2022 Colorado Elk

[Lurch12]

My father and I drew Bull elk tags for the 2022, 1st rifle season. My father is 64 and he has never been west of St. Louis, so I could not be more excited to take him on this trip. We will be going DIY and staying on the Mtn. I have been to this unit before with a friend that hunted it for many years who has since passed away. (Considering making a plaque to hang at his camp spot, any suggestions or ideas?)

We generally rent horses to pack our camp and gear in but when I called the rancher I got a dial tone. So I called his cell phone and found out the terrible news that his ranch was sold and the new owners were no longer renting horses. This now meant my 64 year old father would be hiking the Mtn, with a pack on his back. I began to call all over looking for horses and couldn't find anyone. I then searched for llamas, and emailed and called about rental. After a week of no response I called again and the owner answered. He has 20 some llamas and was in the process of going through emails and voicemails by time stamp to set up rental on a first come first serve basis. This put me in yet another panic. My first message to him was 2 days after tags were issued. I got an email late last Friday that I had secured 2 llamas for the trip (what a relief). My dad is fully capable of hiking the Mtn, but I was unsure how he would do with a heavy pack on his back, and for that part I would have a lot of training to do to get in elk packing shape.

Anyone have llama packing experience?
What suggestions can you give me? thoughts on leavening the llamas at camp and pick them up if and when and elk is down?

I couldn't be more excited to take this trip.
I did just buy a Initial Ascent 6K pack that I will carry with just the load shelf for my day pack and kill kit.
I have a Seek Outside Courthouse tent with titanium wood stove.
Ordered SKRE gear last year.

Shouldn't need to purchase much else.

 

[SavageTradition]

I wish I could help. We are in the same boat. Been renting horses from Sombrero Ranch for 20+ years. They are no longer licensed for GMU 34, 25, 26 which is the units we hunt. So it is either haul a trailer to their ranch to get the horses ourselves or find a different unit to hunt. What unit did you draw?

 

[Lurch12]

The boy and I had the tent up and slept out in it last week. He want to go west with me now.

Truck rack is installed, and the pile of gear is on the garage floor. Bags will probably be packed by next weekend. October 12th cant get here soon enough!

 

[AM_Hunter]

Im in a similar boat. None of my friends could tag a long so my dad volunteered to go. Hes also 64 and while not in the best of shape, has ben backpacking a good handful of times. We are gonna be packing in 3 miles or so for first season. I'm nervous as hell for him with how hes gonna do in the cold and with this much weight on his back but we'll have to manage. October 12th is also our set off date. Good luck out there!

 

[isocyanate]

Oct 12 will see me on the road as well. Good luck all

 

[snowymtnwolf]

Just rented llamas for the first time. Relatively easy and ya don’t hafta worry about them being a PITA like horses are capable of.

Get them water daily. Stake out to eat (a few plants can make them sick, so research that. Llamas can carry 80 lbs spread out in two 40 lbs panniers

Good luck !


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[Lurch12]

I am a little late getting to this, but we had a great trip. Everything went as planned. My dad had some elevation troubles. Never got sick but couldn't catch his breath at all. We were not more than 300 yards from the truck, and he was really struggling to catch his breath. We added his backpack onto the llamas to lighten him up about 15 lbs. and that seemed to help.

Weather was a bit warm during the days but down below freezing at night. My seek outside court house worked awesome and the stove kept the tent nice and warm.


Day 1- we hiked in 2.5 miles, with roughly 2000 ft elevation change. Hike took 4 hours. Got camp set up, firewood cut and decided we had enough water on us and shouldn’t need to go get water for the week. If we did I would do it while I was hunting.


Day 2-Opening day I got my dad situated in a natural blind a great friend (who has since passed) built many years ago overlooking the prairie. I left him and headed for the ridge above him. It wasn’t 10 minutes after I left him and I heard a shot. I didn’t think it was my dad though. I turned on my radio and I immediately heard my dad say come on back down. I panicked and thought something was wrong. I replied that I am not even set up what is going on. He replies with just come on back down here. I said dad are you okay, I have elk bugling on both sides of me what’s going on? He says I got a bull down. I congratulated him, sat down and began to cry with excitement. I had elk bugling on both sides of me but , the excitement I had was incredible. I hit my cow call one time and thought to myself what am I doing? I need to go be with my dad. So, I headed down to my dad and he was shaking full of joy. I could see ½ the rack sticking up through the sage brush about 150 yards away. He says I don’t know how big he is but there were elk running everywhere! I scoped him and knew he was a solid bull. We worked our way down to him and celebrated with each other. As I began to butcher it, I seen 7 other bulls that were legal I could have shot at within 200 yards. Some nice bulls too. 2 times I grabbed my gun with bloody hands and dropped to my pack and had the safety off. But in the back of my head all I could think about was we had one bull down, it was 60 degrees, 5 miles from the truck, and my dad was having trouble breathing. I decided to pass, in fear of meat spoiling due to the warm weather. We got him butchered up and a guy camped near us stopped over with his horse for us to pack out with because my llamas were 1 mile up the canon. (I learned my lesson there, don’t leave them too far away). We loaded up and got back to camp about an hour before dark. Made a meat poll and hung the meat off the back side of the mtn in the dark timber.



