West Colorado Elk Hunting

Hunted Elk 3rd rifle season this past week in Colorado with 2 fellow OB’ers. I now have much more respect for the guys who do this type of hunting regularly. It is some of the most physically taxing hunting I have ever been a part of, but it truly makes you appreciate the outdoors and what these animals do every day to survive. None of us had elk hunted before so each day was a learning experience.

Day 1 - we planned to be an easy day. Walked more than we expected, saw some sign, saw 5-6 mule deer (1 being an absolute stud). Hunted all day with the only elk being seen was a bull a mile away on an opposite peak right before sunset. Shoulders sore, we got back to hotel that night and proceeded to purge our packs of any unnecessary weight.


Day 2 - Tried to game plan hunting the ridge where we saw the elk the evening before. A lot of walking and glassing in the am resulted in seeing 1 cow on a far-away ridge. We returned to town for lunch and a planning session. That afternoon we hunted a valley south of where we saw the cow heading in hopes we would encounter more elk travelling in that direction. With our muscles aching and our only encounter being with 2 Muley bucks(wishing I had drawn a mule deer tag) at dusk, we returned to the hotel.

Day 3 - Rest and recoup day. We travelled to a nearby reservoir to try our hand at fly fishing. 1 salmon egg bait and a few hours later, we had landed 3 limits of trout (a mixed bag of rainbows, brooks, and browns). Supper was going to be good. Minus the grease fire from being naïve enough to use a Hotel Community Grill, the fish were awesome. We looked at some topo maps and decided on a morning hunt near where we had seen some sign the day before.

Day 4 – Well rested and taking full advantage of the topography, our walk in to the hunting area was a breeze. Driving as high as possible and staying on top of a ridgeback is the ticket. As I approached the patch of conifers on the ridgetop, I spotted a set of tracks making its way to the backside of the peak. After following the tracks for about 500 yds, they dumped off a sheer dropoff, leaving me bewildered wondering how an animal could even get down that. Thinking the animal was in the valley below, I set up on the side of the ridge overlooking the large bottom hoping to see one sneaking up the draw headed north. A few hours go by and the only thing I’ve spotted were 4 other hunters and a muley doe. On our way out we run into a couple hunters who pass along some info stating the elk are still high up. Without some heavy snow, they won’t come down off the high elevations. That afternoon we decided to scout the wilderness area but instead of coming in from the south, we thought we could gain an advantage by coming in from the east. After a few hours of truck scouting, the east access did not look too promising. On the way back to the hotel, we spotted a huge herd of elk (250+) filtering out of the aspens into a private land field. We pulled off the road to get a better look with binos and take some pictures with cameras. The bugling bulls amongst the group of cows was like a shot of adrenaline and was just the motivation we needed. Back at the hotel, we pulled up topos, OnX boundary maps, and forestry maps. Approximately .75 miles from where we saw the group of elk was a block of public land with what appeared to be 2 county roads leading in. This was it, this was going to be our morning hunt. We all had a good feeling about the potential.

Day 5 – We head out early wanting to be in our spot before daybreak. Temp Gauge reads 23 when we leave the hotel. We make it to the county road we saw on the map, make it most of the way down and what do we find, a large private access gate blocking the road. Okay option 2, let’s head to the other county road that would be a little further of a walk but still access. We turn down this road and go a few miles. As we are passing over a cattle guard, I see a sign stating “No access to public lands on this road”. WTF? Our public land sanctuary is completely blocked off by private access. Hence the “sanctuary” part. Desperate for a new strategy we decide to head into the wilderness from the east even though we weren’t super confident about the area. As we get out of the truck the temp gauge reads 10 degrees, by far the coldest day since we have been here. We hike in a little less than 2 miles, by this time daybreak has come and gone and we are still searching. We hit a meadow in between these large peaks and what do we find, large elk tracks and fresh droppings. Then more. Easily 10 sets of tracks scattered throughout this bottom and they are fresh. Everything is covered in frost except where these elk were walking and grazing. We decide to sit all day and watch this bottom hoping that at some point they will return. Mid-day we see some fellow hunters and we do our best to make our presence known. This must have blown their mind because for the next hour they appeared to wander aimlessly around like they were incapable of having a backup area to hunt. Finally they disappear out of sight only to return a few hours later, headed back to their truck I guess. 15 minutes after this, another hunter is seen in view. He must have spoken to the other two guys because he hit the bottom, confirmed our orange was still visible and continued to huff it until he was out of sight. Last minute of shooting light is 5:31. As we sit there at 5:12 all partially frozen from the frigid temps, in my head I am already planning the morning hunt because I suspect this hunt may be a bust. At 5:15, my buddy just to my left starts whispering loudly, “Bull, Bull, can you see it?, it’s a bull coming in the bottom.” At this point, I am searching through my scope and can only see slight movement through the thick brush. He says, “It’s going to step out just to the left of the big tree.” I whisper back, “Is it big enough?” That’s when he steps out at 175 yds and now I know he’s big enough. He whispers, “Do you have a good rest?” referencing my rifle rested across my crisscrossed trekking poles. “I’m solid, I got him.” “Well shoot him”. Boom, I let my single shot 35 Whelen bark. Instantly you hear the thump from a solid hit. The elk shudders then turns to run back into the brush. Boom. My buddy squeezes off a round from his .270. While I am trying to reload my rifle, Boom. He squeezes off another round. Of all the advice we received before our trip, the recurring theme was if it’s still on its feet, send another round. Take no chances. After the movement stops, we all simultaneously get the shakes. This is the closest we had been to an elk in the 5 days of hunting and we are beyond pumped after what unfolded. We hop up, grab headlamps and swiftly move across the bottom to where the first shot took place. We look 20 ft to the left behind some brush and there it is. A beautiful 5x6 bull. You don’t fully grasp the size of one of these things until you are standing next to it. It is massive. We look over it a few more minutes, take a couple pictures then the work begins. We quarter it, cut any good meat off of it, and cut off the head. It takes us each two trips (1.75 miles each way) to get all the parts to the truck. That was one hell of a workout.

Fun trip and we plan to return either for bow or rifle next year. We would love a mule deer tag but that seems to be the holy grail of tags for an out of state resident.