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Jackson has honors opening weekend
Jackson has honors opening weekend
Working from home today and suddenly my afternoon has cleared up. Time to do a quick write-up of our archery elk season, 2018.
Hard to top last year's hunt with my son as I got my first bull elk after trying for five seasons. Had a bull on the ground an hour after pitching a tent last year. Can it be topped?! Stay tuned...
2017 bull with Jackson and I
2017 bull with Jackson and I
2018 has been an amazing year so far. It's had some high's and low's but the high's definitely outweigh the low's this year. Last December I decided I'd move on from 21 years as a mechanical engineer and get into sales. I had been interviewing regularly and had a couple opportunities that were interesting. It took some time to finalize and to wrap up with the last company I was with but I began my new career in April. The day of the big game draw I was on my way to the airport for training out of state when I received a group text asking who all drew our unit this year? No, No, No...I checked my email...YES! I drew the same tag as last year! This was a spot that on September 2nd 2017 I had three bulls screaming their heads off with me and my son literally in the middle! I called in a 5x5 and shot him. I get to hunt this area again! Maybe...
J's bow derailment
J's bow derailment
We had some time to figure out the details but it was looking like my son was hunting OTC units this year and I was hunting my limited E/S tag. We are surrounded by OTC units here in Colorado so we had some options for him, most were quite close to home. My draw unit was 5.5 hours away with no traffic and no stopping.
We had some interesting challenges, like my son's bow exploding in the basement.
My version of being ready
My version of being ready
Jackson's version of being ready
Jackson's version of being ready
My career change was proving to be very time consuming. I had worked from home for almost two years before which allowed me a lot of time to shoot on breaks in my basement, sort gear, shop for new gear, follow forums and scout. Had to sacrifice some some free-time this year.
Opening weekend was approaching at break-necking pace! I was feeling pretty good about it but my son was a mess. Ole Las-Minute-Charlie over there wasn't very prepared. We had his bow checked out and he was shooting when I'd nag him enough but he wasn't packed and hadn't blown a reed in 12 months. F'ing teens. F'ing Fortnite!
We planned to take off Friday afternoon and set up camp, or backpack in if necessary and explore.
The forum is being a POS at the moment so hopefully the updates of me adding photos come through. It's taking forever to add more photos to each post. May have to resume at another time.
Keep going. Looking forward to it.
You can see by the amount of light we had and the fact he wasn't quite dressed yet that we were running a little behind on opening morning. This was his hunt though...
You can see by the amount of light we had and the fact he wasn't quite dressed yet that we were running a little behind on opening morning. This was his hunt though...
No camp fires this year. :(
No camp fires this year. :(
If you hadn't heard yet, the weather in Colorado was f'ing hot this year and we had very little rain. I was hoping that if we hunted the water early season that we might find some better sign and have a better opportunity.
Great story so far! Keep rollin’!
Getting a teenage boy out of bed before light is about as hard as getting an elk with a bow.
Once up and at 'em, he was actually really into it this year
Once up and at 'em, he was actually really into it this year
For as much grief as I give him, we had a really good time.
For as much grief as I give him, we had a really good time.
We hunted pretty hard on Saturday, covering a bit over 4 miles by noon. Another 2 miles after lunch break and we were both not feeling very well. Wasn't altitude or anything, a virus had been going around both kids' schools and I felt like I was coming down with something pretty severe. By the late afternoon we both had a fever and couldn't drink enough water/Gatorade.
It was a mutual desicion but we called it a trip and packed up. A quick stop back in Idaho Springs for some Beau Jo's pizza and we were on the road again, heading home.
My draw unit hunt would begin early on Thursday and we were to be gone a week.
This was the first year we had different tags so it was strange not carrying my bow and I gave him a lot of grief about how many times I counted him change hands with his or the various ways he had carried his bow.
Anyway, we only had a couple days to get ready for my hunt, and he was wanting to be there for the experience (and to miss a couple days of school), lol. We both had a high fever and weren't feeling all that well most of the early part of the week but I was determined to get out to hunt.
I took Wednesday off to pack food and get our stuff ready. No messing around here folks, this was my coveted tag and I was going in prepared!
