Vanish and FireTiger's 2020 Journal

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FireTiger and I spent another couple mornings fishing in the canoe. The first day was great as we were able to stay out until almost 2pm and had steady action the whole time. It really felt like we had figured things out from our previous couple of trips out there. We both landed our personal best cutbows @ 21.5 inches. ( CO Master Angler is 22 inches for cutbows, so close! ). We had one 20 inch fish that fought itself to death, so I cooked him up with dinner. Wow, I see why people like to keep fish from this lake! I generally only eat char, but this one was excellent.

The second day we were out on the lake two hours earlier, but the fishing was quite a bit slower. I was using a spinning rod and a fly rod, and this day I couldn't land a fish on the flyrod for the life of me, with 3 LDRs and 2 breakoffs. This fishing finally started picking up in the late morning, but unfortunately, the winds also picked up early and we had to abandon the lake by 10:30am.

 

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Watching these fires closely. While none are burning in my hunt area, they may alter the plan to take my father as camp host. They live between Rifle and Glenwood springs, and if nothing changes, It would be nearly 6 hours just to get to his house, then another 4ish hours to get to camp. Do I love him that much?

Heard Independence Pass is closed to passenger vehicles. That would bump it up another 2 hours.

 

[Crossbowguy]

Following along

 

[vanish]

Got a couple of nice big piles of stuff built in the garage (base camp) and in my office (hunt/spike). I have all my gear written in a spreadsheet and go through either checking them off if they're in the pile, crossing them off if it isn't an item I want on my trip or bolding if I still need to find it. It comprises about 150 items and I got it down to about 20 still to find last night, many of which are things I won't pack until the last day anyway.

Now, where's my windicators?!


Glenwood Canyon has been reopened!

 

[vanish]

Met up with a couple local BHA folks on Thursday evening for some preseason planning. One of them invited me to the gun range Friday, so I figured I really should shoot as I've been very lax on that this year. I took the 7mag, .270, FireTiger's CVA Optima 2 and my T/C Hawken. I hadn't shot the hawken since I moved from NY as I have it set up with a scope and sabots, and we've just shared the CVA. I shoot the CVA really well and it has all the inline advantages so I haven't had the desire to switch.

 

[vanish]

At my parents house tonight. I am picking up my dad and we leave to set camp tomorrow, then scout for a day. Season starts Wednesday. I'll be out of signal until I come out with an elk or we run out of food.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

At my parents house tonight. I am picking up my dad and we leave to set camp tomorrow, then scout for a day. Season starts Wednesday. I'll be out of signal until I come out with an elk or we run out of food.

Good luck!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Give em' H3ll!!

 

[vanish]

I had 6 amazing days of elk hunting. I has packed for 15 days. Dad was running out of medication and a winter storm was coming in, so I made the call to cut out early. Apparently the universe intended me to as I've been at the hospital with Firetiger since noon yesterday. Fingers crossed...

 

[Ruttybull]

Following

 

[Mudranger1]

hope all comes out good!

 

[vanish]

( Typing this up on my phone from the hospital as I dont want to let things blend together, but that has disadvantages )

After a 4 hour drive Sunday night, Dad and I headed out for another 5 hour drive to get to basecamp. Still can't show the best pics as it will tell where we were.

We found a spot and had camp set up by around 6pm. This would be a much more posh camp than I am used to!

We took a little hike up the hill to see if anything came out in the evening. Indeed, one of the herds I had watched during scouting entered the alpine again that evening, though I didnt get the spotter on them to look for bulls. Also, there were lots of does around camp to keep dad entertained.

 

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The morning plan was to hike back a couple miles and check a couple basins from a distance. It poured all night into midmorning, and the thought of crawling out of my nice warm bed and getting wet was not appealing. We finally rousted ourselves around 9am. By the time Dad was ready to do something it was probably the worst time of day to scout, but I didn't care. I had decided I would spend some time with him that day as we hadn't seen each other much this year.

