RICMIC
Veteran member
Not so little, that's a nice bull. If you had shot a monster and wanted to cape him out for a shoulder mount, then you would have needed to go get a chain saw. Congratulations.
The 2019 Elk Success Thread
- Thread starter ScottR
- Start date
Timr245
Very Active Member
Micah S
Active Member
KHSRanger23
Active Member
BrandonM
Active Member
- Nov 9, 2011
- 200
- 231
My son got his first elk this year. I was one proud papa! He drew a great limited quota tag and so did I. I bowhunted hard and was on several bulls so we hit the same area opening morning of rifle and he made short work after Todd called in this bull into the same basin we were in. What a great day!!!
Very nice first bull! Congrats to your son and proud dad. Was it a long pack out?
dan maule
Very Active Member
meathunter
Active Member
We shot 2 elk from the same herd. Late night picture after packing the 1st one out.
tim
Veteran member
2019 elk number 2. grateful Idaho allows us to buy 2 tags. I called my brother, he got my 2nd bike and trailer and we go it out in one trip.
Here's a couple of my favorites from 2019!
RICMIC
Veteran member
That's sure a pretty elk Tim. Congrats.
I was finally able to figure out how to get my photos to post (by cropping them), and hopefully it will work here for my elk hunt pics.
After six weeks of aggressive pack training, I headed out to Colorado for a solo backpack trip, followed by a one on one guided elk hunt in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I had decided to use my 11 elk points, and researched areas where I would draw with 9 pts., that had limited tags and good success. After a lot of research, I signed up for a muzzy hunt where we rode into the camp on horseback, but hunted daily on foot. There would only be myself and the guide (Eric) in camp for the 5 day hunt. As it turned out, only 3 of 4 NRs drew with 11 pts. this year.
Sept. 7th - Left home in NE Minnesota, and drove to Sidney, NE. Slept in my truck in the Cabela's parking lot. Bought some "t in case" gear in the morning.
Sept. 8th - Drove to Estes Park, CO where I met with the outfitter (Tim). Drove to the trailhead of my backpack trip, and slept in the truck. My main purpose for this trip was to be fully acclimated for the muzzy elk and deer hunt, plus I always enjoy exploring new wild country.
Sept. 9th - Big T-storm in the AM, so I waited it out before loading up and took off on the 6 1/2 mile jaunt to the alpine lake. It went better than I had expected for a flatlander; 8,500' to 10,666'. I made it by early afternoon, but the last mile was a bitch as it was steeper, higher, and with poorer trail conditions. I experienced Krumm-Holtz for the first time. That is gnarled twisted vegetation due to the high altitude and heavy snow conditions. Neat stuff, but a real bear to traverse. I set up my KUIU 2P tent in a slot between the KH, and racked out early.
Sept. 10th - Last night was possibly the most miserable of my life. I was hurting everywhere, didn't sleep at all, and was thinking that at 67 I was old for this stuff and it was likely my last hurrah. Thank God, I was wrong. I crawled out of the tent at first light and was in my little camp chair making coffee when I spotted 4 cow/calf elk about 400 yards away. I watched them for a couple hours as they grazed their way closer until they got my scent at 50 yards. Later on, the trout were rising, so put on my water shoes and waded out into the glacial lake and caught myself several beautiful cut-throat trout. One was plenty for dinner, and by now I was having a blast and feeling better to boot. I had planned to glass some more until dark, but once the sun went behind the 13.5K peak it got damn cold, so I retreated to the tent for the evening.
Sept. 11th - I slept some and felt quite a bit better today. I was up again at first light, and almost immediately spotted a herd of elk about 800 yards away across the lake. There were 10 elk total, with a big herd bull, and a 5x5 hanging around the fringes. The big bull was the widest bull I had ever seen on the hoof. These guys were safe from me though as the season didn't open until the 14th, and there was no way I would ever be able to get the meat out anyway. After they went over the ridge and out of site, the trout were feeding and I had a banner morning catching a fair bunch of them. The weather was starting to change, so I decided to pack out part way. It was a good call, because I had gone through the worst part of the trail, and was about half way back to the trailhead and had just got the tent set up when the big wind rain hit. It lasted all night, but was blown out in the morning.
Sept. 12th - The rest of the hike was a cake-walk, and now it was time for a hot shower, a good meal, and final packing for the horseback trip tomorrow. To be continued.
I was finally able to figure out how to get my photos to post (by cropping them), and hopefully it will work here for my elk hunt pics.
After six weeks of aggressive pack training, I headed out to Colorado for a solo backpack trip, followed by a one on one guided elk hunt in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. I had decided to use my 11 elk points, and researched areas where I would draw with 9 pts., that had limited tags and good success. After a lot of research, I signed up for a muzzy hunt where we rode into the camp on horseback, but hunted daily on foot. There would only be myself and the guide (Eric) in camp for the 5 day hunt. As it turned out, only 3 of 4 NRs drew with 11 pts. this year.
