hunt1up
Active member
A little backstory. A few years ago I met Colin through the Archerytalk forums. We both had done some western hunting but always found it difficult to find other folks back home with the same desire to head West on an annual basis. In 2012 we planned our first trip, a Colorado DIY OTC archery elk hunt in unit 30. Our wives were concerned that their respective husbands would end up in a deep freezer somewhere, which luckily turned out to be of no concern. I met Colin and his dad on that trip and we got along well. That crappy elk hunt turned into a 5 day backup antelope hunt in WY where Colin scored his first antelope, followed by an antelope/deer hunt last year that was also successful. We'd both agreed that it was time for another go at elk this season.
We'd been scouring the statistics and maps for months trying to pick our bull unit. We have enough points to pull a pretty decent WY bull hunt. Apps were submitted and then we realized that someone (cough, cough, Colin) forgot to buy their preference point last year. Statistically we were out of the running for our tag so we decided to go to plan B, a cow elk hunt with a deer or antelope tacked on for good measure. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't burn points as we learned a great deal about elk hunting on this trip. Although we've both been out west on 8-9 hunts I feel like this was the most educational, at least for me.
The unit in southern WY that we chose had 100% cow draw and just so happened to have leftover deer tags. We each bought one of each, as did Colins dad, and my dad elected to just elk hunt.
So 9/28 arrived and my father and I drove an overly full pickup west from Central, IL. Colin and his dad would be flying to Denver from PA the following day. That next day we all arrived at our hotel, shook hands, unloaded the trucks, and headed our for our first scouting afternoon. About a 10 mile dirt road drive put us in position to glass one of the two main mountains in the unit from a nice sage brush flat. Boy were we happy, we saw all sorts of elk on that mountain. Sitting behind my 15s and sipping on an always smooth Keystone Light, it appeared that this hunt was going to be pretty damn easy. "We'd just walk right up there." Later we'd realized that these elk were a mere 5-6 miles via GPS, and virtually impossible to reach on foot.
More to come...
We'd been scouring the statistics and maps for months trying to pick our bull unit. We have enough points to pull a pretty decent WY bull hunt. Apps were submitted and then we realized that someone (cough, cough, Colin) forgot to buy their preference point last year. Statistically we were out of the running for our tag so we decided to go to plan B, a cow elk hunt with a deer or antelope tacked on for good measure. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't burn points as we learned a great deal about elk hunting on this trip. Although we've both been out west on 8-9 hunts I feel like this was the most educational, at least for me.
The unit in southern WY that we chose had 100% cow draw and just so happened to have leftover deer tags. We each bought one of each, as did Colins dad, and my dad elected to just elk hunt.
So 9/28 arrived and my father and I drove an overly full pickup west from Central, IL. Colin and his dad would be flying to Denver from PA the following day. That next day we all arrived at our hotel, shook hands, unloaded the trucks, and headed our for our first scouting afternoon. About a 10 mile dirt road drive put us in position to glass one of the two main mountains in the unit from a nice sage brush flat. Boy were we happy, we saw all sorts of elk on that mountain. Sitting behind my 15s and sipping on an always smooth Keystone Light, it appeared that this hunt was going to be pretty damn easy. "We'd just walk right up there." Later we'd realized that these elk were a mere 5-6 miles via GPS, and virtually impossible to reach on foot.
More to come...
