Heading West Tomorrow....Got Elk?

[ccm75]

So after 1.5 years of talking, researching, planning, buying, practicing and training - A buddy and I are heading to western CO for a OTC, DIY elk archery hunt. (either sex)

Driving to upstate NY tomorrow, picking him up and then heading out on a 30 hour drive in my 2019 F150 with cap.

We are both age 56, went to HS together and have been deer hunting partners since we were kids....Now, our kids are grown or in college and it's time to go.
Self-employed, with supportive wives so we have a lot of flexibility and no rush to get there or return, hopefully.

We've both killed our share of whitetails with a bow but have never hunted out west.
The rut should be kicking in around 2nd week of September.

We've been training pretty hard for 9 months and shooting almost daily. I'm down 20 lbs, gained some muscle and have been either hiking with 60 pound pack or running five - six miles 4-5 days a week.
Lots of weight training and stretching. I actually think I'm in the best shape I've been in in a decade.......And I feel confident with my bow out to 50-55 yds.

Wow...I cant believe it's actually time to hit the road. And thankful that we have both stayed healthy and injury free up til now.

The drive is going to suck, especially coming back.
But we decided to go DIY, backpacking and taking all that's needed - driving seemed like to best option.

We know the altitude is going to kick our flatlander asses, but we'll take it slow and see how it goes.....Will be packing in and working out of 2-3 day base camp or camp near truck when we can.
My buddy has put a ton of hours into finding (e-scouting) public land with good territory and access and hopefully not too many ATV's and horse trails. I'm sure things will look a lot different once we get out there but we are prepared to stay mobile and adapt as needed.

We expect to see more hunters than elk but hope to get off the beaten path and go deep and stay deep if we need to.....
Taking our fishing poles and cameras.

Been back and fourth on the pistol issue.
Crossing NY with a stay over is not legal, I assume the same for multiple other states due to being from a non-reciprocity state.
No brown bears where we'll be only food/meat stealing black bears and mountain lions. We have spray.

I will be happy if I see an elk.
I will be real happy if I have the chance to pull my bow back.

If nothing else, maybe we can catch a few trout and come home with some nice photos.

Hope to be sharing some pics with ya'll in about 2 weeks or so.

Cheers

 

[Sparkey]

Good Luck and enjoy! Sounds like a awesome trip. will be waiting to hear the post trip report

 

[Chris M.]

Good for you. Nothin' like a road trip. Good luck!

 

[trackah]

You have done your work, time to go out and reap the benefits. Best of luck, looking forward to some pictures!

 

[Mudflap621]

Best of luck and safe travels. I look forward to lots of pictures upon your return and I believe your going out with a great attitude and will have an awesome time.

 

[MG2112]

Sounds like a blast. Good luck

 

[Mountain]

Sounds like an awesome trip! Impressed that you had the foresight to get in shape for it. Also smart that you trained with a heavy pack- I assume in the boots you will use for your trip? Besides a good fitting pack that distributes the load properly, quality boots that fit correctly and are broken in are crucial. I bet you know that, LOL.

Dad and my uncle used to make that trip though they were only driving from the midwest. They used to run in order to be able to handle the terrain in elk country. Unfortunately Dad passed just as I had finished college and I didn't get the chance to make that trip with him, but I have done extensive multi-week high altitude treks in the Rockies. So long as the mountain lions don't see you as 'easy pickings' they will leave you alone. If you have to cover ground at night, stay together. You'll see their eyes reflected back from your light- it's kinda freaky but 99 times out of 100 they'll only follow from a distance. Be sure to use good bear country practices- food and anything that smells up high in a bag at night and no food smells in the tent including any clothes that might smell like food.

What are your plans for water? Have a good filter that can be back-washed? Seems like most filtration units folks buy are OK for a couple days but not weeks- even some of the ones from MSR, Katadyn, etc. Treatment tablets are good for backup but keep in mind that some larger organisms if not prefiltered out can be tough to zap.

I'm jealous- enjoy! Looking forward to stories and pics.

 

[Mark from MA]

Good luck. You are doing it right. Always take care of the family first. It does get harder when your older though.

I'm a little younger than you but alot like you, have shot a bunch of WT, yet never could justifly college funds or money for kids/family to use for hunting out west.