 

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Unsurprisingly, we didnt find any game. Dissapointingly, we did find cattle, which had not been there when i scouted in late July. I know some places they seem to get along, but it has been my experience the elk do not like hanging around cattle.

That evening I climbed up a different area to get a better look at the herd from the night before. I dont know if I got too close and they winded me or if they did that thing elk do, but they never showed. Luckily, there were some deer to entertain me.

 

[vanish]

Opening morning had finally arrived! I was up and on the trail dang early. It would be over 3 miles just to get where I wanted to glass from. The moon was kind enough to present plenty of light for me to hike by. I arrived my first destination just after legal shooting light.

The basin was alive with activity. More than 60 head were having their morning meal. However, they were the wrong animal; cattle.

Discouraged, I began looking elsewhere and found elk were closer than I imagined, just up instead if down. Somewhere around 12.4k a herd was browsing above a ribbon cliff. I could see at least 30, and knew there were many more I probably could not see due to the angle of the terrain. There was a group of 10 fairly close that appeared to be all cows. They eventually bailed off the mountain, past me and into the timber on the next mountain.

 

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I decided to climb to just below treeline and work my way along the ridge below the ribbon cliff. I figured by the time I got up there, the elk would be moving into the trees towards their first beds and the thermals would begin to switch. That happens really quickly around here. I hear some places it is like 9-10am, but it is almost as fast as the sun hits here; more like 730am.

As I made my way slowly, I finally found a lone cow. I was able to get within 40 yards of her, and she led me to at least part of the herd. Something made them nervous and they actually moved back up into the alpine. I backed up 100 yards or so and used the terrain to circle above them. There appeared to be about 25 elk, with two raghorn bulls.

I watched through a small pine tree for 10 minutes or so and they calmed down. They went back to feeding and slowly worked their way back toward the timber. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do, as there was no bull here I wanted to pursue. As the last cow hit the trees, I went to put my pack on when a roaring bugle came out from below, certainly not one of the two bulls I had seen. Unexpectedly, Elk came pouring off the mountain above me, down the same area the elk I was watching had retreated. There was at least 150 head, including 7 more bulls, but I still hadn't seen anything but raghorns. Who had made that bugle, though?

As the second group of elk entered the timber, I very carefully followed. I was able to keep close to the herd for the next several hours. They would move occasionally and I would shadow them. It seemed like it was ok if I was busted by a cow or two as long as it wasn't too many. I had small bulls work their way past me several times, with a lot of glimpses of elk but none too close. It was at this point the first other hunters of the trip showed themselves. They came in the exact elk trail I had followed. However, they saw me and worked back out and around. Keep this in mind for later.

Around 3pm, something happened to cause at least a portion of the herd the reverse direction. A bull followed a cow by me at less than 20 yards. As I knew it wasn't one to shoot, I was able to snap a quick pic, but there were more coming. I appeared to be in the next spot they wanted to hang out, and calves began to bed down right near me. Eyes multiplied as another bull, a young 6x6, pursued a cow along the same path as the first. No pic this time as there were more bulls coming and I needed to be ready to shoot. Three more raghorns started ripping the bark off a large dead tree as the small 6 tore into a sapling next to me. They had obviously noticed me as none tried to walk the obvious trail I was standing on, rather going around, but the thermals were carrying my scent away from them, so they just took me as a blockage in the trail. Of course, the wind never holds too long in the mountains, so some eventually became wary, and the herd moved off.

I made the decision that this herd didn't hold a bull I wanted to shoot. Additionally, I was getting quite far from my vehicle, 4.5 to 5 miles, and that's a big solo packout. I knew of another spot halfway closer to camp that held bulls during scouting, so I convinced myself to hike back and hunt that area for the evening. Hindsight, I think that was a mistake. I was so beat by the time I got to the entrance to the new spot that I didn't have the energy to hunt it properly. Additionally, there had to have been elk in this herd I hadn't seen. Oh well! Day one kind of ended with a splutter.

