My first Elk hunt ever: Pics
09-26-2003 | 08:28 AM
#1
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Fork Horn
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 215
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From: Goodyear AZ US
My first Elk hunt ever: Pics
My vision is blurring, my nose is running uncontrollably and I’m a little dizzy. My chest heaves filling my lungs with question-marks where Oxygen molecules should be. I breathe hard to catch my breath but there is no air to catch, the effort it takes to heave such deep breaths is more than the reward you get for doing it. The heavier I breathe the more out of breath I get, I think for a minute that I might have a better chance with my head under water. I KNOW there’s air in the water, fish use it. This is day 1 of 10. Welcome to Elk hunting, Soap Basin Wilderness area, Colorado 10 September 2003.
Move' em out! Us leaving at the trail head for our Camp, day 1.
This started when my friend Chacka (fighter pilot callsign, we are both F-16 instructor pilots) told me he had room on a hunt he was leading. 4 dudes, 4 horses, a laundry list of items and 10 days of hard work. Yes I was interested. After 3 years in AZ not getting drawn for archery Elk I figured the $480 price tag for a Colorado over the counter either sex tag was worth it given this caliber of outing. How many people can say they’ve done this, do-it-yourself drop camp. Chacka has done this several times and has hunted this area for over 10 years.
The day we packed in, it took me 5 hours to get to camp. It’s a seven mile walk from 7300ft to 10,500ft elevation. I composed the paragraph above as we reached the half way mark on the trail. Chacka and his friend Brent took the horse from me and sailed up the trail at an impossible pace. They left me with Jason who prodded me up the last two hours or so of the trail like a lame horse. Then the work began.
This is our camp:
Setup the wall tent, set up our sleeping tents, build a toilet, build a shower, get the firewood (pre-cut by Brent and Jason weeks before), set up a fence for the horses, organize the “kitchen”, get some water from the stream and on and on… We took the first two days just setting up camp.
I was the only archery hunter, everyone else was muzzle loader hunting. The first two days of “hunting” nearly killed me. They were just like the hike in, except I was carrying my bow and more gear. I smiled inwardly when Brent pointed to a ridge from this lookout at least two counties away and said matter-of-factly “we' ll take a look over there”. Hell the lookout we were on took 45 minutes to get to (picture below). Where I come from that’s MORE than enough walking for a day. I thought he was kidding. We went to that ridge and several more that day. Before we left the lookout we saw one bull maybe 4 miles away on the side of a mountain, graciously they determined we would not go there today. These two guys who know a lot about elk hunting and know the area led me around for two days. They were my guides, they bugled and cow called for me and in general gave me a guided hunting trip. No luck.
This is Chacka and Brent glassing the ridges and meadows.
The next day Chacka scouted where we saw the bull on the hill so far away and said he’d found a place “where I can just see you taking a bow shot”. Sounds good, we decided to Spike Camp there since it was such a haul from camp (almost 4 miles). I took my usual hunting gear plus my sleeping bag, a can of beenieweenies and a Clif Bar. We hiked in and separated about a mile from our respective hunting sites. Chacka gave me directions to a place on the back side of the mountain with had a steep rock ledge that formed a funneling feature. I setup under a large fur tree and made myself at home. I was well hidden and just off the trail with two narrow shooting windows and visibility out to 70 yards. I ranged in a few landmarks and visually cut a perimeter that I would not shoot beyond. I heard more elk talk that night than I had ever heard before. I’m not exagerating when I say that from 5pm until 8pm 30 seconds did not go by without a bull bugling. It was truly amazing. I could tell there were 5 of them all within the small basin I was overlooking. I sat quiet, not very good at Cow calling. I figured I’d run them off if anything so I sat and enjoyed until it was dark. Took off my shoes and got in my sleeping bag trying to find a comfortable spot in my cramped quarters under the branches of a fur tree. The elk bugled well into the night, I fell asleep to it.
I was woken by a bugling elk not more than 60 yards away. 5am my watch said and it was still dark. As I became aware of my surroundings I could hear the bull below me thrashing a tree. I started to get up and get ready for the day’s hunting but decided against it. It was still dark and I was sure if I tried to get up and move around I’d scare whatever was around me away. So I laid there for an hour and 15 minutes listening to elk bugle, thrash trees, move farther away then closer, I had elk close enough that I could hear them pulling grass to eat but I could not see them. By 0615 the dawn was up so I carefully, click by click unzipped my sleeping bag and got out, not bothering to put my shoes on, I figured I would be quieter that way. The temp was somewhere in the low 30s, no snow on the ground where I was. I was thirsty and had to pee and did nothing about either. Eventually I was able to see a cow 40 yards away, tail pointed to me. She walked further away then turned up the hill tangent to me at 55 yards. A bull bugled from above and she eventually turned towards me. I planned to take the first shot I had at either cow or bull (legal bull). As she hit 30 yards still coming directly at me, I knew I was going to get a shot today.
