Colorado Elk, 2023

[Magicman]

Our season opens Oct. 28 so we are at 4 weeks and counting.  I did not draw my preferred unit so we will be back into an OTC situation, but heck, two weeks in Colorado is good enough whether we pull the trigger or not.

This year PatD is going so the hunting team will be Marty and I hunting and with Ben and Luke serving as our partners.  We will establish a Spike Camp (8800' elev) about 4 miles from the camper/base camp (9000' elev) and Marty and I will rotate every two days.  (There is an elevation drop to 8000' between the base and spike camps.) Ben and Luke will alternate each day bringing in water & food.  This will give us a different hunting partner each day and a different hunting area every two days.  PatD is in the recipe mode which will be one evening meal each day.  The Spike Camp guys will reheat whatever is brought in for them.

Much thought has gone into the details because 4 miles away with an elevation drop to 8000' and back up, plus an easily 10° temperatures sets up a situation where lack of caution could be dangerous or even life threatening.  Everyone will be radio equipped as well as our limited cell service

My first Elk hunting trip (Wyoming) was 1973, which was exactly 50 years ago.  That sounds simple until you consider that I was a strapping 30 year old and now I am a less than strapping 80 year old.  This morning I did 60 stretches, 60 deep squats, and rode the bike 6 miles.  I could have made 8 miles this morning but I saved 8 for next week.  I am not shifting gears on the bike but keeping it in "3" which is equivalent to a standard bike.  I am forcing my legs to work.  

[SwampDonkey]

Sounds like a great time in store.  8)

This week has been moose season here, and I have seen a few moose on the back of trailers. Moose are easy to hunt. But then reality sets in when it has to be dealt with. Retrieved from the woods is hardest, on a logging road is better. :D Then butchering it is lots of work for someone, or butcher shop. ;D

[Ron Scott]

Good planning!

[doc henderson]

good work sir.  pushing forward is what gets 20-year-olds where they want to end up in life.  you are still thinking forward.  good time and forever memories with family.  I am glad Mrs. pat is going.

[barbender]

Magic, your planning and the work you put in for these hunts is another area I admire you! I do not have the planning gift in the least, so most of what I do is more of a "wing it" operation (may explain why I have many unfilled tags🤔). I'd love to hunt with you sometime, but you'd probably spend a lot of time whacking me in the head with a stick trying to knock some sense into me😁

[Magicman]

No whacking allowed. 

The planning for this trip is the result of two previous trips that Marty & I have made to this area.  It is a tough, almost impossible area to hunt without horses, so we have no illusions regarding the possibility of us even seeing much less actually killing a bull.  The OTC kill ratio is less than 10%.  We saw elk on the first trip but did not see a hair on the second trip.


 


 
On that trip the two of us backpacked our spike camp in with one trip.


 Set up our spike camp and ate freeze-dried food.


 And pumped/filtered our water from a seep.


 And of course got snowed on.

As I mentioned above, we saw nothing but still had a good trip.

[barbender]

That's the thing with elk hunting- it happens in places where just being there is enough, if you get an elk what a massive bonus it is! That's probably part of my problem, I'm so happy just to be up in the mountains that getting an elk isn't a deal breaker for me. So I'm not driven enough😊

 When I do finally draw my Wyoming bull tag (probably in 3 years, I think I'm up to 7 points now) I'll be hunting in similar fashion to what you are, Magic (Lord willing). One of the defining characteristics of the Bighorn Mountains is the abundance of large open parks. With the prevelance of ATVs and Side by Sides, there are people EVERYWHERE on that mountain. That pressure congregates the elk in the canyons and otherwise inaccessible areas. What we found in our first hunt was that by the time you hiked in to where elk were, it was time to turn around and head back to camp. So I need to be able to hike in and set up a camp in the backcountry. 

 If you've never hunted elk, I'd advise going for a cow tag the first time around, or even just going out and exploring the area you intend to hunt. I wish I had done that and not drew a bull tag with the 10 preference points I had, the first time I went out. 

[Magicman]

Central Wyoming was smacked hard this past Winter.  We were set to go on a cow hunt the first of September but the Wildlife folks pulled the OTC cow tags.  They also pulled 90% of the draw bull tags which would normally take 9 years to draw.  This may bump the needed preference points up for the coming years.

The second Colorado season in the NW corner was reduced to 5 days from the usual 9 days.  Our second season remained 9 days, but how long we will actually stay is our choice depending......

[barbender]

Thankfully, the northern part of the state where I hunt didn't get the horrible winter that the south did. But, who knows how many of the hunters that are displaced from those areas might shift to other areas?

