May head to the hunting area tomorrow

[exMember]

IF its not raining early morning! Damn rain really has put a mark on the scouting plans we had!

We're trying to go check out the elk area better this time, but not sure how long we'll have.

Any luck, I'll find a nicer camping spot and it will be a good trip.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Good luck!

 

[Okie Hog]

Good luck with the scouting trip.

 

[patocazador]

I drew a Wyoming elk tag back when. My wife and I drove out with a cab-over camper on the truck and arrived 4 days prior to the season. We had time to set up a primo camp on a great site, shoot grouse for lunch, and scout two creek drainages from the headwaters. 

On opening morning 4 #!%& Jeeps full of &$#! Colorado road hunters drove through our campsite with rifles sticking out the flaps. They jumped out, told us it was public land and to go to Hell. They made man drives on the gullies around our campsite.
I knew all the trails by then and I was mad enough to have a stroke. I went to a spot where I could see both of the creeks converge along with a side gully. The jerks finally finished their drives and took off to harass some other people.

I sat there for another 20 minutes when I saw a nice bull elk that the jerks had disturbed come out of the far creek and he continued until he was right across the main creek from me about 200 ft higher than me. I saw a break in the trees, put the crosshairs on it and when the dark brown started to turn into tan, I shot. After climbing down the gully, crossing the creek and climbing the other side, I found him laying in the trail. He had only gone 35 yards and the 140 gr. Nosler Partition had severed his aorta.

The moral of this whole story is GO EARLY and stay until you kill something.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Good "Moral"!   Great Elk!

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Good story, Bob. It would have been great if it had ended with "... and those X#%*#! 
were eaten by bears. The End." 

Beautiful elk. 

"GO EARLY and stay until you kill something" needs to be on a T-Shirt.

 

[BrownBear]

On opening morning 4 #!%& Jeeps full of &$#! Colorado road hunters drove through our campsite with rifles sticking out the flaps.

.....


The moral of this whole story is GO EARLY and stay until you kill something.

Oh yeah. 
Once upon a time, long long ago, in a land far away I worked in the woods for several years and got to watch game (and people) pretty completely. Kind of amazing to have game everywhere in the weeks leading up to hunting season and have it completely disappear on opening day. Poof!  Gone!

What was happening was guys showing up a few days early, camping too close to the game, stumbling through the woods "scouting" in the days leading up to the opener, and loud yayhoo parties all night long.

Heck yeah, the game was gone!  They started running for their lives two, three, four days before the first boom.

The further away you can get from the yayhoos WITHOUT PUTTING YOUR OWN HINEY AND CAMP NOISES ON TOP OF THE GAME, the more you're going to see and the better the hunting.

Since I'm not hunting such places any more, I'll pass along our trade secret:

Map out Yayhooland to figure out where they'll be doing their yayhoo thing. Then figure out the places they won't be. 

Get out between 3 and 4 in the morning while they're all still spouting their hangover snores, click on your headlamp and silently walk out no less than a mile past them toward the calm places.

Arrive no less than an hour before daylight, find a comfortable spot with great vistas and game trails, plant your hiney and pour yourself the first of several cups of coffee. Remain still and quiet as light levels come up.

About 15 minutes before legal hour you should start hearing your first shots far, far away. Sit tight and relax.

Within 20 minutes to half an hour, all the game between you and the yayhoos is going to come filing past you in pursuit of quieter living.

Take your pick.

 

[exMember]

Well, it was a great day. Nice and cool, very little rain. We did a lot of hiking and mushroom picking along the way. Driving down the road, a small hairy ass bear took off running through some willows. It was so hairy, I thought it was a dog at first!

Found another camping area as well.

A lot of rain up there! There were small creeks running down the roads. Got to be careful where I pull that camper into in case it rains heavy.

My dog kicked up a deer in our hunting area, so thats awesome. Plenty of fresh track today. No elk sign, but thats nothing new in that area lol, they stick to the nasty thick timber.

Just got to go service the truck, make sure all the gear that needs to be in it is there, then just wait till the 7th when I'll haul the camper up early.

 

[BigAl52]

Im headed to North Park on the 8th for a week with a good ole friend of mine. I think were going to camp close the the Zirkells Wilderness area. Jonathan your 58 will see the woods this year I hope I can bring some elk meat home with it. Al