Any luck elk hunting this year?

[tunrevir]

Thanks!

Tunrevir~

[mrklean]

good job tunrevir

[Cooter]

Wish I had a similar report but we got skunked on muleys . I can post some cool scenic pics taken while wearing out boats looking for them though

Congrats on the cow elk - what elevation did you get them at?

[MN Mike]

Bummer Cooter, I was looking forward to some pics! 2nd season must have been a tough one, talked to a few others that were out there and only 1 crew had anything for success. The guys that went out to where we hunt only saw deer, no elk, sounded like some of the animals were up pretty high yet.

Mike

[tunrevir]

Cooter we were set up in camp at 9,750' and didn't see much activity down around the camp. The elk our party shot were all at around 10,200' We saw alot of sign and most of our animals in that area but saw some guys at the lower elevations just below us that scored on opening morning. With the snow that we got it looked like some of the animals were dropping downslope after the third day of the season but there was still plenty of tracks and activity up on top.

Tunrevir~

[Cooter]

We hunted mid-elevation pinion/pine/sage areas(7500-8500') that had muleys in them two years ago. Only managed to see 4 does. Went up to the mountains from 9000-10,500' and saw some sign around 9,500, over that had snow and we saw very little for deer tracks. Stuck around that elevation and ended up seeing a dozen does and 3 small muleys. Just was tough, the locals were struggling big time and rumors of winter kill were a common explanation/excuse.

We saw more elk sign than deer sign by far. 2 of my buddies got in on a group of 4 bulls and at least 2 cows that were having a party. All of them bugling and one cow almost non-stop chirping. This was Oct 18th - much later than normal bugling time. Both of them thought they were either hearing other hunters or going crazy but they ended up within 50yards of each other to watch the show. They saw a spike, raghorn, and dandy 5X5. They never did see the cow(s) or the bull that was with them and doing the majority of the bugling. Might have been a dandy....no elk tags in the group of course!

Saw the usual infestation of coyotes - you could easily shoot them without a call, they are that abundant. Also had a good look at a very nice black bear, we looked at each other from about 35yards away for about 20 seconds before he slowly turned and waddled off. He was not in typical bear country, just a smallish, steep cut of pines surrounded by rolling sage hills. Pretty neat.

Back to the deer, we realized our mid-elevation deer from 2 years ago were most likely just resident deer as the high country didn't have any major amounts of snow. Thought for whatever reason they just weren't there this year. The weird part was that we never saw a whitetail. We hunt one area along the CO R and drive a decent stretch of it between camp and hunting. 2 years ago it was crazy with them, they'd be out in the alfalfa all day long. Does standing in the middle of the fishing parking areas along the river. It was nuts with them and the does at least were not spooky to say the least. Not a one this year, maybe they did get part of that nasty winter they had in the Gunnison area. Oh well, we'll be back - we did scour some new country and got more familiar with some areas we'd hunted before.

Hopefully in the next week or so I can at least post some pics of the country - sure was scenic.

[pondwater]

Just got back on saturday eve and had some luck. We had three hunting in are group and we went two for three. I shot a nice cow on friday morning (the last day of corse) and are friend a local to Co. shot a nice 3x4 bull on sunday morning. Will try to get some pics up.

[Nate McVey]

Here's some pics from the trip. I'll try and do a write up tomorrow at some point. These are all cell phone pics as my camera died on day one.

This is one of the first areas we hunted, that is the Gore Range in the background.

Gore Range again, from camp this time.

Home for 10 days, 3 sleeping tents and one eating, drinking, Euchre tent

[Nate McVey]

Day one, set up camp in the snow. 5 guys, 4 tents, 1 cord of wood cut in just a couple hours.

The back of the tent (opposite the door).

The front of the tent. It was no warmer than 15 any of the nights we were there and that stove kept it 80 plus in there. It's kind of strange to be eating dinner at 10000+' in no shirt, shorts and slippers

[Nate McVey]

Here are the victory shots. We had 6 guys, ended up filling 2 tags (one cow and one bull). Should have filled 2 more, but that is a different story.

My buddy Phil getting artistic

For 3rd season, public land in CO, this is a dandy bull.

Camp shot

This was one of the biggest heads I've ever seen on an elk.......

[tunrevir]

Congrats on your hunts, Looks like a nicely set up camp Shiner2367. I like the artistic shot, would go well on the wal or desk at work. Thanks for sharing the pics!

Tunrevir~

[Cooter]

Excellent! Not only a big head, but looks like that bull had a big body to go along with it. Pretty country out there - especially with the Packer flag hanging from the tent!

[MN Mike]

Great pictures! I like the animal pics but enjoy the scenery and home sweet home pictures even more, can't hardly beat Elk camp, Colorado and the fall!

Mike

[Scott M]

Cheffrey, if you're out there, please put up the picture of you wiping your rear with that Packer flag. Brought them a lot of luck for Sunday's game when you were out there, eh?

Nice shots shiner. 700 days...

[Cooter]

shiner - did you happen to see much for deer? Funny thing, we were mostly hunting on the 'border' of the Steamboat Springs and Vail map, was snooping through it on the 'throne' the other day and saw the Gore Range. Didn't realize it but we did some hunting in there but were on the east side and further north from you I'm guessing.

I should get some pics soon of the other side of the Gores plus Williams Fork and Arapaho.

[Nate McVey]

Quote:

shiner - did you happen to see much for deer?

Cooter, we do/did see a lot of muleys (and always have). 2 nice 4x4's and lots of does. Over in the Wildridge area (north of Avon) is a great place for muleys. If you want some GPS coordinates of where we were so you can see it on Google Earth, let me know and I'll send them to you.