We arrived in Yampa, CO on Friday around lunchtime and went to the range to verify our weapons in some very windy conditions. We went out that evening to glass for elk on some of the property we were hunting. That night it snowed about 2"-3" so we were pretty excited for the start of the Colorado 2nd Rifle season.

First Day:

I was out of the gate very fast on opening morning. As we crested the first hill right at daylight we spotted 8 elk coming down a ridge. It was still fairly early but we did not see a bull in the group. We tried to go around and get ahead of them a little closer to verify but when we got to the crossing they were already halfway across and into the timber.

Later that morning we caught some movement down in a draw and had a nice vantage point to evaluate from. It turned out to be 4 cows and 1 spike bull. We watched them go over a ridge at 130 yds and I got some nice video footage of that part.

Day 2:

Right before dark I had a cow and calf come out with about an hour of shooting light left. They were at 160 yds but I still had 3 days left so I was holding off at least 1 more day in the hopes for a bull.

Day 3:

We had a nice encounter around lunchtime. As we were coming up the middle of a ridge line I jumped a bedded cow about 20 ft off the edge of the trail we were walking. About 5 minutes later as we got to the top of the ridge I spotted some movement up ahead around the bend in the trail. There were 5-6 elk that were visible in the trees. We watched them for over an hour at ranges of 70-100 yds in the hopes that a bull would come out but we never spotted anything bigger than a spike.

Day 4:

We had a pretty slow day until about 4pm when we were getting ready to set up for an evening spot. We got a text from another hunter that there were 10 cows and a spike across the hillside from them but out of range. At this point I was looking for either sex and they were on our side so we might be able to sneak down and get a shot.

We made quick work of the climb up to the top of that ridge and then took it nice and slow going down the trail on the hillside going down into that draw. I was supposed to go to the bottom of the trail at the edge of the timber and set up but when I got about 40 yds from the bottom of the trail I spotted movement right across the trail at the edge of the timber. HORNS!! I started counting points to make sure the bull was legal and another bull was following shortly behind. Both were legal and they were coming around the hill right below me!

There was a section of brush in front of me that would block their vision so I took a few steps up the hill and found a nice lane that was in their direction of travel. I set up my shooting stick and laid my rifle quietly in the cradle. As the first bull approached my lane he decided to stop at about 60-65 yds away. That turned out to be the last mistake he ever made. I lined up the quartering away downhill shot with the opposite side front leg and sent my 225gr 35 Whelen round into his boiler room!

The 2 bulls took off up and around the hill and then went downhill. I heard what I thought was a crash but with another 600 lb animal running in the woods I wasn't sure. About 30 seconds later the 2nd bull came back along the same trail and stopped in the same spot I shot the first one. I turned my scope up to 10x and checked out his rack before he moved back the way they came in and back into the timber below.

I had a short track job of only 52 yds and the celebration was on.

You can see the fronts better in this picture.

I hit the bull in the heart and the bullet lodged in the opposite front shoulder and broke that leg. We ended up hauling the bull out whole with a Polaris Ranger and we were able to hang it from a tractor to skin and quarter it.

I am hoping to get a nice rug made out of the hide so I was very careful to remove it without cutting it... it only has 1 hole in it

Day 5:

On the last day we spent most of the morning hauling out my bull from the previous evening and cleaning it up. That evening before we left we were able to go up to the top of the property to a small reservoir and do some fishing for rainbow trout. These fish were awesome!! They were all very nice sized and fought pretty good.