Back from Colorado COMPLETE

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Man time sure flys when your having fun. The past week was quite a adventure for me for sure. In more ways than one. You guys were there with me every step of the way. Before I get started with the details Here's a tip for those of you wanting or going out on such a camp. First make sure all those in the party can get along and have similiar hunting an camping abilities. Now some of you know me and hunting for me is spending time in the outdoors. The outcome of a hunt isn't measured by whats on my meat pole but the time I spent trying to fill it. So with that said we didn't score any game, But my mission for this trip was to fullfill a life long dream of my Dads to hunt in the west with his sons. And that mission was a success thanks to the help of another trad gang member Stickhorse who helped us with a spot.   Here was the mountain we were to call home for the week. And looks are deceiving boys it's straight up and straight down. With everything in the middle...

[mmgrode]

[BamBooBender]

   

[woodchucker]

Glad Your Back!!!!!

We are waiting at the campfire for your stories My Brother!!!!!  

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

This was just a small area in the photo. I believe the place was four miles long and three miles up and down. We camped in a small clearing down in the right of the photo.                  Day One                                        Friday morning we woke up around 6am at home and started to pack my brothers new truck for the trip. Now about five minutes into it I was wondering just how long we were going to stay after seeing loads and loads of stuff being pack on top of things in that truck. Looked like everything but the kitchen sink and there wasn't room for that. Around noon we hit the road and right off there was problems with which way to go. My brother being a trucker had his route and Dad had his. Around 9pm we had a driver switch and Dad took the wheel. That lasted until 11:30 when my brother decided my father didn't drive his new truck safe enough. I took over the wheel and drove on.. Ten miles away from Walsenburg Colorado at 2:30 in the morning I had a HUGE mulie buck run out on the road. I wanted to take him but brother thought him to big for the Chev bumper. We pulled into Walsenburg and found a parking lot across from a gun shop where we would buy our over the counter bear tags. We slept until they opened around 8am. Inside we found out that all the tags were sold out for Archery so our Bear hunt part of the trip was over before it begin... We called our host Bob and he met us in Garnder Colorado. Note: Make sure you always keep your gas tank full at all times.                                          Dad jumped in with Bob and Brother and I followed them to our spot. At the road Bob stopped showing us the limits and lines within our hunting area and he said, "Vic that spot up there is yours"  Yea right,I said. Three miles straight up on top of the mountains.             Then we turn around and start up a the mountain on a cow path lined with 12" to 18" boulders. I always watched those ESPN rocks climbs now we were doing it. And with Brothers new truck! Up we went thirty minutes of brother bitching and moaning his truck was getting scratched and tore up. Halfway up we came to a meadow and piles of wood left over from the saw mill days. Camp was picked out in the shade and set up. This was the first time brother found out nothing could be left outside of the truck or in the tent cause of the bears. Bad deal for Dad and me cause all week he complained about this. Bob stuck around and  was going to give us a short tour and put Dad in his spot. We grabbed the packs and bows and Dads blind and off we went. Trying to keep up with a man who was born on the mountain is like getting a date with Julie Roberts.          Finally we got to a small meadow that was kind of in a funnel area. We sat Dads blind up and he decided to sit there the rest of the day and met us back at camp. So off we went straight up the mountain on a small trail. After ten stops for me trying to catch my breath and the sweat pouring down on me. (Cause guys it was around 90 degrees. I have had heat stroke three times in the past and now days my body shuts down fast in the heat.) I could go no farther and sat down while brother and Bob checked out a meadow on a top. Guess 23 hours of no sleep and the heat plus the walk took it's toll. When the came back I elected to go back to camp and brother went up a logging road. Was sure nice to relax a while and get to visit a great man in Bob. That night after grilled ham steaks and potatoes we layed down to the music of a pack of coyotes howling nearby.

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Day two:   Well I'm ashamed to say but I slept in this morning. Around 8am I got up and grabbed my binoculars and a granola bar and walked up to a high spot layed down and started glassing and observing the openings on the east slope of the mountain. The weather again was hot. (Cool in the morning then hotter than a frying pan until 4pm when the rain started.. this was everydays weather pattern for the week except wednesday) Around noon we called Dad on the radio and asked if he was coming in for dinner. No answer, again ten minutes later, no answer, so yours truly walked the mile to his blind and found him all cozy up with his bow waiting on an elk.   Here's pa in his blind He decided to stay all day. So much for commuicating. So after hauling his butt back to dinner we had a conference about who was going to do what and when and how and why. Oh yea My brother got out his fifty pounds of steaks and meat and grilled us some good deer burgers. For lunch. That afternoon I grabbed the Elk bow and just scouted around for sign and took a few of these pictures.  

