First Bull, Colorado Muzzleloader

[Dan O]

Congratulations! You hunted the right way going slow and not taking an iffy shot. It's much better to go home empty handed never taking an iffy shot than to go home with a lost elk from a poor shot.

It's cool your adding your generation to your Dad and Grandfathers traditions. That alone makes your hunt a success.

 

[Beesting]

Great story . Congratulations!

 

[npaden]

Congratulations! Glad things ended up coming together for you!

 

[LopeHunter]

Nicely done! Congrats and may the hunting Gods shine on you always. Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-lagunga.

 

[BEvans]

Now that’s a hunt!!! Congrats big time. As I was reading this, I thought how it’d be nice for guys to chime in with a critique of your hunt decisions. Not criticisms, but actual advice from those who’ve been there done that so to speak. And then you said similar in one of your last posts. Might be a good way for others to learn. Congrats again on a great hunt, a great experience, and a great bull.

Absolutely! Im always open to advise on how to be a better hunter. There was multiple occasions during this hunt where I had elk close and considered starting a post asking for advice but decided that was not the time to be doing that. However at this time I'd love to hear others thoughts on what I should have done at any point.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Congrats!

 

[Wily Wapiti]

Great story, great bull and no advice to offer. You bagged the bull, got it off the mountain safely and had a great time with your dad. All around success as far as I'm concerned. Congrats!!!

 

[JoMo]

Congrats! Not sure I would do anything different! Awesome adventure - thanks for the write up!

 

[elkduds]

Thanks for this excellent thread. Hope to read more from you in the future, and congratulations on a well-earned 1st bull.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

Great story and you did real well! Situational awareness saved you at first and there are expert dink/raghorn hunters here because we don’t have that. We shoot the first legal no matter what an awful situation it is with the failing light and sleet.

 

[Pahoundsman]

What a great recap! Congratulations on your bull and I applaud you for sticking to your plan and getting it done.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Outstanding, all the way around. Thanks for taking us along.

 

[hank4elk]

Well done!

 

[wvhunter304]

This story made my morning.

 

[COEngineer]

Holy elk! I have been hunting elk in archery season for 10+ years and you saw and interacted with more elk in one week than I have in all that time. Having said that, as far as advice, I think I would have been more aggressive - not with calling, but getting close and then calling. Bugling to locate bulls is fine, but once you know where they are, get close and 'force' the bull to react. Very seldom, in my experience, will a bull move hundreds of yards to challenge you.

Also, your cow calls must be incredibly good. I have had some luck, but it sounds like you have that part dialed - getting elk to go back to feeding while you're at close range is an amazing skill to have.

 

[BEvans]

Holy elk! I have been hunting elk in archery season for 10+ years and you saw and interacted with more elk in one week than I have in all that time. Having said that, as far as advice, I think I would have been more aggressive - not with calling, but getting close and then calling. Bugling to locate bulls is fine, but once you know where they are, get close and 'force' the bull to react. Very seldom, in my experience, will a bull move hundreds of yards to challenge you.

Also, your cow calls must be incredibly good. I have had some luck, but it sounds like you have that part dialed - getting elk to go back to feeding while you're at close range is an amazing skill to have.

This is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for, thank you! This advice is already getting me excited for my future hunts.

My cow calls are not that great. The same way I was hearing the imperfect bugles this year, last year during rifle season I got on a herd of cows that was very talkative. Their chirps ranged from super high pitched to super squeaky and the length of the calls ranged from barely a peep to the longest being 5 seconds long. This gave me the motivation to cow call this year and it seemed to work out. Maybe I got lucky or found elk that haven't been harassed too much because the sounds the cows were making where I was hunting this year were more uniform and sounded like the stereotypical "mew" you expect cows to make.

 

[cohunter14]

Congrats on a successful hunt!! I agree with COEngineer on what he said about being more aggressive and getting closer before you call. Let them bugle so you can locate them, or use a location bugle to get them to respond, then try to get inside of 150 yards before calling.

Also, I would be very careful in the future about calling when you can see an elk. If you can see them and you make a call, they are going to look right at you and expect to see another elk. Typically, when they don't, they are going to spook.

 

[burmk]

That's awesome, lots of game where you were! Congrats on the bull. I hope to try muzzleloader next year.

 

[ashersdad]

Great recap and fabulous adventure! Thanks for sharing.

 

[BrentD]

Awesome story. I have only seen elk like that one time. My first time and with a bow in AZ. My trip ended empty handed. You have some serious patience. I look forward to hearing about your next hunt.