[Magicman]

We were to hunt NF that is completely surrounded by private land SW of Douglas.  My rancher friend indicates that it may be several years before any hunting is available in his area.  
Certainly more years than I have available.  smiley_old_guy

[GAB]

MM & Marty:
If it is legal are you guys bringing a survelance drone to assist yousall in your hunting expedition?
GAB

[Magicman]

I have no idea whether it would be legal or not but we don't have one and won't be using one.

[barbender]

They're not legal in Wyoming, or Minnesota for that matter.

[Magicman]

So we have been in the "getting ready" mode for a couple of weeks.  Rifles checked for zero, clothes sorted and hanging in the utility trailer, and then there is food.  PatD is in the recipe mode.

Meals at the 5th wheel is no issue but the spike camp will have to be supplied each day with food and water.  I believe that the Grandsons rotating each day and then Marty and I rotating every two days will work out satisfactorily.  Ben and Luke are crazy ready to go.

The hitch in my git-along will be if my legs can make that 2,000 ft elevation change in 2 miles.  It was tough in 2011 when we were last there and the hill is still just as steep and the rocks just as obstructive.  The base and spike camps are both at 9000ft but there is a creek between which is 8000ft.  The one mile down 1000ft is about as bad as the up.

I have been doing 20 stretches, 60 deep knee squats and riding 11 miles on the bike in 3rd gear most days so I am about as good as I can get.  We leave Tuesday and will get there Wednesday allowing us Thursday to acclimate a bit, set up, and then backpack the spike camp in Friday.

The chances for a kill is very small but if one of us does connect, everything has to come out on our backs.

[Machinebuilder]

I wish you luck, and agree with many that its the experience more than the harvest.

[doc henderson]

Not sure if you have ever had mountain sickness, or altitude sickness, but could take canned oxygen, and there are meds, such as acetazolamide, and decadron that can be taken in advance, or if you have problems with sob.  you are not getting younger.  and with exertion it is multiplied.  I went to Pikes peak last year, and I was uncomfortable, at I think, 14 K.  Our scout camp is at 8 to 9 and a fair number of kids and adults have trouble with acclimation.  what is your home elevation?  good luck and have a fun safe time.

[B.C.C. Lapp]

You know Doc I know just what your talking about. I once had to do some military training near Santa Fe NM.  Its almost 7000 ft. out there.
Some of the guys really struggled getting their wind for the first ten days or so.  Was there about 5 weeks.  I tell you one thing when we left there and I returned to Pa. I did the best PT test score I ever achieved. Felt like super man for a little while.    Of course it didn't last long at all.

[WV Sawmiller]

Lynn,

   Good luck and y'all have fun. 

   Take plenty of grits for the energy, they are a proven good luck charm but may be hard to find out there. You may have to cook them a little longer at that altitude so keep that in mind. ;)

[SwampDonkey]

My ears pop going above 1300 feet. And back down. :D 650 feet at the house. ;D

[barbender]

 The first few days up in the mountains are brutal, then the body starts to adapt and I feel really, really good after that. But, like Magic, sometimes those elk hunts have a lot of years between them and adding 10 years of age in can leave you wondering, "what is wrong with me?"😊 

 I want to wish you guts good luck out there, Lynn. But I'm not sure if I should, sometimes success on those back country hunts doesn't feel like it when the animal is getting even with you when you're packing out quarters😁 Here's to safety, a great time with family and hopefully some horns and venison for y'all!

[Walnut Beast]

Despite some of the challenges you may have Magicman you guys will have a incredible time and a harvest will be a bonus!! 

[Magicman]

Yes, I have had altitude sickness @14,000' and in 2010, Marty had a dose of it at this very location @9,000'.  Going  s l o w  and hydration are a couple of ways to get/stay ahead of it.  We were last at this exact location in 2011, but we have missed very few years since.  Last year the base camp was @10,000' and it was up from there.  That is quite a difference from our home 300' altitude.  :

If there is a pack out, it is boned out so nothing comes out except meat and antlers.

[Dan_Shade]

Make sure you put a post it note on your steering wheel to pack toe nail clippers. 

:D  

[caveman]

I am glad you, your son and grandsons are able to go on this awesome adventure.  I wish all of you the best of luck and I hope that you all have an incredible time together.  

I finally understood what all of the Yankees meant when they say "it's not the heat, it's the humidity" after we returned from a bicycle trip across a lot of Alaska in 1989 and we landed in Tampa.  My elevation at home is 80' and we climbed over Thompson's Pass at 10,000'.  When we landed in Tampa, it seemed like I was breathing water and needed gills.  

[Magicman]

note on your steering wheel to pack toe nail clippers

 
Actually I got the nail clippers out this morning.  ;D  It would be impossible to describe all of the prep that goes into such a trip. 

Thanks to all for your kind words and well wishes.