The 2016 draw results are posted today! Click on the draw results link on the right to check you stats.  It looks like Camp Knox is going to be full of smoke poles this year!  WHOO HOO!!

Archery/Muzz 2014 Part2

So it is Friday night and our first night on the mountain.  We left off in the previous post where we had just spotted some elk and were about to give pursuit.  We had to double back around to play the wind right.  The elk were on a side hill that we generally don't hunt. We were riding along a fence line trying to find a spot to make our way over to the elk.  Will tells Billy and I to stay put while he goes and checks for way to up the hill.  After 10 minutes Billy and I said what the hell was he thinking?  Where is he, what is he doing, does he not want to hunt tonight?  A few minutes later we said the hell with it, lets go hunt.  Now Will left on foot and didn't take his bow.  So the thought was I will take his bow and hope to find him on our way up and give to him.  Well that didn't happen but what did happen was Billy and I found the Elk and setup.  I started calling and all of the elk picked thier heads  up and looked my direction.  We were about 300 hundred yards away from them on a side hill so we could see everything.  The young legal bull seemed to like what I had to say as he bugled back at me.  A couple of min later he heading toward us.  I though oh boy here first night and Billy is going to get some action.  Well he made it the base of the hill and stopped as the sun was working against us that was all the closer we got to them.  A good first night out.  Now all we have to fight our way back out through the scrub oaks and find Will.  We found the fence line, the horses and a Will squelling about how cold he was and how if he had his bow he could have killed a big ol 6x6.  Well I put it plain and simple.  You were the dumbass that took off without your bow and never came back to us.  Well now that we got the stupid out of our system lets go get a nice hot meal and hope for better luck in the am.

The first night is camp is never a good sleep for me.  It kind of like the first night in a hotel when you are traveling for work.  The morning seem to come right after I finally fell asleep after hours of trying.  We all sprang up and were at um getting ready.  It always seems like the first morning no matter how well you plan the night before is a cluster.  Where is this, where is that, how many layers do I put on, where are my boots?  Oh and of course the thought of I hope I can use the privy before I get out on the trail.

The plan was simple.  Since Dave showed up to camp around midnight Will and Dave would take the four wheelers to the fence line where we saw the elk the night before.  Billy, Ted and I would take the naggs and head up the mountain.  As we were crossing the shale edge we saw elk the first ridge over as light was just coming up.  We had a meeting to devise a plan and set out to make a go after the elk.  The wind was blowing down the mountain so we had to make a side approach as we were a little higher than the elk.  I was down low and Billy was above calling and Tedd was above him.  Within a minute of Billy calling a spike came poke his head out of the brush and was looking around.  It was nice to see and elk up close again and fun to watch him.  10 minutes later the bull we showed himself down below me.  He turned out to be a non legal bull.  He winded one of us and headed back down the hill.  That was the elk we were waiting for so now that he wasn't a shooter I gave a shut in down call so we could move on and make another attempt to setup another place.

I climbed up to where Billy was calling.  We could hear a bull to the south of us and decided we would try to close the gap on him.  Where was Ted?  We had no idea as he didn't respond to the come back call.  He mentioned on the drive out that he left his hoochy momma call back in MN.  Now what the hell good does it do him in MN?  Nothing I tell ya!  Now,  here we were wondering where Ted was for about second before we said the hell with him.  Billy and I were there to hunt and that was what we did.  We made our way towards the bull.  We would make a cow call once in a while while we were walking closer to the bull.  When we got closer we actually heard two bull bugling in the same area.  Billy was staying behind about 50 yards as we moved in on the bulls.  I was closing the gap and trying to come in down wind from them ,when I noticed what looked like a black bear.  About 40 yards below me a clearing there was a black hump which looked like a nice black bear.  I paused and watched for a couple of minutes trying to figure out what for sure it was.  It finally moved and realized it was just young black cow.  Back to my sneak for one of the bulls.  I was closing in.  All I had to do was come over this mound of tree'e and I should be able to see the bulls. BOOM went the smoke pole!  Not mine but Tedds.  Fucking Tedd!,  I said to myself .  Comes out once every three years and shoots the shit out of them them the first morning.  Well Billy kept calling but everything was silent.  I walked up the mound only to see that there was still a rack in the brush.  My heart went to pounding, the bull started to move I moved to an opening as to hope to get a shot at the bull.  It stopped in the opening neck and head out from the brush staring straight down on me.  I was shaking so bad I pulled my head from the barrel.  Breath I told myself.  I peered back down the barrel and said I got him boom.  I fired the bull jumped and trotted off into the woods.  Holy shit did we just shoot two bulls on the opening morning?  I am sure hoping so.  I stayed in my spot so when Billy showed up I could place at the same spot as the bull.  We didn't find any blood but we saw Teddy running around like Pac Man trying to avoid the ghosts.  Billy said we better go help Tedd first and then come back.  We made pretty quick work of finding Tedds bull.  Once Billy found the hoof print it was game over.  Within five minutes we found Tedds Bull in the tree's.  Great shooting Tedd!