Sept. 7th - Left home in NE Minnesota, and drove to Sidney, NE. Slept in my truck in the Cabela's parking lot. Bought some "t in case" gear in the morning.
Sept. 8th - Drove to Estes Park, CO where I met with the outfitter (Tim). Drove to the trailhead of my backpack trip, and slept in the truck. My main purpose for this trip was to be fully acclimated for the muzzy elk and deer hunt, plus I always enjoy exploring new wild country.
Sept. 9th - Big T-storm in the AM, so I waited it out before loading up and took off on the 6 1/2 mile jaunt to the alpine lake. It went better than I had expected for a flatlander; 8,500' to 10,666'. I made it by early afternoon, but the last mile was a bitch as it was steeper, higher, and with poorer trail conditions. I experienced Krumm-Holtz for the first time. That is gnarled twisted vegetation due to the high altitude and heavy snow conditions. Neat stuff, but a real bear to traverse. I set up my KUIU 2P tent in a slot between the KH, and racked out early.
Sept. 10th - Last night was possibly the most miserable of my life. I was hurting everywhere, didn't sleep at all, and was thinking that at 67 I was old for this stuff and it was likely my last hurrah. Thank God, I was wrong. I crawled out of the tent at first light and was in my little camp chair making coffee when I spotted 4 cow/calf elk about 400 yards away. I watched them for a couple hours as they grazed their way closer until they got my scent at 50 yards. Later on, the trout were rising, so put on my water shoes and waded out into the glacial lake and caught myself several beautiful cut-throat trout. One was plenty for dinner, and by now I was having a blast and feeling better to boot. I had planned to glass some more until dark, but once the sun went behind the 13.5K peak it got damn cold, so I retreated to the tent for the evening.
Sept. 11th - I slept some and felt quite a bit better today. I was up again at first light, and almost immediately spotted a herd of elk about 800 yards away across the lake. There were 10 elk total, with a big herd bull, and a 5x5 hanging around the fringes. The big bull was the widest bull I had ever seen on the hoof. These guys were safe from me though as the season didn't open until the 14th, and there was no way I would ever be able to get the meat out anyway. After they went over the ridge and out of site, the trout were feeding and I had a banner morning catching a fair bunch of them. The weather was starting to change, so I decided to pack out part way. It was a good call, because I had gone through the worst part of the trail, and was about half way back to the trailhead and had just got the tent set up when the big wind rain hit. It lasted all night, but was blown out in the morning.
Sept. 12th - The rest of the hike was a cake-walk, and now it was time for a hot shower, a good meal, and final packing for the horseback trip tomorrow. To be continued.
RICMIC
Veteran member
(Cont.)
Sept. 13th - Ride-in day. I drove back to the same trailhead that I had hiked out of, and met with my guide Eric, and the packer Forest. We loaded up after I climbed upon a big horse named Marshall and rode for 3 hours into the camp. We had turned off of the trail that I had hiked on, and ended up on the other side of the tallest peak in area. The camp was a comfortable outfitters tent with all that we would need for the next week. Forest left us alone and said he would be back when we needed to pack out an elk. I liked his confidence in us. Everyone that I had spoken to about Eric had told me that he was a 5 star plus guide, and I found that my name can be added to the list of his supporters. After settling our gear, we took a hike a goodly ways to an overlook to do some scouting for the muzzle-loader opener tomorrow. From the overlook, we were surprised to see two bow hunters. They were almost invisible in their full camo, but they had opened a map, and it was like a white flag until it was put away. Eric told me that in his six years guiding out of this camp it is the first hunters he had ever seen in the area. Unfortunately, they had a routine of calling constantly. We watched a 5x5, and a 330" class 6x6 work towards them, but turned off before the bowhunters ever could see them. Eric had concerns about where their camp was, as the main hunting area was close to where they had been sitting.
Sept. 14th - Opening day. We were up way early, and we hiked a couple hours in the dark before waiting for first light to check out the elk feeding areas. Wouldn't you know it, but the first opening we came to had the bow-hunters camp set up, and the guys were just rousting out of camp. It was all public land, and they had every right to be there, but it was unfortunate that they didn't realize that they had set their camp in the main route between the feeding and bedding areas. 20 minutes later, we walked up on the 5x5 that we had seen the day before. It was only 30 yards away and unaware of us, but wasn't a bull that I wanted to shoot in the first hour of shooting light on the first day. (By day 4 I was starting to second guess that decision). The rest of the day was cold, windy, and elk free. I also had a deer tag that I had drawn with 0 points. Eric told me that there are few deer in the area, but there are occasionally some really good bucks. As it turned out, we never spotted a single deer in the 7 days we were on the mountain.
