BTHO the mountain

You can do it brother! Stay focused, enjoy all the small things, and soak it up!

Way to go Joe. Pretty respectable deer for your first muley!

Well I had a fun morning. A co-worker drew one of the Rabbit Mountain cow tags for the hunt right in Boulder county open space and asked if I wanted to tag along. There are two other people who have a tag for this week and is set up to have high success as they want these elk reduced/gone.

Crept in the dark and watched two herds thru binos till shooting light. Easily 100+ elk. Hard core rutting activity of bugling, satellites, etc. So much fun to watch as it got light. They knew what was coming and took off right as it got to legal light and booked it to the boundary. We followed them up and crept within 150yds of some cows but he never had a shot he felt comfortable with. The only one that gave a good shot was collared so held off. Happened a few times and just didn't work out.

Of course we did get within 50yds of some nice bulls several times. Happens when you've only got a cow tag....still a fun morning. Hopefully I'll get to go back out with him. One of the other guys with a tag took a cow. They were only about 100yds away from us, just had a better angle.

BradMtn346 said:

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Way to go Joe. Pretty respectable deer for your first muley!

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Thanks brother.

Found this guy while on a drive last night. Will have to chase him another season. Unless the land owner wouldn't mind me shooting and then asking for permission...

Anyone in the Bayfield area? Long story short, my elk hunt has been cancelled but I'm still hunting muleys in October. Thinking about using my week off to come up and do a little scouting. Or I can tag along if someone else is hunting in southern CO and needs a wingman. Long shot but worth a try with some fellow Ags.

I'm 45 mins from Bayfield. But my season just ended- so I'm done for a few weeks till my Dad and Grandfather come and we try to get Grandpa on an elk.

If you need/want some company scouting, would be happy to see if it works out. At least could treat you to a home cooked meal or something

CO bear question: We are going to be elk hunting in/around the western side of the San Juan National Forest during 2nd rifle this year. I know there are bears in this area, but have never hunted there (or actually been to the area). I've also never hunted/camped around bears...

Is this an area where we need to take precautions in camp to minimize bear confrontations?

It is necessary to keep our food in another tent or storage area, hang it in a tree, etc?

What other precautions should we be taking?

I do plan on bringing bear spray either way, so what brands are best?

Step 1- Wait for Ursus to reply.
Step 2- Do whatever he says. EOT

I would say the yes, you do need to be "bear smart" in the San Juans. We have a healthy population of black bears, even though people aren't seeing many this year.

I don't keep food or snacks in my tent. I bring a stuff sack for them and a roll of paracord. String your food over a branch away from your camp. Make sure it is hanging far enough away from the trunk/branch the bear can't climb and get it. And I usually try and pick a branch that wouldn't support the weight of a bear. If keeping on ground level, food & smelly items need to be locked away in a bear proof container.

Oh- and bears don't just come out at night. Be diligent at all times. I know a guy who hung his food at night, but left some stuff in his tent during the day while he went out elk hunting. Let's just say he returned to quite a mess that evening. Spent a very cold night, hiked out the next am very pissed off, and several pounds lighter in gear.

Don't take food in your tent, not even a snack. Lots of people don't follow this rule- but I'm a bit averse to waking up with my head in a bear's mouth, so I don't chance it. Don't leave soap or dishes out (even cleaned ones). Think about odors when you cook- if you cook right next to your tent and fill it with tasty smelling smoke... it might attract a curious hungry bear.

Just be diligent, and you will be fine. You'll probably have a bear come by at some point- though likely you will never know it. Not a big deal, unless you incentivize him with food.

I can't recomend a certain brand of bear spray. I've only used 2, one a Game Warden gave me and one that Walmart sells- called "Frontiersman". Both were effective and seemed to work just fine.

Thanks!

And yes, I will definitely take any ursus posts to heart!

I'm going to be in the Flat Tops for 1st rifle and starting to think about the same thing. Not just food but trash, guessing if it smells like food (leftover mountain house containers/protein bar wrappers etc) we should go ahead and hang that in a tree too...

This guy just got added to the target list. Was going to hold off for a 2nd season tag due to a longer season, but he's been patterned well for the past week and a half, and hasn't been pushed during archery or muzzle loader.

Not huge, but he's well big enough to be considered a trophy, especially for a first elk.

Also take his comments regarding bears wanting very little to do with humans to heart.

I was grouse hunting two weekends ago when I had an encounter that's pretty humorous.