Tedd was high on life until Billy said go back to camp and the meat bags and bring two horses back.  Yeah but but I don't know where I am.  Oh just head this way then that way momma's boy! and hurry up it's getting hot out.  Billy and I went back down and searched for my bull nothing at all.  No blood no dead bull but did find a dead elk calf from weeks before ) :.  By the time Tedd got back Billy and I had Tedds elk all cleaned up and were on our last few drops of water.  We could hear Tedd coming through the tree's a half mile away.  He sounded like Mad Jack from the Grizzly Adams show.  Come on Smokey you son of bitch!  Gol damit Smoke get your ass moving etc etc etc!  I think Teddy heard Billy and I laughing out loud because he called for Billy to help him.  Ted made it with the horse though so it was easy packing out.  Good shooting Teddy!

2015 Hunting Apllications

The state of Colorado is now taking application for the 2015 big game hunting season.  Don't forget to get your applications sent in before the deadline.

Use the links on the right side of the blog to take to the Colorado links.

The deadline for applications is April 7th

April 13 is the application correction deadline

May 29th the draw results will be posted.

July 7th left over draw application deadline

Archery/Muzz 2014 Part1

Well where do I begin?  It was a long and anticipated hunt once again.

This year brought me high hopes of getting a bull because I drew a muzzleloader tag.  This increases ones chance of getting a bull tremendously.  Teddy Walter also drew a muzzleloader tag.  It has been three years since Teddy joined us last out in the mountains of Colorado.  Things started off great right from the beginning.  We were all packed and loaded on Wednesday night at Billy's house.  The plan was to leave Billy's by 5:30am so we could get to Will's house at a decent time.  We actually departed before our designated time.  You know we are all excited to get going in order to pull that off.

Waiting for Billy to Kiss his dog Morgan goodbye

Proof that we were on the road 

The drive started off just as expected Billy and Teddy arguing over what was the best way to leave St. Paul. 17hrs later after a few stops like the all you can eat steak america and cabela's we made it to Wills house.  Where do we get these ideas to stop at an all you can eat steak buffet I mean how good could it be?  The steaks were ok but the poor kid that waited on us from the time we walked in the place oh boy.  He was something else, very friendly and hard working but, the filthiest waiter I have ever seen in a restaurant.  He looked like he was out back doing oil changes for customers while they were eating.  If he wasn't seating people and bussing drinks he would fill in on the cooking grill.  Not a good PR rep for the place.  I tried to talk Billy into putting his arm around him so I could take a picture but Billy was too scared.

yes the place is real and I think it was in  Nebraska someplace

 After a quick nap from Olive Garden to Wills house I was ready for a couple night caps.  We stayed up for a couple of hours joking and teasing as we do after not seeing each other since the previous hunting season.

The next day consisted of grocery shopping,

Double checking our muskets,

Ok and maybe shooting some extra goodies

and loading up all the gear into the trucks and trailers.

We stopped at the ranch owners house on Friday afternoon to let he know we were ready to head up the mountain to camp.  He said he was going to meet us up there and help us get settled in with the horses.

When we walked into the cabin we realized that he had renovated!  He finally finished off the upstairs something I had been hearing from him every year that I have been out there.  We were all just pumped at this point, it was like a new cabin with twice the amount of space.  He had finally done it after 12 years.

the new steps up to the bunk house

West end of the bunk house

East end of the bunk house

What a treat!  I didn't have to have Will sawing logs two feet away from my ear anymore.  Lots of room both upstairs and downstairs.

Time to get the horses saddled and hit the trail for evening bow hunt and scouting mission for the morning.  We made it about 100 yards down the trail when I hear Ted behind me yelling in a jiggly voice OH SHIITTT!  I wish I had a video camera as Teds horse Buddy had his head down and was in a full fledge repeated buck.  I saw Teddy's horse racing past me as Ted was airborne with all fours strait out in front of him like he was riding a chopper but with without a chopper under him!  Now my horse was freaking out and well as Billy's.  Billy jumped off the prevent from being thrown.  Now Will was is in the front pack and when Buddy went racing by him he yelled out,  what the fuck are you guys doing !?  He made it sound like Ted jumped off his horse and whipped it just to fun with Will.  To answer your question Will.  I was laughing.   Billy and Ted were picking themselves up out of the puckers, but we were all wondering what the hell just happened.

Now Ted being a good sport had never been thrown from a horse said that wasn't so bad.  Good because here is Buddy are you guys ready to go hunt now?  I bet it wasn't even 30 seconds after Ted climbed back onto he was flying through the air again!  This time however he didn't land in a nice soft bush.  He landed right on his side on the hard pack dirt.  I can still hear that thud and his lungs loosing all of their air.  Billy didn't have a good landing either as his latigo broke on his saddle.

Ted said uncle and went back to the cabin with his horse in tow.  We tied a knot in Billy's latigo and set off for the hunt. We didn't get but about 15 minutes out when we spotted elk.  We quickly changed direction and headed back down to go make an attempt to get Will or Billy a bull.

Stay tuned as next time I will get into the hunt.

Run With the Will is born 2013

Before I get into the 2013 year, let me introduce to you the legend of the hunt.

William Harnisch!

The young Buck on his new 4-wheeler. I think the 4-wheeler is laying in a gorge some place in CO.

Luckily Will survived and was able to still get a bull

I think the story was, he was trying to get out in front of the bull and forgot to stop the 4-wheeler before he jumped off to give chase to the bull.  After he killed his bull he went to get his wheeler and couldn't find it till he looked over the edge of the mountainside.  Who can fault a guy who is trying to get a bull.  It is very easy to let the zings get the best of a guy when there are elk to be chased.