The draw unit is a 5.5 hour drive, straight through. I know people drive from all over the country to hunt here but I literally live in a draw unit and one of our OTC units we hunt is 40 minutes away so the 5.5 hour drive felt like a haul.
We departed Thursday morning prepared as two guys could be. SNACKs?! Check! Drinks?! Check! Tunes?! Oh yeah baby...I brought all my CD's from the 90's and early 2000's. We're going RETRO!!! ROAD TRIP, BABY!!!!!!! (My son was furious)
No wonder! Not much good stuff from the 90’s and 2000’s! My boy loves my 80’s rock:-)
My draw unit has an interesting challenge. The three mile road to the end, where I hunted last year, is clay with stegosaurus spine like rocks down the middle. I had asked some opinions here. I had called the forest service to ask them and they advised to NOT drive my Tundra down this road if rain is in the forecast. My truck has a 3" leveling kit and skid plates as well as BFG AT KO's. I feel it's pretty capable but I have traveled this road and I could see bad things happening if it gets wet.
My plan was to hunt a closer trail head anyway so we shouldn't have to worry about it. I double checked one last time as we were leaving the last major town just to be sure. 0% chance of rain for the next several days, WHEW!
Arrival at the trail head was uneventful. We were a few miles from where we accessed last year in my buddy's truck but I was excited to explore this from a new way in.
My birthday present to myself arrived before we left. I really like these plates.
Whew, this way in is steep!
Whew, this way in is steep!
Sage and scrub oak?! How the heck do we hunt this terrain?!
Sage and scrub oak?! How the heck do we hunt this terrain?!
Not a great sign. This wallow is usually a couple feet deep.
Not a great sign. This wallow is usually a couple feet deep.
We filled up our Platypus bags and hit the trail. Bags were weighing in much lighter this year but we made up for that in more water on our backs.
Enjoying the sunset
Enjoying the sunset
We hiked in 3.7 miles and pitched our tent, grabbed a snack and hit the trails to hunt. This trip he wasn't carrying a bow so he gave me hell for the amount of times I switched hands or positions.
Bad news here: It was hot. 84 degrees on the hike in and we drank a lot of water. The nearby wallow was empty, I'm talking bone dry. We hunted a couple miles out and back and it was dark and time to head to the natural spring on the other side of the mountain. As we got there it too was dry. Not even damp. The season creek was a half mile down and it was now pitch black. We made the hike and found a few puddles along what is normally running water in it with trout. Not looking good! To make things worse, the sheep had been run through here and they crapped all over the puddles.
We were several miles from clean water!
Inventory of water was bleak. We had enough for my son to boil and barely enough for me to wet my mouth.
Packed up camp to head to the truck where we had water, and a new plan. We were heading up the bad road to the end. I mean, zero percent chance of rain, right? :/rollingmyeyes:
I hate this kitchen
I hate this kitchen
The decision was made. We were going back to camp to inventory our water and see if we had enough water to cook the mountain house meals. I had spent some time putting together our meals for this trip and it involved a lot of Mtn House.
Aspens! Much better!
Aspens! Much better!
Arrived back at the truck at 11:30 PM and quickly made a bed under my tri-fold tonneau cover. (We propped it up a bit) We actually got a great night sleep and were throwing all our gear back into the bed of the truck when a dude on horseback stopped by. He was with a local outfitter and was checking on the campsites along the way to see if many other folks were hunting the area. We chatted for a bit and off he rode. We asked him about the road ahead and he said the same thing. Go at risk but if it looks like rain GTFO of dodge.
We slowly crawled our way to the end and found a camp occupied with a couple guys loading up their gear. It was another father/son duo I believe and the kid had shot from a tree stand and put one through a backstrap and one lung on a bull. The day and a half it took to find the elk was everyone's demise as they only recovered the head. :/ Bummer. As they pulled out of the spot we pulled in to park. Two minutes later and we were hiking the same trail we had hiked last year to get my bull. Good times!
Dehydrated,smokin' too much rope?Sick all the time?NOT!!
Keep it coming. Great thread!
