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Preston arrives at 8 a.m. Saturday packed and ready. We meet up with Steve and he has had numerous encounters in the past 2 days but the Elk have not held up their end of the hunting agreement giving him a shot. Preston and I will head in to our water sources and Steve will hunt the Oak brush slopes until mid morning and then hike in and hunt a lower pond that Railsback discovered which is 300 yards below Bear pond. Minimal activity at the pond a few sparrows and that’s it. A slight breeze and the tree puts me to sleep momentarily. It can not be over emphasized you must wear the safety gear, I don’t even feel tired yet wow this tree stand stuff can lull you into too much swaying comfort. Each time I believe it is only momentarily as I would bolt awake believing I was falling when only my head would crash into my chest.
On the east side and part of the north side within 15 foot of Bear Pond there are literally hundreds of small Aspen tree’s 2 inches in diameter anywhere from 6 foot to 15 foot in height. Sometime later looking towards the pond I hear branches break and I see a brow tine above the saplings. Holy smokes, this is a monster Bull Elk coming in to the water if I can see a tine over the trees higher foliage. A few minutes go by and out steps a freaking Bull Moose! I was seeing one of his tines above the tree’s. (A little side note - D.O.W. reported after all hunting seasons here in Colorado, 10 Moose were “mistakenly” shot as Elk….sad, some have no right to be in the forest) Moose were introduced in Colorado some time ago. Approximately 17 of them were transplanted from Utah about 90 miles west of here on what is called the Grand Mesa near the city of Grand Junction.
-------------------- Schafer Silvertip 58" 61@28 Hunter Safety Certificate Bowhunter Safety Certificate Colorado Traditional Archers Society Colorado Bowhunters Associatio Pope & Young Club Posts: 570 | From: Silt, Colorado | Registered: Feb 2005
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Late afternoon 13 Turkey pay a visit to the pond. They are some noisy buggers. How come when I hunt them in the spring they are not so vocal. They jump on each other numerous times, mainly on each others head or backside and they slowly wander off. 15 minutes later in the direction the Turkeys first came I hear a branch break 2 times. 10 minutes later out steps a 2x2 Bull Elk. He continually looks behind himself as he approaches the pond. When I get an opportunity I get my Bow in position to draw in case another Bull happens to be following. The youngster gets to the ponds edge and paws his hoof into the ponds edge half a dozen times and stops. Lifts his head and stares right at me positioned 20 yards away. He backs out and proceeds to circle me anywhere from 30 yards to as close as 5 yards while browsing never giving me another thought and he ambles northward and disappears.
The next morning Steve, Preston and I plan to meet at 1 pm on a high saddle’s large bench to get a bite to eat together and chat about the mornings activities. Walking, stalking hunting to the saddle I feel slight tenderness in my right big toe. Upon arrival I am the only one there with mid 50F temperatures I remove boots and smart wool socks to investigate my feet. My right big toe is pretty swollen. They both show up and start discussing how slow the day has been with animal movement. Preston pulls his Gerber and asks if I want him to operate on my foot. Course not, let me borrow your knife. I put the smaller blade under the toe nail and a white liquid appears and the pain subsides immediately.
Preston states “Forgot to cut your toe nails a week ago like you told me to do, huh?” Steve then adds “ We don’t plan on having you cut up any food to share for lunch are we?
-------------------- Schafer Silvertip 58" 61@28 Hunter Safety Certificate Bowhunter Safety Certificate Colorado Traditional Archers Society Colorado Bowhunters Associatio Pope & Young Club Posts: 570 | From: Silt, Colorado | Registered: Feb 2005
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90 minutes later I am sitting in the tree stand and from the same location as yesterdays small Bull Elk out steps another small Bull. At the top of this ones right antler a tine juts out 5 inches horizontally. He also keeps looking back the direction he came. He circles the pond and enters it facing away from me. He jumps, splashes, hops and is having a grand old time in the water. He then wades to the edge closest to me and lays in the mud half in and half out of the water. He would put his neck on the mud/water for a few seconds and jerk his head up to look again from where he originally came. He did this ritual 4 times, stood up and shook like a dog and trotted to the west. Darkness comes and with it Preston. He saw a small 4x4 Bull accompanied by a cow and neither came closer than 50 yards. I said even though we are not hearing any bugling you want to have some fun time tomorrow morning to attempt to get some calling started. I get thumbs up so quickly in my headlamp I almost get hit. He then states that he is totally out of water. Oh, Oh! I pull my Camelback out and I have a fifth of my 100 ounce bladder full of water. Four or five years ago when we first came into this area we came via a road that has been closed since. We had to cross a small creek only ½ mile away, the opposite direction of our camp through some pretty nasty downed timber and up a couple of steep grades. We could go the 2 miles back to the pickup where we know the creek there is flowing well, but decide to do the short hike and take our chances. 45 minutes later we arrive sweating heavily to a dry creek bed. Plan number 2 is that we go back to camp, split the water immediately to quench our thirst and get up even earlier and hike out to our pickup. 3:30 a.m arrives early and we are off heading to a known water source near our pickup. My Katadyn has one hose in the water and the other in Preston’s mouth and I pump furiously and he just glug, glugs it down at the creeks edge. We fill our water bladders and drink water until we can’t drink any more. We luckily still had one 2.5 gallon water container still in its package in the pickup so we fill it up as well and put it into my backpack for the hike back into camp. This water container goes into the tent for safe keeping from gnawing teeth. Back at camp, a little gorp and 2 energy bars for both of us and we venture farther into the high country in search of some Elk.
