Colorado Elk/Deer hunt - Day 2 By Jason Balazs
Oct 18, 2007 - 4:03:21 PM
Day 2
3:00 A.M.
I woke up to the sound of Rain. I woke Jodi up to make sure she was dry and we had not had any leaks in the tent. We felt around our bags to make sure they were dry and decided that we would just sleep until the rain stopped.
7:00 A.M.
We woke up and everything felt damp. I got up and opened up my scent safe bag from the folks at Tree Apron, luckily everything in there was dry as a desert. As for everything else in the tent, it was very moist and the rain was far from being over. Jodi got up and said, "There goes the morning hunt." This was not like your normal little fall sprinkle; the skies had opened up and poured on us. I decided to get dressed and assess the damage. While I was at it, I figured I would make us some coffee too. In our cook tent, water was everywhere, but we had planned ahead and made sure everything was in its own containers. So, we sat there and had coffee waiting for the rain to stop.
And the rains came. Now we wait for it to stop.
10:00 A.M.
The rain finally stopped and we decided that we had better get everything out of the tents so that night when we got back in, we would not be sleeping on wet stuff. Ralph came over to camp and said he was listening to his radio and the weather was supposed to stay clear for the rest of the day. With that great news, Doug and I constructed a huge laundry line to hang everything from. Once we were all done with that, we decided that since the rain had washed away all of the old tracks, it would be a good day to get some scouting/hunting in. At 11:00 we all had a bite to eat and headed on our own ways. Jodi, Sierra, and I decided to head straight through the back of our camp. There was plenty of elk sign in our camp from before we got there. Elk are sort of funny; they will hide in the most unlikely places when they are pressured. Since the Muzzleloader season had just ended, the elk were pretty scared in the area. We were hoping that once they calmed down, they would start going back to their old habits. The rut should be starting and the bulls should start having their minds on other things. Doug and Carole went directly in front of camp to follow this ridge of aspens down to a meadow. Ralph went with them since he was there mostly for support and to act as a guide. He has been hunting this area for the last 5 years and knows it pretty well. His brother Paul had left that morning, so it was just the six of us for the next couple of days.
Drying our damp sleeping bags, etc.
Jodi, Sierra, and I slowly began working our way through the woods. I had turned on my Delorme PN-20 to see where we were on the satellite photography. I would switch it back and forth between satellite and topo mode. This way I ensured that we were following the ridges and could identify saddles where elk like to hang out.
While we were still-hunting, we had found at least five hidden meadows in the middle of the dark timber. There was a lot of elk and deer sign in them. We were thinking that we might want to sit in some of these in the evening. After walking for about an hour or two, we found an old fence line that used to run through the woods. There was no more wire, just old rotted posts. My guess is this must have been an old rancher's fence from back in the day. Anyway, we noticed that there was a trail that had been worn down by elk that ran right along the old fence post. We decided to follow this trail to see where it would lead us.
As we crested a ridge we found an area that was just torn up with rubs. Every single tree in the area was rubbed about eight to ten feet off the ground. It was in a saddle of a ridge and a cross road in the trail. After seeing all this fresh sign, we wanted to try to keep our presence here unnoticed. We decided to continue down the fencerow and see where it led.
About another half of a mile down the fence, we ran into the corner where it led into a large meadow on the North side of the mountain. We figured that was where the elk staged themselves before they headed into the meadows to feed at night. We decided we would take a break and eat a snack before heading back to camp. It was almost 2 in the afternoon and we wanted to make sure that we had enough time to set up for the afternoon hunt. Just as we were finishing off an apple, we heard a bugle.
The bugle had come from around the ridge where the large rubs were. At first we were not sure if it was another hunter or not so we stayed silent. I then heard the bull raking limbs with his antlers and told Jodi to get ready for a possible shot. Jodi nocked an arrow and we started walking back down the trail. The plan was to try and get as close as we could before we started calling. The timber was thick so I was not worried about the bull seeing us, just as long as the wind stayed in our favor.