Then the bull came around the corner off the top and she paused while he caught up. She came by me within 4-5 yards and the wind kept me safe. As soon as she looked away I drew my bow, hit my anchor and the bull was moving through my shoot window. I just had time to put pin on fur and release. From the time I saw the bull until I shot was maybe 30 seconds. When he dropped in front of me I looked at my bow like it was a nuclear weapon. What the hell? Then he was up, only on his front quarters. The autopsy would reveal I had hit a rib and rode it straight to the spinal cord paralyzing the rear quarters. I carefully took another arrow and put it through the boilermaker from close range. The bull expired in less than a minute. I stood there in my socks, my mouth open like I was looking at a dinosaur. I had never seen anything this huge in the woods let alone shoot one or even stand next to one someone else had shot. This was my first ever elk hunt and the only bull I had ever seen without binoculars. Educated guesses placed the bull at 650lbs or so on the hoof, the quarters I dropped off at the butcher weighed in at 430lbs. Getting them out of there was another story in itself.
Here' s the bull. 6x6
Thanks to my friend Chris “Chacka” Bailey for putting me on this bull and babysitting me for 10 days. Thanks to Brent the most tenacious hunter I' ve ever seen for showing me what " hunting hard" is. Thanks to Jason for picking up my slack when I was lame.
Here' s me packing out the meat to camp.
Move' em out! Us leaving at the trail head for our Camp, day 1.
This started when my friend Chacka (fighter pilot callsign, we are both F-16 instructor pilots) told me he had room on a hunt he was leading. 4 dudes, 4 horses, a laundry list of items and 10 days of hard work. Yes I was interested. After 3 years in AZ not getting drawn for archery Elk I figured the $480 price tag for a Colorado over the counter either sex tag was worth it given this caliber of outing. How many people can say they’ve done this, do-it-yourself drop camp. Chacka has done this several times and has hunted this area for over 10 years.
The day we packed in, it took me 5 hours to get to camp. It’s a seven mile walk from 7300ft to 10,500ft elevation. I composed the paragraph above as we reached the half way mark on the trail. Chacka and his friend Brent took the horse from me and sailed up the trail at an impossible pace. They left me with Jason who prodded me up the last two hours or so of the trail like a lame horse. Then the work began.
This is our camp:
Setup the wall tent, set up our sleeping tents, build a toilet, build a shower, get the firewood (pre-cut by Brent and Jason weeks before), set up a fence for the horses, organize the “kitchen”, get some water from the stream and on and on… We took the first two days just setting up camp.
I was the only archery hunter, everyone else was muzzle loader hunting. The first two days of “hunting” nearly killed me. They were just like the hike in, except I was carrying my bow and more gear. I smiled inwardly when Brent pointed to a ridge from this lookout at least two counties away and said matter-of-factly “we' ll take a look over there”. Hell the lookout we were on took 45 minutes to get to (picture below). Where I come from that’s MORE than enough walking for a day. I thought he was kidding. We went to that ridge and several more that day. Before we left the lookout we saw one bull maybe 4 miles away on the side of a mountain, graciously they determined we would not go there today. These two guys who know a lot about elk hunting and know the area led me around for two days. They were my guides, they bugled and cow called for me and in general gave me a guided hunting trip. No luck.
This is Chacka and Brent glassing the ridges and meadows.
The next day Chacka scouted where we saw the bull on the hill so far away and said he’d found a place “where I can just see you taking a bow shot”. Sounds good, we decided to Spike Camp there since it was such a haul from camp (almost 4 miles). I took my usual hunting gear plus my sleeping bag, a can of beenieweenies and a Clif Bar. We hiked in and separated about a mile from our respective hunting sites. Chacka gave me directions to a place on the back side of the mountain with had a steep rock ledge that formed a funneling feature. I setup under a large fur tree and made myself at home. I was well hidden and just off the trail with two narrow shooting windows and visibility out to 70 yards. I ranged in a few landmarks and visually cut a perimeter that I would not shoot beyond. I heard more elk talk that night than I had ever heard before. I’m not exagerating when I say that from 5pm until 8pm 30 seconds did not go by without a bull bugling. It was truly amazing. I could tell there were 5 of them all within the small basin I was overlooking. I sat quiet, not very good at Cow calling. I figured I’d run them off if anything so I sat and enjoyed until it was dark. Took off my shoes and got in my sleeping bag trying to find a comfortable spot in my cramped quarters under the branches of a fur tree. The elk bugled well into the night, I fell asleep to it.
