Trash tag excitement

[Bullshot]

It’s all a state of mind. I am getting pretty excited about my backup plan’s backup tag. It’s all I drew for elk this year and nowadays, every elk tag is a valuable resource. After a few tough over the counter hunts I had inwardly vowed I would no longer go west on a less than desired tag. Too much time, effort and money invested for too little reward. But they aren’t exactly handing out great tags to just everyone these days, even those with over 2 dozen points .. so west I go to another new unit. E-scouting has me surprisingly pumped. Despite 1st impressions and internet pessimism, looks like plenty of room to roam and get away from others if I do my part. Bringing the ATV has me stressed, but arrows are hitting bullseyes in the backyard so just gotta get there in one piece find an elk and see how it goes. Hoping to update in a few weeks, I’m making this an early hunt, just after Labor Day. Good luck to all the other crap tag warriors!

 

[WapitiBob]

I have a 3rd choice Oregon Elk tag, that's a crap tag.

 

[Rack Daniels]

Montana general deer and elk! Can’t get much worse than that!
Good luck to you, I really hope you get one!!

 

[seeth07]

No elk tags in the draw for me either so its going to be my first time experiencing the 3rd season rifle in CO in an OTC unit. My expectations are pretty dang low

 

[Forkyfinder]

No elk tags in the draw for me either so its going to be my first time experiencing the 3rd season rifle in CO in an OTC unit. My expectations are pretty dang low

Lots of cow tags around....

 

[seeth07]

Lots of cow tags around....

I'm working on grabbing one in the leftover draw for the same area I know a little bit in CO. My freezer is pretty solid from 3 elk last year so for us its more about the experience and just getting out there rather than sitting on the couch! Success isn't measured by punching a tag for us but whether or not it was fun and saying we would for sure do it again. It's usually a yes

 

[seeth07]

Sometimes it helps just having low expectations. Like last year, we grabbed what many consider "a pretty crappy elk tag" in Northern ID but we wanted to hunt with a distant cousin that hasn't quite figured the elk hunting yet. That hunt and the time with him and teaching him how to elk hunt was so much fun. Our hard work and being able to piece the puzzle together pretty quickly also put us on elk and my wife even got one by what ended up being a perfectly orchestrated elk drive! Solid homage to our roots to us WI folks chasing elk! My distant cousin became hooked and this summer he has been scouting non stop and has a plan to have his camper up on the mountain by his house the entire elk season and he is already counting down the days.

 

[HuntingWY]

General elk tags in WY! Hard to complain about them, but it sure would be nice to get a LE elk or antelope tag one of these years. Love that I dont have to worry about point creep, but odds are still odds I suppose.

 

[MarvB]

I have a 3rd choice Oregon Elk tag, that's a crap tag.

5th choice for me…ugh…armed camping trip basically.

 

[elkmo]

Swore off gar hole tags over a decade ago…all yours, not a hard decision when chasing Kansas whitetails/muleys is the alternative.

 

[Zim]

I applied for a pile of trash tags this year but still failed to draw. But good thing as I just got a new job with training week of 9/8 then heart surgery 9/26. I’d have been wasting my money with any tag. Alls well that ends well.

 

[jvanhoy]

Good luck. I’m to the point in my life/hunting career that just getting to go west and see it every year I’m happy. Bringing some meat home is just a bonus.

 

[oxn939]

Good luck. I’m to the point in my life/hunting career that just getting to go west and see it every year I’m happy. Bringing some meat home is just a bonus.

Thousand percent. I'm in a training pipeline right now and have ten days off the whole year... happen to have drawn a leftover cow tag and could not be more stoked. Truly anchoring my sanity through this whole process. 28 days!

 

[Zim]

If I survive this year, I’ll apply for even more trash tags next year! Was fortunate to make hay in the pre-internet days, experiencing some of the best hunts in the US. But the reality is those days are long gone. Luckily everything is relative. I mostly enjoy the challenge of whatever is available & realistic. So I will always cherish trash tags.

 

[Bullshot]

Very Long Hunt Recap Warning:

Ahh the glory of crap tag western excursions. I just got back and am still reeling a little from the drive and trip. I put about 4500 miles on the truck in 11 days. Way too much gear was packed, I wrestled with it all the entire time. Sleep was pretty poor, I mostly overnighted in the truck (SUV) and found myself squeezed into a 2' x 6' foot coffin in a cocoon of bins, bags, spare bow, and other gear. There was a hard plastic trim piece right under my hip that I was too lazy to pad correctly but which kept me from ever being comfortable. Cattle were too numerous and ornery both on the mountain and in camp, they would shake my truck, breath in my windows, bray and moo all night, nose under my tarps, and generally lay claim to everything/everywhere. I didn't have a good plan for even the one rainy half-day, but lucked out tremendously with weather otherwise. My trailer's taillight failed. My stomach/lower GI was a little off the entire time, and finally I went 8 days without a shower and it was obvious even to me. In short, the elements of a great or at least memorable trip were in place!

