Colorado Elk/Deer hunt - Day 3 By Jason Balazs
Oct 26, 2007 - 2:33:33 PM
5:00 A.M.
I woke and up and started the coffee. The temperature was a little cooler this morning. I looked at our thermometer that we take with us camping and it read 35 degrees. "This is just what we need to make the bulls start to scream at us," I told Jodi. The plan was to set up where we had seen the cows the night before. Except this time, we will wait for them as they come out of the meadows below and make their way through the dark timber. Doug and Carole were going to go on the north side of the mountain and see if they could find some elk up there. There is a trail that leads to the North side where there is a huge meadow and aspens all over. Ralph came over from his camp and said he was going to stay in that morning. He had some work he had to do around camp. He said we could leave Sierra asleep and because he would be there. Jodi and I decided that it would be a great idea, so Jodi went in and told Sierra what the plan was. She mumbled something then started snoring again. I guess that she was really tired from hiking all around the mountains for the last couple of days.
6:45 A.M.
Jodi and I had made our way back to where we were this previous evening. As the light was starting to filter out the darkness the woods were starting to come alive. Jodi was to my left about 60 yards and we each had chosen a thick pine tree for a backdrop to break up our outline. I was hoping that we might be able to catch a Mule deer coming back through the timber also. Usually they would be the first things through, and then the elk usually follow. As the sky grew lighter, we started hearing lots of bulls bugling in the bottom. I looked at Jodi and she was pointing towards the bottom. I gave her the "Yep I hear that" nod and got ready. We sat there for over 15 minutes listening to them bugle. I finally walked over to Jodi and said, "We needed to try to get to where those elk are." She agreed and we were off working our way through the dark timber. Once we came to the meadow we finally found what all the commotion was about. There were two six-point bulls fighting in the middle of the meadow with about 7 cows around them.
We moved through the aspens very slowly to try to close the distance between them and us. The elk were not working their way up the meadow like we had planned, but rather away from us up the other side of the mountain. We kept on them and did not make any calls or any noise whatsoever. I took a picture of the bulls while they were circling the cows but the were a little far away, so I zoomed my camera in a little bit and was able to take a picture. We stayed on them as they were working their way over the mountain. Fortunately they had stayed in the open the whole time as we were in the timber.
This bull was far but got the heart pumping as he crested this hill toward us.
It is amazing how much ground these animals can cover in just a short amount of time. Our elevation was 10,000 feet and our lungs were burning. We knew that we needed to keep up with the elk if there was going to be a chance at getting a shot. As the elk were going over the top of the hill the sun was just cresting and it outlined the elk perfect. I was able to zoom in and take a picture of one of the bulls as he crested the hill. Jodi and I took a breather for a second as the bulls were on the top chasing cows and warding each other away from them. As soon as the bulls disappeared over the hill, Jodi and I took off straight up the hill as fast as we could walk. It seemed like it took forever for us to get up there, but we finally did. Thank God the elk were still bugling, because they had started to head to the North instead of going in the direction that they had originally started on. Jodi was the first to spot them already in the bottom of the meadow below us where the dark timber started back up again. The two bulls were still trying to claim the herd as theirs, so we decided to hurry and get in the aspens to work our way to the bottom as quickly as we could.
Now this is great even without the elk.
Once down there we noticed an electric fence that was private property, which ran across the bottom of the valley. The elk had just jumped the fence and were making their way into the trees. Jodi and I had gotten to about 80 yards from the fence and knelt down. I told Jodi I was going to bugle to try to get the elk to turn back. If I could get a cow to come our way, I know that those two bulls would follow. I was going to let out a huge bugle to try to get the bulls to challenge me. If there had only been one bull, I would not have done this because the bull would have gathered his cows and got out of there. But because there were two bulls already fighting, the herd bull would have no choice than to try to come and run me off. The elk were already in the timber and we were only about 150 yards from them. I had Jodi get ready and we both took a knee.
I bugled loud and deep on the Primos Terminator. Then what happened next was unbelievable. Not only one of the bulls, but both came rushing towards the fence. They both stopped and bugled loudly at me. I let the bugle rip again and the big bull jumped the fence. I thought, "Here we go!" I pulled out my camera and tried to get a snapshot of the bull looking towards us. He was 95 yards and needless to say, I was shaking a little, but you can see him in the picture. Just as I took that picture, the other bull jumped the fence too. I looked at Jodi and said, "Take the big bull and I will get the second one." She hooked on her release and was ready. I ranged a small tree out in the meadow and told her the range to it, which was 50 yards. The bulls were 40 yards on the other side of that tree walking our way. The camera show was over now, because it was time for the Bowtech to sing.
This was the first of two bulls that were moving into range.
The bulls stopped at the top of a hill looking for the bull that had challenged them. There was no way I could call again and I didn't want to. If the bull turned and started back to his herd, I would have bugled. Just as the bull stopped we could feel the breeze starting to blow. This was not good. It was swirling around us and my heart began to sink. I knew what was about to happen. The big 6X6 bull lifted his head in the air smelling the current. He remained calm until that wide eye look came over him. You know the look. The one that says, "HUMAN!!" The bulls whipped around and headed about 20 yards back towards the timber. That is when I bugled again. The bulls stopped right in their tracks and began to walk towards the timber instead of run. They were not coming back and there was nothing Jodi or I could do about it. I looked at Jodi and she was still shaking from the encounter. I sat down and started to laugh.
