2023 2nd season colorado elk

[Bojangles21]

Got it done on Halloween afternoon! Hiked a good bit back into the wilderness before season opener, got hammered with snow, 40mph winds, fog, you name it we had it at 11,000 feet. Ended up pulling out after 4 days, buddy chalked it up as a tag soup season (for some reason) and I dropped elevation and tried round two. Despite “full moon elk hunting”, otc Colorado tags, being solo, “no public land bulls” and the “orange army” I managed to got this pretty unique 6x6. Wild what getting out of the truck does for a guy lol. Have the kill video but sadly I can’t post videos on here(hard to tell in the pic but you can see all the breath as he was falling over, that blood circle was the exit wound from the first shot)… broadside, double lunged him, he ran about 6 steps, turned around, I hit him again, surprisingly in the exact same hole, and he exhausted all the breath out of his lungs (which you could see in the video, was pretty sweet) and down he went, all in my spotting scope. Pretty great season for an out of state hunt!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[MTJake]

Well done! Way to stick with it.

 

[CAElkhunter]

Good work. You don't shoot elk from the tent or truck. Congrats

 

[ElkArcher918]

I tip my hat to you, sir. Job well done! Way to adapt to tough hunting conditions and stay mentally in the game in spite of the challenges.

 

[Bojangles21]

I tip my hat to you, sir. Job well done! Way to adapt to tough hunting conditions and stay mentally in the game in spite of the challenges.

Thank ya! Gotta love the up and downs of hunting!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ElkArcher918]

Thank ya! Gotta love the up and downs of hunting!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeap, just like life, ups and downs.

 

[WiscoHoundsman]

Congrats on getting it done! Looks like the hard work paid off.

 

[Bamban]

What were you in?

 

[Bleeb]

Congratulations! That's the way to do it! The "Orange Army", LOL! I know exactly what you mean!!

 

[Bojangles21]

Congratulations! That's the way to do it! The "Orange Army", LOL! I know exactly what you mean!!

Right! Lol crazy amount of people


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bleeb]

I have no intention to hijack your thread as a newbie here, but the forum seems to direct me to existing threads when I attempt to start a similar new one.

But similar to you, getting off the beaten path and into the deep backcountry of the public lands has its rewards. That opening day snow (pellet) thundersnow storm was brutal at altitude. The wind gusts were phenomenal! We were at the Continental Divide opening day. Sunday morning we changed things up and our group came upon a 4x4 with a few cows bed down at 119 yards as we were hiking in. We let our youngest hunter take it like a boss - his first bull elk! It was a great experience to share.

Then Monday me and my BIL hiked way in and I sat overlooking a large bowl which ranged out to about 900 yards LOS. He sat lower to my left. A very large bull with a large rack walked out of the dark timber into a small opening at 730 yards AMR on my rangefinder to my right. My adrenaline peaked as I realized I was looking at a bull of a lifetime, but years of shooting practice kicked in. I quickly doped my gun and dropped him with my 7mm PRC - DRT. I practically sprinted downhill and uphill across the bowl to get to him. An unbelievable 7x7! I consider myself truly fortunate!

 

[324matt]

Congratulations!! What truck bed is that rack in? What brand?

 

[twdjr]

Congrats!

 

[Bojangles21]

I have no intention to hijack your thread as a newbie here, but the forum seems to direct me to existing threads when I attempt to start a similar new one.

But similar to you, getting off the beaten path and into the deep backcountry of the public lands has its rewards. That opening day snow (pellet) thundersnow storm was brutal at altitude. The wind gusts were phenomenal! We were at the Continental Divide opening day. Sunday morning we changed things up and our group came upon a 4x4 with a few cows bed down at 119 yards as we were hiking in. We let our youngest hunter take it like a boss - his first bull elk! It was a great experience to share.

Then Monday me and my BIL hiked way in and I sat overlooking a large bowl which ranged out to about 900 yards LOS. He sat lower to my left. A very large bull with a large rack walked out of the dark timber into a small opening at 730 yards AMR on my rangefinder to my right. My adrenaline peaked as I realized I was looking at a bull of a lifetime, but years of shooting practice kicked in. I quickly doped my gun and dropped him with my 7mm PRC - DRT. I practically sprinted downhill and uphill across the bowl to get to him. An unbelievable 7x7! I consider myself truly fortunate!

Freakin stud bull man!! Sure is a bull of a lifetime coming from otc public land!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bojangles21]

Congratulations!! What truck bed is that rack in? What brand?

It’s the factory bed on a dodge


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bleeb]

Freakin stud bull man!! Sure is a bull of a lifetime coming from otc public land!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks man! Yours is awesome too. The reason the take stats are so low on public land is that most hunters don't do what you do! Keep it up!

 

[Swampcruiser]

Nicely done fellas! I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was jealous. To get it done under that crazy pressure is quite an accomplishment. I talked to a C.O. In our unit checking tags in Southern Colorado who said he’d never seen it so heavy. The hunting sucked with no snow. I actually had a barely legal 3x4 in my scope that I was debating on shooting when shots rang out below me. In the end that lit bull ended up with somewhere around 10 shots. The bull was so weak someone called that CO to say a spike had been shot- that’s how I met the guy….lol.

 

[Bleeb]

Nicely done fellas! I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was jealous. To get it done under that crazy pressure is quite an accomplishment. I talked to a C.O. In our unit checking tags in Southern Colorado who said he’d never seen it so heavy. The hunting sucked with no snow. I actually had a barely legal 3x4 in my scope that I was debating on shooting when shots rang out below me. In the end that lit bull ended up with somewhere around 10 shots. The bull was so weak someone called that CO to say a spike had been shot- that’s how I met the guy….lol.

It took 3 of us, all over 55 years old, 9 hours to quarter and pack every bit of the meat out of the woods. It was brutal, especially for me as a lowlander living at 156' in elevation, lol. That is what one needs to prepare for when hunting backcountry though.

 

[Bojangles21]

Nicely done fellas! I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was jealous. To get it done under that crazy pressure is quite an accomplishment. I talked to a C.O. In our unit checking tags in Southern Colorado who said he’d never seen it so heavy. The hunting sucked with no snow. I actually had a barely legal 3x4 in my scope that I was debating on shooting when shots rang out below me. In the end that lit bull ended up with somewhere around 10 shots. The bull was so weak someone called that CO to say a spike had been shot- that’s how I met the guy….lol.

Thank ya! It feels good to get it done with little odds in your favor! I don’t have much experience here but it sure was busy as hell, crazy, you couldn’t even drive to a spot to start hiking without almost getting hit at least 10 times by speeders lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[il_cop]

Legit bull for anywhere in Colorado let alone OTC. Way to stay in it. Congrats.