charlieyca
FNG
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2019
- Messages
- 51
Hunted Colorado 2nd season OTC elk. Never been outside of NC hunting, total elevation change here is 6-10 ft. Went with brother in law with plans to truck camp and possibly spike camp if we saw enough sign. Scouted 2 days before opener. Saw 1 cow, some sign but nothing really fresh. Hunted opening day, glassed most of the morning and afternoon and no new sign or sightings, lots of gunshots. Day 2 started snowing so we planned to switch tactics and just starting walking from dark timber to dark timber, skirting the edges looking for tracks. Less than a mile from the camp we cut a fresh track in an going from open aspen over a small ridge into dark timber. Follow those tracks for 50 yards or so and realize the tracks are heading down a small finger ridge, that has an opening across one side and the bottom. Bro in law split off to watch the opening in case i spooked him off the ridge (he was already spooked, but not far ahead.) We find a fresh bed, at least 5ft across, and still warm to the touch. Follow down that ridge, across the opening at the narrowest spot, up another ridge, 2 loops on his own trail. Decide to split up again as we come to the next patch of dark timber. I go around the high side and see 3 spruce about 15 yards into the opening and figured i would slip out to them and watch the treeline. I step into the field and look left and right and there he is. No quicker than I see him and raise my gun hes gone. 30 yards. Less than a second. at least a 5x5. Gone. Cow called was our signal to other hunter to come to me. He sees the tracks and dirt thrown up from the running elk, and we start following again. 3.2 miles past 5 other hunters who never shot and we finally gave up. He went down a cliff that we couldnt follow. Covered a lot of ground the following 5 days but never saw another elk (on public).
Things I learned
1. Don't underestimate weather, woke up on day 3 and all our water in the truck was froze solid and truck wouldn't start it was so cold.
2. Have a backup plan with easy road access, the last 2 days with snow and ice on the backroads, we struggled with access from lower elevationin terrible road conditions
3. All Dark timber is not the same, some patches have blowdown and undergrowth, some look like a park. Lots of mule deer sign in open undergrowth, ELK sign non-existant.
4. You can get away from people even on public land
5. Don't obsess over gear choices, the difficult part is finding elk
6. If what you are doing is not working, switch it up. Elk are all different and they move.
7. Inreach is worth the expense, but man its tough when your little girl texts you and asks when youre coming home.
Things I will do different
1. Have a wall tent and stove if hunting 2nd season. First 2 nights were good, next 2 were not unbearable, but tough.
2. Scout the timber preseason. The 2 days of scouting we tried to glass and view things from a distance to not blow out an area. On public land it already blown out. We essentially wasted those 2 days not finding fresh sign.
3. Develop a plan for splitting up and what to do if... For 2 newbies we just planned to stick together for safety sake, but once we found sign there was definite benefit to being able to split up and cover more area. We stayed mostly within sight/sound of each other.
4. Keep Walking, even though we covered 4-10 miles a day, some times it felt like it wasnt covering enough
5. Be where they want to be opening morning, not glassing where they want to be. With all the movement and shooting opening morning, be in a spot where others will push elk to.
Oh and I will be back in 2021!!!
Things I learned
1. Don't underestimate weather, woke up on day 3 and all our water in the truck was froze solid and truck wouldn't start it was so cold.
2. Have a backup plan with easy road access, the last 2 days with snow and ice on the backroads, we struggled with access from lower elevationin terrible road conditions
3. All Dark timber is not the same, some patches have blowdown and undergrowth, some look like a park. Lots of mule deer sign in open undergrowth, ELK sign non-existant.
4. You can get away from people even on public land
5. Don't obsess over gear choices, the difficult part is finding elk
6. If what you are doing is not working, switch it up. Elk are all different and they move.
7. Inreach is worth the expense, but man its tough when your little girl texts you and asks when youre coming home.
Things I will do different
1. Have a wall tent and stove if hunting 2nd season. First 2 nights were good, next 2 were not unbearable, but tough.
2. Scout the timber preseason. The 2 days of scouting we tried to glass and view things from a distance to not blow out an area. On public land it already blown out. We essentially wasted those 2 days not finding fresh sign.
3. Develop a plan for splitting up and what to do if... For 2 newbies we just planned to stick together for safety sake, but once we found sign there was definite benefit to being able to split up and cover more area. We stayed mostly within sight/sound of each other.
4. Keep Walking, even though we covered 4-10 miles a day, some times it felt like it wasnt covering enough
5. Be where they want to be opening morning, not glassing where they want to be. With all the movement and shooting opening morning, be in a spot where others will push elk to.
Oh and I will be back in 2021!!!
