Elk season approaches
08-23-2017, 08:37 AM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
Elk season approaches
My elk season starts October 14. I hunt in SW Colorado out of a camp at about 11000 feet elevation. We are DIY hunters and set up a 12' x 14' canvas wall tent and heat it with firewood. I look forwards to this hunt and prepare almost all year long. Probably by early February I'm thinking ahead, not very constantly or intensely, but still thinking ahead. Of all my different outdoor pursuits and activities this has been the best, the most absorbing and gripping.
I am 61 years old and exercise most of the year. In the winter months, my exercise is less frequent than it is when the season is closer, but I keep up some exercises like deadlifts, barbell squats, and the like to keep from having to start those from scratch. But I'll walk less frequently; I'll walk without a loaded pack. I'll skip planned workouts more often. But as spring time is spinning up I'll work harder in the gym, working hardest the last couple of months before the hunt -- right now.
As the hunt approaches I reread books on elk hunting, less to find new information than to conjure the spirit and excitement of elk hunting, to start getting in the mood, to get my mind focused and imagining scenarios. I like to start finding my gear well in advance of the hunt and checking it out -- first to avoid a huge task all at the last minute (distribute the work over extended time to reduce the perceived load and trouble) and second to enjoy the reminders of past hunts and stimulate imagination of the coming hunt.
I am 61 years old and exercise most of the year. In the winter months, my exercise is less frequent than it is when the season is closer, but I keep up some exercises like deadlifts, barbell squats, and the like to keep from having to start those from scratch. But I'll walk less frequently; I'll walk without a loaded pack. I'll skip planned workouts more often. But as spring time is spinning up I'll work harder in the gym, working hardest the last couple of months before the hunt -- right now.
As the hunt approaches I reread books on elk hunting, less to find new information than to conjure the spirit and excitement of elk hunting, to start getting in the mood, to get my mind focused and imagining scenarios. I like to start finding my gear well in advance of the hunt and checking it out -- first to avoid a huge task all at the last minute (distribute the work over extended time to reduce the perceived load and trouble) and second to enjoy the reminders of past hunts and stimulate imagination of the coming hunt.
08-23-2017, 01:21 PM
#2
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 995
My freezer getting empty is all the stimulation I need to start looking forward to hunting seasons. Like everyone else in my family, my twin boys are some carnivorous little wolves and easily eat their body weight of meat every week. Want to see a good magic trick? Come to my house and set a 5 pound elk roast in between them. Watch it disappear in damn near the blink of an eye. I swear I don't even think they breathe. Woosh gone then an hour later you hear mooooooommmmm I'm hungry. 2 little black holes.
08-24-2017, 07:39 AM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
My freezer getting empty is all the stimulation I need to start looking forward to hunting seasons. Like everyone else in my family, my twin boys are some carnivorous little wolves and easily eat their body weight of meat every week. Want to see a good magic trick? Come to my house and set a 5 pound elk roast in between them. Watch it disappear in damn near the blink of an eye. I swear I don't even think they breathe. Woosh gone then an hour later you hear mooooooommmmm I'm hungry. 2 little black holes.
How old are your boys? My boy has been a very big eater -- particularly of meat -- since he was about 15 years old. He is an athlete and burns a lot of calories. Also, protein is good for repairing stressed muscles.
I love elk meat and eat it prepared in several different ways. I made an elk meat dinner this past Saturday for my son and a college buddy of his. Two Saturdays ago I made an elk meat dinner for a couple my wife and I know. Everyone always loves the elk meat. I have never served it to anyone who did not like it very much. I definitely think it tastes better than deer. The elk meat I'm eating now is from a cow elk. The two previous elk I have eaten were both bulls. While the bull meat was good, the cow meat is noticeably better.
