Overdue CO 2nd Rifle Hunt Report:
For CO 2nd rifle this season, we were hunting the same area we hunted in 2018 and 2019. I shot my first bull here in 2018 and a forky muley in 2019. This trip was bittersweet because it was going to be the first year my dad built points and would draw a deer tag, but he passed away in January 2022. Overall, this hunting season has been hard without him here (especially when my son killed his first deer yesterday). For this trip, there were 4 of us: me, my brother, my buddy Sam, and AgEng08 from on here. Between all of us, we had 2 deer tags, 3 elk tags, and 1 bear tag. Ambitious, I know...
We arrived on Friday before season started to snow/ice from a storm earlier in the week. Temps were good (freezing overnight, 40-50s during the day), but the mud and snow made the roads very sketchy and the hiking difficult with mud-caked boots. There was also the threat of more bad weather starting Wednesday of the next week, so we wanted to try to fill some tags quickly incase we had to leave early.
We actually saw more elk on this trip than we had the other 2 years combined, but just couldn't find any legal bulls. On Sunday (the 2nd day of season), Sam and I were glassing on a ridge overlooking some mixed oak brush, an old burn, and open valleys. I spotted a mule deer buck feeding at around 550 yards away and decided to make a move. I dropped down the ridge and made my way through the cedar and oak brush. Sam stayed on the ridge to watch. I was able to close the distance to about 200 yards undetected, largely due to the fact that there was a small rise between me and the buck and I was downwind of him. When I peeked over to locate the buck, I noticed there was also a legal bull now standing within 50 yards of him! The buck was broadside and had his attention focused on the elk, so I settled in on my shooting sticks and squeezed off the shot. I saw him hump up and then drop and kick after the shot, so I knew he was down.
The next part of this story, I wouldn't have believed unless I was there... After I shot the buck, the bull looked around for a minute and then starting working his way right toward me! I only had a deer tag, and Sam was up on the ridge with an elk tag. Luckily, Sam was paying attention, and when the bull started working my way he scrambled down off of the ridge towards us. The bull worked down the ridge he was on and then back up to me, walking within 10 yards of where I was crouched on the ground and then down the ridge behind me (I'll try to get the video of this to load). Since I knew Sam was coming, I laid flat on the ground to stay out of the way of a potential shot... which came a few minutes later. Sam had met up with the bull in a small valley between us and shot him too. We just filled a deer and bull tag within about 10 minutes of each other!
My buck is small, but given the hunt circumstances I was more than happy to shoot him. This was Sam's first elk, so obviously his excitement was through the roof. We hunted hard a couple more days, but were unable to turn up any more legal deer or elk for the other tags.
