5 days, 6 nights in Elk country...

[Hooked]

Day 3:

About noon on day 2 Gary was glassing the mountainside across the valley and spotted a cow elk.  So that is where we headed on day 3.  Our plan was to get up before daylight and be at the top about first light.  Unfortunately, our alarm clock (my cousin) failed to wake us up.  We left camp at first light and went straight up the slope.  From about 8900 feet to about 9600.  We took our time so as not to be to winded when we hit the top.

The slope we were climbing had scattered aspens and/or junipers that were still very small.  It was covered with tall grass.

About 15 yards from the top, where the tree line started, we had our first elk encounter.  Several cows mewing from the trees above us.  We moved slowly to the nearest trees for cover and talked back and forth with them for awhile.  The trees and brush in this area were thick so we never saw them.  We heard them move off down the ridge to the West, mewing and cracking lots of sticks on their way.  Unfortunately, the wind was not in our favor to follow them.  

After stopping to take some pics of the awesome view, we decided to head North through the timber then West and hope to run into them again with good wind direction.

 

 

We worked our way North through the timber.  The topo showed a meadow in that direction, so we headed towards it.  Before finding the meadow we stumbled upon an open area with real damp soft ground and decided there had to be a wallow nearby.  A few steps into the area we found the first.  There were actually two or three scattered around.

 

If you look closely in the center of the wallow you will see where two rain drops had just hit.  The first two days had been beautiful.  We thought maybe this would be one of those isolated thunderstorms that are frequent in September in Colorado.  We put on our rain gear and found positions on either side if that wallow to sit for awhile.  Probably 45 minutes later the rain was still steady.

About that time I noticed a huge evergreen tree behind me that was completely dry underneath.  I quickly relocated!  Gary saw me move and headed over to see what I was up to.  While we both had rain gear on we were still getting pretty chilled.  I suggested we clear a small area under the tree, find some rocks, and make a fire.  Found some good lighter wood from the bottom of recently fallen tree and we were in business!  Only took us a box of waterproof matches to get her going.  Next time I will have a lighter along with the waterproof matches!

I can't tell how great that little fire was!!!  It turned a pretty dreary afternoon into a great experience!  We sat there for another couple hours until the rain stopped about 4pm.

 

 

[Hooked]

Before leaving the area we looked around and found a couple more wallows.  We hoped for better weather the next couple of days so that we could take advantage of our find!  We made our way over to the meadow on the topo.  Once we found the meadow we decided to do a little calling.  I believe we had answers from cows in atleast three directions.  Unfortunately, we never saw the ghosts of the mountains.  Just heard them!

We made our way Southwest to the ridge and worked our way back to where we had climbed the slope.  We had just enough light to enjoy the view again before heading down to camp.

 

 

 

 

[Hooked]

Day 4:

Today we would be hunting with my cousin, little did we know what we were in for!  He put us through an endurance challenge that would have killed many a lesser man.  In addition, we woke to a blanket of white stuff with more falling from the sky.

My cousin roused us at 5am.  We want to hit his tent where he was making coffee and instant oatmeal.  He said I have good news and I have bad news.  The good news is the coffee and oatmeal is ready, the bad news is I set my clock wrong, it is actually 4am.  Oh well!  Gave us more time to enjoy the warmth of the wood burning stove!

 

The snow brought a new feel to the place!  And excited us with the possibility of cutting some fresh elk tracks.  

Ya know how on day 3, Gary and I had cut straight up the mountain side, well we found out today that there was a trail we could have taken than angled up and would have made for a much easier ascent.  That trail would have gotten us most of the way up anyway.  But this day our plan was to stay on that trail and head much deeper into the valley.

 

We worked around a few ridges looking for our quarry.  Heard a couple bugles from a long ways off, but still no elk spotted!  

When we came to end of one ridge, we decided to work our way down through a valley to get to a trail on the opposite slope.  Before crossing the creek, my cousin showed us how there was a trail just on the other side of the creek.  what we didn't realize was while the trail may have been 30 yards from the creek running parallel to it, it was also 200 feet up.  Probably not the smartest move we made on this trip, but we proceeded to climb that grassy slope that was covered with snow and ice.   We should have crossed back over the creek and headed back up the ridge we had just come down, but I do have to say there was quit a bit of pride in reaching that trail.

This should give you a bit of an idea of what we climbed.

 

my cousin and I catching our breath after the climb.

 

view to our West

 

This trail would take us to another trail that would eventually take us back to camp.  A little ways along it we came to a sheer drop with a beautiful view.  Noticed how white the background is...guess I should have checked my camera for a snow setting.

 

[Hooked]

This was a very old trail that was not kept up very well.  Add the snow and many times it was hard to tell where the trail was.  Here are Gary and my cousin leading the charge.

