Jorgy
Well-known member
So my plans for a 9 day muzzy deer hunt have been scrapped for hunting the weekends so my plans for packing into the wilderness to get where I wanted to had to change. I did have a good alternate plan for opening morning, and arrived at the end of the road about a half hour before light so I could start slowly working up to a field between the green river and a canyon wall where deer love to sneak through to bed down.
Just a few minutes after I got out of the truck I could hear elk bugling up a storm ahead of me which sounded like they would be in the field I was working to. There was so much bugling I couldn't believe it. About half way there I finally decided it had to be at least 4 different groups of guys trying to out bugle each other because I have just never heard anything like this. Both sides of the river, and it just never seemed to stop. At first light I was where I could see the hills above the field, and I did see another vehicle parked, thinking, yep, some jacka$$ just won't stop bugling thinking he can draw a bull in. A little further towards the field and I see a elk on the top of the hill working up from the field. Holy crap that is a huge bull. He has his head thrown back and is bugling. I get a little further and there are 5 bulls behind him all bugling also. At this point I pretty much forget that I only have a buck tag and start looking for elk. I little further and I see a huge herd of elk working up the hill away from the field and I see some orange in the 3 lone trees on this hill. This other guy is going to be in the middle of a herd of 200 elk in a few minutes.
That was my OMG moment, I wish I had a video camera for this. I get a good rest against a tree and put the binos up and just watch the show. He had 4 bulls all within 100 yards of him, plus 5 bulls up above him, and the rest of the herd working their way to walk right by him. Bugling is going on from most of the bulls I can see in front of me. I finally see the other hunter move a bit and can't figure out if he can't see the bulls or what is going on. As he is moving 3 bulls completely stop that are close to him and just watch him. Then I finally see him shoot towards the herd that was working up to him and those 3 bulls just stand there. The herd turned and ran a few hundred yards off, some of the bulls were still bugling. Then another shot and I see a cow running off and dropping. The 3 bulls still just stood there and watched. Eventually all of those elk trotted off as I worked up to see if the other hunter needed a hand.
I don't have a bunch of experience judging elk antler scores, but there were a handful of bulls on that hill that easily could have scratched there butts with their antlers. I've been living in Colorado just over 20 years and have never seen that many bulls together where it didn't involve winter conditions. A handful of big 6x6's and I couldn't figure out which one was the herd bull.
That was the highlight of my mule deer hunting weekend. Only saw 2 does, but I did find out that a big cow elk can fit whole into a ford freestyle
Just a few minutes after I got out of the truck I could hear elk bugling up a storm ahead of me which sounded like they would be in the field I was working to. There was so much bugling I couldn't believe it. About half way there I finally decided it had to be at least 4 different groups of guys trying to out bugle each other because I have just never heard anything like this. Both sides of the river, and it just never seemed to stop. At first light I was where I could see the hills above the field, and I did see another vehicle parked, thinking, yep, some jacka$$ just won't stop bugling thinking he can draw a bull in. A little further towards the field and I see a elk on the top of the hill working up from the field. Holy crap that is a huge bull. He has his head thrown back and is bugling. I get a little further and there are 5 bulls behind him all bugling also. At this point I pretty much forget that I only have a buck tag and start looking for elk. I little further and I see a huge herd of elk working up the hill away from the field and I see some orange in the 3 lone trees on this hill. This other guy is going to be in the middle of a herd of 200 elk in a few minutes.
That was my OMG moment, I wish I had a video camera for this. I get a good rest against a tree and put the binos up and just watch the show. He had 4 bulls all within 100 yards of him, plus 5 bulls up above him, and the rest of the herd working their way to walk right by him. Bugling is going on from most of the bulls I can see in front of me. I finally see the other hunter move a bit and can't figure out if he can't see the bulls or what is going on. As he is moving 3 bulls completely stop that are close to him and just watch him. Then I finally see him shoot towards the herd that was working up to him and those 3 bulls just stand there. The herd turned and ran a few hundred yards off, some of the bulls were still bugling. Then another shot and I see a cow running off and dropping. The 3 bulls still just stood there and watched. Eventually all of those elk trotted off as I worked up to see if the other hunter needed a hand.
I don't have a bunch of experience judging elk antler scores, but there were a handful of bulls on that hill that easily could have scratched there butts with their antlers. I've been living in Colorado just over 20 years and have never seen that many bulls together where it didn't involve winter conditions. A handful of big 6x6's and I couldn't figure out which one was the herd bull.
That was the highlight of my mule deer hunting weekend. Only saw 2 does, but I did find out that a big cow elk can fit whole into a ford freestyle
