P1ZombieKiller
Silver $$ Contributor
Sorry about how long. I even took 1/2 of it out so it would be a shorter read. 
I just got back from my first ever elk hunt. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. I experienced a gamut of emotions on this hunt (both before and after). This hunt was planned for us to go to San Juan National forest. We had never been on a hunt like this before, but we were just going to go and wing it. My dad’s buddies had gone to Colorado several times in the past mule deer hunting, but never high enough up for elk. So we had the tents, the cots, the gear for this type of trip, and we were going to do this “one last time†with my dad’s generational buddies. While mentioning this hunt to a fellow soccer parent, we learned that he just so happened to own a house in Colorado on a private ranch that allowed hunting. Things started moving really fast from that point, and the look and feel of the trip changed very drastically. The biggest obstacle to me was the fact that this soccer parent was not a hunter, and could not answer a lot of our questions. He did however have another friend that owned a house on this ranch that was a hunter. This proved to be a life saver towards the end of the trip.
I am normally the type of person that takes 2-3 weeks to plan, set up, pack, and map out the trip. My job has just recently taken a huge upswing, and I have been busier than RJinTexas in a field full of P-dogs during the last week of May. So I was stressing while knowing I was not going to be prepared for a trip that I had no idea what I was doing to begin with. I was fortunate enough to have a buddy (not a member here) that was able to do the driving route including hotel stays, scouting (on topo maps), and contacting the people that needed to be contacted for us. This was enough to help me somewhat relax about the trip going smooth. The other thing that helped me relax was the fact that I was going with my dad. He has been on a hunt like this (although with an outfitter) so he at least knew what to somewhat expect.
Being the gun nut that we all are, the first thing to do was to make sure my guns were all up to snuff, and I knew (REALLY KNEW) what my ballistics were for each situation. Since I reload, I made sure I had my load down. We all went to the gun range and practiced from 100 all the way out to 500 yards several times. I knew exactly what my rifle would do all the way out to 500 yards. I then changed the ballistics to reflect a 9000 foot altitude, and printed out my ballistic chart and taped it to the side of my stock.
It was 4 of us (me and my dad, and my buddy and his brother) that went in our group, and we decided to drive the 17 hour trip straight since we did not have to set up a tent or establish a campsite. This would get us in late that night and we could just get up the next morning and unload the trucks. Once we got there, it was clear that the accommodations were first class. The house was a self sustaining entity complete with generator for power and water pump for showers.
We got up the next morning, and after a great breakfast and unloading the trucks, we set off to scout the ranch for areas to hunt all on our own. Being the flatlanders we were, and not knowing what the heck we were doing, we all picked out what seemed to be the most awesome hunting areas that any man has ever seen. These boys from Texas knew exactly were the elk were going to be at sun up opening morning. It was foolproof. It had to be. After all, we were hunters from Texas. We knew everything.
Later that night, we went to the other house to visit with those other hunters. While discussing what we saw and what we were going to do, they snickered and said… you boys have mule deer tags? If not you might want to think about going 2000 feet higher to scout. All you are going to see there is mule deer. CRAP!!!!! So the next day we decided we better get out of the ranch and go higher just in case these guys that have been hunting there for 10 years really did know what they were talking about.
Friday morning comes around (the day before season opened) and we headed out right after another incredible breakfast. We drove into the San Juan Forest. We got our Rhino GPS out and our topo maps, and we starting planning our backup plan. We get into the forest, and we ended up driving 63 miles that day and we must have seen 40 camp sites. This was the very reason that we did not want to hunt public land. It seemed like around every corner there was another camp site. We found a few good places, and marked them on our GPS.
Saturday morning comes around, and we head out to the highest point we could find on the ranch that was already not taken by the other group. We see nothing but the incredible view that Colorado mountains can give us. It was incredible.
