| ELK HUNT By ROGER Hatin My Colorado elk hunt started with an ugly weather forecast; Predications for rain, snow and high winds. Normal hunts are 2-1, 1 guide two hunters, a guide could not make the first week, so we had to accommodate another hunter. My usual partner is Martin Haymon from Louisiana. We added a fellow from Wisconsin, Dan Collins, who tuned out to be a really nice guy. We started out the first morning drawing straws to see who would have the first shot, I drew # 3. We usually rotate primary shooter AM/PM. That leaves me with the midnight shift, you can’t shoot then! I posted up on a ridge where a herd of elk had been seen the night before. The other two hunters and the guide went up to the top of the mountain. Shortly after sunup I spotted a group of elk about 700 yards off. A good bull stepped out into the opening and I could see good horns with the naked eye, grabbed my glasses and he was a bruiser no way to get to him, so I just watched as the herd melted into the scrub oak. Meanwhile my hunting buddy Martin from Louisiana connected with a 4x4 on the top. I was picked up by another guide and taken to the top and watched as two guides backpacked the 4x4 out of a deep canyon. Dan and I decide to stay on the mountain when they took that elk to the processor. I posted on a power line cut where I could see about a half mile left and right, in a tree stand. As I got into the stand, the snow started, then the wind and rain. That stand was like a six flags ride, if I saw anything I could not shoot because I was rolling around like an ice cube in a drink. All that rolling around and all that coffee, I had to get down and use the facilities in the woods. (Good thing one of the essentials of a properly outfitted day pack is toilet paper.) I decide to stay on the ground this time; if I saw anything at least I could get steady enough to shoot. About 3 hrs later our guide picked up Dan and myself and we headed off to check out a couple of drainages, On the last one a herd was just slipping away and Jacob our guide called Dan up and pointed down the canyon. He did not have to say it twice, Dan shot that elk, Jacob as always, said shoot again and he did. This was Dan’s first Elk, 65 yrs old; I think he still has a smile on his face. What a treat to see that happen and see his smiling face afterwards. I just wish I could have taken his picture. Things happened way to fast. It was getting late and two elk were bugling down the mountain. We knew that guy was dead and we could here two bulls bugling down the mountain. We went after them, without any success. Jake suggested we go after the herd I had seen that morning. It was starting to get late as we sunk over a ridge and spotted a large herd of cows but we could not find the bull. I knew that big guy I saw that morning had to be there, we looked for a long time and finally a satellite bull came out as it was getting late, I decide he would do and as I got steady on the shooting sticks, Jacob called out the yardage 275, 300 I had to wait for the cows to clear, then I had my chance, broke his right shoulder, he went down and got right back up. Next shot he moved as it went off and the bullet tore a knife cut down his left rib cage. I ran a ways and set up again; broke the other shoulder and he tumbled down the hill into a scrub oak, stuck with his butt in the air and his head in the bush. We got close and it was 10 yards from a road. Jacob went for the truck and I put the elk out of his misery. As a foot note, after the second shot the big 6x6 stepped out of a drainage about 600 yrd way. They don’t get big by being stupid. WE gutted both animals in a pouring rain storm; got back to the truck to find we had punctured a side wall as we slide down the mud road, just what we needed, change a tire in a rain storm. I did well, I held the light. Then we headed for the lodge, it stopped raining as we were leaving the woods and the temp was dropping fast. We had dinner about 9PM. Overnight it got down into the teens. So both animals were good and cold. Got to my elk the next morning and got him quartered out, then on to Dan’s animal, down the canyon. The elk had been move about 25 yards, good old bear had eaten the liver and heart and nothing else. W got him quartered and Jacob packed out that entire elk in two trips. What an amazing guide and day, 3 elk in one day, a record for Jacob. Tag out 3 hunter in one day. I got to witness a guy get his first elk. It doesn’t get any better than that. |
| Colorado Elk Hunt |
| Foster City Rod and Gun Club |
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