# DIY Elk hunt in Colorado....



## ShoerFast

Good hunt this year!

Hunted GMU #4 this year, Second Rifle OTC Bull Elk. 

This was to be a working/hunting trip, as a few friends wanted help with horses to hunt the back country, it paid off!

Not really any time to scout the area, best chance looked (from the road) to be in a saddle that might funnel elk from the Craig Wild Bunch Outfitters, and elk pressured in Routt/Medicine Bow National Forrest. (I hunted public land open to anyone.) 

First day went well, breakfast @ 3:AM, horses saddled and hunters sent off by 4:30 AM, the ol Shoer set out on foot to find his spot. 

Heavy rain the day before the season, and heavy snow, a good promise that game would be on the move. Finding what looked good a good spot to take stand, 8:30am it was over! 

The only equipment you will need.....

Good enough rifle for a head shot (not recommended, but nice to know you can) 







Good knife to get the ball rolling.....






Good stock to pack your game out on. Better the stock, further back you can hunt. Note this ol stout mule, 'Tom' has all 4 quarters balanced! 






A little help around camp.....






Having had the heads up on the area, that it was not a trophy area, (link to what local Outfitters bag on private, lower your expectations on public land land: link ) to _"take the elk you would take on the last day of the season_", on the first day of the season, I am glad I took the advice! 






Good hunt, good eater!​
Of course I am biased, but it would be hard to beat a Colorado Elk hunt!


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## deeker

Looks like you had a great time!

Lots of hard earned memories and great elk meat, prefer elk to deer.

Nice bull, a 3x3? It is more the quality of the hunt and the memories that make a trophy hunt.

Start chasing the cow elk here again on the 24th.

Well? What about the shot? Rifle, cartridges/bullet's used...handloads? Or the sissified factory stuff?


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## LarryTheCableGuy

NICE! 

Rep sent!

*HI KEVIN!*


.


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## ShoerFast

deeker said:


> Looks like you had a great time!
> 
> Lots of hard earned memories and great elk meat, prefer elk to deer.
> 
> Nice bull, a 3x3?* It is more the quality of the hunt and the memories that make a trophy hunt.*
> 
> Start chasing the cow elk here again on the 24th.
> 
> Well? What about the shot? Rifle, cartridges/bullet's used...handloads? Or the sissified factory stuff?



Sissy stuff. 

I get a good flat primer with the sissy stuff, factory ammo shows the start of slight signs of excessive pressure. 

Been working on a rifle I got for a little more then an hours worth horseshoeing work, a cheep old (1965) Savage #110E in 7MM Rem-Mag. That turns out to be a real tack-driver! 

Worked up a spread of loads, but did not have the time for the range work. 

The rifle likes the lighter 140's a little more then 160's so settled for factory 140g Winchester Supreme, Werewolf bullets (Silver-tips) . 

It was a good shot, if I say so myself! 

Opening morning...

Seen a couple early bounces of elk, or the same elk a couple of times as it was still a little too dark. 

Quite for a while...
Then a couple calves came up a draw, crossing a couple dried up beaver-dams, just like planned/hoped for!, Then a couple cows, few more cows, spikes and calves. One good sized bull and one barley legal bull, a very small 4X , but not a lot of antler or body mass, Spindly would have been a good nick-name. I got a lot of good glimpses of the spindly bull, but never much of an out-line of the larger one. 

Watching all them with a pair of 10X's , the whole heard seemed to be confused about heading up the hill or back where they came from, they did seem to center in the middle of the old dam where I could not see most of them hidden in the depression. 

Convinced I would not take the little 4X, (sort of worried that some of the points would not even measure legal, or be longer then an inch) but looking him over, I seen the larger rack!

Dropping the binoculars when it was clear that my 'keeper' was in the mix. I looked at antlers so long my arms were tired holding the rifle on him. Switching to a rest (getting behind the log I was sitting on) the keeper was at the bottom of the old beaver dam, I had seen only antlers as the elk thought about what direction to go. 

Hoping they would come up the draw towards me, they started to move off away from me, as the keeper was heading away in the deepest part of the bowl, getting further away his head did get visible as he came out the other side, nice brow-tines came into view!

Safety-off, good cross-hair/target on his head, other then the distance it does not get any better! Not sure if I would ever see more of him, breathe, take a breath, let some out, tighten my rib-cage, I squeezed one off, and he dropped like a rock!


Mentioning a good hunt, in 10 years of guiding for others, I have never seen anything better! ​


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## KMB

Awesome and congrats! How many yards shot?

Kevin


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## ShoerFast

KMB said:


> Awesome and congrats! How many yards shot?
> 
> Kevin



Thank you!  

It was a ways! 

Just to say, if I knew the distance, before, I would not have taken the shot, or waited for a chance at a body shot. 

With some hold-over, (built into the scope) I did hit lower then planned, like 2" lower then planned (you can see the exit hole in the jaw), admitting luck is always a factor.