We head back to camp, eat a quick lunch, and then head back out. To the same spot. At least this time we saw some muleys. No bucks, but at least we were seeing game. The next day we moved to a different spot. Again nothing but muleys. We hunted that same spot that evening and we see nothing but cows. Not the elk version, but the Hereford version. This gave us the opportunity to practice our ranging skills. Man do I need practice at that. 2 hours of “how far is that one†occupied our time. We were getting discouraged, but were happy to be there in the mountains, and I was happy to not think about work. While talking to the other group that night, we found out they were not seeing anything either, but they had mule deer tags while we didn’t. They asked if we wanted to do a switch for 1 day, and let us go up higher in their spots, and they would hunt down lower with their mule deer tags. We jumped at that opportunity.
There were 2 good spots on that side of the ranch, and since there were 4 of us, we hunted in pairs. Dad and I took the lower ground the morning, and my buddy and his brother took the higher ground. Right at day break, they saw a large elk moving into the trees, but never really had a shot. In about 30 minutes they had a cow move along a ridge just below the other elk. She grazed in the open for about 20 minutes, but we did not have cow tags. That afternoon, my dad and I sat at the higher spot while one of the brothers sat in the lower spot, and the other brother stayed back at camp. We decided only to bring 1 gun since it was a tight area. Being the awesome parent my dad is, he quickly gave that up to me. I sat up shop right next to him and set up with what turned out to be the most important piece of equipment I purchased for this trip. A Caldwell deadshot fieldpod. I bought this little gadget for my 9 yr old son to help him hold the gun when he attempts to harvest his first deer later this year. I had no idea that this would also be critical in the harvest of my first elk.
We got down on the ground. I set the fieldpod up and starting glassing at the ridge. This ridge we were hunting was at least 1000 feet higher than we were, and the shot openings were very narrow, and there were only a few. While waiting, we started picking out land marks and checking our ranges with our laser range finder. There was a single lone tree at 275, the top of the cliff at 465, and a big rock at 329 yards. Right in front of that rock, you could see what looked like a small game trail. I decided that if I sat my gun range at 325, I could hit anything from that tree to that rock, and it still be a good shot. If the elk came out at the top of the cliff, I needed to add 2.5 moa which would be dead on at 450 yards. We were only there for 20 minutes and we heard a shot down where we were hunting. Then about 10 minutes later we heard a second shot. Turns out it was the other group, and they got their 2 mule deer does they had tags for. Those guys went back to camp, took a shower and got in their pajama and started watching the Monday night foot ball game.
Right about 20 minutes before dark, I saw movement. I whispered to my dad (although I bet it sounded more like a yell than a whisper)… THERE…. In the trees. Well… there were 7,000,000 trees on the side of that mountain. Dad said WHERE? I said.. just watch right in front of that rock…. It will be coming out there. You watch with the bino’s, and I will get my gun ready. Within a millisecond my gun was ready. That field pod was already in place right at the rock. I again said “we need to make sure he is a legal buck before I shootâ€. As he stepped out, and took about 6 steps, I was tracking him with my scope. I had never seen an elk before so I had no idea what to expect. I wanted to watch him for a few seconds so I could make 100% positive he was the one I wanted (really just wanted to make sure he was legal). Right about that time my dad said “he’s a good one take himâ€. BAM!!!!! He took 2 more steps and then collapsed and rolled down the hill about 15 yards. As I said before that Caldwell fieldpod had me perfectly steady. The 325 yard shot was a layup. The gun never rocked or moved. It was as steady as a rock. I have no doubt in my mind that one single piece of eqpt was the main reason my shot was placed perfectly behind his shoulder, and was the main reason that 160 grain 7mm Nosler Accubond went right through him. I left my dad at the spot we were sitting, and my buddy and I ran up the mountain. It took us only about 20 minutes to fight our way up that steep hill and get to the great beast. That’s when it hit us both. “NOW WHATâ€? We had no clue. In fact we didn’t even realize we went up there without our backpacks. Which meant, no flash light, no knives, and most of all, no plan on how we were going to get that thing down the side of the mountain. Fortunately we had our phones (to take pictures) and we had service. We called back to camp, that we had a bull down, and we needed help. About an hour later they rounded up the gear and guys and started walking up the mountain in the pitch dark. It took 5 hours for 4 of us to quarter him up and 6 of us to pack him down the mountain. It was the hardest but most rewarding hunt I have ever been on. I was glad to have shared it with my dad.
