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Fishing, and hunting reports (share yours)
- Thread starter Brian77
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benchrest308
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We’re coming off a winter kill in this part of the state a few seasons back. The past couple years, ALL licenses were limited to 10 tags per hunt code. ONLY TEN!!! Some of these hunts had many hundreds and even over 1,000 tags in season’s past. This has lead to point creep across the board for NW Colorado. Bad news.
So it was a bit of a surprise for us when we all drew a cow tag for 4th season as our 2nd choice this year (1st choice was a preference point). CPW claims that herd numbers were up quite a bit more this year than expected, so they opened up the hunts a lot more than expected. This was not announced ahead of time, and caught a lot of people off guard. LOTS of leftover tags this year as a result. On separate occasions, we ran into hunters from 3 different states out in the field that quite literally had bought their tags less than a week before their hunt and drove out at the last minute.
We had a bunch of chances for deer, however. Literally as we were getting out of the truck on our first morning, and still getting packs on, a doe and a buck walked by us inside 40 yards without a care in the world. Saw at least 6 others that morning that we could have shot. And many more over the next few days. Yes, they were in season. No, we didn’t have tags.
All that said, we did not see any Elk taken, and only saw deer hanging anywhere.
TLDR; based off our hunt experience, I think herd numbers are still way down in NW Colorado, and I wouldn’t recommend a hunt here for a couple more years until the herds recover to full strength.
Photo commentary of our hunt forthcoming shortly.
Sometimes the shot you’re given is the shot you should take. Looks slightly larger than my buck this year, so there’s that. And it’s meat in the freezer.
In hindsight, had I not taken the kill shot at the smaller animal that presented the best shot to me, I wouldn’t have come home with anything. It definitely wasn’t the biggest/nicest animal I saw, but it was by far the best shot I had. I killed mine on Monday, and we didn’t have a chance at a buck for the rest of the week through the following Sunday. So I made the right choice.
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Setting the scene; it’s been unusually warm and dry for the past month, leading up to this hunt. A friend Elk hunted up here ~10 days prior, during the first 5 days of 3rd season. Him and his son didn’t see a thing. Reported something unusual though, several hunters he had spoken with had said they’d witnessed people corralling Elk onto private property. Odd. 
Area finally got some rain on Sunday night 11/16 through Monday. Snow up high, turns out to be ~6”-8” of fresh white stuff.
11/18, arriving in Meeker, CO at ~2:30pm, with the plan to start hunting up HIGH in the morning, thinking the Elk are probably still hanging out in the dark timber with the temperate weather so far. Hey, what do you know, there’s a herd of Elk just outside of town. lol… I took this picture right out the truck window from the highway.
(Note the burned mountain in the background. This was the large “Lee” fire that happened this summer, caused by lightning, which we worried might burn some of the area we hunt. It didn’t, but came close. It was the fourth largest wildfire in Colorado history, and the third largest wildfire in the United States during the 2025 wildfire season.)
Well, chalk that up to some local Elk hanging out low. We’re still starting up high in the morning. It rained a bit this evening, so there should be fresh snow up high in the morning.
Just after first light here. A hopeful start to as much as 4 days of Elk hunting. Just had a decent Muley buck and a doe walk within 40 yards of us as we were gearing up for the hike. Good sign? (Note CPK on both our belts.)
Hiked about 2 miles from the truck through ~4-6” of snow, with around an inch of fresh stuff last night. Saw a few more deer on the trail cut through the trees, they let us get to within 35 yards before they decided to move along. Dang, too bad we don’t have deer tags lol.
Finally got to the top of the ridge, and started seeing relatively fresh Elk sign. A bit from after the snow last night (good), but most from sometime since Sunday but before last night, hard to say exactly when. Some Elk have definitely been moving through this area though.
^^^Flat top of this particular ridge. This area is known as “The Flat Tops” because many of the mountains tend to have flat, open areas near the top. We started finding the Elk sign near the far (South) edge of this ridge. We started following the Elk trails off to the West as they descended the mountain a bit, hoping maybe to find a herd below in the valley. No such luck. Hiked back West around and up to the truck.
Continued driving up the mountain towards the summit of the highest peak in the area, getting out and hiking a bit here and there. Had lunch near where the road crests out and starts descending to the South. The road was much wetter on this side, and was really, really muddy in a couple places. One side slope area was cambered off a bit towards the steep edge, and we had a couple butt pucker moments when the ass end of the truck started sliding towards the edge, despite barely inching our way down. Slick as snot!!! But thankfully, we didn’t die…
Here’s a nice piece of 26-year old roadside art we found ~10 miles back.
LMAO!
Not much more to say about day 1. As we moved down the mountain, we saw less sign, and certainly no animals.
