I tried to keep this short but failed miserably.
No bulls were killed in this “successful hunt”. However, I am putting this in the Successful Hunt section because being in an easy to draw CO unit and being my first archery elk hunt, and with a stick bow I told several people that if I just had a bull respond to my calls I would consider this trip a successful hunt.
Well, the second evening successful hunt status was achieved. After covering 10+ miles that day I ended up on the edge of a meadow that had a little elk sign in it so I decided to spend the final hour of the day watching the meadow. Shortly after setting up I cow called and immediately had a bull respond behind me and only a couple hundred yards away. I moved down the hill to have better shooting lanes and cow called again. Just as I thought I heard the bull coming, a mule deer doe decided to stand up and start snorting about 100 yards from me. I immediately heard the unmistakable sound of an elk running through rocks, down the hill and away from me. But, successful hunt status achieved.
The next morning, we hunted that bull hard, found lots of sign, including two freshly used wallows but did not find the bull. We went back again several days later and talked to some hunters that found a carcass not far from that spot so I assume that bull was killed at some point after my encounter.
After our unsuccessful day hunting that first bull we spent the following week covering ground, looking for elk sign and trying to piece together where elk were and weren’t. Speaking to a couple of guys that had lots of experience in this area they said this was the least amount of bugling they had ever heard so we were forced to find elk via covering ground and looking for sign.
After a couple days and tens of miles it became apparent that elk were heavily feeding on Elk slip aka Marsh marigold. Wherever you found this plant (north slopes with spring seeps/drainages) and just as importantly where you found no people, you would find heavy elk sign. Unfortunately, this was about the time that I started having some knee issues that limited how far I could go and how many days I could hunt.
Over our final four days we got pretty good at picking out spots that had what was needed to hold elk. During those days my two hunting partners were able to get back into two basins that my knee couldn’t get me into and had encounters with two bulls one day and five bulls another day. The first of those two days resulted in one of them getting half drawn on a really nice bull that came in silently to 20 yards but spooked. The second to last day of our trip they got back into a basin where they estimate they heard around 50 bugles. They had three bulls fired up and cutting off every one of my buddy’s bugles with their own bugles, chuckles, and screams. They chased them around all morning but ended up getting caught on the wrong side of a rock slide that they couldn’t cross without being seen and they couldn’t get the elk to cross. They watched a 5x5 put on a nice display 70 yards away, on the other side of the rock slide. It was a great experience for them but, didn’t result in a dead bull.
The last morning we all decided to split up. My knee wasn’t feeling great but, I felt I could hunt a patch of timber on a north slope that wasn’t far off the beaten path but, appeared to be kind of overlooked by most hunters. I also knew there was a really nice bull in there the week prior. There was another guy from my home County in MD that had an encounter on his last day that resulted in him missing the bull twice with his compound. He told us about it before he left and we hunted the slope the day after he missed but, really inconsistent winds and thermals caused us to back out. We hadn’t been back since.
The last morning I hiked about ½ mile up a hiking trail in the bottom of the basin about an hour before daylight hoping to hear a bugle but, as typical for the trip I heard nothing. At daylight I started still hunting up the slope towards some bedding we had found the last time we were in there, stopping to cow call occasionally. It was steep, rocky and a workout for my partially bum knee. After the thermals switched I still hunted across the upper part of the slope where the heavy timber met some scattered meadows. I ended up seeing several mule deer and getting to within sub 40 yards of a really nice buck, which seemed to be a theme for this trip. I’ll be back with a deer tag at some point.
About 10:00am I just started across a small opening which was separated from a much larger meadow by a strip of pines when I noticed elk legs through the pines about 50 yards away, in the larger meadow. I quickly realized it was a bull and he was feeding towards me. I froze, stuck in the wide open hoping the bull didn’t see me. Luckily, after just a few minutes he turned and started feeding away from me. I used this opportunity to sneak up to the strip of pines and glass the bull. He was big for Colorado, probably as nice of a 6x6 as you will ever find in this area of the State. I took off my pack and squatted down behind a small pine. There was a small rise between me and the bull that the strip of pines were growing on, as well as a large log laying perpendicular to a line drawn between me and the bull. When I was standing I could clearly see the bull who had fed off to about 80 yards but, squatted down I couldn’t see him at all because of the rise and the log, and he couldn’t see me.
After getting set up I cow called once and immediately had several cows that I didn’t realize were with the bull answer me. I couldn’t see the bull’s reaction but, since he had cows and I was this close I decided to bugle. Almost immediately I could see his antlers pop up over the log heading my way, followed by his head, neck and chest. The log laying between us was big and was about twenty yards away. I anticipated him turning left or right when he got to the log to walk around it and offering me a broadside shot. He didn’t, he simply stepped over it at which point it kind of sunk in how big these animals are. He walked up to about six steps and proceeded to tear apart a tree, grunting, huffing and putting on a heck of a show for what seemed like several minutes.
