CrzyTrekker
WKR
My buddy (user name Landmark) took his first elk this year. He took a beautiful 6x6 during Colorado's first rifle season! We had a great hunt and I am posting a few of my pictures from the trip with his blessing.
Landmark and I went on a backpack elk hunt last year, but circumstances prevented him from shooting an elk. Another friend of ours realized 24 hours into the hunt that backpack hunting during a blizzard, on the Continental Divide, was too much for him, and Landmark generously offered to drive him back to the Denver area, effectively losing a full day. While Landmark was on the highway last year I took a 4x4 bull just a few hundred yards from my 4-Man Tipi. That bull had friends with him so it was unfortunate Landmark wasn't there. Landmark arrived back in camp in time to help pack elk quarters.
Landmark is a great friend, so I really wanted to see him kill an elk this year. We trained all year for our 2013 hunt. We both ran and lifted weights each week, and Landmark took it upon himself to become proficient at backcountry navigation, including running a couple orienteering events hosted by the Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club. By the time August arrived we were both ready to go and armed with elk tags (although I only had a cow tag for 1st rifle season).
In August we set out on a weekend scouting trip and did a full cross-country traverse of our intended hunting area. We glassed a herd of elk, and busted a few more out of their beds during that trip. In September I was able to go muzzleloader hunting in the same area over two weekends, and saw a couple nice bulls (armed with a cow muzzleloader tag!).
By the time October rolled around I couldn't wait to load up my pack and get moving. I had to work the Friday before the season opened, so Landmark carried my 4-Man Tipi and K stove high onto the mountain, assessed conditions and set up camp above a spring. He made a sat phone call that afternoon to confirm the coordinates of our campsite. I parked my Jeep at dusk and used my Garmin eTrex 20 to navigate the 4 miles to camp. That night we saw two or three inches of snow, which ramped up my expectations for the morning!
At first light we began hunting in the fog and almost immediately glassed a herd of elk moving out of our unit. We glassed another lone cow down in the valley below. For a short while we tried to locate a lone bull that had been bugling and realized that it, too, had moved out of our unit. We hunted for several hours and returned to the tipi for lunch.
Landmark and I went on a backpack elk hunt last year, but circumstances prevented him from shooting an elk. Another friend of ours realized 24 hours into the hunt that backpack hunting during a blizzard, on the Continental Divide, was too much for him, and Landmark generously offered to drive him back to the Denver area, effectively losing a full day. While Landmark was on the highway last year I took a 4x4 bull just a few hundred yards from my 4-Man Tipi. That bull had friends with him so it was unfortunate Landmark wasn't there. Landmark arrived back in camp in time to help pack elk quarters.
Landmark is a great friend, so I really wanted to see him kill an elk this year. We trained all year for our 2013 hunt. We both ran and lifted weights each week, and Landmark took it upon himself to become proficient at backcountry navigation, including running a couple orienteering events hosted by the Rocky Mountain Orienteering Club. By the time August arrived we were both ready to go and armed with elk tags (although I only had a cow tag for 1st rifle season).
In August we set out on a weekend scouting trip and did a full cross-country traverse of our intended hunting area. We glassed a herd of elk, and busted a few more out of their beds during that trip. In September I was able to go muzzleloader hunting in the same area over two weekends, and saw a couple nice bulls (armed with a cow muzzleloader tag!).
By the time October rolled around I couldn't wait to load up my pack and get moving. I had to work the Friday before the season opened, so Landmark carried my 4-Man Tipi and K stove high onto the mountain, assessed conditions and set up camp above a spring. He made a sat phone call that afternoon to confirm the coordinates of our campsite. I parked my Jeep at dusk and used my Garmin eTrex 20 to navigate the 4 miles to camp. That night we saw two or three inches of snow, which ramped up my expectations for the morning!
At first light we began hunting in the fog and almost immediately glassed a herd of elk moving out of our unit. We glassed another lone cow down in the valley below. For a short while we tried to locate a lone bull that had been bugling and realized that it, too, had moved out of our unit. We hunted for several hours and returned to the tipi for lunch.
), while he grabbed his rifle. I stepped outside to see three big bulls trotting past the tipi! Armed with a cow tag, I yelled at Mark to shoot, shoot, shoot! Mark took aim at the leader, and biggest bull, and squeezed the trigger. Mark's bullet perforated both lungs on that bull just before it crested over a small grassy ledge and disappeared out of sight.
