Who is hunting elk? Which state will you be headed to? I'll be headed to Colorado units 80 and 81 to hunt high country Mule deer for the first time and plan on purchasing an elk tag as well
I'll be in Colorado unit 81 for elk!
Me :thumbsup:
I'll be in Colorado opening week, haven't narrowed down a unit yet. Waiting on a scouting report from a buddy.
Home turf, idaho panhandle. Only 2 months away.
I wish I was!! But we're planning a trip for fall 2018. I'm saving money, working out a lot, practicing shooting a little further than what I normally practice, and researching units in Colorado. I've already bought some good boots and a good sleeping bag, and will be buying a few other odds and ends as finances allow. I have a solid group of guys that are going to be hunting with me. I can't wait!!
Yep, Oregon as always
Will find out Thursday if I pulled a tag for Wyoming. This is a draw for any left over tags, which is new for this year. Prior years it was a first come purchase. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Special tag for Oregon.....23 preference points burned!
As long as my wife's health holds out, I'm hunting Colo.
I didn't draw my elk or caribou so I'm going bear hunting instead!
First for me headed to Montana!
Headed to Colorado.
I will be hunting MT and Idaho for sure, and possibly CO if time allows.
I'll be hunting Idaho for elk and mule deer.
Headed to unit 71 CO on Sept 5
I'll be in Colorado unit 77 Sept. 2-11. Can't wait!
Colorado... :thumbsup:
Drew a Colorado unit 33 for Sept 14-24. May be tough going for me, recovering from neck surgery(ACDF). I have not had much time to prepare properly, glad I know a few easy spots to go to, but will enjoy every moment.
(http://i.imgur.com/3nXAn80.jpg) (http://imgur.com/3nXAn80)
Definitely. I'll be staying close to home. :)
Back to the Bighorns where I watched a bunch of elk last weekend.
Unfortunately I'm not. I will be guiding a buddy and doing some scouting in CO 76 Rifle season. He has been our camp cook/helper for 20 years. I owe him. I should draw an archery tag next year for the same unit. Been a few years since I've been there, It'll be nice to get familiar with the land for next year. Too bad I can't just be filthy rich and go every year.
Sorry to say I have to wait for a 2019 hunt. Maybe 2018 if I go solo.
Good luck to everyone this year.
Gil
I will be hunting my home state of Utah this year. It's possible I may try to hunt Montana if I can get the time off.
Colorado for me. It will be my 22nd year for archery Elk. All but one of them in Colorado.
Me. I drew a once in a lifetime tag for ND. Fortunately, I have already gotten permission to hunt on some private land.
Two different farms actually. Unfortunately, way too busy with personal stuff lately. But in another thirty days, things should clear up.
I'll carry a Colorado elk tag but it's a toss up between focusing on deer or elk for me. Maybe halfway through the week I'll switch (after I've blown all of the deer out of the country).
QuoteOriginally posted by FoCoBlackWidow:
I'll carry a Colorado elk tag but it's a toss up between focusing on deer or elk for me. Maybe halfway through the week I'll switch (after I've blown all of the deer out of the country).
...this is going to be my plan of attack as well
If you need a partner Gil, I'd be glad to go
Taking my son on his first western hunt. He will have an elk tag in his pocket, and I'll have a mule deer tag. We'll be hunting in CO.
Jeff
Always. Looks like CO will be busy again.
Idaho, with my daughter the G & F biologist. And maybe Cacciatore.
Idaho for me this season for a change from the past four seasons in Colorado.
Out the door and down the road a couple miles. This will be my 43rd year. The elk seem to be getting heavier the last few years.
New Mexico diy backpack for myself and my nephew. It's a unit I've hunted in the past, but we're going in to a different part of the unit for the second archery season Sept 15-24.
Can't wait !
Yup, if I can just leave the mule deer alone long enough to kill a bull!
I may not be hunting elk this year but I hope to at least scare a few
My goal as I have aged is that in the elk woods I hear a bugle each season, and if I do it has been a good season ! If you have not heard a bugle before you need to come out west and hear the heart beat of elk hunting, the bugle in the wild.
I Will be hunting the third week on September in North Idaho!
I drew one of the poor units in AZ. I will give a good effort at least.
I don't want to talk about it...
Quote...I hear a bugle each season, and if I do it has been a good season...
That says a lot. I didn't always feel that way but at this point in life it captures the essence of elk hunting.
Colorado last week of the season
I'll be hunting Elk in Colorado but GMU 25-26. Good luck down south.
Buddy and I were successful today in the Wyoming 2nd draw.
QuoteOriginally posted by Rick Richard:
Buddy and I were successful today in the Wyoming 2nd draw.
Congrats Rick!