I just got back from my first ever elk hunt. It was a great experience and I learned a lot. I experienced a gamut of emotions on this hunt (both before and after). This hunt was planned for us to go to San Juan National forest. We had never been on a hunt like this before, but we were just going to go and wing it. My dad’s buddies had gone to Colorado several times in the past mule deer hunting, but never high enough up for elk. So we had the tents, the cots, the gear for this type of trip, and we were going to do this “one last time†with my dad’s generational buddies. While mentioning this hunt to a fellow soccer parent, we learned that he just so happened to own a house in Colorado on a private ranch that allowed hunting. Things started moving really fast from that point, and the look and feel of the trip changed very drastically. The biggest obstacle to me was the fact that this soccer parent was not a hunter, and could not answer a lot of our questions. He did however have another friend that owned a house on this ranch that was a hunter. This proved to be a life saver towards the end of the trip.
I am normally the type of person that takes 2-3 weeks to plan, set up, pack, and map out the trip. My job has just recently taken a huge upswing, and I have been busier than RJinTexas in a field full of P-dogs during the last week of May. So I was stressing while knowing I was not going to be prepared for a trip that I had no idea what I was doing to begin with. I was fortunate enough to have a buddy (not a member here) that was able to do the driving route including hotel stays, scouting (on topo maps), and contacting the people that needed to be contacted for us. This was enough to help me somewhat relax about the trip going smooth. The other thing that helped me relax was the fact that I was going with my dad. He has been on a hunt like this (although with an outfitter) so he at least knew what to somewhat expect.
Being the gun nut that we all are, the first thing to do was to make sure my guns were all up to snuff, and I knew (REALLY KNEW) what my ballistics were for each situation. Since I reload, I made sure I had my load down. We all went to the gun range and practiced from 100 all the way out to 500 yards several times. I knew exactly what my rifle would do all the way out to 500 yards. I then changed the ballistics to reflect a 9000 foot altitude, and printed out my ballistic chart and taped it to the side of my stock.
It was 4 of us (me and my dad, and my buddy and his brother) that went in our group, and we decided to drive the 17 hour trip straight since we did not have to set up a tent or establish a campsite. This would get us in late that night and we could just get up the next morning and unload the trucks. Once we got there, it was clear that the accommodations were first class. The house was a self sustaining entity complete with generator for power and water pump for showers.
We got up the next morning, and after a great breakfast and unloading the trucks, we set off to scout the ranch for areas to hunt all on our own. Being the flatlanders we were, and not knowing what the heck we were doing, we all picked out what seemed to be the most awesome hunting areas that any man has ever seen. These boys from Texas knew exactly were the elk were going to be at sun up opening morning. It was foolproof. It had to be. After all, we were hunters from Texas. We knew everything.
Later that night, we went to the other house to visit with those other hunters. While discussing what we saw and what we were going to do, they snickered and said… you boys have mule deer tags? If not you might want to think about going 2000 feet higher to scout. All you are going to see there is mule deer. CRAP!!!!! So the next day we decided we better get out of the ranch and go higher just in case these guys that have been hunting there for 10 years really did know what they were talking about.
Friday morning comes around (the day before season opened) and we headed out right after another incredible breakfast. We drove into the San Juan Forest. We got our Rhino GPS out and our topo maps, and we starting planning our backup plan. We get into the forest, and we ended up driving 63 miles that day and we must have seen 40 camp sites. This was the very reason that we did not want to hunt public land. It seemed like around every corner there was another camp site. We found a few good places, and marked them on our GPS.
Saturday morning comes around, and we head out to the highest point we could find on the ranch that was already not taken by the other group. We see nothing but the incredible view that Colorado mountains can give us. It was incredible.
