I will be leaving tomorrow to go on my first elk hunt. I'll be in Colorado GMU 75, first rifle season, October 14-18. I've been planning and studying this do-it-yourself hunt for something over two years now. If I don't get washed off the mountain or stuck in a mud hole -- there have been substantial rains in this area over the last week -- it will be a lot of fun and I will learn a lot about elk hunting that I don't know today, even if I don't get a shot off. Good luck to everyone going elk hunting.
You might check the National Weather Service for a clickable map of weather forecasts. I use it many times a week. http://www.nws.noaa.gov/
This part of the country soaks up water very fast. Snow melts in a day or less. Past rain would probablyshow little evidence by the time you get there.
Good luck!
Let us know how it turns out.
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I want to leave this world like my Grandpa . . .
Happy and asleep.
Not kicking and screaming like everyone else in the car!
Regretably I did not shoot or see elk. This was my first elk hunt and no doubt the lack of success is my own fault. I'll provide some few details here. Those who want more details, PM me with an email address and I'll send you a longer description of my hunt that I have written up and some pictures.
I hunted in Colorado GMU 75. My Plan A was to backpack into the Weminuche Wilderness at about 11,800' and hunt there, whereby I could exclude hunters not willing to get into this place. Unfortunately there was a fair amount of snow on the ground when I packed in, which impeded my movement. Opening day it began snowing at 4 AM and continued all day, leading me to packup and withdraw from fear of getting stuck up there. I had hunted opening morning overlooking a gully about 75 yards wide and 300 yards long which had some fresh elk tracks along the far side.
I did not have a Plan B. I more or less floundered the remainder of the first rifle season. I drove up the road, found a "likely spot," climbed up the ridge into the dark timber, found fresh elk tracks, followed the elk tracks for awhile, found no elk, walked back to my truck and either drove on or back to the hotel at the end of the day.
I found myself making some mental errors which I then corrected, but they worked against me for most of the trip. For example, I worked half-heartedly because I was telling myself I wasn't going to see any elk. Self-fulfilling prophecy. I left off following up a fresh elk trail one evening 1.5 hours before the end of legal shooting light because I didn't want to walk out in the dark, I didn't want to care for meat in the dark, I didn't want to carry the elk so far. These were all BS reasons because I was prepared and able to work and walk out in the dark and had both the physical conditioning and equipment to do the pack-out of the meat. Once I articulated these thoughts to myself I was able to fight and contend against them.
I felt the lack of good elk hunting tactics. Maybe I can try to get some clarity on this topic in the future here.
I enjoyed the trip and learned some painful lessons. I hope to return and try my hand again, doing better next time.
Perhaps there is more to be gained in elk hunting in knowing what NOT to do than there is in knowing what to do. You can learn a whole lot by going elk hunting and not getting one.... next year.... been there, done that.
Now you've got the mental picture of what you are up against, now it is just a matter of fine tuning.
EKM
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Never Go Undergunned, Always Check The Sight In, Perform At Showtime!
Good judgment comes from bad experience! Learn from the mistakes of others; you' ll never live long enough to make them all yourself!
EKM: Thanks for the solace. I focused on physical conditioning, acquiring good gear, and practicing shooting. I benefited from the conditioning. My clothing performed well: warm and reasonably comfortable under tough conditions of snow and melting snow drops falling on me from trees, rapidly changing weather (it was heavy snow blowing maybe 30 MPH Tuesday morning and 10 minutes later the sun broke out and beat down brightly and then 10 minutes later the sun was hidden again and in two hours driving wet snow returned), clothes drying out quickly overnight. I didn't get to shoot, but I felt comfortable with the shots I would have had in the set-ups I established. My view is next hunt I do these three things right again . . . and add to this new things that I do better next time. I need to scout more ground. I'll be on the lookout for any inner voices that deter me from keeping fully engaged in the hunt. I won't put any creedence in weather forcasts -- either forcasts that lead me to believe I can't get out and hunt or forcasts that lead me to believe that it is going to be a super day, I'll just go out and adapt myself to what weather visits that day. I guess the elk are out there notwithstanding the weather on any given day. I'll keep my plans flexible and have more alternative plans up my sleeve. I'll learn more about elk hunting tactics. I felt I was in a good area and did see lots of indications of elk at the places I was at. I heard plenty of shooting. The issues I have are things that I feel can be addressed directly and not beyond my control.
ShatoDavis: Yes, I had a good time some of the time but not all of the time, and yes I made some lasting memories. I remember feeling a couple of times extremely privileged to be out in the mountains seeing what I was seeing that few other people get a chance to see. These were times when the weather was particularly frolicksome and peeved, when it was blowing and snowing heavily it was really beautiful up there. Or at least this was a view of the mountains I had never had before during any of my summer time visits to the mountain. While watching a small park early Tuesday morning with heavy snow coming down alternating with fog and strong winds coming in I turned around to look back through the timber behind me and thought it really looked beautiful. I saw a lot of cool stuff.
Also, it occurs to me while I was floundering and doing a dubious job of hunting, this time I spent hiking about the mountains while carrying a rifle I was essentially scouting for future trips. I found places of interest -- beds, rubs, small hidden parks, ridges with good views of elk travel routes -- that I may be able to exploit in future hunts. I marked these places in my GPSand copied the coordinate readouts into a journal I keep.
First elk hunt . . . Saturday