 

[vanish]

The next morning I decided to get a little extra sleep and hunt a spot closer to base camp. I had not scouted this exact spot, but based on my findings I knew the probability of it holding elk was quite good. Additionally, though it was closer, it is not an easy spot to access with a significant vertical climb to start the day.

First stop was a secluded meadow I had seen on satellite, as it was still pretty early in the morning. It was ringed with rubs and had some dry wallows, but there was recent elk scat.

I found a nice muddied up spring nearby, as well, but still no sign of elk that morning.

I pushed onward, remember the old adage "Hunt where the elk are, not where you think they should be." As I neared a larger, second meadow, I heard the sounds of a small herd of elk. Cow and calf calls ... probably a hunter set up on the edge of the meadow. I eased closer with my expectations low. Son of a gun, it is a herd. I was dang near in the perfect spot, too, right where they would drop over to the north side of the mountain. Cows and calves started to file by between 20 and 30 yards ... and there's the bull, 35 yards, and I am going to shoot when he passes through where the cows are walking! It is only day 2 but this bull is bigger than any I had seen during scouting. Suddenly, a cow steps out at half the distance of the rest of the herd, turns her head and locks on to me. I don't know how, but the bull caught on to this and maneuvered around where I almost could not see him. Dang!

I shadow the herd as they move across the north facing slope. Seemingly not gaining any ground on the bugles, I decide to stop and let things unfold for a bit when I see an elk less than 40 yards away. I put the glass on him and its a bull, but not the bull. As I set my binos back down, there's another, a cow, which has heard me coming. Freezing in place, she gets nervous and walks away but the bull holds. I get a chance to sit down and take it. I think he could see my hat moving over top of a log, as some time later he came to investigate.

He wasn't sure what was going on and stood there for over 5 minutes. I know because at the 3 minute mark while taking video on my phone I finally stopped it. After some time, he'd had enough and wandered off.

Shortly after that bull left, I heard the crunching of something large headed my way. It was two bulls who didn't want to be wherever they had been. As they neared, they slowed down and started to look for a new bed. Both of the bulls were 5x5s, but the first was huge compared to the latter, with whaletails that went on for days. It was obvious this was a mature bull. As he walked by at sub-20, I was mightily tempted. It would have been an easy quartering away shot, but I knew I wanted to try for a 6x6+.

The next few hours have blended together in my head. I decided to work back towards the other side of the mountain as evening approached. I got a good look at some of the other potential feeding areas as I did so, but I had chosen the wrong place for the day as there was not sign of elk that evening.

 

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The morning of day 3 had me picking up pretty much where I had left off the previous day. As I near the elevation where I had been finding elk at daybreak, a bugle erupted from across a large ravine. Followed by another, different bull, and then yet another. Naturally they were not in a place that seemed reachable from where I had accessed the mountain, so I decided to bank those elk for later.

Crossing to the north side of the ridge, I ran into an unexpected guest.

The bear wasn't my biggest fan and left down the slope. I was glad because there was an angry sounding elk no too far off sidehill from me. It sounded an awful lot like the one I had been close to the previous morning. Thus far I had done little calling, as the elk had seemed not to care when I tried the previous two days. I closed and the distance to where I started to become uncomfortable with being spotted and decided to try a setup. I started off with some calf calls, which got the bull bugling a little more, then mixed in a naggy cow, and finally added some raking. This went on for like 40 minutes as the bull continued to get more and more annoyed. I could hear him come closer. He started destroying a tree. I could see other elk milling around not too distant.

I debated what to do at this point. I figured I had four options: 1.) Continue 2.) Try to get closer 3.) Cut the calling altogether with the intention of forcing him to investigate or 4.) Cut him off Bugle. With the bull seemingly agitated and feeling like he was within 100 yards, I waited for him to bugle and then let one rip. This was apparently the very wrong answer as he immediately gathered up his herd and left. Fiddlesticks.

I gave it some time but it was obvious the herd had moved on out of earshot. I didn't know which way they had gone, so I decided to continue working the top of the north slope away from the area I had been the day before. I felt sure I would run into more elk in this direction, but after several hours of tiptoeing over deadfall across elk trails, I hadn't turned anything up except some good looking places for elk to visit, such as this obviously active spring.

