My Colorado DIY Elk hunt
Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 12:09 pmMyself and a few buddies left South Texas for our elk hunt and were greeted with a cold white substance that was very unfamiliar.
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After a stressful drive down the canyon we finally made it to our base camp location. The reason it was a little stressful was because none of us had ever been to this location and I was not sure how large the roads were or if there would be a place big enough to turn around the 14 foot box trailer I was pulling with my new F-150 V6 eco boost. Speaking of the ecoboost there was plenty of power pulling the trailer up steep mountains roads my only complaint was while pulling a load all the way from Texas I only averaged about 6 miles per gallon. We had a $1000.00 fuel bill that sucked. Once we got to our spot and got a our tents set up and a fire in the stove is when we started to relax over a glass of Jameson.
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Woke up the next day to a very cold and snowy morning but the scenery was incredible.
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The plan was to backpack deep into the La Garrita Wilderness area which is a roadless track that is only open to foot or horse traffic. I figured because I routinely hiked 30 miles with an 80 lb pack when I was in the Marine Corps surely I could hike 5 miles with an 80lb pack even though I'm in my mid 40's. What I didn't take into account was gaining 2000 feet in elevation and lack of trails make the hiking extremely tough. Made it in about 2 miles before I said F this and found a spot for our spike camp.
[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0301_zps9d394905.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9[/img]
A couple of lessons this Texas boy learned was the importance of hanging your food from a tree as there were bear tracks about 50 yards from my tent and protecting my water source from the cold as all of our filtered water was frozen solid the next morning. I did hang the food because we saw a bear at base camp. After we got our water unfrozen and breakfast cooked I took off for some scouting and found a well used trail that connected two ranges and had a good water source and plenty of food and cover. With the fresh snow on the ground it was obvious the elk were in the area. The next morning my buddy got me up at 3am because he forgot to change his watch from Texas time and we had a quick cup of coffee and breakfast then headed out for a hour hike in the dark to our ambush site. On the way to site I felt the wind shift from South to North and figured we were screwed with the swirling winds but at this stage of the game it was too late to change locations in the dark so I stuck to the plan and hoped the wind would stop swirling. We got there 2 1/2 hours before first light and froze our assess off and I about killed by buddy for not changing his watch. First light finally got here and it was obvious the swirling winds had screwed us as I saw fresh elk tracks that were running away from our location. After a couple of days of backpack hunting in 15 degree temperatures and swirling the winds the thought of a warm tent, steaks, and whiskey won out and I headed off the mountain and back to base camp. The camp next to us had dropped three bulls but everyone else was having trouble locating the herds. I didn't get my first elk but I did see some awesome country and learned a thing or two about mountain hunting. I did see three bull moose, a black bear, and about a 200 mule deer including a 30 inch monster. Ironically on our last hunt when I had a mule deer tag I saw a ton of elk and only a handful of small mulies. I'm now back in South Texas and 80 degree weather and looking forward to the opening of duck and deer season down south. Hope everyone has a great season.
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[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0354_zps8bef5fde.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=5[/img]
After a stressful drive down the canyon we finally made it to our base camp location. The reason it was a little stressful was because none of us had ever been to this location and I was not sure how large the roads were or if there would be a place big enough to turn around the 14 foot box trailer I was pulling with my new F-150 V6 eco boost. Speaking of the ecoboost there was plenty of power pulling the trailer up steep mountains roads my only complaint was while pulling a load all the way from Texas I only averaged about 6 miles per gallon. We had a $1000.00 fuel bill that sucked. Once we got to our spot and got a our tents set up and a fire in the stove is when we started to relax over a glass of Jameson.
[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0349_zps2a137335.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=13[/img]
Woke up the next day to a very cold and snowy morning but the scenery was incredible.
[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0288_zps3a620136.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=2[/img]
[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0290_zpse6fa5f32.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=1[/img]
The plan was to backpack deep into the La Garrita Wilderness area which is a roadless track that is only open to foot or horse traffic. I figured because I routinely hiked 30 miles with an 80 lb pack when I was in the Marine Corps surely I could hike 5 miles with an 80lb pack even though I'm in my mid 40's. What I didn't take into account was gaining 2000 feet in elevation and lack of trails make the hiking extremely tough. Made it in about 2 miles before I said F this and found a spot for our spike camp.
[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0301_zps9d394905.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=9[/img]
A couple of lessons this Texas boy learned was the importance of hanging your food from a tree as there were bear tracks about 50 yards from my tent and protecting my water source from the cold as all of our filtered water was frozen solid the next morning. I did hang the food because we saw a bear at base camp. After we got our water unfrozen and breakfast cooked I took off for some scouting and found a well used trail that connected two ranges and had a good water source and plenty of food and cover. With the fresh snow on the ground it was obvious the elk were in the area. The next morning my buddy got me up at 3am because he forgot to change his watch from Texas time and we had a quick cup of coffee and breakfast then headed out for a hour hike in the dark to our ambush site. On the way to site I felt the wind shift from South to North and figured we were screwed with the swirling winds but at this stage of the game it was too late to change locations in the dark so I stuck to the plan and hoped the wind would stop swirling. We got there 2 1/2 hours before first light and froze our assess off and I about killed by buddy for not changing his watch. First light finally got here and it was obvious the swirling winds had screwed us as I saw fresh elk tracks that were running away from our location. After a couple of days of backpack hunting in 15 degree temperatures and swirling the winds the thought of a warm tent, steaks, and whiskey won out and I headed off the mountain and back to base camp. The camp next to us had dropped three bulls but everyone else was having trouble locating the herds. I didn't get my first elk but I did see some awesome country and learned a thing or two about mountain hunting. I did see three bull moose, a black bear, and about a 200 mule deer including a 30 inch monster. Ironically on our last hunt when I had a mule deer tag I saw a ton of elk and only a handful of small mulies. I'm now back in South Texas and 80 degree weather and looking forward to the opening of duck and deer season down south. Hope everyone has a great season.
[img]http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/aedyndad/media/DSCN0274_zps6d2e91d0.jpg.html?filters[user]=120801965&filters[recent]=1&sort=1&o=10[/img]
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