CO 2013 Elk hunt

[Michael Pfander]

This year we decided to hunt before the smoke poles hit the woods.  We left Tucson 8/29 headed for CO.  We took a new route we made it to the trail head in 11 hours.  We decided to go ahead and not waste the day light. This is where we were on Friday morning. We got up and headed on in to our planned campsite at Dipping lake.  We started from about 10,600 at the trail head went up to 12,000 on the Divide trail and then back down to 10,600 at the lake. When we got there we set up camp and rested until the afternoon when we planned to scout. That afternoon we drug our tired selves up and out to scout the drainages below us.

[VictoryHunter]

[Michael Pfander]

Opening morning found us working our way across the scree slopes below one of the plateaus the elk were using to move between the meadows on top and the dark timber in the canyons.  We had found a gap in the bluff that let us work up on to the ridge without stinking the place up moving thru it.  We were about 200yds. from the edge when the first bugle of the hunt sounded.  We eased our packs off spread out and moved a little more up hill.  The herd was coming right to us.  From the sounds he was behind the cows and up hill from them.  I swung down and trotted out and back up trying to get above the cows and more in line with the bulls path.  To my right I saw movement, I dropped to my knees and froze.  Elk!  They went into a little depression and I put an arrow on the string.  As they came up the rise toward me I could see they were all cows.  They spread around the trees and one came over to me.  I kept my head down[I wear a face mask and boonie hat] so she couldn't see my eyes.  She stretched her neck, sniffed, and then started to pee.  It was opening AM, I didn't shoot her.  After a bite or two she moved on.  I continued work my way towards the bull.  I had closed to about 60 yds. or so when there was a huge crash and a raghorn 5x5 came busting out of the trees where the herd bull was bugling, at this point the whole herd beat feet down the mountain and the mornings hunt was over.
MAP

[Michael Pfander]

We followed them for a while but they were moving on and we didn't see them again that morning.  We headed off to another drainage.  One of the complicating factors on this hunt turned out to be the sheep leases.  Turns out that the top is all sheep leases and the canyons are all cattle.  It seems that the combination of sheep, dogs, herders and coyotes were pushing the elk into the areas where they weren't.  Many times in the next 4 days the barking of the dogs and howling of the coyotes would wake us up.  There wee 3 large herds of sheep sharing the Divide trail meadows with us and the elk.  We glassed elk too far away to hunt in the meadows above other canyons.  As we worked our way back to camp we found a lone bull in a pocket at the base of some cliffs.  It was Darren's turn.  He dropped off into the drainage and I continued back to camp.  He stumbled into camp after nine with tails of elk and blown stalks.  The next morning we didn't see or hear a thing.  We moved camp back on top where we had more flexibility. For the next 3 days we chased singles and sheep and our tails.
MAP

[Matty]

 
Nice mike. Looks like a real nice place.

[Johnny UMAA]

wish I was there!

[Michael Pfander]

My hunting partner [Darren] had somehow become obsessed with acquiring the pelt of a golden marmot.  We spent a lot of our time stalking them.  He destroyed half of his broad head supply taking shots at them in rock piles.  Deer are not the only thing that can jump the string.  So there we were once more stalking marmots on the face of cliff when below us we hear a bugle.  Game on.  We have to circle about 3/4 of a mile to get the wind and to find a way down about 800' of cliff and scree.  We drop into the Truillo Meadows drainage for the rest of the morning.  We are in dark timber ridges separated by swamps.  After trying to get ahead of them and loosing 1200' of elevation we decide to head back to camp.  So now we have 2000' to go up to get back to the plateau where we are camped.  Back at camp we decide to move once more.  We pack up and head out.  The wilderness boundary is about 1 1/2 hours from the car.  We load up and drive to a trail head further north. Here is the trail in and our campsite.  The fishing was good. The next morning we crossed the creek and headed up to the aspens.

[Old Vet]

Michael,

Thanks for sharing the great pictures and your experience. Makes me want to head for the high country.

James

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

great stuff!!

[widow sax]

Sounds like a good time buddy a better time then I had up north were I got into the flood and my hunt was destroyed. Thanks for sharing we always have next year.    Good hunting    Widow

[Bernie B.]

That's really beautiful country!  Nice pictures too!

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[Igor]

Great looking country,streams and browns....!

Wow-an elk will be the icing....


><>>
glenn

[DarkTimber]

Great pictures.  Makes me miss the mountains already.   Can't wait to read the rest of the story.

[Michael Pfander]

The elk beat us to the saddle that AM.  We heard them come down to the meadow where we were camped.  They woke us up around midnight as they were coming thru.  I heard them moving back around 4am.  We crossed around 5:30.  We headed down and then back up to try and beat them to the saddle they were using to get back into the higher country.  They must have made a bee line for it.  When we got there it was fresh tracks and droppings but no elk. This is the saddle looking west.  When we got back to camp we headed up to the next big meadow. This meadow is a mile and a half long.

[cacciatore]

Great pic and story MAP.

[lone hunter]

Really enjoying the pics and your story.  

[TJK68]

Great pics and story.    
Tom

[Michael Pfander]

We set up camp and made plans to fish our way up stream until we reached the beaver swamp that spreads out at the base of a canyon where a big creek flows out into the meadow.  This is looking down on it from the rim.  You can see how the willows and alders take over from the grass.  This thing is about a half a mile long and 300 yds. wide.  Hunting elk in here is much like hunting moose.  The real danger is falling into old beaver runs.  They are waist deep.  They will mess you and your stalk up.  At about 4:00 we herd them coming down the ridge.  This is an area that I have been successful in before I know how they behave.  The wind runs up the canyon and ridge they come until after dark.  It changes when they hit the big meadow.  What they do is ease into the swamp until they get a feel for the wind then they head up or down the drainage depending on it's direction.  We stopped fishing, found a place to glass and sat down to plan our stalk.  The wind shifted, it began to blow down the main valley.  They turned and headed upstream.  At this point the herd was about 400 yds. from where we sat.  What we had to do was swing out and around and cross the wide part of the swamp to have the wind in our faces.  For all of you Alaska, Canadian, and south swamp rats this is probably not a big deal.  For desert dwellers like us it requires that we revert to our former lives. Darren spent 2 hitches in AK.  I spent time in the Everglades as an undergrad.  Trying to be quiet when you are ass deep in muck fighting thru willows is a challenge.  What we did was try to stay on top of the various dams when they were headed in the right direction.  Our plan was to get to the base of the scree field and follow it to the mouth of the creek they had come down.  The brush was still with us but the ground there was dry.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I am liking your thread..  Neat pictures!

[Michael Pfander]

The scree field would be on the right out of sight behind the ridge on this side of the canyon the herd came down. This is a view down the scree field from the rim.  I have chased them both ways on the edge of this. Down is easier, but a much harder stalk.  We crossed the creek on the edge of the rocks.  My plan was to use the noise it made to cover the sounds we would make.  The herd bull kept talking so we knew where they were and where they were going.  We had a small open drainage to cross then we had to ease up a ridge and then back down into the swamp.  I waited until I couldn't hear any cow talk and we slipped across.