Ive paid the mortgage, and one more year and my last kid out of college, if all is going well, Ill be looking to head out west to do some hunting.

Hope you have a good hunt, just being out there is a blast. I went to Yellowstone about 6 years ago, and its awesome.

 

[Dennis in MA]

So after 1.5 years of talking, researching, planning, buying, practicing and training - A buddy and I are heading to western CO for a OTC, DIY elk archery hunt. (either sex)

I love hunting, but if given a choice, I almost always pick sex.

Good luck! Staysafe!!!

 

[Patrick M]

Enjoy sounds like an awesome trip. I hope someday to do the same. Can’t wait to see pics of your adventures

 

[dhuze]

Good luck. The elevation is tough. I've mostly hunted Mule deer in Colorado. The first year even rolling over in the cot got me winded.

I have had awesome luck with deer out there. I elk hunted Once after a forest fire burned out half our hunting area and I failed to draw a deer tag. I got a cow tag and wouldn't you know it, I came across a 5X5 bull elk that stood in the wide open watching me watch him. He'd eat a little then stare at me some more. He was 50 yards, and well within my archery ability. The only cow I saw was 80 yards and I can't shoot that far. 60 is my max on elk and maybe 50 on a good deer.

Sadly my brother passed away and I stopped going out there. This is the week we go. Opening day for archery on deer and elk is the last Saturday of August.


This is the elk I couldn't shoot.

 

[HorizontalHunter]

Good luck. Have a great trip.

Bob

 

[01906]

Wow! Sounds like a trip of a lifetime enjoy yourself. Hopefully you put one down. Looking forward to seeing some pics either way.

 

[cams]

Sounds like a blast. Spent a few weeks over the summer wandering CO, WY and MT.

The air gets tough, we found some recreational cans of O2 for sale at one of the visitor centers. Laughed and said ya why not we’ll try it. Picked up 3 cans, small and light right into the ruck (each has a small face covering to help inhale).

At first you don’t notice any difference, we expected an instant high type of feeling but you don’t get that, but as you’re on the move and getting winded with climbs, it def helped. Calmed your rate of breaths down, and made it easier to get moving again. Look around when you get out there, I’d bet a lot of places sell it and it’s worth picking up a couple cans each.

Other tips I’d offer is lip balm and sunscreen. It was hot AF during the day (July) and dry AF.
2-3 days after I got into the mountains my lips were actually bleeding they had cracked so much. Lip balm was huge and welcomed.

Enjoy it, it’s gorgeous.

 

[ccm75]

So after 1.5 years of talking, researching, planning, buying, practicing and training - A buddy and I are heading to western CO for a OTC, DIY elk archery hunt. (either sex)

Driving to upstate NY tomorrow, picking him up and then heading out on a 30 hour drive in my 2019 F150 with cap.

We are both age 56, went to HS together and have been deer hunting partners since we were kids....Now, our kids are grown or in college and it's time to go.
Self-employed, with supportive wives so we have a lot of flexibility and no rush to get there or return, hopefully.

We've both killed our share of whitetails with a bow but have never hunted out west.
The rut should be kicking in around 2nd week of September.

We've been training pretty hard for 9 months and shooting almost daily. I'm down 20 lbs, gained some muscle and have been either hiking with 60 pound pack or running five - six miles 4-5 days a week.
Lots of weight training and stretching. I actually think I'm in the best shape I've been in in a decade.......And I feel confident with my bow out to 50-55 yds.

Wow...I cant believe it's actually time to hit the road. And thankful that we have both stayed healthy and injury free up til now.

The drive is going to suck, especially coming back.
But we decided to go DIY, backpacking and taking all that's needed - driving seemed like to best option.

We know the altitude is going to kick our flatlander asses, but we'll take it slow and see how it goes.....Will be packing in and working out of 2-3 day base camp or camp near truck when we can.
My buddy has put a ton of hours into finding (e-scouting) public land with good territory and access and hopefully not too many ATV's and horse trails. I'm sure things will look a lot different once we get out there but we are prepared to stay mobile and adapt as needed.

We expect to see more hunters than elk but hope to get off the beaten path and go deep and stay deep if we need to.....
Taking our fishing poles and cameras.