The summer of 2013 we coined the phrase "Run with the Will".  It has been all of our experiences that when you hunt with Will you literally have to jog to keep pace with him.   He organizes the hunt, he found the place, has the most experience hunting elk and is the camp boss.  So it seems fit that we show him our gratitude for letting us experience the awesome hunts we have with him.  Thank You Will!

This year it was it was Team CO vs Team MN.  Team Colorado was made up of Will and Dave.  Team MN was represented by Billy and Gene.  Now team MN was coming in as underdogs based solely on our ability to breath in the mountains.  Each team had one person with a muzzleloader tag and the other with an archery tag.  First day was a complete down pour in the morning.  I am not sure how many inches it rained but I was more than happy to wait it out in the cabin while Will and Dave took off on the wheelers.  Wow they are hardcore hunters I tell you to be out in that monsoon Billy stated.  I'm fine with letting the rain pass and go out after.  Well we did make it out but not much before lunch.  Billy and I were muddy but Will and Dave looked like drowned rats that just came out of a mud slide.  It was a very wet year in Colorado all kind of issues in Denver I remember seeing on the news. 

Gene/Buddy,Will/Prince,Major/Bill,Smokey/Dave

I think it was the 2nd or 3rd day Billy and I decided that we would get an early start on the afternoon hunt just to go out and mark some trails.  After this was done we wanted to try some calling early and see what would happen.  We setup and I proceed to call.  Within 10min kaboom!  I jumped I had no idea there was anything for Billy even to shoot at.  I  was immediately excited with hopes that Billy got a bull that I called in.  I practiced my calling a lot before the 2013 season so Billy and Will wouldn't make fun of me.  So I am not sure who was more excited me or Billy.  I mean the fact that I actually called a Bull in for Billy and that he shot it perfect picture.  The year before I called in three bulls one evening for Billy but he never got a shot.  I think he was on Facebook or something and missed them walk by.  Anyway back to Billy's shot.  Did you get him?  Was it a Bull ?  Where was he ? How far?  Speak dammit!  I went to out to play the Bull while Billy tried to guide me into location..  The problem with this is I was couldn't see Billy to know where to go so we traded place after he gave me the land mark.  I got Billy in the right location and we began the search.  We searched for a couple of hours and couldn't even find a drop of blood.  It was still early enough so we decided we would move a few hundred yards and setup again.  By the way I did ask Billy if he was shooting at the antlers again.

I began to call at the new setup and with in five minutes we had multiple Elk bugling back to me.  I could see them in the skyline on the ridge as a silhouette. All I had to do was to get one of them close enough for Billy to but down and find.  Five minutes later just on the other side of the bush was a hair raising bugle!  Where is he ?  Shoot him Billy he must be standing on you.  That Elk had to be less than five yards from the two of us but neither one of is saw it.  It never made another sound.  Oh well I kept calling I could see elk coming down the ridge and getting closer.  The closer they go the more excited I got.  Kaboom! what the heck they are way to far away to shoot.  I waited a few minutes then Billy gave me the all clear call.  I walked up to Billy and asked him what he was shooting at.  A nice bull about 100 yards out.  It was nearing dark a this time so we cam up with a head lamp signal communication to guide me to the correct location.  It was kind of like I was my lab waiting for Billy to give me hand signals to the right spot.  Once he had me in the right spot I looked down, yes fresh blood!  Gave Billy the come help look command and 10 yards away we found him.  We zeroed right in on the elk this time.  It was a nice 5x5.

Billy with his 5x5 

Gene with Billy's 5x5

Hours later we arrived back at camp.  No we didn't pack out the elk that night but we ended up climbing to the top of the mountain instead of just half way.  That's what happens when a gps has poor signal strength.  We had two option after we figured out where we were.  400 yards straight down through the thicket or a 1.5miles around on the trail.  How hard can 400 yards be?  So down we went alright.  A couple of times I know I was hanging upside down by my boot being stuck in a tree.  I am pretty sure we could have walked that 1.5miles in half the time it took us to fight our way down hill for 400 yards.  The reason we had to do this is to not leave the horses tied up to a scrub oak all night.  We really didn't care when we got back because we didn't plan on getting up to hunt just sleep in till dawn then go pack out Billy's 5x5.  After we told our story we found out that Dave had hit one as well but they were not able to find it as the blood trail dried up.  What a great evening for both teams.  The next morning I think Dave decided to sleep in and Will decided he would come help pack out Billy's bull.  This surprised both of us since the year before we were tied up with a movie and didn't help Will.  See what a great guy this Will is or is it the fact that we all love being at the kill sight and seeing a nice bull.

We decided that it would be easier to hike in and pack out with frame packs than to bring in the horses.  About three quarters of the way through the butchering process Billy blew out his knee.  Great not only did we hike in a mile and have to carry hundreds of pounds of meat out we have to carry a solid 230lb man out to boot.  We told Billy we would come back for him after we wen to town for dinner.  In other words we will be back tomorrow morning to help out, so don't drink your water too fast.  Wouldn't you know it after Will and I loaded our packs with the entire bull, Billy decided that he could limp his way out and carry his elk head with him.  A long trip back to the 4-wheelers with half an elk strapped to your back will tire a guy out in a hurry.  We couldn't slow down though because it was starting to get warm out and we needed to get the meat on ice.  I myself was kind of in a hurry so Billy could buy me dinner.