I started to run out of slope, thought I'd heard a bugle and parked it for a bit. Sure enough, after an hour or so I had a 5x5 follow a cow right past me. Not a bull I was looking for. As the sun heated up the afternoon, I thought maybe that torn up waterhole was the place to be, so I worked my way back to it. Over the course of the next couple hours I had two different cows work their way in. It is amazing how quietly an animal that large can approach. The second one was practically on top of me before I saw her. It was about 5:30pm and I was glassing the slope opposite me, about 1.5 miles ( and a lot of vert! ) away. Despite it being south facing, I found a calf feeding in the open, which turned into cows, and then a small herd including what looked like a good bull. Too difficult to get to today, but file that one away for later. I thought I heard something off coming near me, so I adjusted position, and then the cow was in the water hole right in front of me. I still had my binos up near my face!

I was torn at this point. Just before the cow came in I had been thinking it might be time to reposition to find elk moving towards the evening feed, and now I had one right here. I decided to go with my gut and begin moving. Back on the other side of the mountain, I was working near a large meadow when I thought I heard a cow call. Sure enough, there was a lone cow in the wide open.

I took this as a sign I had made the right decision on moving and soon myself watching more cows nearby, working a ridge near the meadow. I decided to practice my ninja stalking skills and closed within 30 yards, hoping there might be a bull feeding with them. This took quite some time but yielded no bull.

I returned to my previous trajectory but looked back across the large meadow to find a cow feeding on the edge of it, as far from me as possible. Watching through my binoculars, she morphed into two cows. This is a good sign! The better sign was the bugle ringing out directly behind them. It was the same bull I had worked this morning, possibly the same as the morning before. The problem was it was getting later and I would have to loop the entire meadow. I had faith the bull would join them. Well, no time to waste, get to it!

When one is motivated, it is amazing how much ground can be covered in a short amount of time. I had the wind in my favor and narrowed the gap to 140 yards. As I glassed the meadow, the bull was now out feeding, and sure enough it was the same bull from the morning before, a definite shooter! But, how to get in range? There were now more cows feeding along the edge in addition to out in the meadow. There was a line of trees I was able to use to cut the distance to 94 yards, but the next possible place to get closer would put me in full view of some cows. It seemed there was nothing I could do but wait.

Time ticked by, and finally the cows in the meadow moved off, I guess to bed for the night? I was really surprised to see the lone bull out in the meadow and was sure there were eyes watching from just inside the treeline. The bull started to move towards the right, so I decided to push my luck and slip up to the next finger of trees closer. I hadn't realized it at the time, but there was a dip in the terrain that made that move trivial. Just as I got back in view of the bull, 72 yards, he slipped into the trees. Argh!

Time for another debate, hearing the cows talking, I decided to risk it and throw one quiet cow call backwards. I wasn't sure what this would accomplish but I had to try something.

( The photo above was taken after the encounter was over. No time while the elk were there! )

I worked my way to the other side of the trees, and ran into a problem. There was absolutely nothing between me and the elk, other than a big dip in the meadow. I ranged the tree across from me at 60 yards. Farther than I want to shoot, and why would the elk come any closer even if they do come out?

Well, my call got the attention of a young cow, who worked out of the timber and stood right next to that 60 yard tree. 25 minutes until end of shooting light... More cows came to the edge to see what was going on. Lo and behold this pulled the bull out of the trees, too! He didn't seem to have any clue what was up, but the young cow smelled nice. As he cozied up to her, he finally thought he might get a little action, with which the cow disagreed. When the bull lifted his legs to her back, she ran down into the bottom of the dip, to 48 yards. The bull was annoyed and came to try again. Holy moly, this is within shooting range!