Out in the field, walking an aspen treeline looking/listening for blue grouse and I stopped walking for a moment to really look deep into the trees. After a few moments I heard a small bird start chirping a little, looked up at it, and then noticed movement out of the corner of my eye.

I looked down, and no more than 20 yards away, walking down a trail directly towards me, was a big, wild, scraggly, hairy chocolate dog. My brain ran through this next conversation in less than 5 seconds:

"Crap...why in the world is there a wild dog walking towards me? Where the hell did this wild dog come from? It's not stopping. Am I going to have to shoot this thing in the face with a 20 gauge?"

"That's not a dog. That's a bear."

"Oh, cool. A bear. I've wanted to see one of those in the wild for a long time. Hell, I even have a bear tag."

"WHAT?! THAT'S A BEAR!!"

I froze in place and locked eyes with the little creature that is probably no more than 150 lbs, and we had a very, very brief staring contest before it took a hard right and bolted away from me. I stood still for about 5 minutes, waiting and watching for what I imagined could be a mamma bear in close proximity. No such thing thankfully.

I walked back to where my father-in-law was, shared the story, and we proceeded down the trail. I ended up walking ahead of him a good ways on the way back to the truck, and I didn't know until we hooked up with a fellow hunter a short while later that my father-in-law too had seen the little bear. Evidently it snuck back in behind us to give us another inspection.

Absolutely. I carry a spare ziploc for a trash bag to put mountain house empties, wrappers, and trash in. Also don't forget things like chapstick, gold bond, etc should go in the bear bag.

Nothing outside of a headlamp, water, and sleep stuff goes in the tent with me.

It HAS been awesome but a little part of me feels like a damn failure. I know it's kinda stupid bc I know how tough it is and how low the success rates are for otc archery units, esp when you factor in solo, diy, backpack hunting, but damn I'm just frustrated I guess.

you look like you could use a burger and a beer

Elk or not, I'm still jealous. What an adventure!

I normally don't on these types of hunts but I've just put so much effort into this whole thing so it's still a little disappointing on some level.

Understood. I just spent a week in Colorado chasing elk. Had a great time. Saw some of the biggest bulls I've ever seen in my life. Passed on some pretty good ones chasing monsters and ended up coming home empty handed. It's hard for me to not be disappointed as well. Haven't even been able to get motivated to post anything here about my trip, but it was a great time. My hunt is over for this year, but I'm already planning for next!

Fifty eggs!? You do that you'll have to change your handle to CHL

Thanks Joe. Thank your wife again for the baked goods. That was a real treat.

Sidebar- Joe is about as good a dude as you'll ever meet and dang good at his job, which he makes look easy. Proud to know you as a friend.

LEJ what a trip. I'll agree with everything agingcowboy and Joe said. You went and did it. And that in itself is more valuable than anything else. The trip alone is more skins on the wall than lots of people will ever attain no matter how many racks they collect.

And I got skunked last weekend out. Work and life made it to where I couldnt go but this past Saturday and Sunday. Nothing talking, no fresh sign, they just weren't there. Fire seemed to drive a lot of people to the area I was at but never saw other hunters out in the brush. So who knows where the elk went. After 3 years, I'm tossing the towel on 15 and going to find a new unit.

One more week then it's antelope season. Then a muley buck tag, then a muley doe tag. Maybe toss in an cow tag if the right one comes up on leftover and the wife won't kill me for being gone another weekend or two. Fun times ahead.

Wyoming is officially in my 10-day forecast. Should be scouting for speed goats in unit 38 on the 4th and ready to go on the 5th.

You simply can't beat that.

Damn, I'm really pulling for GrandpaJoe. Glassed yesterday afternoon and this morning in a pretty unproductive spot for bears or anything else. Saw 4 does. The name of the area? Bear Basin/Bear Mountain. That John Denver's fullasht man.

At any rate, last night I already had another spot in mind for today. While buying some groceries in town I chatted up a guy who gave me some hot tips... for the exact area I had in mind. He gave me some pretty specific intel so I'm gonna give it a shot. Been wanting to scout it for elk the last couple years anyway.

cupofjoe04 said:

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ELK DOWN!!! Story to come- LOTS of work to do now. Hoping I can get Grandpa and this animal off this hill....... in one piece

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Awesome news! Good luck with the pack out. Stay safe, enjoy it, and update us when you get a chance!