Day 2 we planned to hunt a public area down a bit lower, that we’ve hunted before and are quite familiar with. Year after year, we usually see animals in one particular area, but it’s not an easy haul to get back there. It’s a ~1,500’ altitude gain (~2,300 if you count the ridge drops and climbing back up), and you can go the long way around which is a gentler slope but ~8 miles. The short, more direct way is just 3 miles, but a hell of a lot steeper! The plan for this day was for my buddy to drop my son and I off at 5am (well before shooting light) for the long way around, and he’d hike ~2 miles to a ridge line, where he could glass a couple draws below where my son and I would be by about lunchtime.
Here’s a view looking off to the East just after sunrise. Where, oh where, are the Elk?
Just a bit after this, my buddy texted us saying he’d reached the ridge line already, and has an Elk at 900 yards across a draw! Unfortunately, it’s a bull. About 30 minutes go by, and he texts again saying he’s seeing a herd of ~40 working down the mountain that my son and I are headed towards, across from him. All we can do is hope they don’t go far, and are still there by the time we get there. But we still have ~5 miles to go… Unfortunately, he isn’t in shape enough to try and get up there to them, so we’re hoping they stay put and we can squeeze them between us so someone can get a shot.
Another 30 minutes go by, and we get another text that there are about 30 more Elk on a different ridge, across from the mountain where we’ll end up. But they’re right along the fence line at the edge of this public property.
Man, hope they stay put… (Spoiler: Unfortunately they didn’t.)
Odd, the trees weren’t down in this draw like this last time we hunted here. Really odd, I wonder what happened? Well, as it turned out, the peak we hiked over to later on had a perfect view of this draw. It was an avalanche!
Very unusual for a Westerly facing slope that’s not terribly steep. But remember that winterkill I mentioned in the earlier post? It snowed A LOT that winter, and I was told that several places you’d never expect avalanches had slides. Some killed Elk and Deer. Bizarre!
Finally made it to the top. Here’s a view looking North. The tall, snow-covered mountain to the right of center is the Steamboat Springs area. Near the right side of the photo is Rabbit Ears pass. Left edge of the photo is Craig, CO.
View looking East. The tall peak in the center of the photo is where we hunted yesterday.
View looking West. There are a 5-6 Elk in the tall tress on that far ridge line just in view near the right side of the photo. And they’re just off the NW edge of the public property.
Unfortunately, that’s all that are left of the ~80 head my buddy saw. We’ll sit up here for a couple more hours and glass, hoping for animals that won’t come. We’ll start the steep, 3-mile descent back to the truck around 3pm, getting back to the truck around 5, when shooting light is over. Day 2 is a bust.
Area finally got some rain on Sunday night 11/16 through Monday. Snow up high, turns out to be ~6”-8” of fresh white stuff.11/18, arriving in Meeker, CO at ~2:30pm, with the plan to start hunting up HIGH in the morning, thinking the Elk are probably still hanging out in the dark timber with the temperate weather so far. Hey, what do you know, there’s a herd of Elk just outside of town. lol… I took this picture right out the truck window from the highway.
(Note the burned mountain in the background. This was the large “Lee” fire that happened this summer, caused by lightning, which we worried might burn some of the area we hunt. It didn’t, but came close. It was the fourth largest wildfire in Colorado history, and the third largest wildfire in the United States during the 2025 wildfire season.)Well, chalk that up to some local Elk hanging out low. We’re still starting up high in the morning. It rained a bit this evening, so there should be fresh snow up high in the morning.
Just after first light here. A hopeful start to as much as 4 days of Elk hunting. Just had a decent Muley buck and a doe walk within 40 yards of us as we were gearing up for the hike. Good sign? (Note CPK on both our belts.)
Hiked about 2 miles from the truck through ~4-6” of snow, with around an inch of fresh stuff last night. Saw a few more deer on the trail cut through the trees, they let us get to within 35 yards before they decided to move along. Dang, too bad we don’t have deer tags lol.
Finally got to the top of the ridge, and started seeing relatively fresh Elk sign. A bit from after the snow last night (good), but most from sometime since Sunday but before last night, hard to say exactly when. Some Elk have definitely been moving through this area though.
^^^Flat top of this particular ridge. This area is known as “The Flat Tops” because many of the mountains tend to have flat, open areas near the top. We started finding the Elk sign near the far (South) edge of this ridge. We started following the Elk trails off to the West as they descended the mountain a bit, hoping maybe to find a herd below in the valley. No such luck. Hiked back West around and up to the truck.
Continued driving up the mountain towards the summit of the highest peak in the area, getting out and hiking a bit here and there. Had lunch near where the road crests out and starts descending to the South. The road was much wetter on this side, and was really, really muddy in a couple places. One side slope area was cambered off a bit towards the steep edge, and we had a couple butt pucker moments when the ass end of the truck started sliding towards the edge, despite barely inching our way down. Slick as snot!!! But thankfully, we didn’t die…
Here’s a nice piece of 26-year old roadside art we found ~10 miles back.
