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Thread: Back from CO

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Horry County
    Posts
    3,800

    Default Back from CO

    Just got back from an awesome hunt. I drew a muzzleloader tag in CO this year for a unit I’ve hunted a couple of times in the past. I decided I would use a packer to haul me and my gear in and hopefully haul and elk out. Drop me off and come get me a week later. A Good decision that made for a much more comfortable week of hunting than living out of a backpack eating dehydrated meals. The unit we hunted only has two access pointsand neither is close to where the game actually lives.
    We got camp set up the afternoon before season opened and glassed a couple bears the first evening near camp. About midnight we had a bull blowing it up right outside of camp and we were stoked for the next day. Long story short, I called in a 4 x 5 bull the first morning but switching thermals got me busted just feet before he stepped into my shooting lane. My cousin stumbled into a bugle fest and had 3 bulls chasing a hot cow in some thick stuff and never got a shot. Not a bad first day of hunting.
    Next morning we headed back to the scene of the bugle fest and caught up with a stud of a bull pushing his cows down a drain to a little hill covered with a tangle of junipers. That was by far the biggest elk I’ve ever seen in person alive or dead. A Big 6x6 that I would guess was 350 +. I made the decision that was elk I wanted.
    Long story short I hunted that elk all week, passing up opportunities at another smaller bull. The pattern was the same leave camp before dark and haul ass down the mountain trying to get in front of him on the way to bed in the juniper and oak brush jungle, find a shady spot downwind and wait all day till dark when he headed back up the mountain to water and feed. As the week pressed on and the weather warmed he was heading down earlier, and heading up later. I was watching him pass in the dark, but CO rules mean iron sights on your muzzy and I never had a shot I was comfortable with. In hindsight, I might should have given up on the big bull and tried to get on a lesser bull and not eat tag soup. Coulda shoulda.
    It was still a great trip. I saw bears every day, grouse, mule deer, caught cutthroats till I was tired of catching them in a little alpine lake, and enjoyed a week in some of gods finest creation. Drank some good whiskey, ate some good food, enjoyed some cool weather and never had a single gnat or mosquito buzz around my head for a week in September. Heaven. All DIY on our public lands. Can’t wait to go back.
    Last edited by FLS; 09-22-2020 at 04:25 PM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    Hampton Co., SC
    Posts
    10,122

    Default

    Great hunt.....Nothing wrong with standards or goals on an OOS trip!
    \"I never saw a wild thing feel sorry for itself. A small bird will drop dead frozen from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.\" <br />D.H. LAWRENCE

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    2,625

    Default

    That is outstanding.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    united states of america
    Posts
    21,586

    Default

    But how expensive was your whiskey?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Charleston
    Posts
    2,291

    Default

    Damn right. Sounds like an awesome time. Dying to get back out west.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Horry County
    Posts
    3,800

    Default

    I’m pretty low rent. Gentleman Jack.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    Default

    2D12B2EB-B2F9-44F8-B5F8-D42E09AD8891.jpg

    These Cabelas Alaskan Guide tents are top notch. I’m sure Bass Pro will replace them with something cheap. We were at 9400 feet. Our water was about 400 feet below down a steep switch back trail. That part sucked. Next closest water was a couple of miles away.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    02EFF682-CD12-4ACC-ACB8-D4C26CB3CF03.jpg

    We were sharing the waterhole with the bears and the elk. We hit it during the day they hit it at night.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    7B75C403-F745-4F52-AF1A-95D044721EA0.jpg
    Fishing hole was about 5 miles away and uphill both ways...no shit.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    9AFF4B60-656A-4BEA-A3C9-2002163782FE.jpg

    But it is full of these.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    E7ADA6B8-8FC3-4B70-9E03-EFA548CBF8F0.jpg

    That green hill was where they were bedding.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    3DB1376F-9293-48A4-B608-8735FF08FCE2.jpg

    They were eating and drinking here.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    5A783DC1-4519-48B1-AE33-4A1BBC25E651.jpg

    This little drain was full of elk and bears. I saw a bear in that little clearing every evening I watched it. Our packers son killed a damn fine bull down there last year. I went down there but a big wind storm has turned it into a blowdown hell hole. I was walking on top of downed trees 6-8 feet deep trying to get out of that hole. Had I shot an elk down there, I determined it would a helicopter to get him out. Beautiful spot from a distance.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    FROG LEVEL
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    23,785

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    I will have to give that a 5 Star BADASS TRIP. Thanks for the Pics. Something you will never forget
    Gettin old is for pussies! AND MY NEW TRUE people say like Capt. Tom >>>>>>>>>/
    "Wow, often imitated but never duplicated. No one can do it like the master. My hat is off to you DRDUCK!"

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Location
    Fort Kickass
    Posts
    50,993

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    Very very nice.
    "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration" -Izaak Walton

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2002
    Location
    Hartsville
    Posts
    861

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    Did you go by yourself?

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
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    Horry County
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    No, my cousin went with me.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Moncks Corner
    Posts
    1,264

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    Rifle of choice?

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Dec 2004
    Location
    Horry County
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    Muzzleloader. Remington 700 ML.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Oct 2001
    Location
    A bigger hill above a smaller creek
    Posts
    12,515

    Default

    We just got back... wife and my teenage kids. Went to see the Rocky Mountain national park and the aspen change. Just a short family vacation. Talked to several hunters who were on public with bows and camping their asses off. The more questions I asked, the more these guys had me figuring a plan to get out there. Camp Somewhere and bow hunt an elk. It’s now on my very short list.

    The landscape was incredible and the weather was fantastic.

    I enjoyed your story a s pics. Congrats on a great time.

    This spot was where I watched some elk late one evening. Ended up being where they wanted to be at dusk. Was super intense at 35 steps with no stop bugling , a couple decent bulls a s several cows. That shit grabbed me.

    C59F9EF1-E647-471D-881D-028A91FAC42B.jpg
    Last edited by GBelly; 09-30-2020 at 09:33 PM.
    A Nation of Sheep Breeds a Government of Wolves!

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