Sept. 15th - Day 2, Since plan 1 was taken, we moved to plan 2 and hunted in the big woods below the camp. Eric knew where the bedding area were and we put ourselves in position to do some calling. No response, and no action all morning. At mid-day we moved back to the main trail, and Eric told me to go into the woods about 20 yards and set up. He would wait a bit and do some calling. I did just that, but I decided that I should move off his line a bit and went to the side a bit and was just about to take my pack off when, Oh Crap, Big Bull!!! The big boy had the same expression on his fact that I did, and that 30 yard encounter lasted only about a half second. We couldn't entice him back, so he'll be even bigger next year for someone else. Now it was all uphill back to camp, and of course in the dark.
Sept. 16th - Day 3 By now I am feeling pretty good. I can't keep up with Eric, but I never expected to, and he is good about waiting for me to catch up, catch my breath, and cool down. We ventured into a different area in the big woods, and had no encounters at all. The weather was somewhat warmer that normal, and the full moon was on the 14th. Factors perhaps, but no excuses. Last year the bulls were very vocal by this time, and Eric had called in a record book bull on the 12th that his hunter was able to kill.
Sept. 17th - It's getting to be crunch time. I've shot four bulls and one cow so far on my western trips, and 3 of those have been on the 4th day, so I told Eric that today was the day. By now Eric thought that the bow hunters may have moved on, so we worked our way up the mountain. Sure enough, the camp was gone, and we were slowly working our way to different viewing spots. On the edge of an open drainage, Eric stopped and put a finger to his nose....I could smell it too, the strong musky odor of elk. He peeked around a gnarled tree, and told me that there was a 4x4 and a 5x5. I slowly took off my pack and crawled around and under the tree and spotted the feeding bulls 128 yards away. I lined up the peep sight on the TC Omega 50 cal. The bigger bull was below the other one but they were close together, so I had to wait a while for it to clear. Finally, BOOM! Smoke, elk running and wondering what happened. I reloaded as Eric watched the bulls, but before I could recap they were behind the trees. He said it was a good shot, and could see blood on the side, maybe a bit low and too far back. But, because of the angle, that was where I was aiming.
We waited about 20 minutes, fully expecting to see a dead elk once we got up the hill. Nope. We found a few drops of blood on some rocks, but there was nothing else. It was hard and rocky with no distinct tracks, and little red ground cover to confuse things even more.
We both played Daniel Boone for about 45 minutes until we met up back at the last sign of blood. Eric stated that the bulls had run uphill away from us, but that a wounded animal will often go downhill when he can. So, off he went through the thick cover where he found my bull in only a few minutes. It was a cool looking funky 5x5. One brow tine had crossed over the other, and the tine then grew down and up and was broomed off when it got too long at about 20". I've shot four 6x6's, but I was more than happy with this fella. Besides, my freezer was empty and I was getting hungry.
Eric called on the radio for the packer, and 6 hours later Paul showed up with two pack horses. By that time the pictures had been taken, the elk butchered and bagged, and even time for a nap. Better yet, Paul brought us some beer. After Paul left, we decided to go over the top to look for deer since we were already most of the way up the mountain already. No deer, but we did find a monster bull with a harem of 30 to 40 cows. It was still a long way away, and my tag was punched, but it was cool to see anyway.
Sept. 18th - Back to the lookout point we had been to before the opener, and glassed all morning for deer. No luck. In the afternoon, we worked our was into an area that Eric hadn't been to in several years. No deer or elk, but I was still a grand adventure to see and experience.
Sept. 13th - Ride-in day. I drove back to the same trailhead that I had hiked out of, and met with my guide Eric, and the packer Forest. We loaded up after I climbed upon a big horse named Marshall and rode for 3 hours into the camp. We had turned off of the trail that I had hiked on, and ended up on the other side of the tallest peak in area. The camp was a comfortable outfitters tent with all that we would need for the next week. Forest left us alone and said he would be back when we needed to pack out an elk. I liked his confidence in us. Everyone that I had spoken to about Eric had told me that he was a 5 star plus guide, and I found that my name can be added to the list of his supporters. After settling our gear, we took a hike a goodly ways to an overlook to do some scouting for the muzzle-loader opener tomorrow. From the overlook, we were surprised to see two bow hunters. They were almost invisible in their full camo, but they had opened a map, and it was like a white flag until it was put away. Eric told me that in his six years guiding out of this camp it is the first hunters he had ever seen in the area. Unfortunately, they had a routine of calling constantly. We watched a 5x5, and a 330" class 6x6 work towards them, but turned off before the bowhunters ever could see them. Eric had concerns about where their camp was, as the main hunting area was close to where they had been sitting.
