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2009 Elk Season
Archery & 1st Rifle
8/29 - 9/1 - 9/5
The 2009 archery elk season opens today. The weather is hot
and dry so the elk will be in the bottoms of the deepest, darkest, coldest,
nastiest holes in the Colorado Rockies.
I started my season in an area I hunt locally. My good
sport of a wife will wake up early and drive me to the top of the mountain where
I can dive off and come out north of Durango. The deadfall is especially
difficult this year. Last year’s first rifle season opener had 100 mph winds.
That was the something I had not experienced in all my adventures outside.
Navigating the old trails were used less by humans and wildlife alike. I did
manage into an area where I called up my 6x6 last year and a couple of
rag-horns. Once on that ridge I had two bulls bugle to my cow call. The bulls
sounded like they were already bedded across the draw from me and would only
answer twice. After sitting for about 20 minutes a coyote worked his way into
the meadow between the draw cutting off any attempt by a bull to sneak in on my
cow call.
While calling to the two bulls across from me another bull
bugled further down the ridge. After crashing and bush whacking about a mile to
the edge of the ridge that looks over one of the ugliest and steepest canyons in
the area, I was able to hike off of a point and look across into the canyon and
opposite mountain sides. I cow called and had an immediate response below me by
some cows. I could see one cow in the bottom and thought to myself that maybe it
is a big bull with all these cows. After a few more calls a bull finally bugled
back. I removed my pack and started
laser range finding shooting lanes. Then
I could hear the crashing of brush about half way up the mountains side and sure
enough here comes a cow. Right
behind her was a nice 5x5 in tow. They
came all the way to the top of the ridge I was on and ended up about 70 yards
below me. The bull turned
broadside cranked his neck back towards the canyon and let out a really good
bugle calling up a half dozen more cows. Then they disappeared down or over the
ridge. How they can sneak out like that is beyond me.
It was still early and I knew the herd would be bedding
down soon so I decided to scout the area out some more and come back and hunt
the bulls that bugled earlier. On the way down the old horse trail
down the main canyon I saw movement and decided to call out of the bottom
instead of walking the ridge above. There was some sign and a huge spruce tree
freshly raked. After a long mid day walk I made my way back to where I saw the
5x5 and called without any answers. I then moved up to where the 2 bulls were
bedded and nothing. Got out about
6pm excited about the first day encounters.
On the second day out I went back to the same area. Right
where I called to the 2 bedded bulls I jumped something next to the trail. I
never saw what it was.
After calling and not hearing any kind of an answer or twigs snapping I
worked my way to the edge of the draw and the first thing I saw was eyes, ears
and eye guards looking right at me. The
bull turned and ran so I hit him with the cow call. The bull now out of site
turned around and walked right back to me. The wind was good and it was a small
4x3 not that far from the road. Even within 10 yards I could not find a clear
shot. We tangoed for about 15
minutes as I tried to line up a clear shot and he tried to hide. Finally the
bull realized I only sounded cute caught my wind and was out of there.
I hiked down to the same ridge top where I called up the
5x5 with cows. I cow called for
about 15 minutes and like a light bulb being turned on a bull across the canyon
from me stepped out into the sun. It was a small bull with a big fork on the
back of his rack that made it look like a mule deer rack on that side. The bull
being small and in a place I already decided if I shot a bull, it would have to
be gynormous.
I then hiked the same canyon but decided to hunt the ridge
top instead of the bottom. At the top of the ridge is a meadow where I almost
always see elk sign. Once in the meadow I could see that no elk had been there
lately and the grass in the meadow dead. If there was no shade on the meadow the
grass was cooked.
I continued on the ridge top until I could drop off into
another meadow that always has elk sheds in it. As the ridgeline worked its way
above the draw with the meadow I came to a saddle that elk use to migrate back
and forth between canyons. I hit the cow call and about 100 yards to my right I
could hear crashing and a cow started mewing as it moved towards me. It came
from up wind so it was looking for the invisible cow. It seemed that every time
the wind would swirl it was in my favor and the cow was having a heck of time
trying to figure out where the cow call was coming from. After about 10 minutes
of that she thought best to move on as did I towards the meadow I always find
sheds in.