Slingblade here found a wallow that didn't exist last year. The elk had kicked it into the site where I shot my bull last year. We figured out where they were hiding!!!!!
Slingblade here found a wallow that didn't exist last year. The elk had kicked it into the site where I shot my bull last year. We figured out where they were hiding!!!!!
Campsite was covered in 4' - 5' tall ferns last year. Amazingly dry this year.
Campsite was covered in 4' - 5' tall ferns last year. Amazingly dry this year.
Leg from my bull last year. They do weigh a lot!
Leg from my bull last year. They do weigh a lot!
It could be the pack weight being lighter than last year, the fact we were in better shape, the fact where there were 4' tall ferns blocking most of the trail and our campsite last year while this year they weren't 1' tall...or a combo of all the above. Regardless, we covered the trail distance in record time! At the campsite we barely recognized it without all the tall growth.
My son had a good idea to hang our camp in the trees and not set up until needed later that night. Two reasons this was a good idea. Last year we hiked in the 2 miles and setup camp and I shot a bull an hour later and my buddy said we should hike it out all night to avoid the heat the next day. We never slept in our camp. Plus, the night before we set up camp and took it down a few hours later to hike out. This turned out to be a good idea by my son as you will see.......
...I need to get some work done around the house but will update later. ;)
Can't wait to read the rest of this story.
Oh Sh!t, a storm is coming! :(
Oh Sh!t, a storm is coming! :(
What's that in the distance? Thunder?
We stopped to laugh at the fact an elk had crossed a stream and stepped right in Jackson's boot print from that morning.
We stopped to laugh at the fact an elk had crossed a stream and stepped right in Jackson's boot print from that morning.
About the time we figured out where the elk were hiding we heard some thunder in the distance. It was far enough away that we were still planning for an evening hunt.
We explored the area and found the kill site from last year. Pretty neat to see. I regret not bringing out a hoof we found. It was hard like a seashell. Maybe it'll be there when we return in the future.
As we planned an evening hunt and decided to get out of that area before we stunk it up too much the thunder was getting closer. We hiked out of the elk hole and got to a ridge and sure enough, the storm was coming right at us. Son-of-a-gun! We sat there for a half hour watching it and discussing our options. Do we hunker down? What if it rains enough to soak the road? What about the truck that was reportedly stuck back there for two weeks and all the windows were busted out? (Forest service lady told me about that one) What the hell should we do? As we could see the rain falling from the clouds not too far away I kind of panicked...Time to hit the road, buddy?! We GPS'd out distance back to camp, it read 48 minutes...we hiked down in 30. We grabbed the sleeping bags, tent, etc that were hung in the trees and kept on going. I had been waiting to return to this site since last year and I was leaving after just two days. WTF?!
We got to the truck and did the 2-3 mile an hour crawl back to the main FS road. It was a quiet drive out.
Lark Bunting's Link
We arrived back at the main FS road in and out of this area and stopped to make a plan. We could see the mountain we just came off of from where we parked and it was getting hammered with rain. The road from hell was getting soaked. I believe I made the right decision to come down. Next time we will go back in with a 4-wheeler. I won't be unprepared next time.
Keep in mind that this was Aug 30-what was supposed to be Sept 5. We returned on Friday night, back home, my season was looking like it was over. I was really sad.
The following Saturday Sept, 8th was my daughter's birthday. Since I just started hunting a few years ago and had no idea that a September baby could possibly interfere with something I didn't do at the time, I was happy to celebrate with her.
The Saturday after (Sept 15) was her party.....WTF? Seriously....WITMF is that crap?! She gets TWO weekends in September to celebrate her birthday?!?!?!?!?!!!!! Can't post pics of the party since it was a pool party and all her friends were in all the photos as well and I like not being a registered sex offender.
September 21 -24. Final weekend. Jackson and I are invited to join a good friend, Anthony, on one more OTC hunt. Things get interesting!
Hard to see but the brown speck in the middle is an elk.
Hard to see but the brown speck in the middle is an elk.