Notice how Billy's knee doesn't seem to be bothering him

Oh one hurt shot for the camera just to make his story sound good

That evening Billy and I went to town to drop the meat off and to get a nice dinner.  Will and Dave went out hunting and Will dropped a nice cow.  The plan for the morning was that Dave and I would go hunt in the am in the same area Will shot his cow.  We would hunt till nine then meet up with Will so we could pack out his cow.  Dave and hunted till 9 then went and found Wills cow.  There was no Will in sight so we decided we would just start cutting while we waited.  We tool two of the quarters off and put them in the cavity and covered them up with our jackets.  Dave said I will go down to to the trail and see what the hold up is.  I decided I would take a nap.  Thirty minutes later my nap was done and still no sight of Dave or Will.  What the hell are those guys doing? I thought to myself.  I guess I will debone these quarters while I am waiting.  Then I took once of the backstraps out.  If I had game bags I would have never stopped.  Will was suppose to bring the game bags and the frame pack with the horses.  After another nap it was going on noon I decided I would start going down myself to see what was going on.  Half way down I ran into Will and Dave on their way up.  What the hell have you guys been doing?  I am suppose to be watching a moving and eating some of Billy's greasy breakfast! I exclaimed.  Will replied with don't ask.  Ok then lets get this Elk out.  We bagged up the one side and I then debone the other two quarters while I took out the back strap and loins.  Again here I am with half an elk on  my back but luckily we didn't have far to go to the horses or so I thought.  When we got to the bottom there were no horses.  Will where are the horses at?  Ah I didn't bring them lets just carry them to the truck.  Yeah but that's like two miles away what the hell.  Oh well it is what it is.  Once we got back to camp I found Billy laughing in the doorway.  Whats so funny I asked.  You should have seen the circus Will had going on this morning horses running all around gates open horses going in and out of the coral.  It was hilarious he explained with tears in his.  What do you mean horses running around.  Wi Will was trying to tie the horses up to the four wheeler but forgot to close the gate.  When he went to close the gate the other one took off with all the gear.  He would catch one and another one would get a way.  Dave is this what happened?  Something like that.  When I got to the wheelers and didn't see Will,I started up to the cabin and when I go to close I saw Will all mad running after the horses.  I watched him for a while laughing but then I decided I would help him out.  

I have never really asked Will what happened that morning it seems to me a sore subject with him.  I have always wondered if he just let the horses go on purpose.  It would be a great cover up story for sleeping till 9am.  Maybe now the dust has settled I will ask.  Will what was the real story that day?

The Hoffa Bear 2012

 Billy finds Hoffa - WTH is it?

Well I was asked back to Fort Knox in late Fall of 2011.  I think it took the guys a few weeks to figure out if I worthy to hunt with them again or not.  I had to say I didn't know if I would ever be able to enjoy this hunt again or not.  Every day after the 2011 season I dreamt of elk hunting for about eight weeks straight.  So when I got the text that I got the text that I made the cut I extremely excited.  I was ready to go do all over again.  I don't think I gave Will or Billy much of an excuse not too.  Hell when I drove I stayed awake, unlike Billy, who 20min after he gets behind the wheel is head bobbing even though he just took a four nap.  Will,  he drug me through nastiest gnarliest places to hunt that he could think of.  I am not sure why he joined but he did every bit of it.  He could have just said hey walk down into that canyon and belly crawl back up the other side, while I ride the horse and watch.  But he didn't do that.  He joined me in on every free fall and belly crawl for the entire ten days.  Maybe Will just figured hey I found someone dumb enough to follow me wherever I go and answers to Ted, Kent or hay you.  At least he didn't call me Sue like Johny Cash.  Nah I don't think it was any of that.  More like, hey, here is a guy with a weak mind strong back and is willing to work hard.  Oh and brings a great movie collection with a TV and cell phone booster.  We would be fools not to bring him.

This first evening in camp the three of us Will, Billy and I all rushed to get the stuff put in the cabin so we could get out and do an evening archery hunt.  We saddled the horses and loaded our gear in record breaking time.  I was super excited because I didn't have to ride that asshole Nugget.  This is going to be great I thought to myself, a horse that isn't going to try to kill me every chance it gets.  We made it part way up Sugar Loaf when Will hit the brakes told us to shut the hell up and get off the horse.  What what whats going on?  Oh Oh elk wait not just elk lots of bull elk.  Whales Tales that one has whales tails too!  Will couldn't even talk anymore he was frothing at the mouth in the excitement of seeing such nice bulls first thing.  I was just trying to play catch up with my binocs and see what I was missing out on.  Well next thing you know I'm holding all three horses and Billy and Will are over making a war plan on how to get to  the two big whales tails.  Now the horses want to keep moving so they can get some grass to eat so I wasn't able to watch the great whales tails graze below.  I felt like the little kid trying to see what the big kids are doing, but I was still loved being there.  They came back with a plan of get out of the area and go after them in the am.  So we had a quick horse ride back to camp.  That night we all talked about what a great hunt is was going to be in the morning.

