elkhunterdan11
FNG
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2021
Long time reader, first time poster but felt the need to vent/contribute/seek advice…
Just got out of Colorado after 8 days (Sept 19-27) of archery elk hunting and wanted to share some observations and also ask for help in the future. For perspective I have killed 4 elk with a bow (2 bulls and 2 cows in ID and MT so I’m not a total rookie). I typically never talk unit numbers but for perspective (and bc I won’t ever be returning) I will just say it – I went to Colorado unit 21 in the western part of the state, north of Grand Junction and southeast of Rangely.
Day 1: drove into the spot I camped last year only to find a pickup and a tent already in that spot so I moved down to a smaller canyon and setup shop. My intent was to setup a base camp and either hike up the canyon each day or to drive to different canyons based on what I was seeing and hearing. I left camp around 330pm and hiked up into the canyon behind my camp and saw a ton of cattle sign but also a few elk tracks. I came upon a small creek and decided to setup an ambush. I hastily constructed a small blind from tree branches and shrubs, setup a trail camera on the stream and waited for an elk to wander by for a drink. After sitting there for about 2 hours I heard a bugle below me and rotated to get setup. The wind is blowing down the canyon towards the source of the bugle but I really don’t have anywhere else to move and still have a shot at the creek. The bugles continue every 5 min and get ever closer. I have my release on and am ready to come to full draw as the bugle sounds like its approaching 75 yards and then I see it – an older gentlemen in Vietnam era camo trumpeting on his bugle tube and walking up the trail. I wave to the guy and he comes to my blind. We chat and I ask if he’d seen my truck, to which he says yes but that he’s been hunting this canyon for 20 years. After explaining that I plan to sit the rest of the evening over the stream and expect to have elk come from up above the canyon (taking advantage of the down canyon thermals) – he replies “ok nice, I’m just going to keep hiking and bugling up this canyon”. WTF! I get that its public land but he is going to ruin any chance of an elk coming to my setup. I express my disdain but again he mentions something about 20 years and continues up the canyon. Needless to say I don’t see an elk that evening. Am I wrong to think that it’s rude or bad form for someone to park next to my pickup in a small canyon, walk up to me and then just continue by?? I know its public land but common courtesy should still prevail right?
Day 2: Decided to go sit on the stream again, hoping the guy wouldn’t return. I hiked in early – got settled in 45min before light. Just as shooting light started to gather I hear the same bugle. Same guy, same conversation! This time I know better than to sit there so I venture up one of the steep sides of the canyon – I figure why not try somewhere where some idiot isn’t’ making a ruckus. As I get to the top of the ridge I run into another….road. I had looked at OnX extensively but this road was not on the topo and wasn’t visible on the satellite, but it sure looked well-traveled. I dump off onto the far side of the road and setup a couple hundred yards down the far side on what appears to be a well-traveled trail. I’m not kidding you but no less than a dozen vehicles, mostly loud and obnoxious 2 stroke UTVs come cruising down that freaking road throughout the morning! Midday I continue to explore away from the road thinking the elk must not appreciate all that racket. I hike down another steep canyon probably 800’ down and then 800’ up the far side (thinking I can take advantage of the uphill thermals) but as I get to the far ridge I get to, you guessed it…another road! Out of frustration and knowing the thermals will eventually switch back downhill I go to the bottom of the canyon but again crickets for bugles and no elk sightings.
Day 3: I drove from my basecamp about 10 miles to a different ridge system to another spot that I e-scouted that looked great on the topo map with a big saddle and some lush vegetation (apparent on google earth). It took almost an hour in the dark driving on windy dirt roads and about 1.5 miles from the parking spot I selected I ran into a locked gate. Apparently a small strip of private land prevents access to tens of thousands of acres of public land – such BS! Needless to say it was almost light so I parked nearby and walked parallel with the private strip. Another 8 hours of bow hiking and no bugles or sightings to speak of.