Jackson and I were supposed to head up to camp right after I dropped my daughter off to school on Friday. Thursday night he tells me his mouth hurts and if full of lesions. What in the heck did you get into?! He woke up with a fever of 101.6 and felt like garbage. My daughter had a migraine late on Thursday night and felt like garbage on Friday morning so I am home with two sick kids while my wife worked. This season is going to shit!
I contact Anthony before he left and let him know we were going to be delayed.
Before anyone thinks we are some filthy family or something riddled with disease, no...not the case. I have no idea why we incurred so many set-backs this year. We eat healthy, work out, run regularly. Both my kids are athletes and I take my health very seriously.
I call his Dr. and get an appt at 3:15 on Friday. Here we are, last weekend of the archery season and I have to hang out until after 3:15 to go to the Dr. with the boy. One quick look, deem it a weird infection and a prescription for antibiotics and off we go to the pharmacy. Mind you, my truck has been loaded since 7:30 that morning. I'm going to the elk woods with or without him!
The Dr. recommended he doesn't go 2 hours into the boonies in case the fever gets worse so we decide he is staying home and I am out of there. Friday traffic along the front range of Colorado is a nightmare but I manage to get to camp before dark. I meet up with Anthony and we set up a tripod and glass. ELK!!!!!!!
I brought up some elk steaks and bagged mashed potatoes and we came up with some ideas for the next day. Anthony had been to this area several times and knew the lay of the land. We happened to spot an elk and we were damn excited to hit the woods the next morning!
We had an alarm set and figured we'd talk a calm approach on Saturday morning and glass from camp before heading up. Unfortunately, we didn't see any elk that morning. Also, it was windy. I mean, SUPER windy! We left camp and headed up to a drainage that is less traveled. Another thing to note, there was a huge camp right next to us with a wall tent and a trail head with half a dozen vehicles in it. We were not alone, but the day was going to be fun no matter what because we had some plans!
I was told to be prepared for some sucky climbing. Off we go!
We follow a ridge up to the spine of the mountain. It was a decent climb but I was prepared. I was feeling pretty dang good! The plan was to climb to the top and walk the spine and bugle down. We had the thermals in our favor but the damn wind was awful and made it difficult to know if we were blowing our scent all over Timbuktu. We had found a lot of pretty recent sign and felt good about that. We hiked, and hiked and hiked. About the time one of us would be discouraged the other would have a new idea and off we'd go. We really walked a lot that morning.
Quick bite to eat on the side of the mountain and we were ready for the next plan. Walk the ridge again. Anthony wasn't too happy about it but it worked out in the end. We did a lot of setup's along the way, bugling, raking, cow calling, stomping, etc. It passed some time because we really had no idea what to do until the evening.
We backtracked our way across the top and in the middle of a calling setup, while I raking a tree like I was a real elk, Anthony comes over to tell me to quit. He heard something, a bugle. Interesting! It's early afternoon and thankfully his ears are 15 years younger than mine! We decide what to do next and move on. We move on and down, and on and down. Anthony tells me it's where he suspected they could be, near a spring and in a bedding area. But, it was much lower than what you'd read about. It was in the bottom of a gully. Interesting. I was convinced it was a hunter but we continued on. I honestly thought it was a hunter. This might be a good time to mention that I had been practicing my calling so much in the early season and while out hunting and that I'd done more bugling than any other season and my reeds were shot. I don't think they should have wrinkles and should make sounds that somewhat emulate an elk. I was in trouble...wait, Anthony was in trouble!!!
We crept along until we got to a spot that just looked inviting, and we sat. We noticed the cow calls were doing the trick, and that there was a certain cadence that he liked. He'd respond but only after 5-10 minutes. It was interesting. We finally agreed that we were hearing an elk and not "Joe" the hunter. Anthony decided to move along and I'd stay up where I was to try to keep him talking. Next thing we knew the elk were 400 yards away and up the mountain. Damn! The wind was back!
Anthony progressed and I was pinned down by a small bunch of trees. We were separated by a few hundred yards and I didn't want to blow anything so I stuck to the shadow of my small area of protection and laid low.