Well, were do you go when to get an elk.  Yep the "Promise Land"  Billy had a new feather picker and hadn't shot an elk in a couple of years so he was the favorite to get first crack at nice Bull elk.  Will fire up his call and immediately he got a response.  We scramble to get into position and had Billy go to where we thought was the best spot.  Will would cow call the bull would bugle back.  Oh man this is going to be good.  The bugle kept getting closer.  We were all on alert looking for other elk that may wander in without a sound like they like to do.  Silence,  I think to myself why isn't Will calling?  Did he move is he pinned down?  I slowly turn to look behind and sure enough here was a rag horn staring down at Will trying to figure out where the sweetness that was calling was.  The little bull was probably only five yards away from Will and 20 from me.  The bull was on a knoll looking down at both of us.  We couldn't do anything but sit and wait for it to move.  We were pinned down.  Crack! we heard from down by where Billy was set up.  What the hell was that a branch breaking?  We look up the bull is gone.  Will starts to call the little bull comes back but see's something isn't right and wandered off.  We hear nothing of the other bull now that was approaching.  Could it be that Billy dropped him and that was the crack that we heard?  Will tried to call for a while longer but stopped since everything was silent and the sun was fully risen.  We gave the hunt over call and went to see what kind of action Billy had.  There he stood new bow two missing arrows.  Where is he Billy?!  Did you get him huh huh?  Head down, no I don't think so.  What the hell was that crack?  Well, um ah um my arrow hit this stupid fig leaf and flanked the arrow and hit the elk in antler.  Laughing out loud what did you just say?  I ah um hit this stupid...No Billy did you just say shot this monster bull in the horn!.  Now Will and are laughing so hard we can't even stop to give him shit.  Let me get this straight Will says.  I call you in this nice bull for you and shoot it in the antler is that what you are telling me?!  Are you trying to tell me that you tried to kill an elk and by shooting it in the horn!?  No No my arrow hit this leaf that I didn't see that's why it hit the antler.  Yeah but why are you missing two arrows?  Well I um it walked out to about 50 yards and I shot again.  Did you hit it?  I don't know.  Did you hit another leaf?  I don't know.  By this time I was feeling bad for Billy but the a shot in the antler that's a classic.  A guy has to laugh.  We began a search party for blood or an arrow.  We found the arrow in a few minutes.  No blood no hair no velvet from an antler just a clean miss.  Oh well Billy if it can happen its going to happen when you are bow hunting.

The next couple of days were pretty slow but Will did shoot a cow with Dave over in the promise land.  I remember Will coming back and asking if we wanted to help pack out a small cow.  Billy was my teammate so I just did what he said.  I think Billy's response was something like yeah sure right after this three hour movie is over with.  Will replied with yeah well its getting hot out.  So you and Dave need our help?  I mean this is a good movie we are talking about here and its only a cow.  You guys should be able to walk the horse right over to it.  Yeah fine Will said as he left in a haste.  I kept my mouth shut as I was still a newbie learning the ropes.  You ever watch the "Last Samurai"?  It's a great movie who could blame us for not wanting to leave in the middle of it.  We did how ever debone and cut the cow up and bag it once it was back at the cabin.

A couple of days later Dave had to leave and Billy said the sleeping gods were calling to him.  So Will and I set out for a morning hunt which I think turned out to be a late morning hunt ending in a down pour.   We woke Billy up from his slumber around 11am and had him make us a nice hot breakfast.  He was more than happy to cook us up some homemade hash browns with eggs and bacon.  Nothing like a hot breakfast with queso and a couple of red beers.  A down pour starts in again so it was perfect time for a movie and nap before the evening hunt.  Well the rain didn't let up until about till about an hour and half before dark.  Billy said lets go hunting. Will and I said hey how about you grab us a beer since your up.  Billy replied with fine, I am going to go kill a bear then.  OK have fun Billy.  Just before dark we heard the radio squelch.  Billy did you say something?  Radio was silent.  Ah must have been nothing.  Hey Will you need a beer while I am up?  Yes sir he replied.  We sit back down to enjoy the movie radio squelches again, bring the chainsaw.  Did you hear that?  Ah he must be bull shitting us.  I'm not going out now its dark and rainy out.  It is cool enough isn't it?  Now we start wonder if Billy was serious or not.  So we try to call back on the radio, nothing.  Sent him a text nothing.  What do you want to do Will?  Do we need to go pack stuff up?  Well we don't even know where he is for sure, lets give it a few minutes.  Now the movie isn't as relaxing because we are on edge of do we go pack the horses or start making dinner?  A couple of minutes late we see a headlamp come bouncing up the road.  It was Billy with a big shit eating grin on his face! We knew right away just looking at him that he had shot something.  Well what did you get?  Bear, big bear, in the woods, need chainsaw.  Billy was working on getting his breath but we wanted answers.  Where? Why? How far?  Are you for real?  Answer dammit! Da da down on the trail up to the wallo.  You mean the wallo where we hung the stand?  Yes not for from there.  Were you in the stand?  How far? Is it a nice one?  No not in the stand.  I was walking to the stand and there it was eating berries about 40 yards from me.  So I blazed him.  He dropped right where he was.  So why do we need chainsaws Billy is he deep in the brush?  The whole trail is blown over with logs.  We need to cut our way in to be able to get the horses in.  Wow ok do we have tonight?  Now the debating and strategizing started.  Two hours late well past bed time, the plan was finalized.  We would all go hunt elk in the am for a short hunt.  We would then come back to camp and load things up to get the bear.