His head neck and front shoulder were behind two large pines while he was raking the tree. I had an 8-9” wide gap between two trees where I could have slipped an arrow into the back of his rib cage at six steps. However, because I couldn’t see the crease of his front shoulder I couldn’t tell exactly how close to the shoulder my arrow would be and because he was slightly quartered too me I hesitated and eventually he stepped forward and the opportunity passed.
In hindsight I should have taken this shot. I spent a lot of time learning the anatomy of an elk and building an elk size silhouette with an anatomically correct cut out of the lung area. An arrow between these two trees would have been through the back of the lungs resulting in a dead bull. My hesitation cost me.
After not taking the first shot my next opportunity was going to be when the elk walked out on the opposite side of the pines that he was now standing behind. This meant I was going to have to shoot from a kneeling position, with a heavily canted bow under the bottom branch of the pine tree that was beside me.
I knew the elk was going to be fairly close when he stepped out and I anticipated him spooking when he saw me. My plan was to draw when he spooked, hoping he stopped after a jump or two allowing me to get off a shot. This is exactly what happened but, what I didn’t expect was just as I got to full draw the elk spooked again, jumping back another step or two. This made me panic slightly, rush my shot and watch my arrow sail perfectly left/right but about an inch over the elks back.
What I also didn’t realize was looking under this pine, from a kneeling position, down a rolling slope really messed with my perception and made the elk appear farther than he actually was when he stepped out. What I initially thought was a 30 yard shot I realized after I stood up was probably only about 20 yards.
I continued to work the bull for the next 45 minutes, a combination of bugling and raking got the bull back to within 40 yards but, never back into stickbow range. After he disappeared I moved down the hill and switched to cow calls and called in two of his cows but, didn’t see the bull again.
I have tried to tell myself that I had all of the fun without any of the work and I have also told myself that I saved myself a huge taxidermy bill but, to be honest they would have been nice problems to have, especially when shooting a bow built by my dad. I am confident that if I would have been carrying a compound I would have had multiple opportunities to come to full draw and then make a sub 15 yard shot after the bull stepped out but, those are the limitations I put on myself by shooting a stickbow.
All in all, between the three of us we saw eight bulls, had five under 40 yards, and two of those under 20 yds. Not bad for a couple of Marylander’s with little elk hunting experience in what was an OTC archery unit just a few years ago and still is an OTC rifle unit.
Below are a couple of pics from the trip. Just an aside, the tall guy in the pic is a really talented glass blower who makes pretty cool glass deer antlers. And hopefully elk antlers soon. I asked him for one to memorialize my first miss. His website is https://www.glassantlerman.com/ or https://www.keen-bright.com/. He has a really enjoyable blog on his website also. You should check it out.
No bulls were killed in this “successful hunt”. However, I am putting this in the Successful Hunt section because being in an easy to draw CO unit and being my first archery elk hunt, and with a stick bow I told several people that if I just had a bull respond to my calls I would consider this trip a successful hunt.
Well, the second evening successful hunt status was achieved. After covering 10+ miles that day I ended up on the edge of a meadow that had a little elk sign in it so I decided to spend the final hour of the day watching the meadow. Shortly after setting up I cow called and immediately had a bull respond behind me and only a couple hundred yards away. I moved down the hill to have better shooting lanes and cow called again. Just as I thought I heard the bull coming, a mule deer doe decided to stand up and start snorting about 100 yards from me. I immediately heard the unmistakable sound of an elk running through rocks, down the hill and away from me. But, successful hunt status achieved.
The next morning, we hunted that bull hard, found lots of sign, including two freshly used wallows but did not find the bull. We went back again several days later and talked to some hunters that found a carcass not far from that spot so I assume that bull was killed at some point after my encounter.
After our unsuccessful day hunting that first bull we spent the following week covering ground, looking for elk sign and trying to piece together where elk were and weren’t. Speaking to a couple of guys that had lots of experience in this area they said this was the least amount of bugling they had ever heard so we were forced to find elk via covering ground and looking for sign.
After a couple days and tens of miles it became apparent that elk were heavily feeding on Elk slip aka Marsh marigold. Wherever you found this plant (north slopes with spring seeps/drainages) and just as importantly where you found no people, you would find heavy elk sign. Unfortunately, this was about the time that I started having some knee issues that limited how far I could go and how many days I could hunt.
Over our final four days we got pretty good at picking out spots that had what was needed to hold elk. During those days my two hunting partners were able to get back into two basins that my knee couldn’t get me into and had encounters with two bulls one day and five bulls another day. The first of those two days resulted in one of them getting half drawn on a really nice bull that came in silently to 20 yards but spooked. The second to last day of our trip they got back into a basin where they estimate they heard around 50 bugles. They had three bulls fired up and cutting off every one of my buddy’s bugles with their own bugles, chuckles, and screams. They chased them around all morning but ended up getting caught on the wrong side of a rock slide that they couldn’t cross without being seen and they couldn’t get the elk to cross. They watched a 5x5 put on a nice display 70 yards away, on the other side of the rock slide. It was a great experience for them but, didn’t result in a dead bull.