Sept. 14th - Opening day. We were up way early, and we hiked a couple hours in the dark before waiting for first light to check out the elk feeding areas. Wouldn't you know it, but the first opening we came to had the bow-hunters camp set up, and the guys were just rousting out of camp. It was all public land, and they had every right to be there, but it was unfortunate that they didn't realize that they had set their camp in the main route between the feeding and bedding areas. 20 minutes later, we walked up on the 5x5 that we had seen the day before. It was only 30 yards away and unaware of us, but wasn't a bull that I wanted to shoot in the first hour of shooting light on the first day. (By day 4 I was starting to second guess that decision). The rest of the day was cold, windy, and elk free. I also had a deer tag that I had drawn with 0 points. Eric told me that there are few deer in the area, but there are occasionally some really good bucks. As it turned out, we never spotted a single deer in the 7 days we were on the mountain.
Sept. 15th - Day 2, Since plan 1 was taken, we moved to plan 2 and hunted in the big woods below the camp. Eric knew where the bedding area were and we put ourselves in position to do some calling. No response, and no action all morning. At mid-day we moved back to the main trail, and Eric told me to go into the woods about 20 yards and set up. He would wait a bit and do some calling. I did just that, but I decided that I should move off his line a bit and went to the side a bit and was just about to take my pack off when, Oh Crap, Big Bull!!! The big boy had the same expression on his fact that I did, and that 30 yard encounter lasted only about a half second. We couldn't entice him back, so he'll be even bigger next year for someone else. Now it was all uphill back to camp, and of course in the dark.
Sept. 16th - Day 3 By now I am feeling pretty good. I can't keep up with Eric, but I never expected to, and he is good about waiting for me to catch up, catch my breath, and cool down. We ventured into a different area in the big woods, and had no encounters at all. The weather was somewhat warmer that normal, and the full moon was on the 14th. Factors perhaps, but no excuses. Last year the bulls were very vocal by this time, and Eric had called in a record book bull on the 12th that his hunter was able to kill.
Sept. 17th - It's getting to be crunch time. I've shot four bulls and one cow so far on my western trips, and 3 of those have been on the 4th day, so I told Eric that today was the day. By now Eric thought that the bow hunters may have moved on, so we worked our way up the mountain. Sure enough, the camp was gone, and we were slowly working our way to different viewing spots. On the edge of an open drainage, Eric stopped and put a finger to his nose....I could smell it too, the strong musky odor of elk. He peeked around a gnarled tree, and told me that there was a 4x4 and a 5x5. I slowly took off my pack and crawled around and under the tree and spotted the feeding bulls 128 yards away. I lined up the peep sight on the TC Omega 50 cal. The bigger bull was below the other one but they were close together, so I had to wait a while for it to clear. Finally, BOOM! Smoke, elk running and wondering what happened. I reloaded as Eric watched the bulls, but before I could recap they were behind the trees. He said it was a good shot, and could see blood on the side, maybe a bit low and too far back. But, because of the angle, that was where I was aiming.
We waited about 20 minutes, fully expecting to see a dead elk once we got up the hill. Nope. We found a few drops of blood on some rocks, but there was nothing else. It was hard and rocky with no distinct tracks, and little red ground cover to confuse things even more.
We both played Daniel Boone for about 45 minutes until we met up back at the last sign of blood. Eric stated that the bulls had run uphill away from us, but that a wounded animal will often go downhill when he can. So, off he went through the thick cover where he found my bull in only a few minutes. It was a cool looking funky 5x5. One brow tine had crossed over the other, and the tine then grew down and up and was broomed off when it got too long at about 20". I've shot four 6x6's, but I was more than happy with this fella. Besides, my freezer was empty and I was getting hungry.
Eric called on the radio for the packer, and 6 hours later Paul showed up with two pack horses. By that time the pictures had been taken, the elk butchered and bagged, and even time for a nap. Better yet, Paul brought us some beer. After Paul left, we decided to go over the top to look for deer since we were already most of the way up the mountain already. No deer, but we did find a monster bull with a harem of 30 to 40 cows. It was still a long way away, and my tag was punched, but it was cool to see anyway.
Sept. 18th - Back to the lookout point we had been to before the opener, and glassed all morning for deer. No luck. In the afternoon, we worked our was into an area that Eric hadn't been to in several years. No deer or elk, but I was still a grand adventure to see and experience.
Last edited:
Yell Co AR Hunter
Very Active Member
Kodiak
Member
- Oct 27, 2014
- 111
- 137
A lot of great bulls on here! Good work everyone. Here is my contribution from this weekend. 
Nice work Kodiak! I am getting jealous of all of you who are out elk hunting, my season is pretty short due to another little one arriving soon. Keep the pics coming!
Timr245
Very Active Member
RICMIC
Veteran member
Thanks Scott. You should know better than to time your kids for birthdays in the fall.