MO Sherpa and elk

[Shaun]

"I spend two weeks doing this and 50 weeks preparing to do it again," John told me.

I am in two states of mind as penning of this tale begins...

-the first is a profound sense of gratitude for the invite to participate in another grand adventure and memories that were added to my retirement fund.

-the second is a new understanding of the word tired. I have done my best to keep up with a pair of 50ish mountain men in steep country, ridden horses for 30 miles and camped at the altitude that airliners descend to when they loose cabin pressure.

What a week! The short version is three flat landers hunt CO public ground (8% archery success), one shot and meat in the cooler. The fact that the shot was taken with a training bow is mitigated by the 8 yard range, mechanical malfunction that put the arrow a full foot from the intended mark, a shaft guided by the Great Spirit and most of all a new convert to traditional archery as a result.

I have chores to do and maybe some rest but for now I will leave you with the beginning and the end, the Alpha and Omega. I will return to fill in the whole tale with lots of pictures and I am sure that my new blood brothers John and Eric will chime in as they catch up.

Starting up from the trail head

 

Last morning in "Happy Valley"

 

[steadman]

Love that last pic!!

[Ringneck]

Awesome!

[4runr]

Dang, Shaun, cannot wait for the inbetween!      

[fatman]

what a great "teaser"

Can wait for the story, Shaun
   

Kevin

[Over&Under]

That last pic is amazing!!!!!!

I am definatly looking forward to the rest!!!!!

[tradtusker]

glade you guys got back safe!
by the sounds you had a great time wish i could have been there with you.

looking forward to the stories and more pics
       

[Irish]

That sure looks like a 6x6 rack in the lower left corner of the picture.  This is going to be a great story.

[flint kemper]

WOW, WOW that is all I can say what beauty. Look forward to the rest of the story. Flint

[Chris Surtees]

Great pic's,,,can not wait to hear the rest of the story.

[MJB]

       

[Steve O]

Shaun,

You can't be doing anything outside...I pulled in there at 2am Friday to set some stands and it has been pouring rain since then...let's see more pics!

[Shaun]

Hey Gang, I'm back.

I was the weak link in camp this trip and is was humbling to teeter on the edge of cardiac seizure with gasping breath while John and Eric calmly chatted and waited for me to recover enough to climb another 20 yards of 45 degree hillside. But I got used to it and got better as the week progressed. I do have a skill that I could lend and it is butchering. Well, I volunteered to handle the meat and am pleased to report that it only took 5 hours to process, vacuum seal and label the prime cuts and trim all the grindings. Our bounty is now in the freezer awaiting distribution.

Back to the story for a bit till the tiredness overcomes the caffeine.

[kennym]

Shaun ,can't wait !! Type faster,I leave soon for hopefully some of the same!!

[Shaun]

I managed to keep my journal in a timely fashion so this can go in more or less chronological order.

The pregame story is that the Sherpa attended the Texas Sweat last winter and we met. I was pleasantly surprised in April to get an offer to join his annual pilgrimage to elk country when one of his regular partners canceled. Took me about 15 seconds to respond in the affirmative.

A couple visits to John's mini ranch in the Des Moines area to ride a bit - a good idea if you don't have much time in the saddle - and to plan the trip laid the groundwork. It was decided that I would drive out John's car and meet him at the trail head when he came down from week one spent with his son Jacob. Jacob would then drive the car home and get back to school leaving me to ride back with the truck and horses after the hunt.

Friday Sept 5th.

Long but uneventful drive to Denver and a night in a motel. The clouds prevented me seeing the looming Rockies that usually emerge from western horizon on the last leg of the trip.

Saturday Sept 6th.

Swing by DIA to pick up Eric Neilson from his early flight up from Austin. Eric is a neighbor and long time hunting partner of John's who has recently moved to Texas.

Finally turning west again the first view of the Continental Divide is for me always a rush, with just a hint of white on the highest peaks and a visible tree line that marks the limit of anything like spring and summer weather.

Eric knew the way to the town and trial head so he drove and I got to sight see up through the passes west to elk country. A note that one condition of joining the hunt was that good elk spots are like good places to pick morel mushrooms. Though the land we hunted is public, I was asked to keep the exact location of our adventure private. Fair warning, names used for landmarks in this tale will all be fictitious.

[Shaun]

John called to report he and Jacob had come down Friday night to clean up and get a bed and served meal. They would meet us at the horses.

We arrived at the nearest town and bought over the counter archery elk tags and misc small game and fishing permits. All legal and squared away we proceeded to the trial head parking lot.

Lamas, mules and back to horses, John has a passion for training stock and it culminates in elk camp pack trips. He had brought a string of seven quarter horses and they were dressed and ready for work soon after we parked.

The first week report was lots of action with no shots taken. Jacob's first week of elk hunting had included a less than 10 yard encounter with a bull that locked eye-to-eye and froze him in place unable draw. John described the bull as "the biggest bull in Colorado." They both seemed entirely pleased with their week of hunting and we had high hopes for the week to come.

John in his element getting the pack string set up as Eric watches

 

Son Jacob helping out and hanging around till we are set up and on the trail

 

[Shaun]

We saddled up and made it a few hundred yards before Fritz had a minor blow up with resulting rodeo to get the cobwebs cleared and remind us that riding horses is not like driving a car. With some delay to tighten straps and untangle the pack string we were off again and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way to camp.

The trail starts off civilized (see first photo) and becomes more remote, narrower and sometimes switch back steep as we climbed towards camp. I was riding right to left when I took this picture of John headed back left to right on a steep section

 

[Littlefeather]

Too cool!  

[Shaun]

If you live in Iowa and hunt out west, you scout with maps. John had shown me the topo's he used and the spot he planned to camp when I visited his home. No amount of squiggly lined paper maps or even Google Earth fly bys can prepare one for the first glimpse of the special valley he had chosen for base.

 

And what a treat to hop off my horse (OK, belly flop on the saddle and ease to the ground to stand in place feeling like I was about to take my first baby step again after almost 60 years) and see camp all set up and the promise of a place to sleep later.

 

[Shaun]

We unpacked the horses, stacked saddles, turned the stock loose to graze, stowed our kits and unpacked the bows. With a few hours of daylight left we headed afield. Our first evening of elk hunting we worked the left edge of this valley paralleling Lightning Bolt Creek through the timber and stopping to set up and call every few hundred yards. They had had elk encounters right here in the valley last week and we were too done in to climb anyway.

Here's the method. Eric and I would move out 50 yards ahead and spread out on point. John would then call several quiet estrus cow whines, wait a few minutes and then make one non challenging high bugle, then another wait and a few more more plaintive cow calls. If nothing happened after another few minutes, we move forward.

We worked this slope for a couple hours and returned to camp for the first of our nightly meals in the pyramid tent where the Sherpa chefed and slept and then off to bed early. My field notes read, "Short hunt along the creek bottom then to bed real tired." HAH! I was to learn that you can get a lot more tired than that!