It was a great trip for me and Beau, The Elk was icing on the cake. We had planned a longer trip but after killing the elk and the extreme hot weather we decided to come back early.We got there a couple of days before the season to get use to the altitude and do some looking around. The first morning of the hunt we left camp at 4 am and headed up to the area we planned to hunt, it was a 2 1/2 mile hike in from about 8000 feet to about 9200 feet. we made it to the lake area just before day light. As we got close we heard Elk bugling , so Beau hit his cow call through the tube, the elk answered right away, probably 4/500 yards up and to the east, we closed the distance a couple hundred yards and he cow called again, it answered with a come on over here.
we moved closer and cow called again, he answered right away. We moved to what we thought was 100 yards or so and cow call again, then Beau let out a bugle just like the one the bull was making, he immediately came back with one that sounded like he was mad and moving, we set up 20 yards apart about 15 yards up hill above a swamp area in the wood line, I could see down the wood line and saw him coming fast shaking his head and racking his antlers on the Aspens on the edge. He came and passed through Beau's first hole, he hit his cow call and the bull stopped, if he had gotten through the second hole it would have been my turn but he didn't. Beau shot and the bull ran 15 yards in front of me, I watched and he went about 50 yards, Beau hit the cow call again and the bull stopped, turned to look and then back end wobbled and he hit the ground hard, I had the bino's on him by then and could see blood pumping out of the wound , I looked over at Beau and said with a thumbs up, Bull down. He came over to me and the look on his face said it all, we both at the same time said "CAN YOU BELEIVE THAT JUST HAPPENED " he said we needed to give him some time, I said I have seen a lot of critters die in my time and that one ant getting up, we are burning daylight and it is hot so we need to get on him. After a few minutes we walked to him and what an animal !!!!!As bad as I hated it we decided to do the gutless method , that meant loosing the hide but with the temps it was the hide or the meat and although the hide was important to me the meat had to come first, it was supposed to be in the high 80's that day and we had at least 2 5 mile round trip to get it out on our backs. It took 1 hour and 15 minuted to have it all quartered out, back straps out, inner loins,neck meat and head. Beau took the head and 1 ham on the first trip and I took the back straps/loins/neck and extra meat. We made the turn around after getting the first load in the cooler and he took 1 ham and 1 shoulder on the 2nd load and I took the last shoulder. We started the hunt at 4 am and had it all out and in coolers at 6 pm, long day for this old man and a pretty tough day for him also, although he didn't show it as much.
The next morning we got up early and took the hide off the quarters and cleaned up the head. We took the rest of the day off. The next 2 days we hunted but only had mule deer and bear tags, all we seen was Elk so decide we would leave early ,of course the weather had a lot to do with that also. We got home and yesterday and today we processed the meat,got 160 lbs of burger, 66 lbs of steak and 4 or 5 roast, plus 4 pans of scrap for my girls and they love that. It was a great time for sure and already planning for another trip next fall. Here are a few pictures, the first is the trip out once we hit the mountains. By the way so I don't offend anyone he was hunting with a compound, I was hunting with a self bow of course , but as I told him, as long as he hunts I don't care what you use, if some aren't good with that then please disregard this thread.
Pappy