I dropped off of the ridge and made my way to the top of
the meadow, sat and cow called for while. After
about 20 minutes I decided that no one was interested in what I had to say so I
moved to the knob on the east side of the meadow and spied a nice 6 point shed
in the middle of the meadow. I could not find any others or the matching side.
The thunderstorms started to move in so I tucked up under a big spruce
and had lunch. Thunder rolled through
the canyons on both sides of me. You
have not heard thunder until you have heard iy roll through the canyons of the
rocky mountains. It wasn’t long after the rain started falling. I put on my
rain suit and began my 3 hour hike out of the hole.
Never heard or saw anything else the rest of the day.
Because of guiding commitments I had only a short time to
fill my elk tag. I thought this
would be the day. I was in pretty good shape and there was elk activity in the
area. I only had to trick one bull. My friend Chip from NM was along for the
hike. He had been with me on other hunts and was always witness to close
encounters of the bull kind. This day would be no different.
We worked our way down the trail and could not raise an
answer to any calls. We got to the ridge above the big nasty where I saw the 5x5
opening day and started cow calling. After about 15 minutes I heard a stick snap
down the ridge from us. I looked at
Chip and asked him if he had heard it. He said he heard it but saw squirrels
playing down in the same vicinity.
In a matter of minutes I could see Chip cautiously pointing
down the ridge. I looked under the spruce trees in front of us and I could see
legs walking towards us. I stood up on the rock outcropping and knocked an
arrow. The bull started to walk out at about 30 yards down hill and I went to
full draw just to watch him stop and look my way only needing to take 2 more
steps to give me the clear shot. I was at full draw for what seemed like minutes
when he finally took one step forward which allowed me to lean into the clear
shot and let the air out of him with my top pin behind the shoulder.
The bull took about 5 leaps and died in mid swan dive into the
big nasty. It was the same small bull I saw earlier in the week and he tumbled
almost to the bottom. If he would not have hung up on the tree he did we would
still be trying to get him out. 
I called my friend Pete Turner who was also the outfitter I
have been working for the past 6-7 years and asked if I could use his mules to
pack out the elk. I told him the
hill was really steep but I thought we could zig zag the mules to him.
After about a 3 hour wrestling match with the elk to get him gutted
quartered and caped out, Chip and I headed to the trail head to meet up with
Pete and the mules to come back in and pack out the good stuff.
I shot the bull at 8:15am and met Pete at 1:30pm. We lightened our loads in our packs and just took what we needed to complete the job. Once we arrived at the top of the ridge above where I made the shot, Pete had already decided it was too steep for the mules and we would have to load the quarters into game bags and hump them out to the top of the ridge. About 300 yards straight up. Pete loaded a hind quarter into a game bag and off he went. WOW! What an animal. I took a front quarter, back strap and tenderloin and threw them into a game bag and off I went. I was already out of gas from the morning hike and wrestling match with the bull. Pete took the hind quarter to Chip who humped it up the last 100 yards of the ridge to the mules and then turned around came back down and grabbed the other one. I had gotten the other front quarter and meat parts about 1/3 of the way up when Pete returned grabbed the game bag from me and humped it up also. At that point I decided to saw the horns off and leave the cape. We got back to the trucks at 7:30 that night. My tag was filled, the meat was on the way to the butcher and my ass was kicked.
9/9 - 9/17
This will be a hard but fun hunt. I will be guiding Chris and Craig from
Ohio. I guided them a few years ago and we hunted hard with several
opportunities that did not produce. They also brought two close friends with
them to share the elk rut experience.
Pete and I will be guiding the four out of spike camp. We would hike them
in from the trailhead and Chad would support the camp by horseback. While out
hunting this evening, Chad would take in all of our gear, food and water.
We started in a canyon we always see elk in. It is hard to hunt because
of all the dark timber and swirling winds. As
we snuck into the west facing side of the canyon I would be able to glass the
dark timber across the other side and cow call the top of the ridge above us and
dark timber pockets below.
