Are y'all figuring the solar eclipse is going to get those bulls bugling and running around like crazy opening day? That's what im hoping. Headed to Colorado in 29 hours... but whos counting.

Little late on this thread but I see there was a new post. I'm headed to Western New Mexico in November. I'm using a different outfitter for the 1st time in 8 years. Trying to beat this muley I got 2 years ago. He was 36 wide scored 196 6/8 sci. Still trying to break 200 BC. Good luck to all you hunters and stay safe!

Just got Off the mountain. Man it was one hell of a trip. Long story short only 1 of the 3 hunters shot a bull. So it was an Epic 5 hr ride in with amazing scenery but it was a bit of a grind. the remoteness of the camp was insane. Saw zero other hunters. 12k elevation is no joke. Justin and Caleb guided three of us hunters, but Caleb got a stomach bug day 1. luckily he had his own tent and ended up quarantining there and riding out on day 3. So it was just Justin working his ass off guiding Me, John and this guy Matt (who happened to be from corpus too). We either hiked our asses off or ride horses to a remote spot then hiked our asses off chasing bugles. Day 1 -John had 2 bulls he pulled his gun out on, but the bulls wouldn't commit the last 10%. Saw some cows and mule deer. Next day I had a bull bugle 100yards down the hill from us. The wind was bad so we snuck around but then he completely just shut up and disappeared.

Justin and Matt killed a young 5x5 2 meadows from me on day3. A big 300" bull had come out high above them in a draw so They had to drop back into the woods hike 400ish yards up and set up. By that time the big bull left and the smaller one was there but since we hadn't actually had any bulls in our sights yet, he went ahead made a hell of a 430yard shot with an 280AI to drop that bull. Same night i sat a meadow and I had a bugle behind me. After he responded again to my cow calling, I decided to sneak in. I was able to glimpse the bull walking through the timber 100 yards away on the hillside of the meadow. He had just went behind a patch of trees and I got setup to shoot but he never came out the other side. Don't know if he winded me or if my 2nd cowcall when I got to that meadow spooked him, but he disappeared like a ghost.

We had more of the same on the last day. John and Justin got into 3-4 bulls that were just absolutely screaming at them as close as 100 yards, but never showed themselves. Justin thinks the weather was too nice for them to have to come out of the timber. We ended up riding out with Tag soup for John and I but an awesome experience.

The general view


Chasing bugles and sitting meadows.




Pictures of camp





Matt Riding out his bull

Awesome pics and sounds like a hell of an adventure!

Got back from N NM last week on a private land DIY hunt. This property is all above 10K feet going up to over 11K. Seems like everything was 2 weeks late.....warm temps, aspens changing, and the rut was very spread out.

The first morning I asked my buddy (who had never shot a bull in six hunts) to come with me because I felt like there would be some bulls in the area. Sure enough before daylight some coyotes started howling which ignited 2 bulls to start firing up. Wind was marginal so we waited until we could see before going after them.

Daylight came and the bulls went quiet. I started cow calling and got a response. We circled way around to get the wind in our favor. We set up a couple of times with me calling and my friend the shooter. The bulls were stationary and not moving. Very thick timber.

We went in after one bull that had a unique growl that was camping out on a wallow. I felt like we were within 150 yards of him and got set up. Buddy in front.... me calling. We had no idea what this bull looked like but felt like he was a decent bull with the low growl in his bugle. I started calling and got an immediate response from an excited bull. His demeanor changed after calling that close to his location. Every bugle got closer and more excited as I kept calling. I was 30yds in back and could not see buddy who was setup with bi-pods in an opening we thought he would come from. The bull screamed with that low growl and had to be very close to my buddy. As I responded to his bugle the sound of the shot startled the hell outta me. I heard the bull turn and bolt. About 10 seconds later I heard him crash.

Walked up to my buddy who was extremely torn up with elk fever.... and asked him what the bull was.... "big enough" was the response I got. We tracked him for 20yds and I saw his light colored coat to the left. My buddy had his 1st bull! A very nice 6x5.

I shot a cow later in the week after passing a young bull on the first evening. Another friend shot a small 5x4 on day 2. Overall another great trip to the elk woods.

Colorado pronghorn. Friends ranch outside of Trinidad. 379 yards. 7mm STW.



Once he was done- it was off to the sod poodle village.

Most fun you can have with a rifle.

Wow, what a week! My wife drew a first season, unit 61 bull tag. Scouting we had bulls bugling 200 yards from the road.


Opening day we had other hunters walking through those woods getting winded by every elk there. Cow elk busted us at 8 yards, the bull was at 20 but no shot. Burned out by day 3, so took it easy day 4. Hit it hard day 5, the last day. Hiked higher, but the bulls shut up sooner. Hunted around the mountain, bumped some elk out of their beds with our wind, as they left, they lost our scent and went through an open hillside we could shoot. The cows gave us plenty of opportunity, I saw the bulls coming, to follow the cows. When they hit the clearing, I stopped them, too soon. There was a tree in the way. Those bulls got away. We came off the mountain in pretty low spirits, but not giving up. We drove around some new country. Some great scenery.



Tried walking in to check a pond and someone else shot an elk off that pond as we were walking there. Went and checked the pond next to camp, nothing. We were sitting in front of the tent, I was drinking a beer because I am not hunting, when Michelle says there is something down by the pond, ".probably deer." I looked. no, elk! Maneuvered around a bit and found the bull. He wallowed for a bit, but as soon as he stood up Michelle dropped the hammer on him and had her first elk!


The hunt had its highs and lows, saw far fewer elk than 7 years ago, but to was a great time with a very happy ending.