Did You Elk Hunt The Last Day?

[ElkNut1]

Just curious who did & did not take their archery hunt into that last glorious day! (grin) We now have 335 days to wait!!!! (grin) I hunted with my Son & a friend, it was a no show but I was out there!!!

ElkNut1

[mlauber]

Paul,

I surely was & it was a ball this season!!!

I had opportunity thanks to you & your CD.

Your book & instructional CD's helped me immensely. I don't live in elk country so it was a major plus factor for me!

I studied so much this summer that I was truly armed & dangerous! Ha!

I truly believe that I have a long ways to go still learning, but I did call in a bull & cow to 30 yards . I had a bout a 2 second window for opportunity on a bull though, but then that's elk hunting!!!

Did a 14 day DIY in the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness in Colorado! On bulls most every day, but could hardly ever get in front of them. Rough terrain.

I hunted right until the last day! It was anti-climatic to the very end.

I will call you to talk to you about it! I am full of questions on scenarios that I feel an experienced elk hunter might have been able to solve.

Me.... I just get army strong & give them as much heck as this ranger can muster up! Will call you.

Here's my video clip on a shot I passed up.... with 13 days to hunt & this presenting itself in 30 minutes on the first day I ask you.... " Would you have shot?" Ha!

http://youtu.be/gwU5HBOT3OU

[cantgetdrawn]

On the last day I tried an area where I had found a lot of sign the year before. There was no fresh sign when I got there but I did not have time to go elsewhere. I found a spot on the mountain and cold called for the last hour until legal shooting light disappeared. I hunted hard this trip but couldn't connect, as always I had a great time just being out there.

[Swede]

I really wanted to be out there, but I had no tag and no one to hunt with. Since I got an elk on the sixth day of season and I believe our season may be pushed back next year, I suspect I will have a full 366 day gap between seasons. Bummer!

[CrazyElkHunter]

We arrived in our elk camp in Colorado on the Tue before the opener and left on Fri of the last week. Over 4 weeks. I shot my bull on opening day which was the 25th of Aug. but still stayed for almost the entire season to help others. Season starts too early and needs to be pushed back a week. The elk in our area never started talking and the rut was late. 1st rifle season is going to slaughter the elk due to the rut running late. They sold too many cow tags a few years ago and now the cow elk population is the worst I have ever seen in our area. No cows in estrus means no bulls rutting and talking. Was very strange to see aspens turning yellow around the 20th of Sept., but no bulls talking. Bulls were there, but extremely quiet.

[T/H]

i spent the last day of my hunt packing

[pointysticks]

i spent the last day..not hunting

but i live in a concrete jungle.

[Vanish]

I took three hunters out opening morning and a few of us chased a bugle from 7:30am to 8:30am. Then they shut up and we explored a little more area. Headed back to camp at noon and packed up. Forrest was torn about hunting the evening but she already had 14+ days in this season and was getting tired, plus we still had almost 4 hour drive home.

[one_elk]

I did hunt the last day, but it was hot early and did not cool off. In general a very warm season...

[Lefty]

Saturday was my last day to hunt. Sundays I have home, family and church commitments. I was out there every Friday and Saturday all day, Labor day and last Thursday.
A buddy of mine thought he was done,, took a Friday night run up to camp, he and a bud called in a 6x7 a number of times and my buddy got it done

[twinkieman]

Alas! Had toleave Idaho and return to northern California one full week before the close of the season due to work related problems, but I thought about elk all day yesterday, and started a new calendar count 335, now 334 and counting

[mongopino915]

Had a great season, called in lots of elk into sight and bow range, hiked 150 plus miles, had a fair share of packing out elk quarters, made/learned lots of mistakes, and was totally beat but satisfied. Hunted the last day but only till 9:30 A.M. to give time to clean up camp and beat the East bound I-70 Sunday traffic jam.

[dreamhunter]

I was so excited to get to colorado and hunt. I really thought I would use my tag this time. I had high hopes.I arrived almost two days early to acclimate and wait on my hunting partner to show up.We set up camp and went ahead and did an evening hunt.Didn't have much luck but was still glad to start the hunt. I had some distractions during my hunt and it was somewhat hard to stay focused and in the mood. I have been waiting since the end of last season to get out there and put to use some of the things I have learned from this forum and from Paul's materials. This isn't a laundry line so I won't go their. I am now looking fwd to next year and I will do some things differently. It has been exciting to read all of the different post and see all the pics that you all are putting on here.This is like your favorite elk hunting magazine that your never get to the last page on.I appreciate all your stories.I learned about some new broad heads while out in the field and also about a new ( to me )bow site. The single pin adjustable. Some guys we met from down south made a 72 yd shot and kill on a nice bull. The sight sounded intriguing and I am now researching it. The broad heads are already on their way to my house. My guess I will have to get this site and start getting use to it so I can increase my options. I will still make sure its an ethical shot and be sure i can do it before i shoot. We ended up breaking camp early and headed out so I did not hunt the last few days. I'm still distracted by it all.