About half way down the canyon we sat to glass the other side. I could
instantly see elk butt in the timber and could tell the front of the elk was
raking a tree. I could then see
several cows feeding in the area. I knew the tree raking elk was a bull and
figured as I kept spotting more cows that he was probably a good bull. Sure
enough when he finally stepped out from thrashing the spruce tree he was a
tremendous bull. We could see at least a dozen cows and when I cow called to him
he would just barely bugle back and walk with his cows. He had no intentions of
messing with a distant cow call when he had a dozen of the real things right
there with him.
We watched him for about an hour and realized he was heading up to a
ridge line below our spike camp. It would take us about an hour to hike back
around to the top of the ridge but decided it would be our best chance and hey,
you never know.
When we got around to the top of the ridge and started to sneak down we could
see two great rubs. Big spruce trees had been stripped by bull horns and we knew
that elk were using the ridge to cross from one canyon to the other.
We called down the ridge until it was dark without hearing or seeing
anything else and headed to spike camp.
The next morning would take us about 3 miles SW down the ridge where we
could call and glass open meadow Aspen parks and dark timber patches. It
wasn’t until we hit the park below the outlaw camp when we heard our first
bugle. The bull answered only once about 200 yards away and then was gone. The
wind was in our favor so I don’t know why he didn’t come to take a look. We
topped out at a favorite canyon that usually always has screaming bulls. Not a
peep. We worked our way south on the ridge and could see where 2 bulls had quite
the battle the night before. The ground was plowed, oak brush was shredded and
rocks were rolled over. The bulls used about 200 yards of ridge during this
battle. Now if we could just call in one of them. We found lots of elk sign
today with plenty of signs of bulls fighting and raking trees, however none of
them were being very cooperative.
I knew it would be tough calling elk because of the big moon. But man it was really tough. Pete would fill a tag on day 3 when they caught a 5x5 sneaking in giving a hunter a 30 yard broadside shot. 1 down, 3 to go. On day three we hunted the canyon below spike camp. There is a large dark timber side that almost always holds elk and the night we got to spike camp we could hear several bugles from there. We would hike to several wallows and sit on them most of the day. The wallows we hunted were hardly used and there was not much fresh sign around them. It was a long day with little to know action with bulls.
Today we would head back to bull fight ridge. The moon was getting
smaller and we were hoping the bulls would be fired up. We hiked the normal
ridge lines all the way to the ridge with no bugles.
When we got south of bull fight ridge where the main ridge splits I could
smell something dead coming up out of the canyon. We took the south fork of the
ridge and pin pointed where the smell was coming up out of the canyon.
I dropped my pack and told the hunters to take a break while I hiked down
to see what was dead. Of course it
was way down the steepest hill. About 400 yards down the mountain I came upon a
nice flat bench. As I peeked over the bench I could see a giant horn sticking up
out of the underbrush in the Aspen park. It was a big 6x6. I was about 30 yards
from him when I took a step towards him and saw the bear stand up. A big black
bear was feeding on the carcass and by the time the bear noticed me I was doing
about 90 mph back up the hill. I got
to my hunters and told them to get their video camera and I grabbed my camera
and we took off back to the dead elk.
As we approached the elk again we could not see the bear. We walked up to the bull and a bear cub stood up about 20 yards behind the bull and wondered off. I must of seen momma bear when I first walked up on the bull. The bull was big. His horns looked like they would score between 320 and 330. I believe that this bull did not die from a hunter. Where we are hunting there is no sign of any other hunters in the area and where we found the bull made it even harder to believe that a hunter had hit this bull and lost him. I believe this bull lost the fight to another bull, most likely up on the ridge where we saw that 2 bulls had fought a couple of days ago. Day 5 would take us back to this area and I would cut off the horns, get his buglers and pack them 4 miles up hill back to spike camp.
On day 6 the moon is almost gone and we have a screamer early in one of
our most productive canyons. The wind is swirling everywhere and we couldn’t
set up. A bull started bugling behind us and a rag horn was coming in bugling
but winded us and ran away. The wind finally let everything in the canyon know
we were in there and it got quite. We
started working our way towards the bull that was behind us and calling to him.