I was woken by a bugling elk not more than 60 yards away. 5am my watch said and it was still dark. As I became aware of my surroundings I could hear the bull below me thrashing a tree. I started to get up and get ready for the day’s hunting but decided against it. It was still dark and I was sure if I tried to get up and move around I’d scare whatever was around me away. So I laid there for an hour and 15 minutes listening to elk bugle, thrash trees, move farther away then closer, I had elk close enough that I could hear them pulling grass to eat but I could not see them. By 0615 the dawn was up so I carefully, click by click unzipped my sleeping bag and got out, not bothering to put my shoes on, I figured I would be quieter that way. The temp was somewhere in the low 30s, no snow on the ground where I was. I was thirsty and had to pee and did nothing about either. Eventually I was able to see a cow 40 yards away, tail pointed to me. She walked further away then turned up the hill tangent to me at 55 yards. A bull bugled from above and she eventually turned towards me. I planned to take the first shot I had at either cow or bull (legal bull). As she hit 30 yards still coming directly at me, I knew I was going to get a shot today.
Then the bull came around the corner off the top and she paused while he caught up. She came by me within 4-5 yards and the wind kept me safe. As soon as she looked away I drew my bow, hit my anchor and the bull was moving through my shoot window. I just had time to put pin on fur and release. From the time I saw the bull until I shot was maybe 30 seconds. When he dropped in front of me I looked at my bow like it was a nuclear weapon. What the hell? Then he was up, only on his front quarters. The autopsy would reveal I had hit a rib and rode it straight to the spinal cord paralyzing the rear quarters. I carefully took another arrow and put it through the boilermaker from close range. The bull expired in less than a minute. I stood there in my socks, my mouth open like I was looking at a dinosaur. I had never seen anything this huge in the woods let alone shoot one or even stand next to one someone else had shot. This was my first ever elk hunt and the only bull I had ever seen without binoculars. Educated guesses placed the bull at 650lbs or so on the hoof, the quarters I dropped off at the butcher weighed in at 430lbs. Getting them out of there was another story in itself.
Here' s the bull. 6x6
Thanks to my friend Chris “Chacka” Bailey for putting me on this bull and babysitting me for 10 days. Thanks to Brent the most tenacious hunter I' ve ever seen for showing me what " hunting hard" is. Thanks to Jason for picking up my slack when I was lame.
Here' s me packing out the meat to camp.
09-26-2003 | 09:44 AM
#5
Giant Nontypical
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 5,012
Likes: 0
From: Chatsworth IL USA
RE: My first Elk hunt ever: Pics
Cargo, Congrats man. That is truelly an awesome adventure...going out there and sleeping under the tree that you shot him from. SWEET.
But there is just nothing that compares to your first elk. After I shot mine, it took me 5 minutes to get my readio out, turned on and in peice in to call my buddy.
That is a beautiful elk too. Double eye guards and the works!! Congrts again!!
Where is the Soap Basin Wilderness Area? Just curious.
Was the snow just at camp then? I wish there was snow up there when we were there.
But there is just nothing that compares to your first elk. After I shot mine, it took me 5 minutes to get my readio out, turned on and in peice in to call my buddy.
That is a beautiful elk too. Double eye guards and the works!! Congrts again!!
Where is the Soap Basin Wilderness Area? Just curious.
Was the snow just at camp then? I wish there was snow up there when we were there.
09-26-2003 | 09:53 AM
#10
Typical Buck
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 586
Likes: 0
From: Fort Collins, Colorado
RE: My first Elk hunt ever: Pics
Cargo,
That was THE BEST STORY I' ve ever read on this board. What a great animal, and a great adventure. I' m VERY SERIOUS When I say this....can I come next year? Seriously, I' d love to join a group of elk hunters on a hunt like this. Drop me an e-mail or a PM.
God, that looks awesome!!!!!!
j
That was THE BEST STORY I' ve ever read on this board. What a great animal, and a great adventure. I' m VERY SERIOUS When I say this....can I come next year? Seriously, I' d love to join a group of elk hunters on a hunt like this. Drop me an e-mail or a PM.
God, that looks awesome!!!!!!
j