My Colorado archery elk hunt is in the rearview mirror. The week flew by faster than the elk that blew over the crest of the mountain on the last day of the hunt. That’s a bit of a spoiler alert. My “half-brother” Dan and I didn’t deal with a lot of elk, but enough to make the effort and expense of the trip well worth it.  

Like most extended trips the days seemed to run together. Even the weather was the same every day, which included a daily afternoon thunderstorm. I took poor notes during this trip, but I can recall enough details to journal them here. 

The biggest group of elk that we saw was large enough to have a herd bull, meaning that we probably laid eyes on the biggest bull on the mountain. That was the good news. The bad news is that the elk saw us first. An instant later the entire side of the mountain was alive with motion and it was all moving away from us. The elk pushed towards the south and as quickly as the encounter started, it was over. We were never remotely close enough to get a shot, but it was amazing to see the mountain dwellers move with equal parts grace and speed. They were able to cover ground in minutes that would take pack laden hunters hours.

Another great encounter was when Dan set up to call for me. I was some 70 yards below him on the mountain when a cow and two spike bulls showed up. Dan had a bull/cow tag and we agreed that we would try and harvest a cow if an opportunity presented itself. Like most elk calling setups, the elk seldom follow the plan. They eased around and behind us to gain the advantage of the wind. It was a textbook caller/shooter reversal. Without communicating with Dan, we both understood that he became the shooter and I was now the caller. In the end, it was like the elk knew the difference between their safe zone and Dan’s lethal zone and they never crossed that line. It sure was exciting for about 20 minutes.

We did have an up close and personal encounter with a nice bull. As we walked up an old logging road we decided to throw out a locator bull elk bugle and a real live bull responded immediately. The bull was probably only a couple hundred yards away and we quickly set up our ambush. Dan moved towards the bull and found a small brush pile to blend into. I moved further back and slightly to the side with the idea that if the bull tried to nose into the wind he would have to go by Dan first. Fast forward, that is exactly what happened. The bull came off his mountainside and onto ours. If you’ve archery elk hunted, you know there is a huge difference between having an elk in range for a shot and actually getting a shot. We solved half of that problem in that the elk came within 40 yards of Dan but never offered up a shot. The bull eased off to the west and that was that. It was another exciting encounter and it was the signature moment of the trip.

We dealt with elk every day making the hunt a pretty good one. In the past I have come home beat up and wore out questioning whether or not I would ever go back to the mountains for another hunt. For a lot of reasons this hunt wasn’t like that. On the drive home I was already thinking about ways to get back there before the end of the season. 

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