Nothing! Down into the canyon we went. It just kept going down further and
further. You had to be in the bottoms in the morning because of the wind so we
just kept going down. Finally the
first bull we heard bugling in the morning started up again. We worked our way
towards the other side of the canyon where we could see and found the bull move
down towards us bugling all the way. He was a nice heavy 5x5. About half way
down the other side I could see him standing in open oak brush. I cow called
again and he broke into a full sprint heading our way. We were trying to race to
the bottom so that he could not get below us but we were about 75 yards short
when we could hear him coming in. I
set up the hunter, backed off and gave a couple of cow calls. I could see Craig
go to full draw but I could not see the bull. Of course the bull got below him,
winded us and barked. I barked back at him hoping to keep him close for a shot
but he was gone. We sat tight for about 30 minutes and I stepped out and called
Chris down and when I looked across the drainage from me I could see another
5x6. Craig could also see him so we messed with him for another 30 minutes
before he realized he’d better sneak back to where he came from.
That was exciting. We took a break at the very bottom where the two
canyons met. We now call the deep freeze draw. It was so cold down there it was
impossible to rest. We decided to keep moving and contour the ridge up into some
uncharted territory. Some of these
canyons are steep, overgrown and nasty with dead fall. We found a nice game
trail and it contoured exactly where we wanted to go and we knew that the herd
had to be in one of the last to canyons before falling into the main drainage.
The trail ran below a really thick grove of young aspens I have only seen from
the top. Once we got through the aspens the trail topped out on another ridge.
Just before we topped out we jumped something out of its bed but we were never
able to see what it was. We topped
out and I cow called into the next canyon 2 bulls screamed. One of the bulls
sounded like T-rex. I set the 2 hunters up and the first bull appeared below
Chris who went to full draw. The bull was broadside at 30 yards however when
Chris released his arrow the bull turned and the arrow hit him high in the hind
quarters. I cow called in hopes to stop the bull for another shot but he was out
of there. We did have another bull coming but we think he ran into the wounded
bull and left with him. We gave the bull about an hour and we started following
pretty good blood. But the bull never lay down and was running with other elk
and ended up contouring all the way around to the main drainage and was gone. We
were able to call in another bull to about 30 yards while tracking that bull but
he would never step out so we could see him and get a shot. It was 6pm and we
had 6 miles to go uphill back to spike camp.
9/22 – 9/27
I would guide them to where we saw the big 6x6 the first
day out with our first round of hunters. The
sign in the canyon was thin at best and we could not get any bulls to answer the
cow calls. We glassed the dark timber on the opposite side and could only see a
cow bedded down. We could not locate any other elk in the canyon.
We made it to spike camp right around dark thirty that night.
The next morning had me guiding father and
son. Bob and James drove all the way out from Pennsylvania. We were headed to
Brian’s park this morning and hopefully the bulls would be in a more
cooperative mood. And they were. After about an hour hike we dropped into the
park to find a bull screaming. He was on the dark side of the north ridge and
the herd was in rut mode. The bull was screaming the cows were mewing, the rut
was on. Unfortunately the wind was still swirling worse than ever. We ran here
we ran there trying to escape the wind blowing right into the herd. You can
always tell when elk smell you. Silence! Next time we heard the bull he was
going over the ridge to our west and that was a long way away.
Time for a break! We sat on the ridge and had some
breakfast and I explained that we didn’t want to go after the herd until early
afternoon so they should try and get a nap in. I think they would have taken a
better nap if they knew where we were going to end up this evening.
At about 1:30pm we loaded our packs on and began to head
into the dark timber on the north side of the south ridge. We hit a game trail
and contoured it all the way to the top of the west ridge where we last heard
the bull bugle. It was a long gradual hike until we hit the last few hundred
yards topping out on the ridge. That was pretty much straight up. We came across
several tree rubs and beds where bulls have been urinating. It reeked on the
ridge. We dropped into the canyon on the other side of the ridge and hit the
same trail that Chris and Craig and I found when Chris took the shot at his
bull. We contoured it all the way around to the next ridge line west where Chris
took the shot. I cow called and a bull answered instantly. DEJAVU! I set up the
hunters in exactly the same spots I set Chris and Craig up last week and backed
up behind them to cow call. Within a minute a bull topped out 30 yards down the
ridge from James and he let his arrow fly and let the air out of him. The bull
ran down the hillside we just contoured and expired in the very bottom. Yes, the
very, very bottom.