Day 3- I knew I had to get the meat on ice before the day was over. I hunted till noon. At daylight I watched 5 mule deer bucks feed across the prairie and one cow. As the sun came up the temperature increased quickly. I slipped into some dark timber and walked in on a spike bull in his bed. Eventually bounced a group of elk, unsure of what they were. I headed back to camp around noon to take his elk off the mtn. I was down to the truck, got the meat on ice and back to camp in about 3.5 hours. Pretty exhausted when I arrived back at camp an hour before dark.



Day 3- Hunted an area by a wallow on the edge of some dark timber and a watering hole. At daylight I was cow calling and got an incredible response. 3-4 bulls screaming back at me. This went on for over an hour, without any movement from the bugles. They didn’t work towards me or away. There was another hunter about 400 yards up the canon. His hunting partner ended up walking through the dark timber and pushed roughly 50 elk out in total. They came out in 2 groups though. The first group had at least 2 legal bulls in it. He unloaded his gun but missed those ones. About 5 minutes later a beautiful 6x6 stepped out directly in front of him and 3 shots later he was on the ground. I helped them butcher and continued my day.

I hunted my way over some draws and ended up locating a heard of elk 1000 yards down the canon. They were bedded down/ feeding. I worked my way to within 400 yards of them, but by the time I got there they were up in the timber. I removed my pack and got set up. Glassed them and could see one decent looking bull. I got situated on my gun and let out a few cow calls. This bulls busts out of the timber comes into the opening long enough for me to verify he was legal. As I’m taking my scope from his rack to his shoulder he turns and pushes his cows up into the timber. I tried to circle around them but never seen them again. When I opened up my OnX I was almost 6 miles from camp and it was almost dark. My camel back had about a cup of water left in it. Got back to camp after dark that evening.

Day 4- Went back to the location where my Dad shot his bull and enjoyed the day. My dad made it back out since he knew I was going to be lowing low and not putting a ton of miles on. We enjoyed most of the day together, seeing 8-10 cows. Got back to camp before dark and packed up some stuff.

Day 5- Slept in a little bit and tore down camp and packed up. Headed off the Mtn to get a jump on the long trip home.


The weather was in the 50-60s each day with the nights down in the 20s. We never had any rain or snow. All of my supplies and gear worked great. We did take a little too much food, but id rather have too much than not enough.

This was an amazing trip for my father and I. He wishes I would have killed the elk and not him, but in my eyes I am so thankful that he was able to get his. This was a great experience for a father and son. I wouldn’t change a thing. I will be back; as my plan is to go on a hunting trip every 2 years or so. He may not make it West again. He already stated that he will not walk that mtn. again. If he would go back out, horses are a must have.

 

[Mcribs]

Very cool, congratulations!

 

[CHWine]

What unit in CO?

 

[sndmn11]

What unit in CO?

The one with Mtn. and a fire pit.

@Lurch12 I am happy to hear you and the other hunters/camps were all willing to help each other and this wasn't a story about folks ruining "your" hunt.

If it were me, since this sounds like a magical place, I'd take my dad and kid back every year during 1st season EVEN WITHOUT A TAG and just get to know the other regulars there. It might carry on your friend's legacy within your son, without the burden of meat hauling etc.

 

[cnelk]

What unit in CO?

Id guess its GMU 145

 

[yoopshoot]

Congratulations! Thanks for the write up. Sounds like a great trip . My dad has come along on a few of my hunts and he is severely limited due to mobility issues. He deemed himself the camp cook on those trips. Even though he never had a tag or hunted with me, I cherish those evening sitting by a fire looking out at the mountain stars with my Dad, fine times and great memories.


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