 

My cousin was concerned about getting back to camp before dark, so he really pushed hard.  With the ice and snow we all fell a few times.  Anybody who has hunted the mountains, especially in snow, knows that there are times your legs feel like rubber and it gets harder to take long strides under control.  Legs and lungs burning we stayed up with my cousin the best we could.  

We were on the homeward stretch, probably still had a mile or so to go mostly downhill, when Gary stopped to take a whiz.  As he pointed down hill he saw movement and 3 or 4 Muley appeared in the meadow below us.  They were quite a distance away with lots of trees in the way.  With divining rod still in his hand, Gary asked me to get his camera out of his pack. We tried to take some pics, but I haven't found them yet in the pic, LOL.

 

Gary had me stick his wife's nice camera back in his pack.  We took a few more steps down the trail when another muley doe came bounding across in front of us.  Love watching the they run!  Gary had me get his camera again but it was too late, she was long gone.  He decided to keep his camera out, which was a good thing because we had another awesome encounter further down the trail.

We came to another trail crossing.  Gary took pics of every sign we came across.  So I took a pic of Gary taking a pic of this one.

 

Glad he took this one!  Pretty incredible to think about how long ago these trails were established!

 

Don't go away!  Around the next turn we hit the climax of this trip!  No it does not involve elk, but you will understand when you see the pics and video!

[bowhunterfrompast]

   

[fnshtr]

Thanks so much for the pics and stories...

it is as close as some of us will get to the real thing this year!

[pumatrax]

liked the pictures ...except for the initials carved in to the aspen trees...

[kadbow]

Those are trail numbers, not dates.  Keep it coming.

[Hooked]

We continued down the trail.  Round the next bend we saw this.  Gary snuck a little closer to get a better pic.

 

 

The excitement was just beginning because this fella was coming up out of the woods behind her.

 

 

We moved a little farther up the trail.  The bull moose walked towards the cow then stopped broadside to us about 25 yards away.  He just stood there letting us take pics.  

 

[Hooked]

After a while, he lifted his nose in the air and sniffed, then turned and looked at us.  He had either had enough of our ogling or was just ready for some privacy with his girl.  

You can't hear it on the video, but as he turned his body towards us I said "Don't you think we should be leaving now?", my cousin replied "No, we'll be okay", after the charge Gary said "I think Chip is right!"  (That meant alot to me since I don't know if anyone has ever said that before!)

 

Gary gets about the first step and a half of the false charge before doing the same as me and looking for a tree to jump behind!  The bull charged forward about 4 or 5 steps before stopping and turning back to the cow.  But he had made his point and we headed back to camp!

[Hooked]

Day 5:

Well, the bull moose's false charge was the highlight of the trip for me.  That and the grouse!

Our last day of hunting was filled with more snow.  Gary and I decided to head back up above camp where we had seen all the sign on day one.  At the top Gary bugled.  We didn't know it at the time but there was a bull coming to us.  Don't remember how long we waited, but eventually we headed along a ridge looking for fresh tracks in the snow.  About 80 to 100 yards from where Gary bugled we cut fresh tracks.  

We believe the bull elk had been coming to us.  We don't know at what point he was spooked off, but we followed his tracks for quite a ways.  When it was apparent that he was heading in the opposite direction from camp and we were running out of daylight, we broke off and headed in.  I know the chances are we never would have caught up with him, but Gary had a tough time talking sense into me to head back.

Following pics are from Day 5 and packing out on Day 6.

 

 

 

 

 

[Hooked]

Day 6: packing up and heading out:

Wednesday morning was time to head home.  We had some breakfast then started tearing down tents and packing up.

One of the guys, Bruce (71 years old), complained all week about hearing scratching under his tent every night.  We laughed that he was either senile or drinking to much scotch whiskey.  

Well as you can see in the pic he was neither.  A gopher had been digging tunnels under his tent every night, LOL!

 

Before leaving the campsite we took a group photo

 

stopped to take a few pics on the way out

 

 

 

[Hooked]

That's a wrap!

Last thought:  you would think that after all the walking around the mountains that the 1.25 mile hike back to the trail head would be a snap....NOT!  Especially not with an 80lb pack on your back!

 

[Gerardo]

thanks for sharing, these was great , hope you can do it next year,

[David Sapp]

Nice pics and story, thanks for bringing us along.

[trad_bowhunter1965]

Great story and photos thanks Chip. Blake

[Whip]

Whoa!! that was an incredible encounter with the moose!  
Great story and pictures about a wonderful trip.  

[Pinecone]

What a great story!  That moose encounter was a hair-raiser for sure    !  It sounds like you had a super time in spectacular country, Chip.  Congratulations on a successful journney        .

Claudia

[Wallcrawler]

Great story and thanks for taking the time to share.

[Hooked]

Glad ya'll enjoyed the pics!  While I would have liked to have scored on an elk, it would have just been icing on the cake.