A word on my hunting style - since I almost never have chance to scout, I basically bounce around to new spots frequently until successful or satisfied in a great area. I get to see lots of ground and learn about a broad area quickly. I don't however, really ever get to know an area inimately. It's a tradeoff, but when you have only a week in a new unit, it is a viable approach I've found useful in the past.

On day 1 (PM) of the forest I finally did my workout and hiking to get in elk hunting shape. I heard that some people do that kind of thing months in advance but to me this year it seemed more efficient to just drink beer all summer and then get it done in a few hours when I got there. So that first day at hiking at 10K+ elevation was pretty ...fun. I hunted some higher spruce/fir. There was not much forage or water and still too many cattle on the mountain. Thank god I saw no elk, as there is ZERO chance I would have been able to pack it out solo. Something to keep in mind for all the middle aged once a year warriors out there.

Day 2 (morning) included a drop down into the aspens to investigate an area with lots of forage and water. Way too many cattle in most of it, but I was able to find a block over a wire fence that cows were not on yet, and immediately found evidence of active elk use. Encouraging, but still no encounters other than some coyotes and what I was pretty confident at the time was a pretty close/ clear fisher sighting, however, seems they are not in range in CO, so .

Day 2 (PM) I went a couple miles up to higher rocky peak area with spruce/fir, open parks, talus and seeps/streams. I was able to get away from most cattle and found some fresh elk use in several areas, along with sparse moose sign. I found two mule deer (doe and forky) but nothing else. I really wanted to get further up in to a really promising patch but turned out at dusk so as not to push the envelope too far and get in a situation I couldn't easily pack out from in the dark. Good prospect, though no elk seen.

Day 3 (AM) I traversed into a new peak area. Very shaded and damp and steep with lots of deadfall. Tough going. I was headed up to about 11K but about 3/4 of the way in I just was not happy with the level of sign compared to what I had seen in yesterdays area. I decided to back out and abandon this location.

Day 3 (PM) I found a different way to access the good area from day 2 and hiked in 2 miles to start working that promising patch. Lots of sign, good timber, coyote, fox and grouse sightings, but again, no actual elk.

Day 4 (AM) Slept in!

Day 4 (PM) Big move to different area.Worked a sloping drainage behind a new camp and immediately found a lot of sign if moose, deer and elk. I jumped a deer, had other close muley doe encounters, found much fresh elk sign, including bedding areas, but still no elk seen or heard. At this point I can't believe I have not jumped any, I have hunted through a lot of habitat in a couple days, Colorado used to be easier!

Day 5 (AM) Hunted another new area across from camp, with many small peaks and lakes separated by grassy parks. Almost no fresh elk sign, but lits of deer tracks and I got a couple deer snorts when I attempted a light cow chirp into an area. I bagged a grouse for lunch in the way out.

Day 5 (PM) I wanted to drop in elevation again with the theory that elk had already drifted off the higher country and were staging in lusher foraging spots for their cows/calves. I had seen fresh enough sign up high but it seemed to be from single elk/bulls, and in any event all areas were silent ghost towns with no elk found in good areas. So I dropped a 1000 feet to an aspen belt and started seeing a lot of fresh use, elk trails, new rubs. It seems my theory was correct. I had a muley fawn encounter, and slowly stalked my way to an aspen bench downslope of some conifer bedding cover above. The area was very open and park-like, so I simply stood there next to a large aspen for several hours until shadows got long. Suddenly, at around sundown, I glanced to my right and coming quickly down the slope was a cow elk. Closing ground, she was quickly at 30 yards and still heading my way. I was overloaded with decisions to make in short order... I want a bull, and this is 1st time in this spot and its working... but she is CLOSE.... and I havn't seen any other elk...

So I drew. Still wrestling with cow vs bull, I put the pin on her side as she closed to about 20. There was NO cover between us, and wind was swirling. Now or never, I guess, and any elk with archery is a feat for a nonresident....

so WTH, here goes nothing.... zipppppppp.... through the heart. Trash tags, hunted early, may not be the bugle-fest and elk stampede of the century, but can still be lots of fun and work out with an honest effort. Though I didn't wait for or get the bull I wanted, Colorado still came through and I broke my recent elk-less hunt slump. So I'm grateful for the tag and looking forward to next year to try anew for that next bull.











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[Bullshot]

Some other pics of hunt:

 

[Caseknife]

Way to go, great write-up and elk in the freezer is always good.

 

[TheGreek]

Congrats! That’s awesome man. Elk and grouse! The best of what CO has to offer.

 

[kansasdad]

Lemonaide made!

Congratulations

 

[F250]

Congratulations !!! Thanks for sharing ! I would have taken that cow without a second thought