What a week in Northwest Colorado. My brother and I joined 3 buddies for our second elk and mule deer hunt during the 3rd rifle season.
Opening day I was able to wrap my tag around my first ever elk, a pretty solid 5x5. We were in elk all day long and were a random cloud of fog rolling in from pulling off a triple on 3 really nice bulls that were together. By the time the fog moved out, the bulls had moved over the ridge and we were unable to catch up to them. I notched my tag just before dark that day and of course the bull fell into a hellhole that took 5 grown men 4 hours to get out. One of the physically hardest things I’ve ever done, but so worth it!
The next day, two guys in our group laid down a couple of nice mule deer.
Day 3, I absolutely blew it on a really nice 4x4 mule deer that busted me after I tried to move into position on him. Patience got the best of me and he hopefully lives another year. Should be a stud next year. However, not long after I blew it, my brother called me and told me he had a mulie on the ground after a 315 yard shot from his 7mm PRC. I asked him if he needed help getting the deer out, and he told me he was going to continue to sit and watch for elk. I told him he was crazy because as I already said patience is not quite a virtue of mine and I’d wanna go see my deer. An hour later he called me and he was pumped like I’ve never heard him before. He had made an incredible shot on a 5x5 bull that had been spooked by other hunters. One sit, and both of his tags were filled!
Day 4 I went back after the mule deer I screwed up on the day before and was unable to locate him where I thought he would be. After the sun got too high to scan the ridges and draws where I thought he was, I moved to another spot that normally holds deer and quickly found some does. While glassing the does, a solid 4x4 came walking out of some scrub oaks checking on them. With another snowstorm blowing in, I decided he would look and taste much better than my tag, and one 245 yard shot from my 7mm PRC tumbled him down the hill. Wouldn’t you know it, after getting him back to camp, the big buck I had been looking for came out pushing some does right outside the house. Again, there’s that patience thing I was talking about
Still super happy with my buck!
Yesterday morning was our last morning to hunt, and we still had 3 elk tags to fill. I went with a buddy of mine to help him try to find a bull. He had hunted SO hard all week and the elk had become scarce after being hunted the past few days. While watching 3 spikes on the hillside across from us, a coyote ran by me at 15 yards. It spotted me and turned straight down the hill away from us. A few minutes later, I spotted a bull walking out of the thicket presumably after the coyote got him up from his bed. I could tell he was a shooter with my naked eye, so I quickly went to my buddy around the hillside to tell him I found one worth shooting. Two shots later and he closed out our trip with a beautiful 7x6 bull.
All in all, it was an incredible trip with 7 out of 9 tags filled in 4.5 days of hunting. The memories made and the meals that will come from this truckload will last a long long time, and I’m thankful I got to do it with these guys who mean so much to me!
Opening day I was able to wrap my tag around my first ever elk, a pretty solid 5x5. We were in elk all day long and were a random cloud of fog rolling in from pulling off a triple on 3 really nice bulls that were together. By the time the fog moved out, the bulls had moved over the ridge and we were unable to catch up to them. I notched my tag just before dark that day and of course the bull fell into a hellhole that took 5 grown men 4 hours to get out. One of the physically hardest things I’ve ever done, but so worth it!
The next day, two guys in our group laid down a couple of nice mule deer.
Day 3, I absolutely blew it on a really nice 4x4 mule deer that busted me after I tried to move into position on him. Patience got the best of me and he hopefully lives another year. Should be a stud next year. However, not long after I blew it, my brother called me and told me he had a mulie on the ground after a 315 yard shot from his 7mm PRC. I asked him if he needed help getting the deer out, and he told me he was going to continue to sit and watch for elk. I told him he was crazy because as I already said patience is not quite a virtue of mine and I’d wanna go see my deer. An hour later he called me and he was pumped like I’ve never heard him before. He had made an incredible shot on a 5x5 bull that had been spooked by other hunters. One sit, and both of his tags were filled!
Day 4 I went back after the mule deer I screwed up on the day before and was unable to locate him where I thought he would be. After the sun got too high to scan the ridges and draws where I thought he was, I moved to another spot that normally holds deer and quickly found some does. While glassing the does, a solid 4x4 came walking out of some scrub oaks checking on them. With another snowstorm blowing in, I decided he would look and taste much better than my tag, and one 245 yard shot from my 7mm PRC tumbled him down the hill. Wouldn’t you know it, after getting him back to camp, the big buck I had been looking for came out pushing some does right outside the house. Again, there’s that patience thing I was talking about
Still super happy with my buck!Yesterday morning was our last morning to hunt, and we still had 3 elk tags to fill. I went with a buddy of mine to help him try to find a bull. He had hunted SO hard all week and the elk had become scarce after being hunted the past few days. While watching 3 spikes on the hillside across from us, a coyote ran by me at 15 yards. It spotted me and turned straight down the hill away from us. A few minutes later, I spotted a bull walking out of the thicket presumably after the coyote got him up from his bed. I could tell he was a shooter with my naked eye, so I quickly went to my buddy around the hillside to tell him I found one worth shooting. Two shots later and he closed out our trip with a beautiful 7x6 bull.
All in all, it was an incredible trip with 7 out of 9 tags filled in 4.5 days of hunting. The memories made and the meals that will come from this truckload will last a long long time, and I’m thankful I got to do it with these guys who mean so much to me!