-------------------- Schafer Silvertip 58" 61@28 Hunter Safety Certificate Bowhunter Safety Certificate Colorado Traditional Archers Society Colorado Bowhunters Associatio Pope & Young Club Posts: 570 | From: Silt, Colorado | Registered: Feb 2005
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90 minutes later and 2 drainages further than we had previously been this year we get a bugling response from our cow calls far off in the distance. We proceed about another 200 yards and call again. We get a response from across the forested canyon that is in front of us and moments later another response really close. Preston gets in front of 2 small 6 foot Pine trees and I trot back about 50 yards behind him. We get responses for 30 minutes from the other side of the canyon though the close one never sounds off again. I walk up to Preston and we see 3 branch antlered bull Elk “together” that are crossing a clearing ½ a mile away and across the canyon. Too far and too late to get there. I pull out my GPS and small topo that I printed out at home to mark the location where we saw these Elk. It is good to know where the Elk are but its also good to know where we are. Part of staying found while in the forest, having a good idea of where you are at all times. We start to head back to the saddle about 1 mile away to hopefully meet up with Steve. I have a cow call in my mouth and call constantly as we walk, especially if we misstep and break a small stick. Due to the steep grade we are climbing we only go 15 steps give or take at a time and rest 45-90 seconds to keep the heart rate down and not sweat (so much). The third time we stop, we are standing there only 10 seconds. Preston looking south me looking north only 3 feet from each other. Preston whispers” Don’t move there is an Elk only 20 yards away”. It was a young Bull with both antlers 3 foot high and 3, 3 inch tines coming off each antler. It hung around us for 5 minutes with me cow calling every 5 seconds the entire time. When the Elk left Preston said “I tried my best to make him grow another tine, darn it”. That evening I tell Preston when he comes by the tree stand that I am going to leave my heavy backpack up here in the tree stand. I will just wear a heavy wool shirt over me on the way out and back. I have enough water in my Camelback so I will be set for the next day and not be as warm coming in. He agree’s and decides to do the same. I already had my pack in the stand harnessed so I climb back up, hoist his up and attach his to the tree as well. The next morning in we see with our headlamps wet Bear tracks coming out of the pond heading in the direction of the tree stand. In the mornings darkness we see Preston’s pack hanging down, but still harnessed in. There are claw marks on the tree and 5 minor puncture marks in his pack. We apparently just missed this recent visitor.
-------------------- Schafer Silvertip 58" 61@28 Hunter Safety Certificate Bowhunter Safety Certificate Colorado Traditional Archers Society Colorado Bowhunters Associatio Pope & Young Club Posts: 570 | From: Silt, Colorado | Registered: Feb 2005
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The next two days were totally uneventful except for the Turkey always making an appearance somewhere on the mountainside. The following morning we packed up camp as Preston had to go back to work. After dropping him off at his home I paid a visit to Railsbacks archery shop to purchase a bow tip protector, some Muskrat fibers for a string silencer and of course tell and hear some hunting tales. While chatting with him another customer comes in and after some time the guy asks Rails back “When you going out again?”. “Don’t know. Business is not real overwhelming now with everybody out hunting”. I asked “Want to come with me to hunt Oner Creek tomorrow?” True hunter that he is, he does not take a breath. “What time you going to pick me up?” 3:50 a.m. I round the corner to Railsback’s place and he is standing in the middle of the road drinking coffee. My dogs will wake my wife, so this is better for loading my gear. He had hunted this creek drainage previously last week and saw a really nice Bear and some Mule Deer. We were at the trailhead by 5:15 a.m. and we see only one campsite and there is a light on. Moments later a fellow from Minnesotta comes over to ask us of our plans as its only him and his brother and he is tagged out already. Railsback tells him we are heading west and they had planned on going north so this works out great we won’t be stepping on each others toes. They state they have heard considerable early morning bugles and seen 3 Bear in 4 days. We slowly trudge uphill into the forest as the darkness continues to linger. We hit a good sized park (clearing) ½ mile in and wait for shooting light before we make our presence known with an Elk cow call. It makes sense to utilize the cow call first rather than a bugle to locate. Why put out a challenge when a Bull could be close by with cows and then just herd them up and vacate the area. Better to say here we are, we want to meet you, not fight you. I hit the hand held reed call and we get an immediate response about 200 yards north of our location. Railsback goes forward 25 yards and I retreat about the same distance to start calling. The Elk and I “talk” back and fourth for 40 minutes before he goes silent for one of the many reasons they detect us. We observe a cattle trail and decide to just follow this all the while cow calling until another opportunity arises or we decide to venture off trail. I seldom hunt with anyone besides Preston so its unusual to see someone go slower than me. I would be going about 50 yards in 10 minutes and Railsback would be 25 yards behind me. About the 4th time this happened I mentioned this to him and he states “ I am in no hurry, I enjoy the journey and this country each time out even more”. We go off trail through some Aspens and over 2 knolls and enter a park about twice the size of a football field. The Aspens are 20 feet apart in this park so visibility is pretty good. We are almost all the way through the park and I see movement up ahead. A large Bull Moose coming right at us. I turn to whisper to Railsback and he is 20 yards back behind me. The Moose angles uphill away from us very slowly and before I know it Railsback is at my side. The Moose stops 50 yards away and apparently never gives us a thought. I state “I am going to have some fun and do something I have seen on a hunting tape”. I put my Bow with attached quiver over my head and walk towards him maybe 10 yards while rocking the bow back and forth. I stop …close enough for me and mouth out braaah, braaah to which the Moose makes the same noise back at me! Holy cow, this works.
-------------------- Schafer Silvertip 58" 61@28 Hunter Safety Certificate Bowhunter Safety Certificate Colorado Traditional Archers Society Colorado Bowhunters Associatio Pope & Young Club Posts: 570 | From: Silt, Colorado | Registered: Feb 2005
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