Colorado Elk Hunting Part II

[Ferrum]

As I posted in Bull Elk's thread on CO elk hunting, I was about 3 hours away from Meeker, CO when I saw Bull Elk's thread. Reading it actually made me pay more attention to the people and license plates in camp and around town...

Before I get into my observations, I want to say thanks to Bull Elk. He provided me with a couple recommendations on places to go and places to stay, while hunting, that turned out to be great! I got to meet the guide Bull Elk uses, Tom Tucker, what a great guy (and his wife too!). It definitely made this year more enjoyable than years past.

Here are my observations for this years 4th season:

The area that I hunt is in the same general vicinity as Bull Elk. Where I am hunting is all public land. When I got into camp on Sunday, it was already starting to fill up. My guess is that by the time opening day rolled around, there were about 30-40 people staying in the same area. I wouldn't say this isn't any better, or worse, than what I have seen before...



As far as age of people in camp, I would guess most of them to be between 40 and 50. There was a couple youngsters in camp, but literally only a couple. There were groups from West Virginia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Nevada. But I would say most of the people were from in state.

My benchmark for how the previous season was is a local game processor in town, Brothers. If the dumpster is over flowing with hides, it was a good season. If not, then not much was happening. This year through town, there wasn't very many elk parts in the dumpster. The Mexican restaurant was empty for Monday Night Football, which is pretty unusual. The place that I was staying was empty, besides two or three nights. All in all, I would agree that 4th season wasn't a huge hit this year.

I completely agree that the elk may be around in record numbers. I can say that I saw more elk this year, than I ever had in previous years. Between scouting and hunting, I can say that we saw between 400-600 elk? Too many to try and keep track of. One thing that I will completely agree with, is there isn't any pressure to push elk off the private land! It's border line ridiculous! You can glass the horizon and see elk for days on adjacent private land.

One reason that elk were really plentiful this year was the weather during 4th season. Opening day brought in a nice storm that moved animals around. In my opinion, without weather during your elk hunt, it is a really difficult endeavor (This is why I'll never go back to seasons 1-3).

Pre-weather



Post-weather




As far as my hunt:


In order to get back to good hunting ground, you have to be a hiking animal, or have a horse. I am not a hiking animal...



To be continued...

[Ferrum]

Continued...

The hunting season was very frustrating. Like I said before, we saw more elk than usual this year, but getting to them was a huge undertaking. Until you actually witness it, elk have mystical powers that allow themselves to vanish in to thin air when you try and stalk them. It was unbelievable how a herd could move relatively undetected. After seeing a hundred elk 30 minutes prior, hiking and almost having a massive heart attack and lung convulsions to get to them, getting within shooting distance and have them pull their disappearing act for multiple days... I was ready to lose it. I had elk come in right at dusk, only to lose light to shoot. I had mornings that the sun would come up and have a group of elk below me, only to realize they were all bulls (I only had cow tags). I was sure the hunting gods were against me.

Finally, on the last day, I punched my card.



Nothing but luck, that a couple cows came out when they did.


Again, why I'm a horse guy... Because really, who wants to carry that much weight for multiple trips? Not this guy!




So we loaded the horses and walked out.




All in all, it was a crazy trip! I didn't think it was possible to see that many animals and not get off a shot, until the last minute. Don't kid yourself, there is a lot of plain luck involved on these trips. The weather cooperated, the animals finally messed up and I was simply in the right place at the right time.

[lewdogg21]

Good write up. How did the rest if your party do? How about info on the rifle, load and shot?

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[G-Man WC]

Thanks for the report Josh and congrats.
Time to send that Tikka back yet?

-g

[WyattandDoc]

Awesome read and pics!!! Thanks

[XVIga_Rob]

Congrats on a successful hunt!

Was this a guided trip or DIY? You mentioned meeting the guide that Bull Elk uses. Being surrounded by Bulls and only having a cow tag....That would be a tough day!

[BillyGoatCrawler]

That looks like an awesome trip, thanks for sharing.

[Bull Elk]

Congratulations! I'm glad to see that you filled your tag and had a good time. That 4th season turned out to be the best and it's no surprise since thats when it snowed. Oak Ridge, where you hunted was where I killed my first CO elk. I was by myself and ended up renting two horses and a wrangler from Sombraro Ranch to get him out. I've killed two last day last hour Bulls so it goes to show you that you need to hunt until the end. I spoke with Tom. Between family and friends, Tom got 5 elk in the 4th season. He made sure to send me pictures of each and every one of them.....to rub it in for missing my bull.

Im glad things worked out for you and your group. We will be hunting with Tom on the 4th season next year. Best bet for snow. Let me know if you plan on hunting again there next year. Not sure what you paid for the horses, but for $1350, it's a pretty good deal going on a guided hunt with Tom. He has horses, quads and a strong back. Again, congratulations!

[Bull Elk]

I should mention the that Tom owns one of the best sections of land for big bucks and lots of elk right next to Avery Lake, which is also very near Oak Ridge. Generally, those elk that end up at Oak Ridge have passed through Tom's property first.

[BadMatt]

How was it with the horse? Did you have packer with you? Was it your horse? Did you tie it to a tree and go hunting? My family had horses when I was a kid but I've never hunted with one.

[Ferrum]

Good write up. How did the rest if your party do? How about info on the rifle, load and shot?

I was with one other guy when these cows came over the ridge. He was pretty quick on the trigger (and off his horse), so he was able to shoot his at about 200 yards. I was having some technical difficulties (couldn't get my boot out of the stirrup), so was late on my shot. I ended up sending my first round at 425 and 2nd shot at 450'ish yards. Luckily neither cow ran after being shot, just rolled down the hill a bit. With that being said, we were the only 2 to get elk. So all in all, there was a 50% success rate for our group.

As far as equipment, I was using a Weatherby in .300 WM (Zeiss 4-14x44 on top). Used 180g Nosler Ballistic Silver Tip over H1000 powder. It worked really well and I was able to recover one of the bullets on the back side of the hide.

Time to send that Tikka back yet?-g

Soon... Just need the time to do so.

Was this a guided trip or DIY? You mentioned meeting the guide that Bull Elk uses.

This was 100% DIY public land hunt.

We will be hunting with Tom on the 4th season next year. Let me know if you plan on hunting again there next year.

That would be great! We are planning on going 4th season next year. I'll bring the Bourbon!

How was it with the horse? Did you have packer with you? Was it your horse? Did you tie it to a tree and go hunting? My family had horses when I was a kid but I've never hunted with one.

Horses... Well, they are great to have when you need them, the rest of the time you want to shoot them. They move fairly quietly, generally don't spook game like a person walking through the woods and for the most part are much safer navigating the woods at night, than you or me just walking.

We did not use a packer. When we get an elk, we gut, skin, quarter and trim out right where the animal drops. We bring our own paniers, load and pack out ourselves. Generally, this is all that is left behind...




We have a guy that drops horses at the beginning of the trip and pics them up at the end. Usually, we ride to the general area we are going to hunt, tie the horses to a tree and walk into the area we are going to hunt. Overall, it's a great way to hunt.

Elk hunting is tough at times.

Truth!

[MJB]

Two down at once can take some time to hack up.......congrats

[Untamed1972]

Sweet! nice work.....on the write-up AND the hunt!

[mrlonewolf]

Congratulations Mr. Ferrum.

Thank you for the great report.