Elk hunting is a beautiful thing. The reason I love it so much is not because of the delicious meat (hopefully had at the end of the hunt), but because of all the challenges to get there that make it rewarding. This September was no exception to being challenging. Between the guided hunts and my own personal hunt, no animals were harvested. Part of the reason being lack of opportunity and partially by choice.
The First Guided Archery Hunt
The archery season got off to a hot start on day one of the hunt. We had a call-up the first morning with a spike that passed by less than five yards away! The big bull bugled just below where we could see but never stepped out of timber.
After this cool encounter, we thought we may get into some good action the rest of the week, however, that was not the case. The rest of the week proved to be slow and uneventful.
The Muzzleloader Hunt
After the first archery hunt came to a close, we had some muzzleloader hunters come into camp. Once again, the first day of this hunt was full of action!
Right away we heard some bugles in the morning and started making our ascent. When we seemed to have climbed enough elevation, we did a call set. After a few cow elk calls, we heard the sticks break as the elk approached. First popped out a spike with a look of confusion, but settled down and began to feed. Again, we heard the ground crunch and sticks break just before a rag bull emerged from the dark timber. In our area, a bull needed to have four points on a side or at least five inch brow tines to be legal to harvest – this rag bull was toeing the line of legal or not. We waited for the big bull to step out, but unfortunately he never did.
Later in the trip, we had an encounter with a legal four point bull but the hunter decided to pass as he hoped to see a bigger bull. We did end up seeing a nice 5×5 bull, but we did not have a good shot. Muzzleloader closed with no elk taken.
My Own Hunt
Following these guided hunts, I had a week off to bow hunt with a friend. Since I had to do another guided hunt right after my own hunt, we rented a drop camp close to the area where I guide. To put it short, it was five days of tough conditions. The weather was warm, the moon was bright and the animals were not active at all.
Throughout our whole week, we found some fresh sign but only heard two bugles and saw one spike. This certainly wasn’t due to lack of effort, we covered at least 6-8 miles everyday checking out different ridges and drainages. The weather and animal activity were just not ideal for our week of elk hunting. My consolation prize for the week was shooting a grouse to have some fresh meat for dinner. If we had the ability, we would have driven around to check other spots for elk, but that’s not possible when you get packed in on horseback.
The Last Archery Hunt
After my hunt concluded, it was right into the last week of archery elk hunting here in Colorado. I had the opportunity to guide my dad along with some of his friends from Texas who had never elk hunted before.
Day one of the hunt was pretty exciting. We hiked up to the first glassing knob to scope out the opposite ridge. As we were sitting there, I let out a few cow calls trying out an old Carlton Call that I found on the mountain the week before, and a bull bugled above us. I called again and he bugled back, this time much closer. We hurry to a spot and I get my dad and the other hunter set up before I get into my calling position. I call again and I can tell this bull is coming in quickly. At this point I’m 60-80 yards behind my shooters and I see a beautiful 5×5 bull making his way towards us. The bull stops and I’m waiting for a shot to go off. Nothing. I make some calls and break some sticks to try to move him. Nothing. After what seemed like forever, he slips away up the mountain. I came to find out that the bull was 25 yards frontal for my dad and 65 yards broadside for the other guy but both of them said they needed the bull to take just one or two steps to be able to shoot.
The next few days, we chased some bugles but never got in close on anything. By the last day of the hunt my dad got really sick and left camp. The other guys were also exhausted from a week of hard hunting. The last day I only went out with one of the guys, and it was one of those days that’ll leave you wanting more. The first couple hours of the morning produced nothing. We were going to mosey on down a ridge back to camp until we heard a faint bugle. We moved in the direction of the bugle and then we heard more and more and more! Finally, the last day of the season and we’re in a buglefest!
We moved fast to get in between two bulls bugling back and forth. We got in close and set up to for some calling. The elk were close by and we thought for sure they would come into our calls. They ended up hanging around for awhile but one herd stayed down drainage and the other herd went up the mountain. We figured we were still in a good position so we stayed put by a meadow and had lunch and took a nap. During our slumber, we woke up to a cow or calf that was mewing just on the other side of the meadow. It called about 15-20 times but it would not come to our side of the drainage. After that encounter, we decided it was time to head down towards the elk we left there in the morning. Using our onX app, we closed the distance on where we thought the elk were. When we got to within 200 yards of where we thought they were, we slowed our pace but it wasn’t soon enough. We walked up on a lone cow that was feeding away from the herd and she alerted the rest of them and they took off.
Now we were down to our last effort. Throughout the day, I thought I was getting some faint whiffs of elk scent coming from a different ridge. We headed that way with just a few hours left in the day. On our way over, we heard a big deep bugle and were filled with excitement. We got within a couple hundred yards and heard more bugles and cow calls. Through the trees we started seeing some elk passing about 175 yards ahead of us. We stopped to see what we were after. One by one the cows passed by an opening that would be perfect if we had a rifle. At the end of the line revealed a giant bull pushing the cows around. Our plan was to go down and around this open knob to catch them as they passed. About half way there, we encountered a satellite bull coming up from the other drainage. We had him at 72 yards, no shot, 65, no shot, 51 yards, but still no clear shot. It was a decent 5×5 bull that proceeded to trot down the mountain. We continued on towards the herd with the big bull. Our plan was nearly working out until we got caught in the open with cows only 70 yards away. Without much cover, they spotted us and got alert. I had my decoy ready to distract them so they held their position. Despite this, the bull knew something wasn’t quite right. He bugled and gathered up his cows and took off and that was the end of the archery elk season.
The End of September
I could sit here and say that it was a terrible September of elk hunting because we didn’t harvest anything, but that just wouldn’t be right. I had some guys that could’ve shot and decided not to as well as some that could’ve taken risky shots. It’s all part of hunting and it’s all the little things in between that make it a truly incredible experience. I’m thankful for the memories made and I’m grateful for the opportunity to go out and do it again. Until next season.
