Joe showing off the lunch made just for an elk hunter.
Michael wondering how he got talked into this.
Not sure what these two guys were doing at 9,000 ft, but I almost stepped on them.
Joe, Michael and Kelsie fishing for trout in Turquois lake in the rain. Heather , Nancy and Isaac watch. You can see a few fish in the lower left corner.
The mighty hunter (Dad) all dressed up but no elk to impress.
Dad and the Flattops in the background.
Wild flower that I don't know the name of.I didn't take a lot of pictures while elk hunting this year. I had several close calls and got in on bugling that I had never experienced, but I could not get it done. My side tags, deer and bear, never worked out either. I was pretty disappointed in my bowhunting results. I expected to at least kill a deer, but since I had a tag nothing was ever near me.
This is the first day of my Bighorn ewe tag. There were 10 sheep around the rock you can see through my spotting scope. They were around 2,500 to 3,000 ft above me, and of course I took off after them.
A while later I made it to this point at treeline. The sheep are bedded on that diagonal line where the snow is melted just above the tree tops. If I could just get to the log above the scrubby trees I should have a 40 yard shot.
The interchange way down below is where I started from.
This is where they were when I finally got up there. I never could get closer than 100 yards and I hung out all day hoping they would feed my direction. That never happend and I made it back to the truck after dark. I was very tired.
I packed in this camp about a mile and a half up a drainage just to treeline on the second day to hunt for a few days.
This is a few sheep out of a group of 13 that I planned to hunt on day 3, but they disappeared never to be seen again. I did try to ambush four that I found close by that evening, but while watching two of them from 75 yards one had got above me to about 40 yards and caught a glimpse of me sneaking in. I had to slide on my but back down the steep slope to find my pack in the dark. I could not find it so I had to make it back to my tent with no light and find it in the morning.
This is the rock slide I climbed up through to stalk the same four sheep from the night before after finding my pack. I though I had them, but instead of continuing to feed up the slope past the rock outcropping I snuck to, they bedded on the far side of the chute they were feeding in and 68 yards was all I could get to . They finally winded me and spooked. I again had to slide on my but all the way back down to the trees. The climb up wasn't much fun, but the slide down was nerve racking. If you kick a rock loose, it will roll a half mile down the hill.
This is looking back down the drainage from the same spot as the last picture. Last nights stalk had been on the edge of the trees on the slope to the left. At this point I called Heather and had her meet me in Georgetown with the 7mm mag. I had had enough climbing and sliding back down and planned to shoot one and let it slide down to me. I never got another chance. I got to 275 yards on the last day, but was not comfortable with that range and before I could get closer they made it to the trees and I never could find them again.
This is the head of the drainage that I was hunting. This is well above treeline.
This is Mt Elbert this morning on my way to work with the first rays of sun shining on it. Elbert is the highest peak in the state, one of the many 14'ers. Both it and Massive can be seen from our house. This was taken just north of Leadville.
This is Mt. Massive at the same time as the last. Massive has the largest amount of acreage above 14,000 ft of any of the 14'ers in the state. I plan to climb it some day.
This is the first day of my Bighorn ewe tag. There were 10 sheep around the rock you can see through my spotting scope. They were around 2,500 to 3,000 ft above me, and of course I took off after them.
A while later I made it to this point at treeline. The sheep are bedded on that diagonal line where the snow is melted just above the tree tops. If I could just get to the log above the scrubby trees I should have a 40 yard shot.
The interchange way down below is where I started from.
This is where they were when I finally got up there. I never could get closer than 100 yards and I hung out all day hoping they would feed my direction. That never happend and I made it back to the truck after dark. I was very tired.
I packed in this camp about a mile and a half up a drainage just to treeline on the second day to hunt for a few days.
This is a few sheep out of a group of 13 that I planned to hunt on day 3, but they disappeared never to be seen again. I did try to ambush four that I found close by that evening, but while watching two of them from 75 yards one had got above me to about 40 yards and caught a glimpse of me sneaking in. I had to slide on my but back down the steep slope to find my pack in the dark. I could not find it so I had to make it back to my tent with no light and find it in the morning.This is the rock slide I climbed up through to stalk the same four sheep from the night before after finding my pack. I though I had them, but instead of continuing to feed up the slope past the rock outcropping I snuck to, they bedded on the far side of the chute they were feeding in and 68 yards was all I could get to . They finally winded me and spooked. I again had to slide on my but all the way back down to the trees. The climb up wasn't much fun, but the slide down was nerve racking. If you kick a rock loose, it will roll a half mile down the hill. This is looking back down the drainage from the same spot as the last picture. Last nights stalk had been on the edge of the trees on the slope to the left. At this point I called Heather and had her meet me in Georgetown with the 7mm mag. I had had enough climbing and sliding back down and planned to shoot one and let it slide down to me. I never got another chance. I got to 275 yards on the last day, but was not comfortable with that range and before I could get closer they made it to the trees and I never could find them again.This is the head of the drainage that I was hunting. This is well above treeline.This is Mt Elbert this morning on my way to work with the first rays of sun shining on it. Elbert is the highest peak in the state, one of the many 14'ers. Both it and Massive can be seen from our house. This was taken just north of Leadville.This is Mt. Massive at the same time as the last. Massive has the largest amount of acreage above 14,000 ft of any of the 14'ers in the state. I plan to climb it some day.I will give a doe antelope a try with the muzzleloader this weekend. I have to hunt with iron sights so I need to be less than 100 yards. Isaac will be hunting with me so we'll see how that goes. I then will have a late season cow elk tag from Dec. 1 to Jan. 14. I have a little bit of help finding them, so hopefully I can finally put some meat in the freezer.
I should have never bought the muzzy tag and muzzy accessories, but instead bought decoys and waders and went duck hunting during the first half of the season. The second split will probably have everything frozen around here, but maybe I can get it together next year for waterfowl. I'm in the process of trying to get Heather to let me buy a lab pup. They kids are completely unaware and would be pretty exited if they thought it may work out.
We will be home in IL the week of Thanksgiving. You guessed it, I'll have my bow and hope to find several stupid whitetail does to shoot since I can buy the tags over the counter.
