I left yesterday and made it to the halfway point and camped at Palo Duro Canyon. It was perfect weather for hammock camping last night. I should make Crawford by late afternoon. Son is flying out tomorrow so that he doesn't miss too much school..

Ok OB2016 elk recap: ENGAGE! Shotgun approach with rambling and no proofreading. I'm already tired of typing.

First backpack hunt. Have wanted to go on one for a long time and figured out a couple of my compadres shared similar interests. I already had a trip to NM planned for the third week of September, so we thought we would make an opening week trip to Colorado. We were headed to unit 25, where a guy one of them worked with had hunted for fifteen years. Over the summer they gave us plenty of google earth overlays and waypoints. My wife and I went up there for three nights to do some scouting and see about this backpacking business. We had a great time scouting, found some elk, lots of sign, and no people.

Fast forward to August 25 and I get my half a day of work knocked out and my south Texas partners pick me up around noon and we're off. We make it a good 6 miles down the road where we stop at Kirby's BBQ and eat lunch. Drive all night and make it to the trailhead around lunch. Where we see two guys and six llamas headed up, along with two other guys loading packs up. Oh and a big outfitter camp a little ways off the trailhead planning to ride horses up every day. Son of a *****. We chat with the two guys loading up who are headed to the area I had highlighted on my map. No sweat its big place and we're out for adventure! We make it a couple miles up the trail and run into three other guys coming back down for another load. I did not ask them why they didn't just go up with everything in one trip. A half a mile past them we run into one of the big ass sheep herds that was down below when I was up before with my wife. Mother ****er. I'm not an elk expert but I can speculate what 500 or so sheep and the accompanying dogs can do for elk activity. No big deal adventure yadda yadda. The guy watching them was actually a cool guy. Or was he. Cue the outfitter conspiracy speculation (that I did not share with my hunting partners). In any case we found a place to camp and begun unloading because we were all tired mofos. As soon as I stopped moving I noticed how cold it was (was only ~10,700') and it started to snow. Got camp set up and the other two guys went out to explore a little while I built a fire and poured over my map and onx app to figure out where I was going to hunt - since there was also a not-previously-mentioned outfitter camp hunting horseback about 2 miles past us, and some of those other guys were camped right on top one of the areas we'd seen some elk a couple weeks earlier. Build a merry fire and tell some stories and **** in the woods and everything is peachy. When I got in bed I was planning on just sleeping in my longjohns and I froze my ass off. Midway through the night I got up and put all my clothes on, a puffy jacket, some gloves, and a beanie. I slept happily after that. I was alone in my tent so I had all the room, could pee out the side without leaving my bag, and was by most accounts very comfortable. My watch alarm goes off at 4:30 and it was cold, but thankfully I was hunting with some grown men. One of them was up and had a fire going. Coffee, breakfast, gtfo and kill something. I decided to just cover some ground until I found something fresh assuming that all the recent activity w hunters and sheep nullified any sign over a week old. Hiked a few miles that morning and found some not so fresh sign. Shot a grouse that I did not recover, and was too slow on the draw for a giant hare. Repeat that for a couple days. It never warmed up. I finally found an area it looked like they were moving through, but never caught anything in the daylight. Whenever the wind was right I would still hunt through it, and had one encounter w a bull. I smelled him, then saw him, and then he tore ass across the mountain. That would be the only elk seen at this place. A couple of times when I found some remote areas overlooking a hole I was excitedly planning on going down into, hunters would walk out of the woods w the same plan. I was over this place by day 4. The guys I was with felt the same and we packed up the next morning. We thought we'd stop by Lake Dorothy on the way home and see (I was game for anything including going back up somewhere, but I had another trip in my pocket so I let them decide). Got there in the evening and did some looking around and I was interested to see what it held. Up early the next day and I decided I was just going to climb the front side of the mountain and go around the canyon on the mesa till I saw something below, or found some sign of something hanging out on top. I packed some water because I was planning on staying on top and wasn't sure what was up there. The climb was a two hour kick in the dick through 10 ft tall oak brush and some thorny bush I hadn't dealt with up there. It was also raining and I got pretty soaked. I hit a 15' rock face at the top, but was so mad at the thorns I just decided to go up rather than fight the thorns. When I got to the top I stripped down to my undies and gaiters and stretched everything out on my pack to dry. I spent the next 11 hours hoofing it around the rim of this canyon looking for any sign to give me some hope, but I found jack. I think that places gets pretty hammered on the weekends by the locals. When I finally made it back around to the truck my legs were done like dinner and we were all ready to come home.

Get home I've got two weeks to get some miscellaneous chores done, plant 600 acres, and celebrate my anniversary before I'm back in NM (and then maybe back to CO to fill that tag who knows). Stressful week of broke down getting bullcrap tractors going and living in that sumbich to get caught up before I left. But got it all plowed, planted, covered, and rolled in time to go watch the Fightin Texas Aggies BTHO PVAMU from the zone club (one time deal, calm down).

