashed. We met Elkfarmer (Steve) and his friend, Al, down in the lobby and the "Continetal breakfast" buffet. They let us know that5 they had come in a day earlier and had checked out the spot referred to us by Deerking. Unfortunately, a heavy rain had come in and washed out teh access road. They had found another spot for us, although it was much more crowded.

After we ate, we drove out to the spot they had found and set up camp.

Here is Elkfarmer's camp -

Here is camp, California-style -

Steve and Moe decided that they needed to check their rifles -

They were happywith the outcome, so we went ahead and made plans for the next day. Here a view from a little ways uphill from camp - the little snow tip at the top is Castle Peak.

The next day, we drove up as far as we could and then walked in a mile or two - here is a closer look at Castle Peak from foot.

We got closer to it, actually on its slopes, but frankly - living at 50 feet above sea and trying to breathe at over 9000 feet made me forget about taking pictures. It was not so bad after a couple of days, but that first morning literally "took my breath away." I was very thankful that I had dropped 16 pounds - although I wished I had lost another 16!

We hunted pretty hard those first couple/three days, but everywhere we went, there was a pumpkin behind every bush and an ATV, truck or jeep on every road. I have never seen it so crowded, outside of California. There were even lots of guys besides us who would walk, so even a mile or two back in we would find hunters. We had seen some decent bucks the day before season opened, but the crowds ran them all out or shot them while they ran for cover! I got nice, nickle-sized blisters the first day.

The weather was warm (60s-70s) in the day and in the 20s at night. Things dried up rapidly from the rain storm.

This continued for a day or two, and we were finally able to get to the spot Deerking referred us to. It was a lot better as access was only by foot or horseback.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I hate this Yahoo browser I have at home! I will get the pictures posted properly and finish the story at work on Monday....

 

[Elkhunter]

I was able to click and see the pics and wnt to say thanks. So how as the spot that deerking told you about?

 

[Nut]

Glad you made it home. Awaiting the rest of the story. I see somebody scored .

 

[KeithE]

Yeah, need to use to computer at work, wink wink. That translates to, my wife says I've been gone deer hunting for over a week now and I have to get my ass off the computer. Look forward to hearing the story and seeing more pics. I'm heading out in 3 days to Colorado, I can hardly contain myself. My wife keeps saying, Just go now youre getting on my nerves. I hope to have a story and some pics of my own soon.......

 

[Tom]

Last time I was in Colorado there was a hunter around every corner. I guess if I had taken the steep hill into the wilderness, it would have thinned out, but I would have had nickel size blisters on my feet. I live at 700 ft.

20 at night, wow, I remember that once. My water in my canteen froze and I was using it for a pillow. Somebody scored? That's good!

I can relate to that gas issue, it was about 1200 miles to Wyoming at the beginning of the month.

Does anybody in Ca go hunt in Mexico? Kind of dangerous, I think, but there are some people here who do it, but not on their own, that I can tell.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

It was pretty discouraging to see all the road hunters everywhere you turned around. At least the Castle Peak Wilderness Study Area was up the hill...no vehicles allowed there, although we found tracks way up the hill by "the slide" as Deerking calls it. Those tracks looked more like a wide-tired motorcycle or "Tote Goat" than a 4-wheeler.

Anyway, once we found that we could make it in to the trailhead fine, we started hunting that area and saw more game, especially once you got more than a mile back in. I saw a couple of elk, at least one of which was a decent bull. I didn't have an elk tag and they were at least 500 - 600 yards off. We saw lots of elk sign, too. I think all the hunters had them running all over the place.

Here is Elkfarmer (Steve), glassing near the trailhead.

The only deer I saw within range were little forked-horns, and I was determined to eat my tag rather than use it on one of them. Besides, I did not want to haul out a deer unless it was a decent one!

Moe, however, was determined that if he came all that way, he was not going to go home empty-handed, so he shot a little 3x2.