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Before I left that afternoon my brother and I was at camp getting ready and we thought we heard some people talking. Then a kid screams out and a dog barks. We look around the tent and coming up the cowpath road was a family walking together. I asked them if they were lost? The guy smarted off, "no we have a right to be up here cause you drove across our land to get up here" "and were going to the old logging camp to look"  Oh, ok i guess. Drive 950 miles to the mountains and still have trespassers in our hunting.                                     Made us feel like we were back here in Iowa.                                           I can't say I'm glad to be back home as I love the wilds. And all ready miss it badly. It grows on you day by day and if I hadn't friends on here and my daughter I would have walked away on that mountain. More to come in the next few days, and more tips of what to do and not to do.

[JEFF B]

glad ya are ok mr vic nice story keep it comming.  

[shawnee]

Hey Vic, glad you're back, and glad you got to enjoy the mountains with your friends and family.  I've been thinking about you, and wondering how the hunt was going.

Can't wait for the rest of the story.

[dachba]

Cool story, Vic.  When I was 19 or 20, and thought I was very fit, my brother and I drove from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Glacier National Park in Montana.  We hiked the peaks and camped out at night among the grizzlys.  The point of this silly story is, I got altitude sickness so bad that we thought I would have to be carried off the mountain.  Don't feel bad if you come from Iowa and can't keep up in the mountains.  It takes most people around 30 days to become acclimated.

Keep the story coming.
Dave in Ft. Collins, CO

[adkmountainken]

good to have ya back with us and i have a special stand waiting for you!

[Steve O]

Vic,

Glad you got out; it sure is beautiful.

[Matty]

Dave the Strapping lad you are I find that hard to believe....

[dachba]

Matty, it's good to hear from you (Smart Alec  
You're so darn skinny and healthy I bet you can hike three 14 teeners in an afternoon while shooting all six of your Pronghorns, and the Shrew with your toes.  An old geezer like me just gets jealous and goes home and pouts.

Dave

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Yea next year I will train walking up steps in a stadium with a plastic bag over my head. LOL  Sunday Night walking around with the elk bow I found a pretty nice crossing up from  old logging cabins and sat down admiring the area and the smells around me. Today again felt like 90 degrees out. Seen lots of ground rats and just had a great time sitting and listening. Around dark it started it's nightly rain and stalked back to the logging camp and waited for Dad to walk out from his blind in the bottoms. Again tonight as we sat and ate spam sandwiches the coyotes were letting us know we weren't welcomed on there mountain.                                  Monday morning I decided to sleep in until light and crawled back up to a high point and glassed the clearings again for moving animals. Never seen a animal moving anywhere up high but again enjoyed the quiet time and the smells of a great place. Here's one the better logging cabins.

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Monday afternoon I decided to try going east of camp not to far away and check the area out. The sun is mighty hot up here. But in the shade it was just about right. I found a small meadow and walking around it I found lots of old sign. Elk and Mule deer droppings a bedding area probably from a mulie under a pine tree. And it was just awesome place to spend the afternoon. I picked out a pile of rocks on a cliff to my back and the meadow out front. So hot today couldn't stand wearing a shirt. Sitting there until 4pm I see movment coming in the oak brush, rasing my bow I see it is a coyote. I squeak and he comes right for me. Stopped at ten yards behind the brush and no shot. Then he moves farther to my right and I squeak again, this time he comes closer and then the jig is up as he explodes out of there running and I had no way of getting a clear shot. Pretty cool anyway! I was pumped as that made my hunt so far. The sun burned down on my bare skin until around 5:30 or so and the mountain once again made some dark clouds and it started to rain. The lightening was pretty awesome so i decided to move off that rock point to some pines. At least I would be half dry, I glassed the mountain side from were I was and later found out my brother was watching me from half way up the mountain. After the rains slowed down and flowed over the mountain to the west, I once returned to my little hide out. Darkness began to come and I stalked back to the camp. As i came into the meadow I spotted something I wanted to shoot. I stalked up to within fifty yards of it and let a 2020 aluminum shaft fly tipped with a judo. WHACK!! the stump in front of my brothers new truck was dead. He was sitting in camp and wasn't amused. As I walked into camp we heard voices and two hunters came over to question our right to be there. Just a family miscommuication I guess and it worked out. They were Mulie hunting and of course they never indugled any secrets about where the Elk where. As they left in the dark the rains started again and tonight it was a heavy rain. Here is the way I walked around the mountain most of the week in the day time. And here is the rock ledge I sat at with the meadow in front of me and this beautiful valley behind me. I smoked the pipe there twice and felt like I was on top of the world.  

