1st Elk Trip

Saturday the 25th of August was opening day of archery season in Colorado so I just had to get out there.  Wisdom from other hunters indicated that saving vacation time for later in the season would be a good idea, but I just couldn't wait.  So i set out to camp in the medicine bow-Route national forest and to hike into the never summer wilderness area. to hunt.  I arrived earlier on Friday to witness a strange migration of people to the area.  The flat open spaces in the meadows gave rise to camper cities.  Often families with kids, ATVs, and all other motorized fun would spring up in hours.  I felt a bit weird about snapping pictures of other peoples outdoors entertainment transportation systems so sadly no pics of that.  My spot was as far up a rough 4x4 road that I dared go, and quite limited the motor homing crowd to a bit further away. 

My 1st Hunt Campsite

The view from my campsite facing south over a beaver pond filled valley.  I did try to cross this valley right across the middle.  While moose and animals seem to have no problem I was sure stuck in how to do it.  The dry ground just seems to disappear quite rapidly into mushy mud filled old beaver ponds.

Both morning that I went hunting were greated by I the same moose.  See if you can find the cow in the picture, this is about 50 yards from my tent.  I am always surprised at the size of these things.  This one was fairly non interested in me as I got up ate, changed clothes, and got all my hunting stuff together right in front of it. 

Moose Good Morning Committee

During the hunting time I was quite exhausted by trying to keep up with some elk.  I came upon them grazing a valley at around 6 am after a couple of mile hike.  they were headed up the densely wooded side of a mountain.  As a first time hunter I decided to follow them and 'Catch them at napping spot'.  Well these elk feed contentedly up the side of a mountain and I could not keep up.  When I finally did get one to notice me when they had slowed their assent, she took off like a rocket up the rest of the mountain. Still game I took about ten more steps and then slipped and fell.  I only rolled about three times my body length down the mountain but I had twisted my knee and got some nice scraps out of the deal.  So i decided to call it a day and take a break.

On Sunday I decided to hunt a different mountain then the first day.  Well I found Owl Mountain to be crisscorssed by ATV tracks and motercycle trails.  Twice I hiked from a labeled road to another side of a mountain to see what was there only to have ATVs go roaring around in meadows and on the edges of clearcuts on old logging roads.  Well needless to say that no elk were to be seen with the amount of motorized traffic on that mountain.  I was surprized by the stuff that I found while walking in the woods not on a trail or road.  An old wood log cabin and a rope bridge in disrepair.  You can really see the mud chinking on the wood cabin.  It is always weird to find evidence of people who came before us when there is no road nearby.  How did they get that stuff there in the first place?

The abandoned rope bridge

While I did not get anywhere near an elk, My best being about 100 yards, this was a very valuable weekend of hunting experience.   The major thing that I learned was to not hunt where people can use motorized toys.  They will use them and they scare elk off.  This means that every step into a wilderness area provides much improved hunting odds.  I also learned that a nice comfy air mattress is a great way to sleep even when it is 30 degrees outside.