No elk the next morning so we made haste to go retrieve Billy's bear.  I packed lunch while Will and Billy packed everything from camp onto a wheeler and one horse.  With only two chainsaws there wasn't much for me to do but toss logs that had been cut and bring the horse.  For some reason Will kept stopping.  I think he saw I didn't have to work too hard doing my part.  Before you know I Wills chainsaw and he was in the shade drinking gator aid and checking his email.  I am pretty sure he told me he would catch up when he couldn't hear the saws running anymore but I don't know for sure because I was cutting timber.  Billy and I finally reached the bear and a good thing because the saw I had was dull as you can get a chain.  I think thats why Will gave it to me.  You really had to work at it to get through a piece of wood.  Billy and I fell in the shade and admired his bear while wondering where Will was with the drinks.  We were soaked in sweat from working our ass off.  You have anything to drink Billy asked?  No I drank the last of mine a half mile back.  I guess that means you don't have any either?  Nope,  where is Will with those drinks.  Probably taking a nap in the shade after he ate our lunch.  Oh well..

Hey great Bear Billy!  Will said with great enthusiasm. There he was pretty dark chocolate black bear.

Billy taking another look at his trophy

 Billy looks pretty happy

After we had of the picture taken we said now what?  We left the horse a ways back because we were thinking the horse may be scared if it saw the bear.  How the hell are we going to get this on the horse.  Billy said he wanted to make a rugg so we just couldn't take meat and load that up.  Will said, I have some of those extra large game bags maybe we can wrap those around it and see it the horse notices or not.  Ok sounds good, it's a plan at least lets get to it.  Billy has to buy dinner tonight and I didn't even get a sandwich yet.  This what we came up with.  

We call it the Hoffa Bear

Too bad I don't have a pic of it on the horse.  It would have been great to have a video of the three of us trying to get the bear on the horse.  One big mistake was that we brought the tallest horse from the coral.  What the heck was Will thinking.!?  It was a complete circus let me tell you.  We needed more brawn and less brains when it came to getting this bear strapped to the horse.  It was a wonderful day and we had an awesome dinner all on Billy!  Thank you Billy for the wonderful memory.

 What it this?  It's a story for another time..

Left Over Elk Tag

Apply for left over elk tags 8/5/14 at 9:00am Mountain time.

Use the link to for the license home page

https://www.co.wildlifelicense.com/start.php

For help follow the instructions below.

Rookie Hunt 2011

This was my first time ever being on an elk hunt of any kind.  Archery was the weapon of choice this time out.  I was asked by Billy about eight weeks before we left for the hunt.  I had no idea of what to expect.  All Billy could tell me it that he would pretty much guarantee that I would see an Elk.  Well with only eight weeks to prepare I had a lot to do.  Get in shape, get a bunch more gear, get use to my new bow and do a lot of reading on how to archery hunt Elk.

The plan was to set out on a long drive to Denver at 10pm after got done with work.  Doesn't sound so bad until you realize the next day that you didn't sleep at all.  First thing on the menu once we reached Denver was to meet up with Will and do the SAMS CLUB RUN.  Ok how hard can that be just but some lunch meat and bread right?  Wrong these guys eat like kings!  I just pushed the cart and thought to myself what the hell are we going to do with all of this food?

The next thing was to pack the coolers then head out to the range so the guys with muskets could practice.  Pretty cool being at a range out in the middle of a pine forest. A first for me.  We had bugling Elk while we shotting, incredible I thought.  Shooting guns and hearing Elk bugle at the same time

Billy and Will reloading for another shot

So after we finished up at the range we still had to go back and load the coolers, 4-wheelers and all the gear on the in the two trucks and trailers.  I was dragging ass by this time and started to nod out on our way back Wills house.  The all night travel was starting to take a toll on me.  Hours later and well past dark everything was packed and ready to go.  We wanted to be on the road by 8am for our Journey to Parachute.  Another short night of sleep but the anticipation of getting out there kept me going.

The next day we were up, packed and ready to go.  After all of the thank you's and hugs to Will's wife for letting us stay, we were on the road.  Two and a half hours later we were in Rifle for one last stop.  One I had to get my tag yet.  What do I do?  I have no idea but Will was there he knew everything.  So all I had to do was fallow orders and pay for things.  Will had us stock up on dry ice too.  I had never dealt with dry ice before.  Who knew that you could freeze your hand off in seconds by touching it?  Just kidding nothing happened but the price is crazy for this stuff.  The idea of spending a $100 on ice was knew to me.

I heard stories of the mountain road/trail like how Will had broken a wheel off a truck.  We were in Billy's Ford F150 with mudder tires and a winch.  How bad could it be?  Turned out it wasn't bad at all since it had been a dry year the road was in great shape.  We were in camp and cleaning mouse shit out of the bunks before we moved everything in.  Fort Knox is a pretty big cabin but with four of staying in there it got full real quick.  I will say that most of the gear in come from three of us.  Ted had a suitcase and his musket.  We all laughed because we had bins upon bins of gear and clothes.  Not sure how Ted could fit everything in one suitcase.  That evening we decided to try and hunt around the cabin with the wheelers since we didn't have horses yet.  Nothing much to say about that hunt.  Later that night the owners showed up with a pickup and the horses in tow.  What a thing trying to learn what each horses name was what saddle on what horse and bridal.