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## sbhooper

That is a pretty normal bull for that part of Colorado. I have hunted the California Park area north of Hayden many times and killed cows every time I hunted there. I would never pay for an out-of-state bull tag, however, as there are few decent bulls there. It is worth it for a resident, though. 

I once pushed a herd of 90 cows and a 6x6 bull to a kid from Pennsylvania. The bull was not even a good satellite bull in lots of places and he said it was the biggest one that he had ever seen there and he had hunted there a number of years. I also saw a 7x7 that was killed by a guide that would not even break 280. 

It is a great area if you want lots of elk and a high percentage chance at killing one, but it is not a quality area. We had lots of fun hunting there, but I got tired of the 3-mile packouts. Lots of people use horses where we hunted. 

My freezer was always full when I hunted northwest Colorado and do-it-yourself is always rewarding.


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## ShoerFast

sbhooper said:


> That is a pretty normal bull for that part of Colorado. I have hunted the California Park area north of Hayden many times and killed cows every time I hunted there. I would never pay for an out-of-state bull tag, however, as there are few decent bulls there. It is worth it for a resident, though.
> 
> I once pushed a herd of 90 cows and a 6x6 bull to a kid from Pennsylvania. The bull was not even a good satellite bull in lots of places and he said it was the biggest one that he had ever seen there and he had hunted there a number of years. I also saw a 7x7 that was killed by a guide that would not even break 280.
> 
> It is a great area if you want lots of elk and a high percentage chance at killing one, but it is not a quality area. We had lots of fun hunting there, but I got tired of the 3-mile packouts. Lots of people use horses where we hunted.
> 
> My freezer was always full when I hunted northwest Colorado and do-it-yourself is always rewarding.



Thank you! 

Very glad I got the heads up, I never hunted that corner of the state and would have easily passed on a 3X early the first day if in other areas. 

Every one in camp seen elk every day. We had a 12 year old that scored his first cow elk, and 3X4 deer! 

Not sure I could recommend a better area of this state for a combo deer-elk hunt? As there seems plenty of both.


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## sbhooper

There are some real good deer in that area, although I never saw them. I have to congratulate you on getting your elk on the second season. I hunted the conbined season the first year that I hunted there because two of my friends had both permits. BAD MISTAKE! The elk that had not fled to private ground were in the inpenetrable woods. I killed a calf on the sixth day of a seven-day hunt. One of my buddies killed a calf also and the other killed a great mule deer that was bigger than my elk! He did not find an elk, though. It was really tough and we hunted the first season after that bit of education. 

We hunted from dark til dark every day and it was one of the toughest hunts that I ever did. We had an absolute blast, though and I really saw lots of real estate on foot!


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## ShoerFast

sbhooper said:


> There are some real good deer in that area, although I never saw them. I have to congratulate you on getting your elk on the second season. I hunted the conbined season the first year that I hunted there because two of my friends had both permits. BAD MISTAKE! The elk that had not fled to private ground were in the inpenetrable woods. I killed a calf on the sixth day of a seven-day hunt. One of my buddies killed a calf also and the other killed a great mule deer that was bigger than my elk! He did not find an elk, though. It was really tough and we hunted the first season after that bit of education.
> 
> We hunted from dark til dark every day and it was *one of the toughest hunts that I ever did*. We had an absolute blast, though and I really saw lots of real estate on foot!



You hit on perhaps the very biggest reason, by a wide margin, why some hunters strike out?

Hunting is hard, period. Those that quit, or under work it, will reap the rewards. 

Last outfitter I worked for, a Guide Service, made no guarantee for game, but did promise in his mission statement that _"our guides work hard for you_" , most hunters were good with that. 

Getting up and out there seems something some forget, maintaining that first day enthusiasm after a couple days not seeing game. Most that drop the cause seem to convince themselves that they got skunked long before they got skunked. 

Last trip to Minnesota, whitetail hunt in timber-wolf country, last minute of what was going to be my last day of a week hunt. Skiing thermometer attached to the zipper of the outer-outer layer of 'everything I had' showed single digit temperatures. Two deer running at the extreme far edge of what you could see in the brush, one with it's (her) head down, the other with it's (his) head back, like he is guiding antlers through the brush. Scope up, antlers confirmed, (Bucks Only hunt) safety off, path opening showed up ahead of his moment, cross-hairs fixed, he came into the cross-hairs and boom! I could have been very content tossing wood on the fire back in camp, an out-of-state tag is too expensive for that. 

No sooner then I shot, my Dad radioed me asking if I shot? or if I was ready for him to pick me up so we could pack out.

Maybe not as hard a hunt, sitting in a stand waiting out a buck that 'was' actively tending 'scrapes' in an area. The time alone seems a waste when it has not produced, everything seems to second guess your best preseason plans.


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## tree md

LOL, love the first pic Shoe. Congrats buddy! That's a fine Elk!!!


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