08-24-2017, 08:21 AM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 995
They are now 9. Wife and I didn't think we were going to have kids then pow, double tap. And yes, the female from any meat animal is always better. I think the only species I have eaten where I didn't detect a big difference in flavor and texture was Fallow deer. Caribou would be next. Not a huge difference between the same aged male an female. When you get them, as in season, is also a big taste changer. Anything rutted up is dang near nasty without some help in the marinate department. Aging time can make a huge difference in flavor and texture as well.
10-03-2017, 04:04 PM
#8
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: AZ
Posts: 18
In the "West" along with Clean Living and Straight Shooting!!! (Stolen from a hunter I know) Wilderness hunt on public lands and guide cow called him in. First good look at him 125 yards and 7 mag melted him. Fly fished in light snow for the rest of the trip. A true wilderness adventure. I wish all the same and good luck this season. Next up is a May mother ship hunt in Alaska. Last trip included halibut to 90#.
10-14-2017, 04:32 PM
#9
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2017
Location: Blanca, Colorado
Posts: 30
Used to live in Denver and had pretty fair spots in the Flat Tops and greater Gunnison area. Moved to the San Luis Valley area (southern Colorado) and have been literally working my ass off finding a decent spot in the near by Sangre de Cristo range. Sometimes I feel a little discouraged.
There are deer in the navigable areas, the elk like the higher ground of course. The problem is that the neighboring Sangre de Cristo's are pretty much....just brutal. Very steep and very rocky. I see more black bears than anything else. Not used to finding so many elk hooves with part of a leg bone attached. Clearly the work of a black bear.
I have a great Jeep but there are almost no Jeep trails around. Unless you want to risk your life on the road that is rated "toughest in Colorado".....the Como Lake Road, aka: Blanca Peak Road. Walked it once and definitely didn't want to try climbing the surrounding terrain without ropes, carabiners, and climbing axes. A big snowstorm would strand your Jeep until next July.
To top it off, there is a lot of thick and thorny brush. Hiking is just tough and visibility is limited. There probably are plenty of elk if one toughs it out and climbs as much as hikes. Then carrying it out may be very difficult.
#Challenged in Colorado
There are deer in the navigable areas, the elk like the higher ground of course. The problem is that the neighboring Sangre de Cristo's are pretty much....just brutal. Very steep and very rocky. I see more black bears than anything else. Not used to finding so many elk hooves with part of a leg bone attached. Clearly the work of a black bear.
I have a great Jeep but there are almost no Jeep trails around. Unless you want to risk your life on the road that is rated "toughest in Colorado".....the Como Lake Road, aka: Blanca Peak Road. Walked it once and definitely didn't want to try climbing the surrounding terrain without ropes, carabiners, and climbing axes. A big snowstorm would strand your Jeep until next July.
To top it off, there is a lot of thick and thorny brush. Hiking is just tough and visibility is limited. There probably are plenty of elk if one toughs it out and climbs as much as hikes. Then carrying it out may be very difficult.
#Challenged in Colorado
10-14-2017, 05:27 PM
#10
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 5
Love hearing everyone’s ELK stories
Hello everyone,..first response ever on this board but have read it off and on for a bit. Been hunting since I was 6 and at 38 I have been planning for an elk trip that just never seems to happen for the past 4 years. I have lived in North Dakota and hunted the plains, Eastern Montana, Missouri, Tennessee backpack mountain hunting for a number of years and the swamps of North Florida where I currently live. None of my buddies around here are willing to go out west on a hunt and I figure I am just going to have to do it along unless I hook up with a few locals out west. I do a lot of inshore and offshore saltwater fishing and caught about everything off my offshore boat,..if anyone is interested in a trip I can make that happen. Maybe you could share a few OTC areas I might want to look into for Elk in Colorado. I am willing to hike, climb,..not a trophy hunter, I am a meat hunter, ya’ll can have the horns haven’t found a good recipe for them yet,..but a nice bull or Buck is still nice. Opportunist hunter if you know what I mean, never turn down a gift of fresh meat and you won’t go home empty handed,..lol.