gledeasy
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2015
- Messages
- 268
Our trips to CO have quickly became my favorites. This year my youngest boy would be old enough to try and draw his first tag. We initially planned on hunting 2nd season due to other hunt conflicts. However, when app season approached I found I was wrong in my thinking for age requirements. This forced us into going for a 3rd season tag. We had a list of about a dozen possible opportunity hunts to try. I had my boys pick their favorite number on the list and our apps were in.
When tag numbers came out, I knew we picked the right unit for possibly getting a tag. Sure enough, we all drew tags.
We planned on making the trip to CO after the Monday evening hunt of my brothers UT elk tag. Things were working out great to keep on schedule as my brother harvested his bull at noon Monday. But things took a bad turn on the pack out when my brother hurt his knee and fell. We eventually made it out with the bull at midnight. We decided to take the day to regroup, even if that meant losing a hunting day.
Things almost came together on the first morning on a great buck. However, the unfamiliarity of the area concerning property boundaries kept us from pulling the trigger. We spent the day driving, looking, and learning the area. One thing was for sure, these deer were very educated.
Day 2 we found an area with no roads and hiked in. Right off the bat we found a buck that wasn't doing very well. Watching it and looking for other hunters who may have initially shot it, we decided to put it out of its misery. My boy had been telling me his first buck was going to be a 4 point, so was stoked when he walked up to it and saw it had four points.
Later that evening my brother and I doubled up on bucks. Hind sight I wish I would have had my other boy shoot this buck. In the moment there was a mix of trying to coordinate the 1.2.3, the buck coming in and out of trees, and thinking he was bigger than he was that led to me taking the shot.
The last morning we found a couple of good bucks hanging on the edge of huntable ground. Rather than waiting them out, my boy indicated that he got everything he wanted out of the hunt. We went back to camp, packed everything up, only to find out we had a dead battery. I was glad we hadn't waited until later to find out this information as we were able to find a nice young man willing to jump start us. Sometimes we get hung up on all the negatives, but there is still a lot of good in this world. Thank you again kind sir.