04:00am came way too early I swear I just fell asleep and Will was getting us up.  The plan was for Billy and Ted to head to the promise land on foot and Will and I were going to go low and the wheelers.  So off to the races we went.  I was lagging because I didn't know the routine what gear to bring etc.  Down the mountain road Will and I raced on the wheelers.  When we finally sopped he told me to mark the spot on my gps like 30 seconds later he was like did you get it?  No I am still waiting for satellites I said..Fuck Will said lets go ok.  Now here I am some place I have no where and he tells me not to worry about it.  Well this means one thing.  I need to stick with Will who seems to know where he is but I don't have a clue.  Will said we were late and needed to get going so off we went.  A nice walk uphill for Will in a dry creek bed was a run for me trying to keep up.  Before long will was out of sight and the only way I knew where to go was by the branches moving.  Shit I have to go faster but my lungs need air lots more air than what there is.  Finally Will had stopped to see if I was still alive.  He asked when I reached him if I was alright.  I couldn't talk but I gave him the thumbs up.  He said keep up dammit!  Ok boss,  He lives and Colorado and is use to not having oxygen and stands 6'4" so his one stride is three of mine.  We kept pressing on, now off the creek bed and into the thick scrub oak.  Will would pause once in a while and say something but I couldn't speak back as I was gasping for air and usually hunched over.  Finally the sun was about up and we were hunting.  We saw a cow and a spike that morning and I got to smell the elk musk in the area.  Back to camp to rehydrate and sleep before the evening hunt.

Well it was horse time.  Time to get saddled up and head to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain.  There was one horse with a Tattoo that looked pretty cool I was hoping that I got that horse but nope Billy got ol Blue.  Then there was Prince the tallest in the bunch and the lead horse this is Will's horse.  Smoke the shortest in the bunch was perfect for Ted who was also the shortest in the group hunting.  So that left good ol frikin Nugget a real SOB of horse for me.  Hey I was noob and I didn't know enough to complain.

Ted on his pony "Smokey"

 Me with "Nugget and Will with "Prince"

Billy on good ol "Blue"

   That evening we made it part way up the back side of Sugar Loaf when Prince locked up in a couple of dead falls and wouldn't move.  Will order me to get off and walk Nugget up to the top and he would meet me there.  No in the middle of doing this a rain and hail storm blew in making things even harder going.  Keep in mind I don't know where the top is so I just kept going up.  I made it to the top and just took in the beautiful view.  I have never seen anything like and everytime I do I just soak it all in.  Picture just can not do it justice.  Will showed up with Prince in a not very happy state.  I was not sure what happened but I wasn't going to ask at this time.  He also sat and took it in for a bit and came up with the next game plan.  I was just glowing from the experience and the fun I was having.  I felt I just had to tell Will thank you for letting me experience it all. So I said to Will,  Thank you for bringing me up here this is just great.  I received an immediate response of Fuck You Tedd!  I was being sincere but he didn't take it that way at all.  I guess I should have waited for the flaring of his nostrils to stop before I tried speaking him, lesson learned.  He never did call me by my right name the entire trip I was always Tedd,Kent or who ever else he was thinking of at the time.

Two days later after crawling and digging through the thickest toughest spots he could think of to hunt Tedd and Billy came back with a big story of lots of Elk and shooting a prise bull.  This was great news for the camp except they couldn't find the bull or blood.  Did Tedd miss at 20 yards was his gun off  or did he just have Bull fever?  Who knows we all felt bad for him but also felt the need to give him shit about missing.

Tedd and Billy did land a great bull the following evening while Billy was looking at Facebook and calling at the same time.  Great job Tedd!  I believe Tedd had hunted Elk before but this was his first bull.

Ted with a great public land bull.  

Shot it with his muzzle loader

I remember having a conversation in the bunk on thursday night just before bed.  My body ached so bad from crawling through Cambodia with Will for the last six day.  I could hardly stand my knees hurt so bad.  I was kind of set on taking the morning off and getting some rest.  The lasting thing I wanted to do was climb back up on Nugget for another adventure.  Will agreed that we should take the four wheelers down to the bottom and try that again.  The same place we had our first hunt.  That was plan was made no horses sounded good to me.  The next morning Billy and Tedd were going to hunt up high on the valley while Will and I hunted the bottom of the valley.