James’ first words after the shot were “I’m totally
numb”. As a guide I can guarantee you one thing. When it happens it happens
close and fast. This was no different. It was now 3pm and after about a ½ hour
of taking it all in with my hunters we started to pursue the arrowed elk. It was
down the east facing dark timber loaded with deadfall.
After a hundred yards or so I was starting to get concerned about the
shot. The blood trail was good but for a double lung pass through the bull
should be close. We decided to sit for about 40 more minutes just in case. After
40 minutes went by I stood up took 2 steps and there he was.
A great 5x5 with a perfect lung shot. He must have rolled
the last 75 yards. After caping, gutting, quartering and cutting out the back
straps and tenderloins we had a long hike back and it was getting late. We had
about an hour and a half just to get back up to the main ridge and then 3 miles
in the dark. Never, ever lose the trail at night. Bushwhacking in the dark
really sucks. At about 9:30 that night we got back to spike camp where James
made the comment of how much he paid us to kick his ass.
We would wait for Chad the next morning and hike back to
the bull to pack him out. We heard a bull this morning so before Chad gets there
I would hike James’ dad out to a ridge above the where we heard the bull and
see if I could call him in for a quick morning hunt. I was only able to bring in
2 spikes that only wanted to look until they winded us.
At about 9:30 Chad showed up with the horses and off we
went back to the bottom of the second to the farthest canyon from spike camp
before falling into the main drainage. It was pretty rough just getting the
horses to the opposite side of the drainage where the bull was waiting for us.
Once we got there we had to load the quarters into game bags and hump them down
to the bottom and back up the other side to the horses. We then got everything
loaded on 2 pack animals and then walked them back up to ridge that would take
us out to the main ridge. We topped out at about 1:30 that afternoon and Chad
headed back to base camp with elk and we headed to bull fight ridge to see if we
could work anything up and out of the area canyons later in the afternoon.
Not a peep. There is some sign but this is a place where we always find
screaming bulls and so far this year we have not heard anything in this area.
The next morning I will be back to guiding Steve and Tommy.
In the middle of the night we heard a bull bugle in the
canyon below spike camp so we will hike down the ridge below spike camp and
check the wallow in the bottom and see what kind of sign is down there. Again
the wallow had been barely used and the only sign was moo cow sign. We contoured
the dark timber side up and found where elk had been bedded down and it reeked
like bull. We followed the game trail that led up and out to the top of the
ridge that led to a meadow where I had taken a nice 5x5 several years ago. There
is small patch of dark timber on the other side of the meadow that is always
used as a bedding area. We worked our way around the top of the dark timber
patch and walked right into a spike staring at us at 50 yards.
The small bull finally decided he wanted nothing to do with the cow that
smelt like human and was gone. We continued on and took a break south of the
dark timber patch and waited until late afternoon. After lunch we walked back
towards the dark timber and called without answers or sneaks. We then hit the
main ridge trail and headed back towards spike camp but notice a lot more elk
sign where the ridge split. We decided to sit until evening hunt the area closer
to dark in hopes the elk would show themselves or come to a call.
We called on that ridgeline until almost dark and then
started to head back to another trail that would contour back to where I called
up the 2 spiked the morning before. We
got to the rock ridge where the spikes were and I cow called. We sat until 6:40
and a bull clear down in the bottom of the canyon where we started that morning
let out a great bugle with chuckles and it was raspy. I knew he was in the area
somewhere. But he was at least a mile down to the bottom and the way his bugle
sounded I thought for sure he probably was with cows. I let a few minutes pass
before I called again and he instantly answered and it sounded like he was
closer. We decided to make plan just in case this bull decided to come all the
way up. While were discussing how to set Steve up on the left side of the ridge
I thought the bull would come up on the bull bugled and I could already see his
legs running up the ridge. It was a nice 6x5.
There was no way Steve was getting to where we planned. I flagged Steve
down and told him to just stand up on the ridge and look down and shoot.
The bull could only be 10-20 yards below the rock Steve was on. Steve was
now in panic mode trying to get his release on his bow string and I knew the
bull wouldn’t hang very long. I cow called and the bull ran around the rock to
Tommie and I but needed to take two more steps before giving him the shot. As
the bull crossed below the rock Steve was standing on the bull winded Steve and
disappeared down the mountain. Wow! I couldn’t believe how fast that bull ran
up to us. Within minutes he covered at least a mile up hill. He had to of been
running the whole way.
