Colorado Elk (pic heavy)

A totally unbelievable hunt. It was litterally over for me before it begain. We got to camp on the afternoon before our hunt was to start. The outfitter asked us if we wanted to go out and sit that night and of course we jumped at the chance. They have 28 stands over water holes and wallows. They put me in a tripod stand over looking a pond at 4:30. At 6:20 I had a doe and fawn muley come in to water. Around 7:00 my bull came running in and stopped to water at about 35 yds away. I lined up on him and fired but the cap didn't go off. I shot my rifle probably 30 times before I went on the hunt and not one time did it not go off. Needless to say I was dumbfounded. The bull heard it and ran around the end of the pond but came back in to drink facing right at me at 60 yds. I managed to get another cap on and when he raised his head I nailed him right at the base of his neck. He dropped like a rock with the front half of his body in the pond.

I just sat there and couldn't beleive what had just happened. At 7:30 I had an even bigger bull come to water 10 yds. from my bull and wasn't bothered in the least. He was there for 5 minutes and left undisturbed. I got down out of the stand at dark and walked over to my bull and waited for the guide to pick me up. That is when I heard something back down in the pond. This time it was a huge bull moose. I didn't want to surprise him so I yelled at him. It didn't scare him one bit, he just waded out in the pond and fed. Made for a tense time while I waited in the dark.

When we got my elk back to camp, the hunters from the previous week I don't think were too pleased with me since several hadn't had any shot opportunities and I could have had 2. One of my buddies had also hit a smaller bull with his crossbow that night. We went out the next morning and tracked him for at least 800 yds before we lost the blood, figured his expandable didn't open.

My other buddy shot a big cow the next morning with his crossbow, she only went 100 yds. The buddy that lost the bull never had another chance and came home empty.

The other hunters in camp killed a black bear, a 5pt bull, and 2 cows. They also hit 3 other cows that were lost, one a shoulder hit that didn't penetrate, a frontal shot that went between the shoulder and rib cage, And another expandable that didn't open.

This is a perfect hunt for an old fart like me. You can hunt anyway you want to. Stand hunt or hike and call if you are physically able. The elevation according to my GPS where I killed my bull was 8456 ft.

The weather was was horrible for the rut which should have been going strong, 85 degrees plus during the day and dropping into the 50's at night. I only heard one bugle the whole time I was there.

All in all it was a fantastic trip. I went out with my buddies and tried to video for them, went out blood trailling all the animals that were hit, or stayed in camp and just looked at the mountains. Met a bunch of great people.

I was the only one hunting with a muzzleloader, everyone else was bow or crossbow.


My bull was not a monster but carried a 6X7 rack.






Bull where he fell in the pond.




Guides getting my bull out of the pond.



My buddies cow.




Chocolate black bear I helped retrieve.




One of the guide and his girlfriend who was a professional masseuse @ $30.00/ hour. (well worth it for obvious reasons!)



View of camp from uptop.