This marked the 3rd year in a row back to Colorado for a chance at something I personally set out to do, which was to harvest a DIY bull elk with a bow on public lands. There are certainly easier (and more expensive) methods to kill an elk and even a trophy elk. But, it’s always been about the challenge and the process for me. This included the absolute utter heartbreak of a previous season by coming so close and losing a trophy 6x6 bull. That experience was something that haunted me and drove me to put in 10X the effort this year in preparation and calling practice to get really good. In many ways, elk hunting in Colorado has changed my lifestyle over the past several years and its been all positive.
This year we decided on a targeted rut hunt the last ten days of the Colorado season. The full moon was peaking in the middle of September, which meant that once we arrived, it was going to get darker and darker with each passing night. From our camp location, we made it possible to hunt two different OTC units, which we had put extensive time learning the past couple seasons.
The hunt started off about as fast as possible with a spot and stalk mule deer that was still in full velvet. Jeremy was the only guy to draw a mule deer tag and we weren’t sure how this was going to play into the elk hunt. But, we have always run into great bucks around these units in elk season and always wished someone had a tag. This was a perfect way to start us off as the monkey was finally off our backs and even if we struck out on elk again, we weren’t going home with an empty cooler. We also ate good at camp! Spirits were high for sure.
After a best-case start, we quickly switched gears into elk mode. On our 3rd morning, we hit one of those magical times that I’ve read about, but never witnessed myself. Starting about 5:00 am, every single bull in the woods was bugling. They were all somewhat together in this valley and our best guess was maybe 6-10 different bulls. There were so many bulls we literally didn’t know what to do. Our thermals were going to push into this canyon, so we did the opposite of what we normally do. We waited. We waited until all the bulls headed towards their bedding area. One-by-one we could hear them slowly meandering up various draws towards their intended location. We waited until we heard the last bull drifting up the ridge and without the herd present, we quickly dropped into the draw and set up.
It was just starting to get light and I let out a locator bugle right where the party was going on 30 minutes earlier. Only I was the new bull and not accounted for in their census. I gave one more bugle and some chuckles and could hear elk moving towards us in the dark timber. I had one directly behind me when i heard a ‘THWAAACK!’ and here came Jeremy running down the logging trail fist pumping hysterically and hyperventilating. I yelled for him to sit down, but he ran another 15 yards before he finally understood my plead. The elk that were directly behind me were long gone and I could turn my attention and give my friend his just excitement.
The track job turned out to be pretty nerve-wracking when all we found was an arrow nock and zero blood. And I mean nothing. After, what felt like an hour of searching Jeremy started screaming again ‘Big bull! Big bull down, big bull down. I got a big bull down’ And then the real excitement kicked in and never stopped for the next 72 hours.
He had heart-shot that bull, but the arrow lodged in the far side of the shoulder and never exited. That bull ran 75 yards and died almost instantly and he never bled for probably 70 yards. It was wild. But, here we were with the biggest animal I’ve ever seen down in the woods and the real work began. It was an amazing morning and one that will never be forgotten.
And the celebration back at camp continued. The PA boys were on the board in a big way and the rest of the team hadn’t even made it into camp yet. Team NC was going to arrive in two days, followed by the Hodge who was flying back from Kazahkstan, where he coached for Team USA Wrestling team at the 2019 World Championships.
Its hard to describe the energy that Hodge, aka the Billy Goat, brings into camp. But to put into perspective, he flew a combined 30 hours of travel (and jet lag) from the other side of the world. His buddy, Pat, picked him up from Denver airport at 10 pm…they drove 7 hours through the night arriving at the trail head around 4 am and then he put solid 12 mile hunt in the morning before heading back to camp. I saw him later that evening I actually caught him yawn once before he chugged a Monster energy drink and then heading back out to hunt that evening.
The Hunt Part 2
After a successfully tagging out in the first 3 days, Jeremy graduated to camp cook; a job he really excelled at. He would go out and scout in the morning for the team and then head to town to cook up one of the best camp meals you could possibly imagine. Every single night was a 5-Star recipe. And one day we came back to about a month of cut firewood. It was awesome!
For the rest of us it was a grind and all work. Nick and I became a team and hunted super hard getting into elk on multiple occasions and Nick almost got a shot on a 5 x 5 one random morning. On day 7, we had an amazing evening with a gnarly lip bawling bull that was came in to 80 yards, but our winds swirled and his cows didn’t like the scene, so his bugles became more distant as he slowly faded away from us. The next morning we dove in right where we heard him last thinking he would be working his way back up onto the ridge. At about 730 we got our first answer bugle of the morning. We quickly cut the distance and bugled again to confirm real interest. After cutting the distance again to withing 150 yards, we started raking aggressively, which prompted his temperature to rise. After cutting our distance two more times, we stopped at about 100 yards, where some aggressive grunts was all it took to get that bull to turn and start coming. He stopped at 35 yards in a meadow and laid out one massive challenge bugle and we sat tight. The silence killed that bull as he couldn’t take it anymore and came charging down into the woods where we waited. He was cruising by me at 13 yards when I loosened my arrow and hit direct mid mass. Last year’s shoulder-blade nightmare had me avoiding that shoulder like the plaque and the fact he was moving pretty quickly had me much further back than I wanted. But that 462 grain arrow did its job and went through him like butter. The rest was up to the hunting Gods. I didn’t feel very good about the shot, so we backed out and waited. And with Nick trying to fill his tag, we started hunting again and planned to give this bull 4-5 hours.
The rest of this day turned into chasing another really big bull and putting on another 5-6 miles before heading back to track my bull. The blood sign was not great and I was not feeling great. But, ultimately a strong wind blew his scent down the hill and I could literally smell him. I walked in the direction of the smell and saw my bull laying in some pines maybe 150 yards from where I loosened my arrow. Success finally! And by far the best hunting experience I could have had and with my cousin, who was probably happier for me than I was.
The rest of the week Nick chased bulls with Hodge, which wasn’t a bad draw to be hunting with a world champion elk caller on your first hunt. Zack and Brad dove back in deep and put in the work, but kept running in more hunters the deeper they went. Finally, Jeremy and I cut meat and drank beer at camp. and have no doubt this was work. Hodge and Nick got into them for sure and Hodge, aka the Billy Goat, didn’t disappoint. While I wasn’t there, I could tell through the excitement in Nick’s voice what he had experienced. Multiple times, Hodge had them on a string including a giant herd bull probably pushing 350+ within 50-60 yards without getting that clear shot.
The hunt was amazing and our best year yet. Later that week after we left, Hodge got it done on the second to last day dropping a 5 x 5 bull. His streak continued.
We made the long 28 hour drive home, but this year the coolers were filled to the brim with meat. A little dry ice and we were good. Elk will be on the the menu for the whole year until we get back at it in 2020.