MountainMan83
FNG
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2022
- Messages
- 71
This story is not about a monster bull but a personal best. I have been hunting a 2nd season OTC unit in Colorado for the past 13 years. I never grew up hunting but started in my late 20s when I went to school for nutrition and the idea of sourcing my own high quality meat sparked my interest. My good friend at the time let me tag along but I always made it a point to find my own spots and often hunted alone.
This year, I had been hunting hard for 6 days. Cruising around to about 4-5 different spots where I had frequently seen elk or sign. My unit offers minimal glassing points so much of my hunting strategy is still hunting to a few different spots and sitting….freeze my butt off until I can’t take it anymore and then hiking to the next spot to warm back up. This year the sign was minimal but I had found a fresh bed Wednesday morning after a fresh snow and followed tracks into some dark timber. This was almost the exact spot I had bumped into a few bulls two years prior and harvested a small 5.
Thursday morning I started out with my buddy but 30 minutes into the hike I noticed his bolt was open and ice had frozen his bullet in the barrel preventing the bolt from shutting. He had to go back to camp to fix his rifle but I encouraged him to follow my tracks in to a spot I like to sit. I sat an Aspen grove I had harvested a couple elk previously without any luck. After the morning sit I made my way across the mountain planning to still hunt a few areas I like. I caught some movement in the timber only to see a bull moose bed down. I decide to sit, eat some snacks, and rest my legs while observing the moose. I was shocked at how much movement and noise the moose let me get away with just 150 yards away. Eventually he saw me and took off, so I did the same.
I made my way back toward the spot where I saw the tracks the day prior and tried to connect with my friend who ended up back at camp. I found a nice spot to sit in view of the timber where I followed the tracks into previously. Around 445p, two bulls came cruising out of the timber and actually crossed my tracks about 100 yards below me. The lead bull knew something was up as he sniffed my tracks and started to look around. I knew I had to capitalize. He was quartering to. So I blasted him in the front shoulder. He barely flinched as I reloaded and tried to figure out if I hit him. Both bulls turned and casually headed up back into the timber. I tried to keep track of the one I shot at and then noticed one limping. Before he could make it out of sight he stopped broadside but covered by trees. I frantically butt scooted until I had a shooting lane and shot again. He briefly went out of sight, but then I heard a crash and saw a flash of tan run back into the trees (the other bull).
I was fairly confident he was down and absolutely elated! I grabbed my gear and headed over. This was my 7th elk and 5th bull in 13 years of hunting- not bad for a city boy - in a unit that has less than 10% success rate. I attribute my success to grinding it out day after day, and learning from my past experiences. Just wanted to share and hopefully inspire others to keep hunting hard.
I packed out two hind quarters, one at a time and then took a couple llamas to help with the rest. It was their first time packing elk (only 3 years old) and they did great!
This year, I had been hunting hard for 6 days. Cruising around to about 4-5 different spots where I had frequently seen elk or sign. My unit offers minimal glassing points so much of my hunting strategy is still hunting to a few different spots and sitting….freeze my butt off until I can’t take it anymore and then hiking to the next spot to warm back up. This year the sign was minimal but I had found a fresh bed Wednesday morning after a fresh snow and followed tracks into some dark timber. This was almost the exact spot I had bumped into a few bulls two years prior and harvested a small 5.
Thursday morning I started out with my buddy but 30 minutes into the hike I noticed his bolt was open and ice had frozen his bullet in the barrel preventing the bolt from shutting. He had to go back to camp to fix his rifle but I encouraged him to follow my tracks in to a spot I like to sit. I sat an Aspen grove I had harvested a couple elk previously without any luck. After the morning sit I made my way across the mountain planning to still hunt a few areas I like. I caught some movement in the timber only to see a bull moose bed down. I decide to sit, eat some snacks, and rest my legs while observing the moose. I was shocked at how much movement and noise the moose let me get away with just 150 yards away. Eventually he saw me and took off, so I did the same.
I made my way back toward the spot where I saw the tracks the day prior and tried to connect with my friend who ended up back at camp. I found a nice spot to sit in view of the timber where I followed the tracks into previously. Around 445p, two bulls came cruising out of the timber and actually crossed my tracks about 100 yards below me. The lead bull knew something was up as he sniffed my tracks and started to look around. I knew I had to capitalize. He was quartering to. So I blasted him in the front shoulder. He barely flinched as I reloaded and tried to figure out if I hit him. Both bulls turned and casually headed up back into the timber. I tried to keep track of the one I shot at and then noticed one limping. Before he could make it out of sight he stopped broadside but covered by trees. I frantically butt scooted until I had a shooting lane and shot again. He briefly went out of sight, but then I heard a crash and saw a flash of tan run back into the trees (the other bull).
I was fairly confident he was down and absolutely elated! I grabbed my gear and headed over. This was my 7th elk and 5th bull in 13 years of hunting- not bad for a city boy - in a unit that has less than 10% success rate. I attribute my success to grinding it out day after day, and learning from my past experiences. Just wanted to share and hopefully inspire others to keep hunting hard.
I packed out two hind quarters, one at a time and then took a couple llamas to help with the rest. It was their first time packing elk (only 3 years old) and they did great!
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