My first DIY backpack Elk hunt is over, I am sore, my right foot has quit a blister and I am exhausted after getting home at 4am getting in the truck yesterday morning at 9:30.
Lessons learned.
When the lines are that close together on a topo map. DO not plan on climbing out of it with an elk. We arrived day 1 hit the mountain headed down and was planning on climbing back up the mountain on the other side of the drain. Getting down without rolling down was a miracle of god. climbing back up 2K feet was not really realistic.
With backpacking equipment you get what you pay for.
Night one the zipper was trashed on my buddy's brand new Magellen 0 degree sleeping bag. I had the exact bag. The temps did not even get to freezing and I like to froze to death. After that night I was sleeping in base layer, and wool socks.
Do not get so focused on a plan that you throw reality out the window.
When going in blind I guess the only thing I had was google earth and various map studying. We parked the truck and dove in, a little real time scouting scoping etc would have saved me 4 days at low elevations and likely put me in contact with the herd we spotted yesterday.
Even for backpack hunters side by sides are a good tool. We took a 3/4 ton duramax crew cab on some trails marked jeep only with 2 atvs sitting in Texas. Next time we will not.
Saturday mid morning we arrived got to the top of the mountain via truck, about a 1/2 mile short of where I had planned on parking truck and hitting the trial. (there was a sign that said no motorized vehicles past this point. I realized quickly that this was widely ignored.) We hit the trail, my fellow flat lander liked to passed out before we got to the top of the first ridge. When we got to the bottom of the drain I thought I was further east than I was so we hooked a left looking for a place where two drains come together. After a few miles we realized we where going the wrong direction I doubled back, wanting to double time it. My buddy said he thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest and was done. Much to my dismay I stopped well before dark and set up camp. The next morning we got up broke down camp and hit the trail. About a mile in we accidently got pretty close to some elk. We heard some hoofs hitting rocks I assumed it was mule deer but a few moments later we walked into the infamous elk smell. I believe that was the closest encounter with elk that we had, and was at or around 9,500 feet. We continued the hike to a series of small meadows I had found on maps. We set up camp above the smallest and went and did some looking around. The largest meadow (less than 2 acres my guess) was covered on elk sign. Tracks, poop, you could see where bulls had thrashed those small bushes that the elk eat on in those meadows, fresh poop still soft not all dry. I just knew the elk were using this meadow in the evening and that the well defined trails coming from the ridge above would be covered in elk heading to the valley at sun set. Well they never came, and the next morning there was nothing in it either. the light frost on the ground would have given away any movement in the meadow and it was obvious that they were not in it. So we got some branches and covered the tracks in the sand where they crossed the creek to see if we could get fresh tracks.
Our next move was to follow the trails heading up the ridge. After a fairly easy climb we were at 10,600 ish. The ridge was that ridge that you hope to find a, rub on every other tree.. There were trails going in every which direction just beaten down earth every where. rubs rubs rubs. I just knew that this was the place. The only real troubling thing was that there was not one rub that I could without a doubt say was this year. So we got the wind in our favor and started moving up the ridge doing some cow calling hoping to pull game out of the dark timber below. Never heard or saw anything and with lightening heading our way I decided to double time it back down. We sat in the meadow yet another night not to see or hear an elk. No fresh tracks in the sand I decided that we needed to wake up Tuesday Morning and head back to the truck and do some glassing from above.
So Tuesday we spend 5 hours on the accent straight up back to the truck. It was a difficult hike as I knew it was when we went down it. I was sure glad I opted for the last minute purchase of walking sticks. When we got back to the truck a group of guys that we spoke with when we parked the truck waved us down. They could not believe a couple dummies had went to the bottom of that drain and back up they were pretty impressed and being from washington I took it as a compliment even though it was foolish. They were Muzzle loader hunting for Muleys and told us where they had glassed elk every day for the last couple days at timberline. After some studying of maps and talking of trail conditions we headed down the mountain and headed around to the back side to access the hight country from another rd. We got to the parking spot which was about tree line about an hour before dark. So we threw on our packs and headed for the ridge that they had been glassing from hoping to catch a glimpse of elk so we would have an idea where to look in the am. No such luck back to the truck for a cold night sleeping in a semi reclined position.
So we wake up yesterday morning and head for the ridge, on the walk over I got excited as I heard what I believe was 2 different bulls bugle. We set up on ridge and they are no where to be found through the Lieca's. I glassed for over and hour and finally at a very very very far distance ridge I finally set my eyes on my first Colorado Bull elk. I pulled the binos from my eyes and say there is a bull on that ridge. My buddy replied well thats plenty close. It took me almost 5 minutes to find him again as I had to wait for him to move he was so far away. After finding him he was def in a herd and the head honcho. After a brief discussion we realized that they were nearly a days hike away. To hunt that herd we would not realistically leave Colorado till Friday and with the shape of his bag camping at 12,500 was not a reality so we kept glassing the timber hoping to find a closer herd. We could never catch movement and there was no way of getting to the timber on the opposite ridge with the wind in our favor.
After several hours on the ridge I came to the realization that I had been defeated. It dang near brought a tear to my eye having found a herd and having to admit that i could not hunt it. I pouted all the way back to the truck threw my gear in and pointed that truck south East.
I will be back, and I feel like I learned a few small lessons. While I have many more to learn I hope next time to have a closer encounter with an elk, and at least have the hair on my neck stand up.
Lessons learned.
