Special thanks to the rokslide community

Clarence

WKR
Joined
Apr 7, 2018
Messages
567
Got back from our 2nd season elk hunt yesterday, and I just wanted to thank the forum for all of the knowledge on here. Went on my first elk hunt last year, and day hunted from a hotel in south central Co. Knew right away I needed to come back this year and backpack hunt. 5 years ago this would have been a simple dream to me but would have seemed totally out of reach. When I got back last year the planning, research and obsessing began. Long story short we did 7 days on the mountain and thrived, not just survived! We camped 2.5 miles from the truck, and hunted up the mountain from there. We saw very little sign the first five days of the hunt, and only could find a few cows and one bull that was not legal. We put miles on over a few drainages, and the elk just did not seem to be there. Wednesday night we got 4" of snow in camp, and about 6" up on top. We decided to hunt tree line again and see what we could find. Tracks started showing up around 11'000, and at tree line all heck broke loose. Many more tracks at tree line. It was awesome to be hunting and know elk were in the area finally, after doubting and struggling for five days, wondering if this was just a cool winter hiking/camping trip. So much sign, but I just couldn't find them all day. Most of them seemed to cross the pass, and headed way back into some gnarly back country we knew would just be too far/difficult to get a kill back to the truck. Finally after reserving that it wasn't probably going to happen this year, I started hunting my way back to camp around 3:30 in the afternoon (Had several miles and a couple thousand feet to drop). I came across some fresh elk tracks and some beds while working the timber back. My wind was perfect and slowed my pace way down. Went a 100 yards or so and found a couple of cows with their calves. The wind was shifting a little, so I moved above them a little for insurance they wouldn't bust me. Watched the group feed for about 15 minutes feeding and kept them at 80 yards. Then a rag horn 2×4 stepped into the group! Identified him as legal and sent a shot through his boiler room! My one buddy was less than a mile away and was there in 15 minutes, and we celebrated and began the work we longed for all week!
I just can't thank you guys enough for all of the solid advice on gear, tactics, logistics and preparation! Back in Pa now and gonna get to wrapping and freezing this guy!
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