Well, through all the doubt and the heavy snow, patience paid off and the freezer will be stocked. I've hiked up that same mountain about a dozen times this year including archery season and I'm not going to lie, I thought about giving in and trying a new location. I actually did hunt out East during archery season as well as Boulder a couple times but I had to come back to the Honey Hole and even though there was absolutely no sign of an elk the last couple trips, nor were there any sign in the last few weeks since the opener of rifle season, I knew they would be back and well, the proof is in the puddin.
Each trip, I averaged about 5 to 6 miles to get in and back to the truck. This last week with the snow made it that much tougher especially when you're not seeing any sign of anything but moose. Moose are cool but they won't fill the freezer unless you're lucky enough to draw that tag. I'm still waiting. I mentioned last week that doubt was definitely setting in and it was. It's a lot of work and you feel defeated--like you wasted another entire day when you're not seeing anything. But sometimes, you just gotta trust the process.
I walked up to a series of parks Thursday afternoon. It was the last place I had seen any sign of elk but even that was weeks ago. I was half-way up the parks when I glassed back across the drainage and got a glimpse of a cow walking through the timber. They're here!
That elk disappeared but then I spotted another one in a saddle creating a corridor to the series of parks on the other side of the ridge. It's go-time.
I hiked through the timber and up the ridge to the parks where I cut a set of tracks. It was hard to tell how old the tracks were but they looked pretty fresh. I followed them until I felt pretty confident I wasn't going to catch up to them and I really didn't think they were from the elk I had spotted anyway. I was running out of light so I turned back, working my way into the park adjacent the ridge where I had spotted the elk. When I got there, It looked like a heard of cattle had been grazing in that park.
I skirted my way along the edge of the timber, not seeing anything but beds and tracks and tons of droppings. A week ago, this park was a virtual dessert only the sand dunes were snow drifts. There hadn't been anything except the occasional deer and other hunters to break the smooth surface of snow. Now, it looked like a heard of about 50 to 75 elk were living up there, destroying the clean snow-cap over the grass and the shrubs and rocks.
Did I miss them? Is that possible? Did someone else get there first? Did the wolves spook them out? On my way in on the trail I saw two things that made me think this; wolf tracks and blood in the snow along the trail. I kept telling myself that the wolf being there meant they were there for a reason and the blood; well, maybe someone did shoot one but I did see a couple going through the timber so I knew they were still there.
I walked the edge of the park and came up on a pile of droppings that were still on top of the snow. I know this is going to sound gross to those of you that don't hunt elk but I took my glove off and picked up one of the droppings and squeezed it to see how fresh it was. It wasn't frozen. It wasn't even cold. It was really fresh.
Before I could get my glove back on, I caught something out of the corner of my eye running across the park. I focused on it as it crossed behind a finger of trees protruding out into the park and sure enough, elk. Not only one but several but they were on the move.
"Fuck!" I thought. "They winded me and they're gone."
I have a buddy Mitch, who always tells clients this in the boat; "Panic kills armies."
It's true and when you're fishing or hunting, panic kills opportunities. Scott Hirschi and I talked about this on the last podcast, Kill All The Wolves! And anything else that keeps me from shooting an elk... You have to slow things down or you will choke. As these elk were cruising across the park, I thought about taking a running shot but at 150 yards, that didn't seem like the smart thing to do. I remembered I had my cow call around my neck and I gave a quick, "mee-eww." They stopped.
I put the gun on my shooting sticks but the elk had stopped behind that finger of trees. I could see one of the elk through the trees and thought about pulling the trigger but then stopped myself. One little branch would deflect the bullet and they would be gone. The fact they had stopped with the cow-call meant they weren't totally freaked out so I waited for a second and they took off again. They cleared the trees and were out in the open and as I got one of them in the cross-hairs, again I thought about shooting on the run. Instead, I hit the cow-call again and again, they all stopped, which gave me just enough time to put the cross-hairs on the lead cow and squeeze.
The tell-tail sign of a good hit is when the report of the bullet hitting something solid comes back at you a second after the initial shot. The other sign of a solid hit is when the elk actually drops. Both of these things happened and as I stood up, it only took a couple more seconds for me to start planning the next 12 or 14 hours... This elk was about a mile and a half from the truck. I was by myself. I was going to need help.
Some of you reading this might think, "What's the big deal? It's only a cow, right?"
Yeah, you're right. It's not a trophy by any means. I kind of equate this with deer hunting in the Midwest. For most people, they put in for doe tags and when they get one, they think, "Sweet! That just upped my chances of putting venison in the freeze by like 5 times," but it's still no guarantee. I would say the success rate of shooting elk out here is much like that of shooting a deer in the Midwest. For most, even a doe is an accomplishment.
Now I've been pretty damn successful for the past decade--mostly during archery-season. When I haven't done it with a bow, I feel my chances with a rifle are greatly diminished. There are more people in the mountains. The elk get pushed around. They are really spooky so I just think it's harder--even with a cow tag so I'm stoked. I've got meat in the freezer!
I know. Those of you that know me, know we are not struggling to get by but we do eat a lot of elk and venison and other wild game species. We could buy beef and honestly, when you look at how much it costs to drive up into the mountains, to buy shells and food and everything else when taking a hunting trip, we're not coming that much out ahead by harvesting elk. But, it's meat that is well worth the effort as it's not jacked up with hormones and it's lean and it tastes excellent. If given a choice, I'd eat elk.
So there you have it. Even with all the doubt and the second guessing, this season has been a success. Now, Jill is going to get her chance again, to shoot her first deer. It's gonna happen.
Keep 'em where they live...
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