When the lines are that close together on a topo map. DO not plan on climbing out of it with an elk. We arrived day 1 hit the mountain headed down and was planning on climbing back up the mountain on the other side of the drain. Getting down without rolling down was a miracle of god. climbing back up 2K feet was not really realistic.
With backpacking equipment you get what you pay for.
Night one the zipper was trashed on my buddy's brand new Magellen 0 degree sleeping bag. I had the exact bag. The temps did not even get to freezing and I like to froze to death. After that night I was sleeping in base layer, and wool socks.
Do not get so focused on a plan that you throw reality out the window.
When going in blind I guess the only thing I had was google earth and various map studying. We parked the truck and dove in, a little real time scouting scoping etc would have saved me 4 days at low elevations and likely put me in contact with the herd we spotted yesterday.
Even for backpack hunters side by sides are a good tool. We took a 3/4 ton duramax crew cab on some trails marked jeep only with 2 atvs sitting in Texas. Next time we will not.
Saturday mid morning we arrived got to the top of the mountain via truck, about a 1/2 mile short of where I had planned on parking truck and hitting the trial. (there was a sign that said no motorized vehicles past this point. I realized quickly that this was widely ignored.) We hit the trail, my fellow flat lander liked to passed out before we got to the top of the first ridge. When we got to the bottom of the drain I thought I was further east than I was so we hooked a left looking for a place where two drains come together. After a few miles we realized we where going the wrong direction I doubled back, wanting to double time it. My buddy said he thought his heart was going to jump out of his chest and was done. Much to my dismay I stopped well before dark and set up camp. The next morning we got up broke down camp and hit the trail. About a mile in we accidently got pretty close to some elk. We heard some hoofs hitting rocks I assumed it was mule deer but a few moments later we walked into the infamous elk smell. I believe that was the closest encounter with elk that we had, and was at or around 9,500 feet. We continued the hike to a series of small meadows I had found on maps. We set up camp above the smallest and went and did some looking around. The largest meadow (less than 2 acres my guess) was covered on elk sign. Tracks, poop, you could see where bulls had thrashed those small bushes that the elk eat on in those meadows, fresh poop still soft not all dry. I just knew the elk were using this meadow in the evening and that the well defined trails coming from the ridge above would be covered in elk heading to the valley at sun set. Well they never came, and the next morning there was nothing in it either. the light frost on the ground would have given away any movement in the meadow and it was obvious that they were not in it. So we got some branches and covered the tracks in the sand where they crossed the creek to see if we could get fresh tracks.
Our next move was to follow the trails heading up the ridge. After a fairly easy climb we were at 10,600 ish. The ridge was that ridge that you hope to find a, rub on every other tree.. There were trails going in every which direction just beaten down earth every where. rubs rubs rubs. I just knew that this was the place. The only real troubling thing was that there was not one rub that I could without a doubt say was this year. So we got the wind in our favor and started moving up the ridge doing some cow calling hoping to pull game out of the dark timber below. Never heard or saw anything and with lightening heading our way I decided to double time it back down. We sat in the meadow yet another night not to see or hear an elk. No fresh tracks in the sand I decided that we needed to wake up Tuesday Morning and head back to the truck and do some glassing from above.
So Tuesday we spend 5 hours on the accent straight up back to the truck. It was a difficult hike as I knew it was when we went down it. I was sure glad I opted for the last minute purchase of walking sticks. When we got back to the truck a group of guys that we spoke with when we parked the truck waved us down. They could not believe a couple dummies had went to the bottom of that drain and back up they were pretty impressed and being from washington I took it as a compliment even though it was foolish. They were Muzzle loader hunting for Muleys and told us where they had glassed elk every day for the last couple days at timberline. After some studying of maps and talking of trail conditions we headed down the mountain and headed around to the back side to access the hight country from another rd. We got to the parking spot which was about tree line about an hour before dark. So we threw on our packs and headed for the ridge that they had been glassing from hoping to catch a glimpse of elk so we would have an idea where to look in the am. No such luck back to the truck for a cold night sleeping in a semi reclined position.
So we wake up yesterday morning and head for the ridge, on the walk over I got excited as I heard what I believe was 2 different bulls bugle. We set up on ridge and they are no where to be found through the Lieca's. I glassed for over and hour and finally at a very very very far distance ridge I finally set my eyes on my first Colorado Bull elk. I pulled the binos from my eyes and say there is a bull on that ridge. My buddy replied well thats plenty close. It took me almost 5 minutes to find him again as I had to wait for him to move he was so far away. After finding him he was def in a herd and the head honcho. After a brief discussion we realized that they were nearly a days hike away. To hunt that herd we would not realistically leave Colorado till Friday and with the shape of his bag camping at 12,500 was not a reality so we kept glassing the timber hoping to find a closer herd. We could never catch movement and there was no way of getting to the timber on the opposite ridge with the wind in our favor.
After several hours on the ridge I came to the realization that I had been defeated. It dang near brought a tear to my eye having found a herd and having to admit that i could not hunt it. I pouted all the way back to the truck threw my gear in and pointed that truck south East.
I will be back, and I feel like I learned a few small lessons. While I have many more to learn I hope next time to have a closer encounter with an elk, and at least have the hair on my neck stand up.
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. The surest way to fail is to never try so I'm giving myself a shot at success as did you . Great hunt and you'll be able to hunt elk sooooo much more effectively with a year of digesting what you learned this year.