Will started the calling sequence and had an immediate reply from a bull close by.  I stood in the scrub oaks with anticipation.  Will would call the bull would bugle but not move but wait what is that?  Top of a rack just 10 yards from me on the other sides of the oak.  What the hell I didn't hear anything and the bull is bugling further away than 10 yards.  My heart started to pound, was it a legal bull?  Just come around the corner I thought but no it started to wander further away.  Do I go after it or just hold tight the wind is perfect.  I am going to wait mean while in the wallow the same bull was still bugling it's head off.  Then all of a sudden a second and bull started to bugle.  So I had three bulls with a 100 yards of me.  Oh boy things are getting good.  My heart was pounding for 10 minutes straight now.  I looked up the ridge and noticed there are four more elk in hot persuit to the bottom of the mountain where we were.  Billy was noticing all of the excitement so he decides he is going to join in the fun and starts his high speed down the mountain as well.  I didn't know it at the time but he ended up right next to the wallow could see elk ears,hooves but could not get a shot at anything.  In a matter of a couple of minutes the lead cow that was coming down the mountain was the next ridge over just 40 yards away.  I was preparing to shoot because if she went another 10 yards my scent would blow right into her.  I had the mind set of its late in the week and and if she winds me all of the elk are going to blow out of there.  As I was watching and getting ready to draw she stopped and looked back down the ridge, there was the big daddy.  She turned back around and went down to him and came up the ridge I was on with the other cow,spike nd bull behind her.  The lead cow came right around the bush the 4x4 hid behind some 20 minutes earlier.  By this time my heart had been pounding so hard so long it was actually starting to slow the adrenaline was wearing off.  As she came around the bush and came right at me. I was a statue not even blinking walked right up to me, I could have touched her with my hand she was so close.  She must of finally knew something was up because she shot out of there but never said a word.  Next came the other cow and spike around the bush but went straight.  Above the bush I could see the rack coming right behind the spike.  I had my shooting lane all he had to do was follow the other two.  He did just that and even paused in the opening lane.  Womp and a crash YES YES I got him whoo hoo!  But wait what is that bull bugling 80 yards above me?  Is that my bull?  No mine was dirty on the side, wait it is dirty on the same side now as turned again.  What the hell am I doing celebrating when he is going over the ridge!  Oh no did I blow the 20 yard shot Oh man the guy are going to kill me and forget all about Tedds miss earlier in the week.  The bull crossed over the ridge and went silent the whole valley went silent.  I am shaking now because I don't know if I made the shot or missed.  What the hell I was going nuts but trying to keep it together.  Will returned after he heard the valley go silent and not returns from his or Billy's calling.  He came up just full of anticipation he asked me how many did you shoot?  I replied I don't know.  What do you mean you had to have been getting raped by elk he exclaimed!  I shot at one I said.  Well were is it?  Did you get it?  I don't know.  Now Will is getting excited and talking even faster.  I showed him where I was standing and were the elk was when I shot.  I stayed in spot and he went to the place of the elk.  No blood anywhere. Are you sure this was the spot he kept asking?  Yes Yes!  I marked where I shot from and joined in the search.  We looked for blood for 10 minutes.  I was really beginning to think I missed.  I kept smelling the strong musk smell so I followed it into the wind YES there he is piled up in a bunch of thickets.  I knew I heard the crash of a dead elk.  The celebration started and I was relieved as I closed the deal.  Just think I wanted to stay in bed that am.  Billy showed up on the scene after he heard the celebration and joined in.

This was my first Elk hunt and my first Elk 

The Master guide Will and one of Rookies

Thank You Will

The whole group made it to the celebration.

The Pack out on "Blue" not "Nugget"

After the pack out was complete it was time for a trip to town to get the meat on ice and for me to buy a victory dinner for the four of us.  Billy and Will had successfully guided to Ted and I into two great bulls.

Thank so much men for the great hunt.

The Preparation

Every good hunt starts with getting prepared.  For us this means a serious diet and serious workout regiment.  At least this is what we say we want to do.  We always make an effort to loose a few pounds and to try and exercise somewhat.  From my experience being a low altitude breather, you can never be in good enough shape.  A guys muscles may be fine but there just is no way to train the lungs for the high altitude.  I have suggested a plastic bag over the head but no one has tested theory out yet.

For each individual there is always the gear that is involved and lots of it.  Some guys can get everything into a simple bag but us other it's bins, large duffle bags and multiple weapons, just in case.  I think I will do a post later with a check list of gear items to bring for archer and rifle season.

The first thing we do together as a group is the SAMS CLUB RUN.  This is the best shop spree of the year.  After the weeks of dieting and exercise we are all too happy to be able to eat some tasty foods.  Like bacon,eggs and homemade hash browns all in butter and bacon grease.  Then topped with some hot sauce and queso.  Oh I can't wait for Billy's breakfast.  For some reason we always try to cut back but never do.

 Below are the checkout ladies laughing at us,  I am not sure why I am sure 4 guys will eat all of this in a week.

 

The camp BOSS in his happy place.  He always makes sure no one goes hungry! 

 

Another Happy Couple with a case of Baby wipes

 

After the checkout of food it's time to pack the trailers and trucks for the drive to camp.

 

The "Elk Mobile" featured in camo saved our ass last year on the way out from camp.  Some city sharp kids attempted to drive a car up the camp road after 3" of inches of and hail had fallen.  They left the car stuck in the middle of the road.  This resulted in Will having to stop and get stuck but the Elk Mobile with winch pulled him out and away we went.  What is normally a 30min ride took us 2.5hrs in the greasy muck.  What a mess.

 Will's Urban Burban is somewhere below and in front of all this gear.

 

The other major preparation that we do is practice shooting with our weapons of choice.  For archery we do a lot of uphill down hill standing, kneeing etc.  The more variations that a person can practice the better.  I have a rifle target out at 300yards that I practice with but Will has one at 600 yards.  For muzzle loader 100yards is usually all a person needs.  Scopes are not allowed for early muzzleloader season and loose powder is also a requirement.

 

My 60 yard shot group

 

Here we are at the range near Will's house with 600 yard range.  This is the 600yd bunker used to change the targets for the shooter. 

 

 This is at the 100yrd and under range tuning in our muskets.