We head back to camp, eat a quick lunch, and then head back out. To the same spot. At least this time we saw some muleys. No bucks, but at least we were seeing game. The next day we moved to a different spot. Again nothing but muleys. We hunted that same spot that evening and we see nothing but cows. Not the elk version, but the Hereford version. This gave us the opportunity to practice our ranging skills. Man do I need practice at that. 2 hours of “how far is that one†occupied our time. We were getting discouraged, but were happy to be there in the mountains, and I was happy to not think about work. While talking to the other group that night, we found out they were not seeing anything either, but they had mule deer tags while we didn’t. They asked if we wanted to do a switch for 1 day, and let us go up higher in their spots, and they would hunt down lower with their mule deer tags. We jumped at that opportunity.
There were 2 good spots on that side of the ranch, and since there were 4 of us, we hunted in pairs. Dad and I took the lower ground the morning, and my buddy and his brother took the higher ground. Right at day break, they saw a large elk moving into the trees, but never really had a shot. In about 30 minutes they had a cow move along a ridge just below the other elk. She grazed in the open for about 20 minutes, but we did not have cow tags. That afternoon, my dad and I sat at the higher spot while one of the brothers sat in the lower spot, and the other brother stayed back at camp. We decided only to bring 1 gun since it was a tight area. Being the awesome parent my dad is, he quickly gave that up to me. I sat up shop right next to him and set up with what turned out to be the most important piece of equipment I purchased for this trip. A Caldwell deadshot fieldpod. I bought this little gadget for my 9 yr old son to help him hold the gun when he attempts to harvest his first deer later this year. I had no idea that this would also be critical in the harvest of my first elk.
We got down on the ground. I set the fieldpod up and starting glassing at the ridge. This ridge we were hunting was at least 1000 feet higher than we were, and the shot openings were very narrow, and there were only a few. While waiting, we started picking out land marks and checking our ranges with our laser range finder. There was a single lone tree at 275, the top of the cliff at 465, and a big rock at 329 yards. Right in front of that rock, you could see what looked like a small game trail. I decided that if I sat my gun range at 325, I could hit anything from that tree to that rock, and it still be a good shot. If the elk came out at the top of the cliff, I needed to add 2.5 moa which would be dead on at 450 yards. We were only there for 20 minutes and we heard a shot down where we were hunting. Then about 10 minutes later we heard a second shot. Turns out it was the other group, and they got their 2 mule deer does they had tags for. Those guys went back to camp, took a shower and got in their pajama and started watching the Monday night foot ball game.
Right about 20 minutes before dark, I saw movement. I whispered to my dad (although I bet it sounded more like a yell than a whisper)… THERE…. In the trees. Well… there were 7,000,000 trees on the side of that mountain. Dad said WHERE? I said.. just watch right in front of that rock…. It will be coming out there. You watch with the bino’s, and I will get my gun ready. Within a millisecond my gun was ready. That field pod was already in place right at the rock. I again said “we need to make sure he is a legal buck before I shootâ€. As he stepped out, and took about 6 steps, I was tracking him with my scope. I had never seen an elk before so I had no idea what to expect. I wanted to watch him for a few seconds so I could make 100% positive he was the one I wanted (really just wanted to make sure he was legal). Right about that time my dad said “he’s a good one take himâ€. BAM!!!!! He took 2 more steps and then collapsed and rolled down the hill about 15 yards. As I said before that Caldwell fieldpod had me perfectly steady. The 325 yard shot was a layup. The gun never rocked or moved. It was as steady as a rock. I have no doubt in my mind that one single piece of eqpt was the main reason my shot was placed perfectly behind his shoulder, and was the main reason that 160 grain 7mm Nosler Accubond went right through him. I left my dad at the spot we were sitting, and my buddy and I ran up the mountain. It took us only about 20 minutes to fight our way up that steep hill and get to the great beast. That’s when it hit us both. “NOW WHATâ€? We had no clue. In fact we didn’t even realize we went up there without our backpacks. Which meant, no flash light, no knives, and most of all, no plan on how we were going to get that thing down the side of the mountain. Fortunately we had our phones (to take pictures) and we had service. We called back to camp, that we had a bull down, and we needed help. About an hour later they rounded up the gear and guys and started walking up the mountain in the pitch dark. It took 5 hours for 4 of us to quarter him up and 6 of us to pack him down the mountain. It was the hardest but most rewarding hunt I have ever been on. I was glad to have shared it with my dad.
