T-28 Day Countdown
Massachusetts
Its 28 days until the Colorado elk/deer bowhunting season begins. Who's going? This will be my 10th DIY bow hunt to that beautiful state. This trip is a reasonably priced hunt ( $1200-$2000) for the DIY east coast hunter, but don't wait until 50 to enjoy the trip, them mountains will kick your a$$. After a fruitless last week of season hunt last year we have decided to hunt the opening week (warmer+more elk) to increase our chances. Although I killed a 5x5 bull on my first hunt with a compound, I have been hunting with my recurve bow as my personal quest since then. I have harvested a male elk calf (250#), lost a 5X4 bull with a high shot, and passed on too many elk cows with the recurve. I always try to hold out the first half of the hunt for a bull, but shall change my strategy this year to take any legal elk (freezer empty) that crosses my path. ( Elk meat is delious) Wish me luck.
I have an invite to hunt with a buddy but not sure on the timing yet. It’s an OTC unit so it may end up being a last minute trip. I’ll have to keep fingers crossed and bag packed. I hunted outside of Montrose for mule deer a few years back and loved it. CO is a great destination for a bowhunter.
I had a great elk hunt last year in WY but didn’t kill. Still had a great western experience and a great hunt. I will definitely be chasing elk again in WY.
Once you hunt out west it’s hard not to want to go back. It’s all about the adventure.
That is a good price. How do you manage that?
Fisherick I'm pulling for ya with the recurve - go getum!
Have fun and please post all the updates cell service allows! Sounds awesome!!
Sounds awesome! Looking forward to hearing more about this. I'm beginning to think seriously about a hunt, possibly in Idaho, based on otc availability, tag prices and elk population. I'm sure anything you share will be helpful to those of us thinking about planning our first Western adventure.
Fisherick, I will be there for the first 10 days of the season. I will be hunting GMU 65. It will be my first time hunting elk.
BH, the first time you see and hear a bull elk screaming out a bugle the hair on the back of your neck will be standing straight up and you"ll be hooked for life. Will, there is only a 50' location on the top of the hills where there is spotty cell service, but shall try to post. Broman, I"ll post the logistics of the trip in a future post.
Thanks, Rick.
I'm heading west this yr as well. Colorado otc unit 53 from 9/1-9/10. It's my first time out and I'm excited to see the Backcountry. Pretty sure it will be a glorified camping trip while carrying the bow but I'm fine with that. Since you've been quite a few times fish, is there a gear list you go by or things someone might not think about that you've learned to bring/not bring?
I'll add to my post by saying that my biggest concern with the trip is that I'm coming from about 200' above sea level and going to 10,500'! I'm in pretty good shape but not sure about "mountain shape".
GMC, see your doctor for a Diamox prescription to help with altitude acclimation. Keep that attitude and you will have a fun trip. Be sure to pack some light weight rain gear for the afternoon thunder storms. I have some excel gear lists that works for me, PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.
This should be an interesting trip, we have picked up a fourth member to our group, who is a traditional bow hunter. I no longer have to endure "firewood " jokes myself by my compound shooting buddies about my bow. BTW 2012 the trad bow was the only one to score that season. The quest continues.
T - 21 days, clothes all washed and packed, breaking in a new string, going over final gear selections.
That’s great. Kill a big one. Any pic’s from previous trips? Post em if you’ve got em.
2-3 night Bivy Gear packed
2-3 night Bivy Gear packed
Heading in at trailhead for a overnighter
Heading in at trailhead for a overnighter
Hope this guy does not show up again at the wallow
Hope this guy does not show up again at the wallow
T - 14 days, making finale gear selections, fletching some arrows, and prepping truck for the trip.
Your forgetting your bow!
jeepers Fisherick, I think Yogi has had too many picanic baskets, yeeeah heee eee heee. What are you shooting for recurve on this adventure? Whats your arrow setup? You have me invested now and following :) Good luck
Wish this guy showed himself during daylight
Wish this guy showed himself during daylight
I am hunting with a Bob Lee Signature take down recurve bow 54# @ 28" with rattlesnake limb backing. I have 29" GT 55/75 with 100 gr inserts, wraps and 3- 5" feathers weighing 410 grains. This with 180 grain Grizzly single bevel broadheads or Wensel Woodsman broadheads make for a 12 gpp heavy arrow. Also working on some MFX 400 with 4-4" feathers and 35gr inserts for a 545gr, 10 gpp faster arrow.
ooohhhh Nice ! I really hope you have an excellent hunt! I'll be following
Fisherick, if you have time before you head out would you mind sharing some strategy with us? What type of terrain features will you be focusing on? Calling strategies? Anything you'd like to share would be awesome!