I'll be hunting them at home in Montana. Waiting to see about antelope and a couple of B tags as well.
Getting Excited here!
The Tent Flap:
The tent flap, wet with frigid condensation, brushes a damp chill across the hunter's stubbly face as he fumbles out of his tent in the frosty early morning darkness. With his thickly woolen feet finally snug inside of the well broken in soft leather Bean boots, he struggles by headlamp in fingerless tattered surplus glove liners to get the lighter to finally catch his already prepared camp stove. There is no need for an alarm despite weary legs and sore back from 4 days of clamoring over rocky ridges and thickly woven valleys in search of elk sign. After stuffing a granola bar and some jerky into his pockets and cursing the rudeness of the manufacturer's noisy packaging, the hunter chugs down the bitter coffee scolding his lips on the hot metal of the titanium cup in a cloud of rising condensation. Tossing the wayward grounds, he stashes his cup and quietly and briskly weaves past his companion's tent lines and exits camp. There shelters tremble as they too are slowly rousing themselves from the stupor of exhaustion induced sleep. He knows the long steep climb ahead, and the necessary haste he must undertake to get into a position ahead of the well-fed elk heading for their beds.
After the struggle of clamoring up the hillside as quickly and quietly as possible, the hunter curses his decision to wear that extra sweater that seemed like a necessity back at camp. It was shed on the first quarter of the trek uphill. With beads of sweat now rolling down from his sideburns and the feel of a soaked shirt back under his well beaten back quiver, the man slinks across the crest of the ridge as the first rays of morning sun begin to filter through the surrounding terrain.
With no time to reflect on the beauty and glow that surrounds him, he reaches the uphill side of a well-worn trail, clears away the dank and musty smelling pine litter, and takes care to extricate any branches that may interfere with his longbow's limbs. Finally, his demeanor can switch from hurried anticipation, to one of peaceful contemplation as he slowly becomes one with the mountain, that feeling that only the hunter knows. The yellow tinted rods of morning sun beam down between clouds like fat lasers, then filter through the foliage giving the ground a mottled pattern. The now rising thermals are given away by whatever dust particles are highlighted by the light's path.
While listening to the deep throaty "CAAWL" and swishing wing beats of a passing raven, he is violently snapped out of his trance by some muffled – yet approaching sounds. Without any animation from years of conditioning, and only the shifting pupils of the eye, he catches brown movement 50 yards below his hide. Instant telemetry calculations are performed unconsciously by the brain telling him that the animals will pass to his right out of range unless he moves. He is suddenly keenly aware of his heart now thumping in his eardrums like big bass drum. Attempting to convince his body to move against all his senses, he crouches and swiftly scurries 15 yards behind the eight-foot-tall trunk of a rotted and broken off woodpecker riddled pine trunk. It is the only substantial cover left between him and the path of the now looming lead cow. He pulled it off! Introspectively bearing down now on his mind, he talks to his consciousness..." this is it.... concentrate.....pick a spot.... keep pulling....". Fingers tense on the string.... hands beginning to shake slightly.... Abruptly, like a slap across the face, in his peripheral vision he catches a huge grey form moving toward his uphill side and only 8 scant yards away! Spinning and smoothly swinging his slender bamboo bow up into position instinctively, the huge bull catches the movement and turns to flee, but it is too late. The wood arrow slices into the bull's chest burying up to the orange fletch. The panic stricken heard seems to explode in all directions as the sounds of snapping limbs, thundering hooves, and grinding rock quickly ends leaving the hunter to attempt to regain his breathing as he watches the still moving foliage slowly stop swaying.
By now he is shaking violently, everything happened so quickly. He feels himself there now....one hand in the cool soft soil keeping his balance.... the other on his bow grip with an arrow he never remembers pulling and nocking on the string.
It is over..... or has it just begun?
QuoteOriginally posted by kadbow:
Always. Looks like CO will be busy again.
CO = the elk mecca!! lol hey cant help yall have all the elk in the world.
Just returned from another four mile hike with my EXO pack loaded at 76 pounds. ( I started with thirty five.)I have been putting on twenty miles a week and it is feeling good. I am looking forward to Colorado. Good luck!
Heading to Colorado on September 17th. Always look forward to it, but it will be hard to match last years hunt. Spent the first 6 months of 2016 in heavy chemo treatments, didn't know if there would be another elk hunt. God's not done with me yet and I made it to the mountains and helped my son tag his first bull with a 10 yard shot. God is good.
I will be heading west again in just over a month. Colorado again. A small group meeting us out there for a group camp / rendezvous. Should be fun.
I will. Staying home in Montana.
I'll be back out west again this year
First two weeks of Montana archery season for me. This will be my first elk hunt but I'm going with an experienced friend and his son. Excited would be an understatement!