I have done a lot of backpacking over the years. I don't think I ever went just for the "hike". There were some hikes in there just to look around but there was also something to hunt or somewhere to fish. I always said I would hike just about anywhere if the fishing was there.
Whittled a plug... you stayed calm, developed a solution and moved on like McGyver. No panicking. You are an elk hunter. Not everyone is like that.
that is just true in general, not just in the woods..... I have met guys, think they are well suited for a position we're trying to fill, and they are breaking the first day of work, and it's not even a hard day.... I have been really surprised a few times on the ocean.... their appearance and character make you think they will do good, but they break way easier than the guy who doesn't look in shape and timid.
Being someone who went on his first elk hunt this past September I will be happy to tell you what was on my list.
Since this was the first time my son and I had gone on an elk hunt we had modest goals. They were to hear an elk bugle, call an elk and get a response either by it calling back or coming in, confirming that my research could give us an opportunity for success, and the ultimate goal of successfully killing an elk any elk.
We drove from NJ to NW Colorado and pulled into a area you could camp off a Major Highway after driving 36 hours with a two hour nap thrown in there. I drove 30 hours of that and my son drove 2 hours. We left the NJ shore the wednesday before the archery opener at 6 am and arrived in our camp at 4:30 pm mtn time the next day. My son wanted to check out the woods near camp before we set up base camp. We hiked down a game trail about 100 yards and came upon a rock outcropping overlooking a drainage. We weren't in Colorado 10 minutes and as we looked out over the valley we heard 3 bulls calling from the next ridge over. Goal number one accomplished. We were like little kids with excitement. My 100 plus hours of research in where to go and looking at google earth looked like we would be in the game! We went back to the truck and set up camp and started dinner. I pulled out my bugle just as the sun was setting and I blew it and had 4 different bulls respond! Two were where we first heard them when we got there and then 1 further downstream and 1 further upstream. Goal number two completed and we hadn't been in Colorado more than 3 hours!
The next morning we dropped down into the drainage to scout and we discovered that Topo Maps lie when it comes to perception of steepness! LOL. The drainage creek crossing we found to get to the next ridge took an hour and 20 minutes to get too. It was only a .6 mile walk of sidehilling on game trails through 6 feet tall ferns and blowdowns and 950 feet vertical drop. We found tons of old elk poop as went moved down the hill into the timber we found more fresher and not dried out like we found near our camp. We found a trail on the other side of the creek that we followed upstream towards where we heard the majority of the elk the night before. We didn't want to push the elk out by going to far into the timber and made our way back to camp and to town get our licenses.
Opening morning we were up about 2 hours before light and left shortly after. Making our way down the drainage was much harder in the dark and it took us almost 2 hours to get to the bottom tripping over the blowdowns I broke one of my trekking poles but it kept me from falling down a 8-10 foot drop off along the game trail. We got to the bottom just after first lite. I pulled out my bugle and called. I got a response downstream so rather than going upstream like the plan originally was I followed the sound. This turned out to be a mistake because after we made it about 3/4 of a mile we cliffed out. The ridge opposite our camp was too steep to continue and there was a rock cliff on the camp side that was probably 50 feet vertical and the stream was too fast to cross safely. We turned around and made it back to the creek crossing and had just crossed back across to follow down on that side. Just as we got there we saw another hunter coming down the trail from where we originally had planned on hunting and he had a 1/4 sticking out of his pack.
He hung his 1/4 on a tree when he saw us and came across to greet us. When he got to us he said "oh shit you're not my friends". He was expecting friends to help him pack out his cow. We talked for a while and he told us where he shot the cow and it was exactly the area we planned on going but screwed up by going down stream. But this proved goal number 3 that my research had been right on picking a good spot to hunt! As we talked he told me that he had been hunting that drainage for 10 years on opening weekend and had never seen anyone there before us. He asked about where else we had planned to go and I discussed my top 5 places I had picked on google and he said I had really done my homework because he had killed elk in 4 of my top 5 areas. He told me some tips on easier access to two of them and said to us as his friends got there that if any out of towners deserved to get an elk it was us. At this point we parted ways and my son and I made our way back up the mountain to camp. That .6 mile hike with 40 pounds of bivy camp vs. the day before with my whitetail day pack and a bunch of water turned a little over an hour hike into an almost 3 hour sufferfest with the temperature that day peaking at 91 degrees and a peak heart rate on my fit bit of 196!
After he got the cow on the opener we planned on going back to that spot after giving it a couple days rest. Day two we checked out a spot he told us about near our camp and an area I had picked out just coming in from a different direction than I had originally planned. At the trailhead we met 3 hunters from Michigan . One had been coming for 5 years and had only seen one elk in that time and the other two had been coming for three years and had never seen or heard one. We found sign but no elk. Day three we went to an area that he showed me on my map that would get us to where he hunted the opener but it would be about a 4 mile hike in but much less steep. As I was putting on my pack I threw out my back and had to call off the morning hunt. We drove into town and had breakfast and my back felt better. After breakfast my back was feeling better but I was concerned going to my first spot was going to be too strenuous so we went to my third spot picked out and found a lot of sign along a park that had a couple heavily traveled water holes. We sat at the water from about 10 am and a few minutes before 12 we hear a cow call and we see a cow making her way down the hill towards us at about 80 yards. Just after that the wind shifted and went from a steady wind parallelling the base of the ridge to blowing hard uphill to her and she was gone instantly. We saw a few mulies over the rest of the day.
On day 4 we planned on trying to get back to spot number one. Unfortunately my son woke up with a puffy face, his eyes nearly swollen shut , pounding headache and nausea. He had altitude sickness! We were hunting between 7500 and 10,000 feet with our camp at 8450 feet. I dove him in to town to get him lower which was about 6500 feet. After 4 hours he wasn't any better. At that time I felt if we didn't leav he would be in the hospital 2000 miles from home. We drove back to camp and packed up with him on the verge of crying because as he said " I screwed up your hunt". I told him he didn't and pointed out that we really didn't expect to get an elk on our first trip and then pointed out our little wins. The elk calling not ten minutes after getting there, The elk calling back to my bugles and the day before we almost had an opportunity!
Considering we had never done this before and almost got it done in what turned out to be a long weekend I am confident that with a little luck and enough time the two guys from the Jersey shore can get it done in the Rocky Mountains!
This is the drainage.
Totally true, but the issue and fear of the backcountry soft leftist granola hikers survive in all year. The knowledge and grit to get an elk totally true.