I dialed my site and waited. This movement caught the attention of some of the cows. Both the young cow and the bull stopped completely broadside to me. I should have considered the other elk, but I drew to shoot. The elk higher on the dip jumped a bit, which spooked the cow and bull a little. They did a 180 as I settled in. I leveled out and let fly, drilling the arrow into the dirt under and behind the bull. Oh fudge, of course! When they jumped, they had move up the hill. I was so caught up in the moment I hadn't realized they were now 15 yards further away.

They trotted off and I was able to glass the bull ensuring there was no wound. It was 15 minutes until end of legal light. When they were out of sight, I walked over and immediately found my clean arrow in the hillside. Feeling like a dummy, I headed back to my truck. I wasn't too unhappy though, as I was having a lot of fun. Its only day 3 and I packed 15 days of food!

 

[duckhunt]

exciting hunt keep it coming

 

[vanish]

The morning of day 4 I decided to gamble a bit. If you remember, while sitting that waterhole I had glassed a herd the night before. The bull looked to be one I'd shoot. The herd was located in what I felt was an unusual location, but that location didn't contain a lot of elk-holding area. My thought was that I would definitely find the herd if I went looking for them. The risk was that if I did not find them, or if I blew them out while trying, I would burn the morning as there wasn't likely by be other elk living there.

I took the following photo later in the hunt ( spoiler alert! ), but it shows the area I was working with. Below the photo is a darn near sheer drop. To the right of the end of the photo turns into big willow open space, and to the left of it is open tundra.

The evening before, the elk had been feeding in the open pines towards the top right, between the circular slide and the rock mountain. For the morning, I would climb up from the left, get above the circular slide and position to glass that basin where the elk had been. Everything worked according to plan, and I was in position just at shooting light.

A savvy hunter will probably recognize the first error in my plan. While it was fine for 15 minutes, I was looking straight into the rising sun. This does not make for good glassing. It only took a brief moment to find a cow and calf feeding directly across from me on the edge of the timber. Shifting positions slightly, I realized I had made another rookie ( though I am far from rookie! ) mistake; I had failed to look close before I looked far. Standing less than 200 yards from me, and well aware of my presence, was a cow feeding in the willows ( bottom right of photo ). Glassing until the sun was unbearable turned up no further elk though, so I was a bit disappointed.

After those elk were no longer in the basin, I dropped and climbed over the ridge in front of me. The willow filled basin produced 7 bucks, but no elk. I went back to the ridge, sat down and ate a breakfast burrito, trying to decide what to do with the rest of my day. It appeared the gamble failed. This gave me time to review the satellite imagery again. While the area was small, there was one good timber patch below the circular cliff I could definitely access (bottom left of first photo) and it would even be on the way back to my truck. It wouldn't hurt to check there.

You can see the scree field on my way through that patch of trees in the photo. That was just so much "fun". However, I was urged through it by a bugle on the other side. Son of a gun, it appeared I had walked right past and around them on my way in. I survived the sliding stones and finally hit solid ground just in time to have a small 5x5 trot past me. I didn't think this was the bull I had seen. I don't think I made it 20 more yards when I realized the big bull was right in front of me. He wasn't far, 30 yards at the most. It is hard to say exactly as the light was really weird. He could have been as close as 22 yards. I had a small hump and a tree in front of me and between us, but more of a problem was I ran out of shadow; I would have to walk 5-7 yards in full sun in order to get in position for shot based on where he was standing.

I took a moment to get a better look at the bull. There was no question I was going to shoot, this was just too good of a place to do it, but though he was a 6x6, he was nowhere near the caliber of the bull from the night before. I just waited, figuring he would move into a better shooting position. It never happened. Though I had seen them the night before, he had cows and they were the opposite direction of me. When he walked off I tried some cow calls to convince him he missed one as he'd gathered up the herd to move, but though he bugled angrily for me to get over to the herd, he wasn't convinced enough that he'd missed one. The herd eventually meandered right up that circular drop, a place I'm not sure I could even climb. I probably could have looped back under them, but I didn't have the desire to chase that particular bull down.

There were some chores to be done back at camp, so I decided this would be as good a time to do them as any.