Now I'm on the road to NM to a ranch just south of Raton. Left at 3am to make it in time for an afternoon hunt. Get me a nap in, start on my sugar binge for the week, and I'm ready to head out. Myself, my dad, and the owner, head out and get set up to call a bull to us we'd seen on our way in (I really, really want to kill a big one here. But not as much as I want to kill a one. This will come up later). Wind is good and the big bull is singing back to us, as well as a couple of his smaller counterparts. We didn't think this guy had any cows with him. It turns out he had quite a few that we didn't see above us and one of them busted us. Not bad, no windjust trotted off around the hill. And I'm pumped. There are lots of elk. Moving and vocal AND I get to drink whisky and sleep in a warm bed. **** yes.
The next morning I jump in with another guy and drive over to another area where we hear some elk below us in a canyon bugling. The wind is good so we jump down and he sets up a ways behind me to call. Over the next half hour one bull comes in slowly, screaming the whole time. At one point hes probably forty yards away screaming at me through some brush. Wind changes inopportunely and he hauls ass. No big deal because I am freaking thrilled. There were multiple bulls in the area and we headed up as soon as the encounter was over to let everything settle down for the afternoon.

Headed back out to the same overlook that afternoon, and a herd bull, 20ish cows, and two smaller bulls hanging out on a hillside below us. We decided to wait a bit until they got going for the evening. We waited about an hour. I had the right wind to drop in and ease up to them and whack one. No big deal. My hunting partner was going to hang out on top and watch. So I eased down and had maybe 500 yards to go. The cows were up grazing now and I could sneak down there while he was circling his cows and singing to me the whole time. I don't know how long it took me but I was finally inside of 100 yards. I had a bead on the two smaller bulls (but it was tough to keep track as I was sneaking) and planned to basically just walk right up and whack the big one. Eased in a bit more and got as close as I thought I could with all the cows about. Big bull was on the other side and I thought I'd try impersonating one of his cows, pissing him off, and getting him to come to me. I blew my sexiest 'hey big boy.' He took no time in responding and I cut him off with my baddest 'F YO COUCH' and prepared for blood. Then this other dummy came out of the woodwork at 55 yards. He wasn't nearly as big, but as an archer I have few prejudices against size. Legals bulls should not walk out in front of fat bowhunters because they will get whacked. I was a little quick about slinging one and I think had my bow canted a bit leaning out from behind a tree, and consequently hit him way back. Marked where he ran off and then booked it out of there before any of the other elk I was on top of busted me. The bull and the cows were still talking when I got to the top, so I hoped he didn't go far before he laid down. I was really frustrated with myself though. All the time and work and money and practice to F up a shot. We'd see in the morning I guess. So I went back and had a strong one and ate a steak.

Up early the next morning we get to the lookout and see no elk below us, but hear a few one canyon over. We decided to go down and give a quick look for mine and try and get set up on the elk we hear, should they move our way. About halfway down we hear a bull bugle behind us (check the wind and we're goodthey're going to come right by). We settle in just above where we figure they'll come by and of course they come a different way that makes no sense. No big deal we hustle down below them and get set up to make some elk love sounds. I start calling some with instant responses from the big bull, a smaller bull, and some of the cows. The whole herd was probably within 70 yards with the bulls being probably 40. I've never heard so much glunking so close. It was awesome. But we couldn't get him to come out of the brush into bow range. I did call in a satellite bull, and noticed his legs about 10 yards behind me through the bottom of a bush. I laid down and he walked out below me, but was a small bull and the other guy didn't shoot him. We could never get the big bull to leave his cows but it was a great morning. And the moment we got those elk settled and started to look for my bull, lo there he was stretched out in the sunshine. He ran less than 200 yards and laid down. Then got up and started whoopin on a tree and keeled over. It was great. I'll add a picture to the bottom in a min. It's the only picture I took so I'm sorry. And since this was candy ass elk hunting, and he happened to be dead in the middle of a two track, we went and got a trailer and hauled him out of there.

I decided not to go to Colorado and sleep in the dirt by myself. The elk were fired up here and I wanted to stay. The next morning we called a great bull in for another guy. Textbook perfect for. He got a shot and we watched him limp into the trees up the hill, clearly sick. We gave him four hours and came back and found a great blood trail. Following it assuming it was a solid hit for a long ways (up the hill). I've never seen so much blood. A couple hours later we caught up to him. I saw what I thought might be an elk laid up ahead of me but my mind hadn't quite had it processed before one guy said 'there he is boys' and that sucker lit out like he was on fire. In his defense he looked dead to me also, but the more we followed it and found more blood and less dead elk the more I figure it was a flesh wound. I figure he hit him in the shoulder and the arrow ricocheted and cut a big ole blood-spouting gash. I hope he makes it. It sure was a bummer though.

September is over and I am sad. I'm trying to work out going back up with my dad for his rifle hunt but I'm so far behind on work it would be tough. Good luck everyone going up for rifle season. I am not sorry about the incoherent nature of this post.




Notice the deadly bush.