September 1st came quick after our pronghorn hunt in South Dakota. This would be my first time in Colorado and I had huge expectations. Tyson had been going every year for a few season and he always had the best stories. Tyson had killed a cow elk and a young mule deer in years prior. I packed all of my “mountain gear” in preparation for anything. It is a 15 hour drive, so we headed out in the early morning on September 1st and headed west.
We arrived at our cabin later in the evening. Unpacked just to re-pack the extensive gear we thought we needed for day trips up the mountain. Anticipation was high. The reports we were hearing were good. The bulls were starting to rut and were very active. This had us very excited to get on the mountain. Opening morning came early. Our drive to our hunting spot was about 45 minutes up the mountain. We arrived and grabbed everything we thought we could need. Remember, this is my first time hunting the mountains of Colorado, and I was not prepared for the walk up Tyson was about to lead me on. I survived, with no camera gear broken which a huge upside. We get up to the spot Tyson wanted to start in. We immediately find sign, Tyson calls a bit, and we hear a bugle.
I instantly started to shake, and my breathing became uncontrollable. That bugle added some very un-needed adrenaline to my body. A first timer, who just got finished hiking straight up and now needed to hold a camera steady. Nothing was in my favor to perform at my best, but I was so pumped up and I loved it. The bull closes in. With every bugle I thought I was going to stop breathing right there on that mountain. Then, another bull bugles. This bull was an old bull, and he was above the bull that was closing distance. Once again, I can’t hardly focus on anything besides getting air in and out of my lungs and holding the camera steady. We finally see the closer bull. He comes right in to 30 yards. This bull was right on there line of being a legal bull, and being the first day and knowing there was a bigger bull just out of sight, this small bull got a pass. This all happened way faster than I thought it did. Maybe 45 seconds? The heard gains elevation and we follow. Tyson ends up getting close to the heard of cows but never could lay eyes on the bulls.
This opening morning encounter would turn out to be the highlight of the trip. The next few days consisted of hiking, tracking, glassing, anything we could try to get back on some elk. We had one more encounter that did’t make it in the film. We hike in, and on our way out we hear some cows. Tyson answered there calls with a bugle and boom, a bull bugles back. Now, this was a weird situation because these elk had to come from the direction of the mountain road, and to ud that would be a very unlikely scenario. These calls were way too real to be a hunter or even a group of professional callers. We closed in on them, making noise like a bull prepared for battle. We get to the edge of a small medow and find cover. The elk are just barely out of sight, still putting on one crazy audio display. The bull would answer, and close distance slowly. We were for sure we would be able to see them at any second, but we never did lay eyes on a single elk. The calling went quite, and we attempted to creep up but with no success. This was a punch in the gut and made us think about the “what ifs” way too hard.
Tysons brother, Zach, was able to arrow a young cow elk on the trip. This was his first elk. He was excited and we now had a little bit of ,meat to eat back at the cabin. Luckily, I didn’t have to pack any meat out. After this, the weather turned warm. The hunting slowed down and so did our hiking attempts. We stumbled upon a grouse on a mid day search for elk and Tyson was able to put an arrow in it. We ate it that evening. Tasted like chicken. We were tired, and the thought of getting home was in the back of our minds. We headed out the next day, knowing we would be back in a few weeks on a rifle hunt with my buddy Clay!