Day 4: Tired from the previous day’s futile bow carrying expedition I decided to sit once again on my stream spot. But upon waking up I discovered a new truck parked just below my camp and no one occupying it. I hiked up to my blind in the dark – only to find a different man in his 50s sitting in my recently constructed blind! C’mon man! I chatted with him, told him I’d spent a couple hours making it, but he refused to move! More hiking, same result til evening. That evening I hiked to yet a different ridge and hiked along, bugling every 400 yards or so. About an hour before dark as I continued to work my way up the ridge I got a response. I bugled, it would bugle. I closed the distance to about 250 yards and I saw my first elk! Just a glimpse but it had to be a bull. I continued to sneak in closer and then started to hear a cow calling to my left. Still slinking yet closer to the bull, the cow continued to call closer too – and that’s when I saw 3 hunters walking in towards the bull from my left. They continued to call every 25 yards or so and each time they did the bull moved farther away from them (and from me). Eventually the wind swirled and the mountainside clearing event ensued.
Day 5: Checked the trail cam and had a small 4x4 drinking from the stream – only problem was that it was at 220AM! Sat the stream (this time with no company) all day anyways in hopes he would come back, but nothing.
Day 6: Drove in a completely different direction for 40 min to another good looking spot and started bugling my way up a canyon about an hour before light. Nothing. Took a nap midday and then worked my way up an adjacent canyon that evening. No bugles. At dusk I saw 5 (yes I said FIVE) headlamps in a congo line walking down the same canyon as me, bugling every couple hundred yards or so. I don’t know what these people were thinking – the thermals were coming down in the evening and they were walking with the wind directly at their backs – c’mon guys!!! Worse news was that there must have been a road up above on that ridge that I couldn’t see – back to the drawing board.
Day 7: Drove to yet another ridge and hiked in the dark along it, bugling every couple hundred yards, and you guessed it – hit another road! I sat a couple hundred feet below it and again – freaking dozens of UTVs and trucks blow past. It seems as soon as I get away from one road I’m just getting closer to another.
Day 8: Last day. I sat on my stream for the final morning because the 4x4 had been back on my trail cam – this time with 2 cows and a calf. As I sat there contemplating my despair I decided to start writing this up.
So questions:
Just got out of Colorado after 8 days (Sept 19-27) of archery elk hunting and wanted to share some observations and also ask for help in the future. For perspective I have killed 4 elk with a bow (2 bulls and 2 cows in ID and MT so I’m not a total rookie). I typically never talk unit numbers but for perspective (and bc I won’t ever be returning) I will just say it – I went to Colorado unit 21 in the western part of the state, north of Grand Junction and southeast of Rangely.
Day 1: drove into the spot I camped last year only to find a pickup and a tent already in that spot so I moved down to a smaller canyon and setup shop. My intent was to setup a base camp and either hike up the canyon each day or to drive to different canyons based on what I was seeing and hearing. I left camp around 330pm and hiked up into the canyon behind my camp and saw a ton of cattle sign but also a few elk tracks. I came upon a small creek and decided to setup an ambush. I hastily constructed a small blind from tree branches and shrubs, setup a trail camera on the stream and waited for an elk to wander by for a drink. After sitting there for about 2 hours I heard a bugle below me and rotated to get setup. The wind is blowing down the canyon towards the source of the bugle but I really don’t have anywhere else to move and still have a shot at the creek. The bugles continue every 5 min and get ever closer. I have my release on and am ready to come to full draw as the bugle sounds like its approaching 75 yards and then I see it – an older gentlemen in Vietnam era camo trumpeting on his bugle tube and walking up the trail. I wave to the guy and he comes to my blind. We chat and I ask if he’d seen my truck, to which he says yes but that he’s been hunting this canyon for 20 years. After explaining that I plan to sit the rest of the evening over the stream and expect to have elk come from up above the canyon (taking advantage of the down canyon thermals) – he replies “ok nice, I’m just going to keep hiking and bugling up this canyon”. WTF! I get that its public land but he is going to ruin any chance of an elk coming to my setup. I express my disdain but again he mentions something about 20 years and continues up the canyon. Needless to say I don’t see an elk that evening. Am I wrong to think that it’s rude or bad form for someone to park next to my pickup in a small canyon, walk up to me and then just continue by?? I know its public land but common courtesy should still prevail right?
