Colorado 1st Rifle Elk 2018

[JHW809]

Great write up!! Congrats

 

[lgrayutk]

The local guys are rolling. I tell him that I killed a nice bull and he immediately calls bullshit. We’re then jumping up and down like a couple of kids on a trampoline after I show him the picture of the bull. We get the truck situated, eat a quick bite, pack only the necessities for breaking him down, pass around the Knob Creek for fortitude with the locals and head on down the trail.

We take some poorly lit photos and break down the bull in between hand and feet warmings with intermittent small fires. Because of the temperature, we actually enjoyed the 80-90 lb pack out. We get back to the truck around midnight with the first load of boned out meat.The truck thermometer registers 5 degrees, so we abandoned the idea of the truck top covered bed and slept in the cab.
View attachment 107015
View attachment 107016
Daylight arrives a few hours later finding us on the trail again. We get the last load of meat back. We discuss hunting for a few hours, but because his knees were done, Abbhudson decided to hang back and get the truck organized while I went back for the head. We would then head home. On the way back to the truck with the head completing 8 miles for the morning, all I could think about was a Dave’s Triple from Wendy’s.
View attachment 107017View attachment 107018
View attachment 107019
We loaded everything up, dropped the retropharyngeal lymph nodes at the local CPW outfit for CWD testing, and dropped the head off with the taxidermist for a Euro mount. We hit up the closest Wendy’s for that Triple and were on the road by 2 pm MT. Twenty seven straight hours later, we were in Guntersville, AL. We split the meat 50/50 and I proceeded that last grueling 5 hours of I-20 through horrible Atlanta traffic back to Columbia, SC. I pulled up at 6 pm Wednesday night, ate some dinner, and face planted in the bed for 15 hours. Luckily I didn’t have to go back to work until Saturday!

In summary, this was an amazing, roller-coaster of a trip. We saw beautiful scenery, experienced misery and gladness, and LEARNED a lot. I think it’s everything that one should expect on their 1st DIY Western Public Land elk hunt. In hindsight, Abbhusdon and I probably should have allotted two whole days for travel out there to prevent exhaustion right out of the gate. Neither of us slept well in the car, which hurt us in the long run. Also, I don’t think it’s possible to be in too good of shape. We both were and experienced some suckage. Altitude literally sucks if you aren’t used to it. Driving out there and spending a couple of days helped with the transition. I would encourage anyone not used to altitude to check with their doctor about dorzolamide to prevent Altitude Sickness. It helped for us.

As I’ve written a novella, I’m going to wrap it up. If anyone has questions about the trip (other than coordinates or exact locations) feel free to shoot me a message. It was quite an experience for a newbie! This site definitely helped with what to expect and gear to take.

Good luck this coming season! Fortunately for the elk, it will be a while for me!

Any advice on units 21 and 22 for a first time western elk hunter?

 

[Doc Holliday]

Great write up, and congratulations!

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[NDhunter1978]

Great story and congratulations!

 

[Tufrthnails]

Nice bulls. I’ll definitely sit down and read the whole story tonight when I got a little more time.

 

[dr.mooseknuckles]

Any advice on units 21 and 22 for a first time western elk hunter?

Pick at least 5 different general areas on a map, get out there a few days before the opener and scout.

 

[Kenai_dtracker]

It's nice to take a lunch break and find a thread like this! Great job, and I know that feeling of the first elk, as I did my first DIY OTC hunt this past fall! Thanks for the great story!