[ElkNut1]

dreamhunter, what are the new broadheads? I use the Montana Gold Ascent 3 pin adjustable sight, is your new one the Montana Gold?

ElkNut1

[dreamhunter]

Broadheads are the 100 grain swhackers

[dreamhunter]

CBE. Custom bow eqipment sight. Solid housing,small pin for longer shots w/o losing target behind pin. Glow in the dark type if fiber optic pin.light weight,micro adjust . I can't wait to get it.

[Bullnuts]

Absolutely! We started hunting on Wednesday and by Sunday morning we were undecided whether to give it one more try or head for home. I still set my alarm and when it went of at 5 I asked my son Jeremiah if he wanted to give it one more try. His answer, "Might as well...." We made a plan to head up to a fence crossing, with a 10 am limit before we would have to get out and head home. We had found a lot of tracks in the area of a big bowl that was a long way from the nearest road, and it appeared that a lot of the elk were using the fence crossing as they headed into the timber. We got set up just after first light and I cow called quietly. Jeremiah was sitting close to the timber and I was on the edge, closer to the fence, hoping that we would call something out of the timber. I didn't anticipate, though, that the elk would be coming down the fence instead of crossing it and it wasn't long before I heard an elk jump the fence behind me. I couldn't see the elk that crossed the fence, so I leaned out slowly from my hiding spot to find a spike on the other side of the tree staring right at me. I HATE the way those elk can sneak up on you like that!

The spike jumped a little, and I called again, and he settled down again and started walking and feeding back toward the fence. I noticed then that there was another bull just on the other side of the fence, staring at me from the timber. I couldn't tell if the bull was going to be legal or not, but he finally turned his head and I saw that he was a 4 or maybe a small 5. The bull was at 65 yards and broadside, but with the 3 strand between me and it, I didn't feel comfortable with trying to sneak an arrow through the strands and didn't dare take a chance that might end badly, so I tried to get the bull to come in closer and cross the fence. Needless to say, the bull ended up walking.

We changed position and tried again, with me sitting about 50 yards behind Jeremiah. We had another small 5 come in, but it stopped about 50 yards from Jeremiah, scanned the area, and then went back into the timber. All in all a great hunt and glad we spent the time.

[elkoholic]

Unfortunately I was not hunting. I was only able to hunt the openings weekends. I'm going on my 30th day straight at work,12 hour days,84 hours a week. I'm looking forward to this turnaround to be over!! But not as much as I'm lookin forward to next year hunt.

[Peter Rost]

I hunted the first two weeks of sept, very slow, sawlots of cows, the bulls were not very vocal, 2013 going to go later in sept. It was my first solo hunt.

[ElkNut1]

Peter, welcome & congrats on your 1st solo hunt! What state?

ElkNut1

[mtnmutt]

This was my 3rd season and the first season that I did not hunt the last day.

On the 4th Saturday, I was dumb and developed a bad blister. I have not had a blister in years, so it was a surprise. Moleskin is your best friend if you use it. I babied my foot for 4 days before backpacking in 4.5 miles on the last Thursday of the season. My intention was to hunt through the last day (5th Sunday). Friday, I knew the my new area was devoid of elk, so I hiked out thinking I would just car camp and try some other spots. By the time I hiked out on the last Friday, I knew my feet were toast.

I solo hunt. I had to choose safety first and bale on the last 2 days of the season. I was not happy about it. If I was with someone else, I may have hunted. I know a lot of people would just tough it out, but I have met a number of the volunteers for the Search and Rescue in CO and out of respect for them, I have to make wise choices.

I only hunted 10 days this year. Less than last year. Next year, I will take more days off to hunt.

I really like the last weekend of archery in CO. It seems to have less people, so I enjoy it more than the other weekends.

[Heartwood]

We didn't exactly hunt elk on the last day but my 12 year old daughter wanted to hear some bugling so we went out after dark to find a bull on the ridge behind our house. After an hour of bugling and moving we found a bull with cows and proceeded to work him into a bugling frenzy, me bugling and her on the cow call. At times the bull was inside of 100 yards and we could even here him glunking. We probably interacted with him for 1 1/2 hours before I just had to slip in close and see him in the moonlight. I just couldn't convince her that the bull would really be scared of us if and when he found out we weren't elk.
He was bugling with hard grunts saying stay away and she wanted no part of getting any closer. I don't blame her, he sounded very intimidating.
Anyway he was still bugling when we slipped away into the night and headed for home. Our crew had plenty of opportunity this season and some success as well but that time spent with my daughter , seeing her experience the excitement of being near rutting elk, had to be one highlight of my season. Sure was a fitting way to say goodby to the drama that is elk hunting ,until next season.

[ElkNut1]

mtnmutt, very level headed thinking. Safety is always at the top of the list & should remain there.

Heartwood, good stuff, your daughter will most likely never forget that experience, very cool !

ElkNut1

[Herb]

Always, if needed, ran out of tags on Saturday this year.

[planebow]

Did not need to this year