When we got to about 300 yards of where the ridge was I had Jodi set up and I dropped back with Sierra about 60 yards or so. Just as soon as we were set up the bull bugled. It was working its way down the fencerow, right on track to Jodi. I figured if he was coming there was no need to have him start to look for anything, so I didn't call. The bull let out another bugle and it sounded like the trees were shaking (I know I was). I could see Jodi in front of me settled in right behind a bush for cover. She looked back and pointed ahead toward the trail. She could see him coming. From the sound of it, the bull was big. I saw her hook on her release and get ready. That is when some other hunter moved in and started calling and bugling like a mad man. He was directly upwind from the elk and was trying to stalk toward it. How did I know it was a hunter? Believe me, you can tell the difference between a hunter and an elk. Plus, an elk does not bugle then cow call every half of second. The bull froze and was watching in the direction of the intruder. He lifted his nose to the air and smelled. That is all it took. The bull turned and showed his backside and headed back to where he had come from. Sierra and I worked our way up to Jodi very quietly. She had a look of disappointment in her face but there was still that pure excitement of seeing a bull and almost getting a shot.
The long walk out after another hunter scares her bull away. One more reason that scent control is always important.
We never saw that other hunter until we were back at our camp. Some guys came by our camp talking about how they had worked this bull up real good right behind our camp. I asked them to bugle on their tube for me and sure enough, it was the same call I had heard in the woods. They said they were going to try to get in on that bull for the next couple of days. I said, "Good luck, and let us know if you get him," as they went on their way. I knew that they were not going to have a chance on that big old bull, because Jodi and I had followed his tracks all the way off the mountain on our way back to camp. They must not have had very good scent control for that elk did not even stop running until he was on some private property about 5 miles away from where we had our encounter.
4:00 P.M.
After telling everyone about our encounter and the guys who were going to concentrate on that area, Jodi and I decided to go to another spot. We pulled out our area topo map and Ralph showed us a spot he had seen some elk in the years past, So Jodi, Sierra, and I decided we would try it out. Doug and Carole were going to go right across from camp where they went after the rain.
After driving about 3 miles or so on this old logging road, we found a place to park. From what Ralph said, there was some timber that led down into some aspens and the elk transitioned there from bedding to feeding. We found where Ralph was talking about and all I can say is WOW!! The view was beautiful. There was plenty of elk sign all over the ground and deer sign too. We knew that we were in for some hunting action.
Now this is majestic as we over look good elk country.
As the sun started to go down and the aspen leaves were glowing orange, we decided to walk slowly back toward the logging road because the wind was blowing right in the direction that the elk were going to be coming from. We wanted to try to see if we could intercept the elk on their way down before they could smell us. We had only gotten halfway through the timber when I spotted an elk. I told Jodi, "There is one!" The problem is, the elk had seen us too and was going away from us. We hurried through the timber quietly and got to the logging road. I had Jodi post right were we came out and I went down the road about 60 yards. I told her to start cow calling when I bugle and we will sound like a herd of elk. The cow elk that I had seen was not spooked only startled that something else was in the woods. I let out a perfect bugle on my Terminator from Primos and the elk stopped. Jodi started cow calling and Sierra was using the Hoochie Mama from Primos. The elk started to turn and began walking right back at us. There was more than one, for the trees started to come alive with breaking sticks and flashes of light tan. I ducked back into the woods and kept up the calling. Jodi stopped calling and readied her bow.
There was a cow elk right in front of her broadside at 25 yards, but its whole body was behind a tree. I bugled a small bugle to imitate a young bull and hopefully get the elk to walk out from behind the tree for Jodi to get a shot. But as luck would have it, the wind started swirling with the afternoon thermals and started blowing right to where the elk were. All of the elk started running to our left but it was hard to see any of them with the thick pines that had been planted there after the logging several years ago. I bugled again and the elk stopped. Jodi crept toward me with an arrow at the ready. I could see one elk that was not sure what to do. She stood there wanting to come toward me but was confused. I ranged her at 89 yards, as she was looking dead at me. Pretty soon the light faded so bad that I could not even make out the outline of her anymore so we decided to quietly leave the area and return back in the morning. Sierra, Jodi, and I were really excited to have that close encounter with the herd of elk. We were going to let them come down and go into the meadow that we had been watching. The plan was to come back in the morning and catch them as they came up the mountain.
When we got back to camp, everything that was left out drying was put away and we ate some great homemade chili that Jodi had made at the house. Doug and Carole had seen a doe, but the wind started swirling and the deer made a quick exit. We were all excited that finally the animals were coming out of hiding since all the Muzzleloader hunters had vacated the area. We would be dreaming of big bulls and bucks all night with the anticipation of catching the elk in the morning… To be continued…..