Day 2: Decided to go sit on the stream again, hoping the guy wouldn’t return. I hiked in early – got settled in 45min before light. Just as shooting light started to gather I hear the same bugle. Same guy, same conversation! This time I know better than to sit there so I venture up one of the steep sides of the canyon – I figure why not try somewhere where some idiot isn’t’ making a ruckus. As I get to the top of the ridge I run into another….road. I had looked at OnX extensively but this road was not on the topo and wasn’t visible on the satellite, but it sure looked well-traveled. I dump off onto the far side of the road and setup a couple hundred yards down the far side on what appears to be a well-traveled trail. I’m not kidding you but no less than a dozen vehicles, mostly loud and obnoxious 2 stroke UTVs come cruising down that freaking road throughout the morning! Midday I continue to explore away from the road thinking the elk must not appreciate all that racket. I hike down another steep canyon probably 800’ down and then 800’ up the far side (thinking I can take advantage of the uphill thermals) but as I get to the far ridge I get to, you guessed it…another road! Out of frustration and knowing the thermals will eventually switch back downhill I go to the bottom of the canyon but again crickets for bugles and no elk sightings.
Day 3: I drove from my basecamp about 10 miles to a different ridge system to another spot that I e-scouted that looked great on the topo map with a big saddle and some lush vegetation (apparent on google earth). It took almost an hour in the dark driving on windy dirt roads and about 1.5 miles from the parking spot I selected I ran into a locked gate. Apparently a small strip of private land prevents access to tens of thousands of acres of public land – such BS! Needless to say it was almost light so I parked nearby and walked parallel with the private strip. Another 8 hours of bow hiking and no bugles or sightings to speak of.
Day 4: Tired from the previous day’s futile bow carrying expedition I decided to sit once again on my stream spot. But upon waking up I discovered a new truck parked just below my camp and no one occupying it. I hiked up to my blind in the dark – only to find a different man in his 50s sitting in my recently constructed blind! C’mon man! I chatted with him, told him I’d spent a couple hours making it, but he refused to move! More hiking, same result til evening. That evening I hiked to yet a different ridge and hiked along, bugling every 400 yards or so. About an hour before dark as I continued to work my way up the ridge I got a response. I bugled, it would bugle. I closed the distance to about 250 yards and I saw my first elk! Just a glimpse but it had to be a bull. I continued to sneak in closer and then started to hear a cow calling to my left. Still slinking yet closer to the bull, the cow continued to call closer too – and that’s when I saw 3 hunters walking in towards the bull from my left. They continued to call every 25 yards or so and each time they did the bull moved farther away from them (and from me). Eventually the wind swirled and the mountainside clearing event ensued.
Day 5: Checked the trail cam and had a small 4x4 drinking from the stream – only problem was that it was at 220AM! Sat the stream (this time with no company) all day anyways in hopes he would come back, but nothing.
Day 6: Drove in a completely different direction for 40 min to another good looking spot and started bugling my way up a canyon about an hour before light. Nothing. Took a nap midday and then worked my way up an adjacent canyon that evening. No bugles. At dusk I saw 5 (yes I said FIVE) headlamps in a congo line walking down the same canyon as me, bugling every couple hundred yards or so. I don’t know what these people were thinking – the thermals were coming down in the evening and they were walking with the wind directly at their backs – c’mon guys!!! Worse news was that there must have been a road up above on that ridge that I couldn’t see – back to the drawing board.
Day 7: Drove to yet another ridge and hiked in the dark along it, bugling every couple hundred yards, and you guessed it – hit another road! I sat a couple hundred feet below it and again – freaking dozens of UTVs and trucks blow past. It seems as soon as I get away from one road I’m just getting closer to another.
Day 8: Last day. I sat on my stream for the final morning because the 4x4 had been back on my trail cam – this time with 2 cows and a calf. As I sat there contemplating my despair I decided to start writing this up.
So questions:
- What overall did I do wrong?
- Am I wrong in thinking it is poor form to walk past someone’s truck and camp in a small canyon and bugle past them sitting on a stream?
- Am I wrong in thinking that the elk will hang out just in between the roads due to all the traffic and the inability to get away from roads? It seems as if I could never get more than a half mile away from one road before I closed in on another?
- Did anybody else experience and exceptionally quiet late September in CO this year??
- Is it odd that a small 4x4 was able to accumulate a “herd” in late September of 2 cows and a calf?