The problem was, he shot it with 5 minutes of light left, almost 3 miles back in. Steve (Elkfarmer) had to help him finish it off so it didn't get away, though. They started dragging the thing out whole, as they thought that if dressed it out, that the body cavity would full up with dirt and brush as they drug it out in the dark. After about 4 hours ( ) !!!!!!! they decided to dress it out and come back for it in the morning. Also, one flashlight's batteries went dead and Steve's bulb burned out. They got back to the truck about 10:00 or 10:30 PM.

The next morning, Moe and I went to finish dragging out his deer while Steve and Al continued to hunt. Getting Moe's deer out was a lot easier in the daylight!
This was mine and Moe's last day, so we went back to an area where Moe had seen some nice bucks, but it was really a "morning" spot and we didn't see anything. We got back to camp and began to pack up. Steve and Al came back empty-handed, as well. So we cooked up the tenderloins from Moe's deer and heated up leftovers. We finished packing up and said our good-byes to Steve and Al, leaving about 10 PM. Moe and I were both beat, so he drove for 2 hours, I drove for 2 hours and then he drove for another 2. Of course, neither of us slept while the other was driving - every time we hit a bump, the guy trying to sleep was certain that the guy driving had fallen asleep and was going off the road....

About 4 AM, we got a room and slept for a little over 4 hours. Then we drove the rest of the way home...a very long drive!

Al and Steve were staying and hunting another morning, then heading into town for a shower and a good meal before flhing back to New York.

Despite our lack of success, it was a good hunt with new friends - guys I would share a camp with any time. They were more than willing to help pack out game or anything else that was needed, and were fun too.

Steve - anything to add?

 

[Washington Hunter]

You guys drug a buck out 3 miles! I would never try that!

Didn't they think about cutting it in half and each guy carring out half? Much, much easier than killing yourself dragging a deer out! Just the thought of it makes my back hurt.

 

[noharleyyet]

Good story Cali. Sounds like you guys enjoyed yourselves. Where is Castle Peaks...what unit?

 

[Moosie]

Nice ...... Nothing like hunting with others in the Pumkin patch around Halloween

If he was shooting Matchkings the Animal would have went straight down like my buck this year

Kudos to you, Moe , and the gang !!!

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Unit 35, NE of Eagle.

Even a Matchking through the ear (not the skull, just the ear) is not going to knock a buck down.... The partition did a job on his elbow, though....


WH - I agree with you. Steve's friend, Al, was a real animal, though!

 

[Moosie]

YAH, I've heard deer ned to be hit in more of a Vital area.. you know, HEAD, Chest, Spine.... Places like that. The ear is a Start though.

 

[T Bone]

Great read Cal Hunter. Nice job on the assist!

 

[Elkhunter]

Thanks for the story Cali. Sounds like you met two great guys also.

 

[elkfarmer]

we had a great time. the dragging of the deer wasn't to be bad as long as you don't mind dragging uphill, through sage, down a ravine or 2 and back up hill for about 4 hrs.

the first place we went to was pretty busy with orange. i thought they had a sale on orange vest cause they were everywhere.

i rented a suburban when we flew into eagle wednesday, the next day we drove to our hunt site to find the road washed out. mud, i can't believe how much mud i put on that truck. so we took off to try and find a plan b. we found a spot that it seemed like everyone knew about. but it was driveable so we decided to talk to mo and cali. hunter(rick) about our findings friday morning when we would meet up.

on friday we went to the plan b spot and we all agreed to set up camp. after we were set up we drove to our place we were suppose to be. and after a day and a half without rain, it dried up and we were able to make it back in. i couldn't believe it.

well anyways, the hunting was slow but it was a great vacation. i was really impressed with deerkings spot, just to bad we weren't there right off the bat. Rick and Mo are great people and it was a pleasure sharing a hunt/camp with bothe of them.


Hey Rick, has Mo put his gun on the bench yet? just wondering..

 

[JB Florida]

Great Story guys!

Sounds like you got some good info too!

 

[JohnSWA]

Great story, guys! I'm sorry you all didn't tag out, but it sure sounds like you had a great time! Also glad to hear that everybody made it home ok! Isn't it great to make new friends during a hunting trip? Thanks for the pics, Cali!