[JEFF B]

wow!! vic that is an awesome looking place bro.  

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Tuesday Morning, I tell you this mountain hunting kicks your butt and didn't make me a morning person very well. Dad left in the dark for his blind a mile away in the funnel and yours truly slept in until 7am. My brother was complaining we were out of ice for his fifty pounds of meat and he wasn't drinking warm Mountain Dew. When he was born There wasn't any hunting/outdoor genes left, I got them all five years before hand. So he left and I got a morning of peace and quiet without any complaining. I grabbed my chair and headed for the high point in the meadow where we were camping and once again glassed high up for any game movement. It was thought if we could spot something Then we could get in the area of them up there. But again empty binoculars this morning.                                         Tuesday pm  Bro made it back from Town and he was in a better mood. He got his Ice, Gas and bought him and Dad some Brew. I made points again for not eating his cooking at dinner, but a man loses his appetite up on the mountain. TIP: You don't need 50 pounds of meat for a week. Around 3pm Brother and I walk pass the old logging Camp up a logging road to about a third way up the mountain. I only had to stop twice so I must be getting used to it a little. We tryed a little cow calling and thought we got a reponse but the wind was blowing pretty hard and could tell if or where it was coming from. We sat up on what looked to be a good crossing up high there, but all I saw was cougar tracks, Bear scat, and old Elk tracks. Close to dark we decided to cut across the hill side and stalk back to camp. About two hundred yards into it we heard noise ahead of us and was excited. That is until the smell hit our noses and was pretty sure it wasn't a Elk. The Bear went crashing down the mountain leaving us standing there wondering what two Cornfield rednecks are doing in this thick mountain brush and dark coming on. After a while we were back to stalking and then argueing which way to go. Camps here? no camps this way? So who won? I pulled out the GPS unit and gave my little brother a lesson on listening to your elders. As we hit the old logging camp the rains started again for the fourth day. We waited on Dad but he never came so we headed back to camp. Brother grilled some nice Deer loins and sleep never came fast enough. Here's the upper trail were we seen all the tracks crossing and sat.  

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Wednesday Morning.  Got up early grabbed the Elk bow and went for a walk. TIP a person learns pretty fast want to take and want not to carry on his person when climbing around the mountains. My pack was left at camp and all I carried this morning was a knife/water/granola bar/ bow and arrows. This morning I didn't care if I was hunting or not it was a morning where I was just going to explore and take in all i could and maybe find me a nice spot to sit and enjoy the mountain.  Wednesday Night I found a nice water hole on the morning travels and  decided to come back and make a brush blind by it and sit. At 2pm I was sitting back about twenty yards from the water hole. As hot as it is during the day I thought surely something would come for a drink out of it. I sat all afternoon to dark and all i seen was about every bird living in Colorado. It was cool in the shade and I loved everybit of sitting and watching the small animals coming to the water. I picked up a few feathers there and there was lots of tracks around it. They must be using it at night when the weather is cool....           Thursday morning went back to the water hole in the dark. I sat there until dinner and nothing showed up not even a bird. Quite a change from yesterday... Today is a lot cooler also... Here's the water hole.  

[Mr Vic at the cabin]

Thursday around dinner I walked a few hundred yards up an old road from camp and found a beautiful small stream and fresh Elk Tracks crossing it. It was a awesome place and I decided I was coming back to it this afternoon and sit in the shadows. Around 2pm after dinner and a nap I headed to the spot. Brother went with me and when I showed him the spot he decided to walk up the mountain around me and maybe push something down the stream to me. I sat there and played with the tree rats for most of the afternoon. And listened to those little demons laughing at me from there perchs. Before Dark the heavy rain started again and I was a little tired of being wet most of the week. With a hour of Dark left I packed up and stalked around to where my bro told me he would be. Wrong? He wasn't there Standing there I heard a Elk Snort high up on the mountain and right away knew where he was. I waiting in the shadows there until dark and then walked back to camp. That night my brother let it be know he was going home, since he drove Dad and I was out voted. After supper Brother backed his truck up to the tent and we watched a movie on our last night on the mountain.