We had about a mile to contour up and out of the canyon and
started out before it got to dark. As we reached the head of the canyon below
the main ridgeline we heard what sounded like a moo cow above us. I realized the
Pete returning on the same trail and thought it was him messing with us. We move
ahead and started hearing mewing and horns rattling. It sounded like cows in the
herd mewing while two bulls were fighting. We ran up to the head of the canyon
which opens up into a nice park and was able to see through my bino’s two
legal rag horns going at it. They were locked up and mewing while they fought.
If we would have been 15 minutes earlier we might have had a chance at the two
bulls but it was too dark now. That was cool!
This morning I will back to guiding Bob and James will be
along for the hike. We decided to head west back towards bull fight ridge. We
called every nook and cranny getting there without a bugle. We took a break
overlooking the main drainage and it was an awesome sight. The aspens were in
full fall colors and it was beautiful. After
a couple of hours of trying to figure out what to do we decided to drop back
down into the canyon where Jim shot his bull a couple of day earlier.
We dropped off the main ridge to hit the secondary ridge
where we called the other bull up. We dropped off that ridge about 300 yards
before it dropped off steep and cow called. Instantly we heard crashing on the
east side of the ridge and then a bull bugled down below in the canyon.
We set Bob up looking down the hillside where we heard the crashing.
James and I backed off the other side and I cow called. We could still hear the
crashing and we could see Bob looking down the hill. We waited and waited and
nothing came.
I heard something behind James and I and turned to see a
nice 5x5 coming up out of the canyon. I was whispering BOB! BOB! But he could
not hear me. The bull was now at 40 yards and headed right up the ridge to Bob.
I was trying to throw sticks to get Bob’s attention but no luck. The bull was
mewing so I hoped he would hear it but was still looking the wrong way.
I tried to call behind Bob and the bull ran to 10 yards of James and I
and got down wind of us and split. Bob never heard or saw the bull and it was no
more than 25 yards away from him.
We hike back to base camp today and I will have Steve and
Tommie with me. We will head out early to be in the canyon where I saw the big
6x6 a couple of weeks ago. As we are walking down the trail I notice lot’s of
elk sign. We walk around the first point, I call and a bull comes out of the
timber above us. Another bull is running to us below the first bull. The first
bull saw us and hangs up the second bull keeps on coming. It is the same two
bulls we saw fighting a couple of nights ago.
I lay down in the trail and cow call giving Tommie the shot when the bull
comes in. I could hear the bull and I knew he was close and then I can hear
Tommie draw and release. The bull came to 15 yards and Tommie shot in front of
him. A clean miss. I tried to stop the bull with a cow call with hopes that one
of the hunters could get off another arrow but the bull headed out with his
buddy.
After all the excitement we headed back down the trail
where it comes to a large dark timber strip that runs from the top of the ridge
to the bottom of the drainage. There are usually elk hiding in here and judging
by the sign going into the dark timber strip it looks like the herd was in
there. I hit the cow call and all we
could hear was crashing coming up towards us.
I backed off behind the hunters and hit the cow call again. I could see
Steve who already has an arrow knocked lift his bow to draw only to see the
arrow fall off the rest. The elk was pacing back and forth in the timber but
would never show himself again and finally left out.
We made a plan to walk the ridge around, drop off the hillside and come
up below where we heard the elk and set up hoping the elk would come in and take
a look from below. I set up the two
hunters and back off about 100 yards and started cow calling. I gave it
everything I had to sound like a herd of elk moving through.
I broke big branches and raked trees and even let out a couple of small
bugles. Nothing!
Hunting: Durango boasts some of the best big game hunting in the USA. Within a few hours or even minutes you can be on the trail of Elk, Mule Deer, Black Bear, Shirus Moose, Mt. Goat, Rocky Mt. Big Horn Sheep and Desert Big Horn Sheep, Mt. Lion or Antelope. Local outfitters and guides have premier federal land permits that can put you right smack in the middle of any of the above mentioned critters.
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