The last morning we all decided to split up. My knee wasn’t feeling great but, I felt I could hunt a patch of timber on a north slope that wasn’t far off the beaten path but, appeared to be kind of overlooked by most hunters. I also knew there was a really nice bull in there the week prior. There was another guy from my home County in MD that had an encounter on his last day that resulted in him missing the bull twice with his compound. He told us about it before he left and we hunted the slope the day after he missed but, really inconsistent winds and thermals caused us to back out. We hadn’t been back since.
The last morning I hiked about ½ mile up a hiking trail in the bottom of the basin about an hour before daylight hoping to hear a bugle but, as typical for the trip I heard nothing. At daylight I started still hunting up the slope towards some bedding we had found the last time we were in there, stopping to cow call occasionally. It was steep, rocky and a workout for my partially bum knee. After the thermals switched I still hunted across the upper part of the slope where the heavy timber met some scattered meadows. I ended up seeing several mule deer and getting to within sub 40 yards of a really nice buck, which seemed to be a theme for this trip. I’ll be back with a deer tag at some point.
About 10:00am I just started across a small opening which was separated from a much larger meadow by a strip of pines when I noticed elk legs through the pines about 50 yards away, in the larger meadow. I quickly realized it was a bull and he was feeding towards me. I froze, stuck in the wide open hoping the bull didn’t see me. Luckily, after just a few minutes he turned and started feeding away from me. I used this opportunity to sneak up to the strip of pines and glass the bull. He was big for Colorado, probably as nice of a 6x6 as you will ever find in this area of the State. I took off my pack and squatted down behind a small pine. There was a small rise between me and the bull that the strip of pines were growing on, as well as a large log laying perpendicular to a line drawn between me and the bull. When I was standing I could clearly see the bull who had fed off to about 80 yards but, squatted down I couldn’t see him at all because of the rise and the log, and he couldn’t see me.
After getting set up I cow called once and immediately had several cows that I didn’t realize were with the bull answer me. I couldn’t see the bull’s reaction but, since he had cows and I was this close I decided to bugle. Almost immediately I could see his antlers pop up over the log heading my way, followed by his head, neck and chest. The log laying between us was big and was about twenty yards away. I anticipated him turning left or right when he got to the log to walk around it and offering me a broadside shot. He didn’t, he simply stepped over it at which point it kind of sunk in how big these animals are. He walked up to about six steps and proceeded to tear apart a tree, grunting, huffing and putting on a heck of a show for what seemed like several minutes.
His head neck and front shoulder were behind two large pines while he was raking the tree. I had an 8-9” wide gap between two trees where I could have slipped an arrow into the back of his rib cage at six steps. However, because I couldn’t see the crease of his front shoulder I couldn’t tell exactly how close to the shoulder my arrow would be and because he was slightly quartered too me I hesitated and eventually he stepped forward and the opportunity passed.
In hindsight I should have taken this shot. I spent a lot of time learning the anatomy of an elk and building an elk size silhouette with an anatomically correct cut out of the lung area. An arrow between these two trees would have been through the back of the lungs resulting in a dead bull. My hesitation cost me.
After not taking the first shot my next opportunity was going to be when the elk walked out on the opposite side of the pines that he was now standing behind. This meant I was going to have to shoot from a kneeling position, with a heavily canted bow under the bottom branch of the pine tree that was beside me.
I knew the elk was going to be fairly close when he stepped out and I anticipated him spooking when he saw me. My plan was to draw when he spooked, hoping he stopped after a jump or two allowing me to get off a shot. This is exactly what happened but, what I didn’t expect was just as I got to full draw the elk spooked again, jumping back another step or two. This made me panic slightly, rush my shot and watch my arrow sail perfectly left/right but about an inch over the elks back.
What I also didn’t realize was looking under this pine, from a kneeling position, down a rolling slope really messed with my perception and made the elk appear farther than he actually was when he stepped out. What I initially thought was a 30 yard shot I realized after I stood up was probably only about 20 yards.
I continued to work the bull for the next 45 minutes, a combination of bugling and raking got the bull back to within 40 yards but, never back into stickbow range. After he disappeared I moved down the hill and switched to cow calls and called in two of his cows but, didn’t see the bull again.
I have tried to tell myself that I had all of the fun without any of the work and I have also told myself that I saved myself a huge taxidermy bill but, to be honest they would have been nice problems to have, especially when shooting a bow built by my dad. I am confident that if I would have been carrying a compound I would have had multiple opportunities to come to full draw and then make a sub 15 yard shot after the bull stepped out but, those are the limitations I put on myself by shooting a stickbow.
All in all, between the three of us we saw eight bulls, had five under 40 yards, and two of those under 20 yds. Not bad for a couple of Marylander’s with little elk hunting experience in what was an OTC archery unit just a few years ago and still is an OTC rifle unit.
Below are a couple of pics from the trip. Just an aside, the tall guy in the pic is a really talented glass blower who makes pretty cool glass deer antlers. And hopefully elk antlers soon. I asked him for one to memorialize my first miss. His website is https://www.glassantlerman.com/ or https://www.keen-bright.com/. He has a really enjoyable blog on his website also. You should check it out.
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