"Man that was close," I told her. She said, "That was so awesome. If they would have just stopped at the tree I could have made a shot." I looked at my watch and discovered it to be 10:30, so I said, "Those elk are not going to go far today. We have chased them all morning and now they are in the dark timber. I believe that the bugle calmed them down and we should have a good chance this afternoon of seeing them, because they are over on that private ranch and no one is going to mess with them. Let's head back to camp and get some lunch, we will come back here this afternoon." I turned on my Earthmate PN-20 GPS and marked the spot where we were. I also switched to satellite view and noticed that the meadow we were in, met up with another one to our left. This choke point is where the elk had crossed the fence. They must have liked being in cover the whole time. We decided that we should sit at that point in the evening to see if we could ambush them. Jodi said, "Lets get back to camp so we can make sure we get back here in time this afternoon. After chasing those elk all over, we have a ways to go." We were very thankful to have our Lowa boots on. They provided such great ankle support over the sage roots and downed timber, plus they have to be the most comfortable boot that I have ever worn.
Once back at Camp, Carole had a smile from ear to ear. Doug said, "Carole had a close encounter with three cows." It seems that Carole was sitting next to a tree watching this meadow at sun up. Her bow was sitting on the ground right next to her. As the sun was rising, she heard a noise behind her. She slowly turned around to see a mountain squirrel throwing pinecones off the tree she was by. While she was watching the squirrel she heard another noise in front of her. She turned around to see thee cow elk at 20 yards looking at her. She said, "I didn't know what to do. They were looking right at me and I was looking right at them. My bow is on the ground and I didn't want to spook them by reaching for it. Then they bolted and ran away. I was shaking so bad that I don't think I would have been able to draw my bow anyway." This was first thing this morning and she was still shaking. We all laughed and I said, "Folks, I think we have a person sold on Bowhunting here. She has got the fever!" We all chuckled as Jodi and I showed them the pictures that we took and told them about the elk.
4:30
We sat, we watched and then the mule deer buck caught my eye.
Jodi and I were settled in to our spot waiting for the bulls to come out. The wind was perfect. We both were reading a book looking up ever once and a while to look around or glass the timber. When 6:00 rolled around we set our books down and got really ready. The time from 6:00 until dark was the magic hour. There was about 120 yards of meadow that was in front of us and the tree line running on the other side. The Aspens were so pretty and the colors of gold and orange were glowing in the afternoon sun. Jodi was sitting on the left side of this large bushy pine, and I was on the right side. I had my video camera along for this hunt and had it mounted on a tripod. About 6:15 Jodi said, "There is a buck!" I said where? I don't see it." She pointed in front of us and the tree was blocking my view. I leaned out and saw him, a nice little 4X4 Mule deer walking right towards us. He was still on the other side of the electric fence that was private land, but he was walking right towards us. Once to the fence, the buck was not sure what it wanted to do. It was on a mission, pacing back and forth looking for a place to cross. With one leap it jumped the fence and was walking again as if it had an appointment somewhere. It was still walking at us, but started to turn ever so slightly to its left (my right). It looked like this was going to be my shot, so I ranged a bush that the buck would pass by. The shot would be 50 yards, which is a chip shot when you are hunting out west. I turned my body, hooked on my release, and got ready. When the buck was about 20 yards from that spot, I drew. This buck could care less about anything. He was on a mission. Just when he was getting ready to step into that spot, I let out a grunt to stop the buck. He just kept walking. Louder and louder I continued. Sounding like this, "Beep…..Beep…. Beeeeeeppp!" The buck just kept walking, so I lead it a little and touched the trigger on my Tru-Fire Judge. As soon as that buck heard the arrow, he jumped the distance of two body lengths forward as the arrow flew harmlessly past where he was supposed to stop. The buck did nothing else but just kept walking as if nothing happened. He went into the aspens and disappeared. Jodi asked me if I hit it, and I told her it jumped the string.
We still had plenty of light left, so we figured we would sit it out. I snuck down and found my arrow sticking in the dirt and we settled back down. I rewound the video of the buck walking right past the camera and hearing the miss. I just could not believe that the buck would not stop. I need to try something different to stop one if I have the chance again. As the sun started to set, I started to hear a noise. It sounded like horses running full bore. Then, out on the other side of the meadow I saw elk busting out of the trees. They were on a full run and scared by something. Of course they were on the private side of the fence, and were moving horizontally with us. I lifted my Nikon Monarchs up and could see they were all young bulls. Spikes to be exact. They were about 500 yards in front of us. I wanted to try something out here, so I bugled. The elk all stopped right in mid-run and looked my way. Just then another 3 bulls came from my left running into the meadow. These were all small bulls too. The area we were hunting requires a bull to have four points on one side or better, so these bulls were not legal. The bulls kept trotting and worked their way over the hill down into the lower meadows. We were not sure what had spooked the elk out, but we were betting that it was some hunters on the private ranch. As the sun dipped down below the horizon and the light faded, we sat there watching the stars start to appear above us. It is just amazing how the Milky Way lights up while you are in the high country. It is almost as if you can reach up there and grab it. We had a little hike to get back to the truck, so I turned on the Delorme PN-20 and set a course for home.
A beautiful day to just close your eyes for just a moment.
Once back at camp, we found out that no one had seen anything but us. Ralph came over and said that a bad storm will be moving in, and we might want to think about packing up a little early. With all the tents, trailers, and other things, it would be impossible to get out the high country with two feet of snow on the ground. I asked him when the storm was going to hit. He said, "Saturday." So we all talked about what we were going to do, and decided that it would be best if we hunted until Friday, then pack up and leave. We all had to be back to work on Tuesday, and wanted to make sure we were not stuck up there. Jodi and I decided that we would head back down into that meadow again in the morning. Doug and Carole were going to go around the North Side of the mountain where they saw some fresh elk sign. It was not hard to get to sleep that night. As a matter of fact, I don't remember falling asleep. We should have been tired. Jodi and I chased that herd of elk all over the mountain that day and hopefully, we would get a chance in the morning… To be continued…..