T - 7 days, I have the GT arrows dialed in for a total weight of 595 grains and the MFX arrows at 545 grains. Tough decision which to use both are flying well. The truck is all set to go, just need to load it up. I have practicing the elk calls and driving the wife nuts, need to save the practicing for the drive out while listening to ElkNuts "Sounds of the Elk " CD. Strategy always starts out as "shoot em where you can see the chrome of the bumper" near the camp for easy pack out while getting acclimated. We mostly hunt in teams with the shooter out front and the caller 30 yards behind hopefully drawing an elk within range of the shooter. Individually we may set up on a "wallow", pond, or crossing point and wait them out. We have 6-8 spots known to hold elk. We also will glass from some high spots for a possible stalk. If by day 6 , we are not into elk we will do a 1-3 night Bivy into a few drainage areas. Hopefully we will have one down in the first couple of days and that's when the real fun/work begins. This has been a tough week, printer crapped out on Sunday, phone would not charge and died, had to buy new phones, and my CC got hacked and had to be closed out. Can't wait to get out of dodge.
Leaving early in the morning.
Fish, good luck and safe travels.
Good luck Rick. We'll be watching!
watching, wish you safe travel and have a great experience
Good luck out there! Thanks for sharing a little of your strategy.
Safe travels! And good luck Fisher.
B&S, I'm great man! I'm assuming you meant to ask how fisherick is doing out in the mountains though, anything he is doing right now is far more interesting than anything I've got going on.
LMAO yah i effed that up, but good to know you are well. And, yah that. I'll wait
Fisherick how did it go? Are you back, still traveling, busy butchering? Not like I have been watching this thread for movement everyday or anything ...
Finally got back home late Thursday, WARNING, NO animals were harmed in the making of this adventure.
The drive out was basically easy and uneventful, leaving Thursday August 23 and arriving at camp on Saturday the 25th, setting up camp and getting an afternoon hunt in. Team Compound had already arrived Friday, set up camp and had hunted the whole day. There was excitement in the air as Team Compound had spotted a bull elk near the entrance of our camp road the night before. The full moon proved to be tough hunting conditions for the first five days of the hunt. A few Mulies were spotted, a bear on the road, and I seen a elk hi-tailing out in the timber. NO other elk was seen. I did get to introduce the other half of Team Trad (Dan) to bear/elk wallow for a meet n greet with Yogi at 15 feet. He was thrilled. I don't know who was more surprised. At least it wasn't at 4' like I encountered in 2015. We found that most elk sign was 1-2 weeks old and were not responding to calls or decoys. Team Compound decided to cover more ground and continue using decoys and calls with poor results. We (Team Trad) tried stalking thru patches of dark timber and seen some elk and mulies. Wished they would have joined us pushing thru the dark timber from two different sides, someone would have had a shot. The end results were TT had seen 4 elk, 4 bears, and 15 mulies, TC had seen 1 elk, 1 bear, and 8 mulies.
Lessons learned; dry summer with three days of rain prior to season, full moon, elk not talking equate to a poor season. This is the second season in a row of poor results in this area, time to find new hunting area. In 10 years of hunting this area we have never had a flat, within 5 days I had 2 flat tires, good thing I picked up that $2 tire plug kit and a small compressor. The ride home proved much tougher than the ride out. Traffic jams around Omaha, Chicago, and Cleveland, followed by monsoon rains in Indiana made the trip home much longer than expected. Overall no one got hurt, and no arguments. Can't wait till next year!
Glad you made it back safe and sound. Even with no meat com I'll not home sounds like a great trip.
Good for you fisherick. It's all about the adventure when you come right down to it. I spent a week in Wyoming last Sept and never punched my tag but we had a great hunt. I love hunting the west. Good luck this season in the deer woods.
Must be tough not being able to scout before the hunt. Good times though I bet.
Sorry you did not connect with success, but that trip sounds adventurous. You were having more fun then the rest of us back here sweating our butts off last week. Thank you for sharing the adventure Fisherick !