Been back and fourth on the pistol issue.
Crossing NY with a stay over is not legal, I assume the same for multiple other states due to being from a non-reciprocity state.
No brown bears where we'll be only food/meat stealing black bears and mountain lions. We have spray.

I will be happy if I see an elk.
I will be real happy if I have the chance to pull my bow back.

If nothing else, maybe we can catch a few trout and come home with some nice photos.

Hope to be sharing some pics with ya'll in about 2 weeks or so.

Cheers

~~ Back in MA.

Had a great time but came home with empty meat coolers.
All the training paid off. We could not have done the hiking and climbing we did without it.

Started off camping at 9,000' 2 miles from the truck left at a trailhead.
Stayed there 3 nights, got into some elk in a drainage on Monday afternoon. Ran out of water and daylight - long hike back to camp arriving at 8pm.
We broke camp the next morning due to storm coming in and we did not want to get frozen to mountain and stuck up there with impassable road.
Forecast was for heavy rain all afternoon, snow and temps dropping into 20's and that's what happened.
Went down into Ouray, hotel, hot shower and a burger and beer.

Then we drove west to unit 62, we should have gone back up into Cow Creek Pass (Unit 65)......... Unit 65 is very steep and high. We ascended 1,200' two days in a row going from our camp at 9k up to 10,200'......Pushed ourselves to the max and had a chance for success but for the storm and running out of daylight.
Have not worked that hard since my Infantry days in the late 80's...
In 62 we felt like kings as we were able to camp near truck. It was cold and wet for 3-4 days..........Area was blown out so we went back up to 65, Cow Creek for one more night, a long morning hunt and then packed up and headed home.........Over ten days in the field, one night in a hotel. Nice to be back in a real bed!

Learned a great deal.
Met some nice people. Huge data upload for our next trip.
Mountain House makes a great freeze dried meal.......

First part of trip was hot and dry. We carried 4 liters of water and then filtered from creeks.
Hottest day I drank five liters of water before I had to pee.......
Water and charged cell phones for "OnX"Maps" was priority.

Interesting part of the country and cool to be above 9k' for so long in the treeline.
Surprised to see beef cows grazing wild for the summer up to 11,000'. Had to get off the trail one time as 2 bulls (beef) were fighting in front of some cows. They were all riled up so we gave them a wide berth. Some tender young beef calves running around up there - backstraps? You'd hear something crashing thru the woods and a black angus would pop out.
The elk coexist and we ran into a guy who had shot a cow elk that was hanging near some beef cattle.

Anyway, disappointing to not bring home some meat but a great recon for next trip.
In units 62 &65, only 10-12% of OTC public land hunters are successful. May accumulate some points for a limited hunted next time around.

I'm obviously no expert but if anyone has a question - fire away....

Cheers

 

[dhuze]

It sounds like a typical do it yourself elk hunt. If it doesn't snow during hunting season it hails about 6".

The best time to bow hunt is the week of opening season. Elk act like white tailed deer. They generally follow (roughly) the same trails and they will run away as soon as they see a person. Sometimes they will run through the woods like a freight train crushing trees and other times they can run through the woods and not make a sound.

The trick to climbing those steep hills is small steps and take your time. It's even more fun when carrying out Elk. Quarter them up and make 5 trips. 6 if you are keeping the head. Bring trash bags so you can carry quarters without blood running down your back too and to put the back straps and tenderloins in.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Nice trip. Sorry it didn't 100% pan out but as Jeff Cooper always said, "I had a great day. I was hunting."

Mountain House makes a great freeze dried meal.......

Yes they do. Top quality stuff. I think I've got 10-15 yrs left on the stuff I laid up in the basement. I don't expect to ever need it, but it's nice to know I've got a pile of food if necessary.

My kids always got a kick out of the spaceman ice cream. But their pouches (And #10 cans for that matter) are pretty tasty.

 

[Mark from MA]

Nice. First DIY elk hunt. Yeah....most end with no meat. But good memories......

 

[1776]

You didn't bring a Bambi?

 

[Admin]

Sounds like a good time to me.

 

[DJBrad]

Went down into Ouray, hotel, hot shower and a burger and beer.
Cheers

Sounds like a great time!

 

[Cartoons]

Did you save room on the way back for... Elk?