Last weekend's hunt

I hunted the same area as Thursday on Friday evening, but I climbed up the mountain to the area the elk were in the evening before. Of course once up there, a bull started bugling on the far side of the drainage about an hour before dark. I stayed put since it would take me an hour to get there. Finally just before dark the bull on my side bugled at the far bull from about 100 to 150 yards away. I cow called some with no response. Then right at dark he bugled above and behind me out in the open. He appeared to be bugling at me and saying "if your coming, get over her now". When he crossed over the ridge he skylighted his rack. He was a really good bull with a huge body. The two behind him were spikes and I did not see any cows.

I hunted the same area on Saturday and was expecting some exitement after Friday evening, but all I heard was three shots from someone with a muzzleloader. The muzzleloader season started today and goes through the next weekend. I don't know if the extra people in the woods shut them down or what, but the entire day was uneventful. Needless to say, I was very disappointed.

I went to church on Sunday morning then took Isaac hunting with me in a new area on Sunday evening. We found fresh moose tracks from a cow moose and here two calves that have been seen near Redcliff a couple times. We also saw a couple elk rubs from this year, but that was the best we did. All other sign was old and the evening was uneventful.

I'll be hunting with Dad next weekend and plan to take a couple vacation days next week before season ends. I jjust need a couple lucky minutes to make this season work out.

Hunted Thursday Evening

I managed to get out just early enough to hunt for a couple hours yesterday evening. I hunted close to town. The hike to the area I hunted was only a mile or so, with only a steady verticle climb. I just quitely still hunted through some heavy timber hoping to see elk or deer or bear, I wasn't picky about which.

I managed to see a small herd of elk. I only made out three of them, one 4 or 5 point bull, a calf and a larger elk that I'm sure had to be a bull also. Considering the calf, there had to be at least one more cow around somewhere. I had enough time for them to come to the call, so I made several cow calls. The bull stood there on the slope looking my way, but refused to budge or make a sound. I snuck out without spooking them in hopes that they would be in the same area this evening. If I can get out a little early, I think I can set up and wait for them to feed through the same area. Who knows with elk though, they may be miles from there tonight. I did see a few deer tracks and some bear scat, so if the elk aren't around, maybe one of them will show up. I may still be a little picky with the deer I would try for, but an elk just needs to be legal.

I would really like to get lucky before the muzzleloader starts this weekend. It would also allow me to concentrate on Dad killing a cow when he gets here next week.

Long weekend

Joe and I hunted together Saturday morning without seeing anything other than a little bit of elk sign. Joe helped me set up a camp then I drove Joe down to Eagle where he met with Nancy, Heather and all the kids. I drove back up on the mountain to hunt and camp until Monday. I made a short hunt and saw a couple small bucks and a doe Saturday evening but no elk.

I got up at 4:30 Sunday morning, got all my stuff together (should have done that the night before) then drove to the location I would start from. It was getting light, so I was rushing to get to the ridge top and walked right into a big mule deer buck. I circled him to try and get ahead of him for an ambush, but I never saw him again. I then spotted a couple elk in the awful hole that Joe and I hunted last weekend. Of course I bailed off into it again. I stayed in there all day and managed to hear one bugle, but before it was over with I believe the wind gave me up. At the end of the day I had to climb up out of there again, but chose a different route than last week. It was still a tough climb, but not even close to as bad as the last choice.

I debated it for a while, but decided I wanted to spend some of Monday with the kids and Heather and see Joe for a while before they were to leave on Tuesday, so I drove home that night. On the way down the mountain I saw another big Mule Deer buck and was wishing I had stayed, but there is always next weekend.

On Monday we fished at Turquoise lake for a while and kept 8 fish caught between myself, Joe, Kelsie and Michael. We could have caught more, but the weather was nasty and we were hungry. I had planned to hunt near Leadvill that evening with Isaac, but it was raining hard. So, I drove Joe to pick up their rental car in Eagle for their drive through the Rocky Mountain National Park on Tuesday then to the Denver Airport. Of course the weather looked great up on the mountain I had been hunting.

I've still not loaded any pictures onto my computer, so no pics yet.