It wasn't long until I saw Anthony waving me to come his way. We climbed some elevation to a spot we had walked that morning and called. He bugled and was close! I'll be honest, we were guessing which way he had moved on. We heard some cow calls in with the group so this was a pretty awesome situation. We did another setup and cow called. I began raking and bugled and the next sound we heard was hundreds of yards away, again!
Once again we were guessing but they felt like educated guesses so we moved along. We moved a couple hundred yards and Anthony cow called, !!! Are you kidding me?!?!?!?!!! Unbelievable! I thought I had a good idea based on the wind so we climbed some elevation and crossed the ridge spine and....cliffed out! SHIT! One more call and we realized he bugled down hill quite a ways. We practically jogged down the hill to catch up. I've never moved so fast in the elk woods and boy did it pay off! We come down the hill and crossed the spine again and there they were, crashing through the forest. I was about to tell Anthony to slow down when he said something...I asked what was up as he was frozen and he said, "I am staring at an elk, shut the f*** up". LOL! Next thing I remember was hearing that it was 32 yards and branches in the way. From my angle only a mere yard to his side, all I could see was the tan of an elk, I couldn't tell what it was or what branches were in the way. I was thinking about my bul from last year, I shot him from my knees as I saw a huge pine bough in my site housing when I pulled back. I was waiting for Anthony to crop to a knee when he pulled the trigger on his release. I heard a distinct branch hit and a distinct pumpkin hit. *silence*
Anthony went up to check for blood as it was only 30 yards and she disappeared after the shot. I remained at the site of the shot. I never heard a crash but we could still hear the herd in the distance with cow calls and a bugle.
We waited for a few more minutes but the lack of blood was driving us crazy. Anthony began questioning if the pumpkin sound was a log or something. I got on tracks pretty quickly and Anthony stayed 20 yards up the slope looking for the arrow if he had indeed missed.
I was seeing the tracks of one animal and the freshest poop I'd ever seen from an elk. All of a sudden I heard the words I had been praying for.
Dude, She's down!
Picture these smiles for the next couple hours and all the way back to camp.
Picture these smiles for the next couple hours and all the way back to camp.
I raced uphill to see and sure enough, she was down. We had been fortunate enough to chase bugles from approximately 2:00 until the shot was fired at 6:00. The herd had moved off four different times, yet we kept at it and we were soon standing over an elk. For the second year in a row I was going to be packing meat out.
I was as happy for Anthony as I was for myself last year when I got my bull, this was his first elk with a bow. The hunt itself was the best hunt I've ever been on. Perseverance had paid off in a big way and I was thrilled to be along for the ride. So much fun!
Couple trophy pictures and the work began.
We packed out one load that night and came back for the rest on Sunday morning. We had a nice dinner, some beers and a cigar to celebrate at camp. I could hardly wipe the smile off our faces.
Lmfao..loving the story. My youngest son was due on September 7th but since my wife was over being pregnant I was easily able to convince her to get induced on August 30th.(for her comfort not the elk rut ofcourse)
I remember at some point that he mentioned antlers would be nice to have for the wall but I think he knows the trophy was the five game bags of meat we had the pleasure of hiking out.
I can't explain the feeling of hauling meat out on Sunday morning, the last day of archery elk season here in Colorado. It was a perfect ending to a not so perfect season.
Anthony was nice and arranged for some meat for me and my family and we will enjoy every last bite!
Good stuff Lark! I told my buddy if rather have meat than horns any day! He came home with neither!
Thanks for the excellent write up!
Like THP I tried to get my wife to induce in August this year. My only son was born Sept 11. I told her you know I’ll miss a lot of birthdays and she said “I know”. She doesn’t understand it but she accepts it and I’m sure when I start dragging him along he’ll forget about the couple of birthdays I missed. Good write up Lark.
Glad it finally worked out, congrats to Anthony on his first!
Great pics and story, Lark!
Good reading for sure
Congrats
Good luck, Robb
Good end to a tough season. Thanks for the story!
Way to go brother, you had enough action for several years! (grin) Congrats on some awesome vittles there!
ElkNut/Paul
Way to stick it out. Enjoy those steaks. Hunt
Nothing better than great memories and elk steaks!
Good stuff. Thanks for sharing!!!