LMAO!Not much more to say about day 1. As we moved down the mountain, we saw less sign, and certainly no animals.
Day 2 we planned to hunt a public area down a bit lower, that we’ve hunted before and are quite familiar with. Year after year, we usually see animals in one particular area, but it’s not an easy haul to get back there. It’s a ~1,500’ altitude gain (~2,300 if you count the ridge drops and climbing back up), and you can go the long way around which is a gentler slope but ~8 miles. The short, more direct way is just 3 miles, but a hell of a lot steeper! The plan for this day was for my buddy to drop my son and I off at 5am (well before shooting light) for the long way around, and he’d hike ~2 miles to a ridge line, where he could glass a couple draws below where my son and I would be by about lunchtime.
Here’s a view looking off to the East just after sunrise. Where, oh where, are the Elk?
Just a bit after this, my buddy texted us saying he’d reached the ridge line already, and has an Elk at 900 yards across a draw! Unfortunately, it’s a bull. About 30 minutes go by, and he texts again saying he’s seeing a herd of ~40 working down the mountain that my son and I are headed towards, across from him. All we can do is hope they don’t go far, and are still there by the time we get there. But we still have ~5 miles to go… Unfortunately, he isn’t in shape enough to try and get up there to them, so we’re hoping they stay put and we can squeeze them between us so someone can get a shot.
Another 30 minutes go by, and we get another text that there are about 30 more Elk on a different ridge, across from the mountain where we’ll end up. But they’re right along the fence line at the edge of this public property.
Man, hope they stay put… (Spoiler: Unfortunately they didn’t.)Odd, the trees weren’t down in this draw like this last time we hunted here. Really odd, I wonder what happened? Well, as it turned out, the peak we hiked over to later on had a perfect view of this draw. It was an avalanche!
Very unusual for a Westerly facing slope that’s not terribly steep. But remember that winterkill I mentioned in the earlier post? It snowed A LOT that winter, and I was told that several places you’d never expect avalanches had slides. Some killed Elk and Deer. Bizarre!Finally made it to the top. Here’s a view looking North. The tall, snow-covered mountain to the right of center is the Steamboat Springs area. Near the right side of the photo is Rabbit Ears pass. Left edge of the photo is Craig, CO.
View looking East. The tall peak in the center of the photo is where we hunted yesterday.
View looking West. There are a 5-6 Elk in the tall tress on that far ridge line just in view near the right side of the photo. And they’re just off the NW edge of the public property.
Unfortunately, that’s all that are left of the ~80 head my buddy saw. We’ll sit up here for a couple more hours and glass, hoping for animals that won’t come. We’ll start the steep, 3-mile descent back to the truck around 3pm, getting back to the truck around 5, when shooting light is over. Day 2 is a bust.
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Day 3 was to be a road hunting day. My son and I were pretty beat after busting our butts yesterday, so it works out and we can rest our bodies a bit. The plan was to drive around an area known as the Axial basin first thing. It’s a big, open, relatively flat area that borders the Yampa River, with a lot of public property. The Elk will winter in this area, and sometimes you can get a relatively easy stalk and kill, less than a mile from the road.
Unfortunately, after driving around the large area a couple times for ~3 hours, stopping to glass often, we didn’t see a thing. So it was off to search some other areas we know that sometimes have animals. (We heard from some other hunters the next day that there were animals down here the next morning, and several people filled their tags. Damn. Just a day too soon…)
Here’s an interesting feature. It’s called Juniper Hot Springs. Sits right across from the Yampa River, practically in the middle of nowhere. It’s a little run down (lol), but according to the signage, it’s apparently open to the public despite being on private property.
First, the big pool. It was barely warm to the touch. Must be the summer pool, you definitely wouldn’t be soaking in here during the winter. Lots of algae floating around, needs to be cleaned.
The main hot spring pool. Looked pretty deep, couldn’t see the bottom, at least 8’ deep based on the bubbles we could see rising from the bottom. Nice and warm, probably ~100º, and fairly clean. Damn, I forgot my swim suit!
(Yes, a warm soak sounded REALLY nice with the way we kicked our own asses on Thursday.)
These must have been the private baths. Here’s why we can’t have nice things people.
Graffiti. And some assholes had a bonfire in here and didn’t clean up their mess, so much of it is now floating in the water. Note chair down in ~5’-6’ of water. A lot of good it’s doing down there.
Anyhow, long story short, we checked out a few more areas on Friday, putting around 150 miles on the truck, but didn’t see anything anywhere.
Drove up a valley on BLM land ~10 miles to some national forest access and glassed around for a bit at the edge of the dark timber. Still, nothing.
Day 3 is a bust.
Saturday, day 4, and our final day to hunt… We decided to go back to the public property we hunted on Thursday and try again. This time, my son and I would head up to the ridge where my buddy was on Thursday and glass the mountains above at first light. We went up a bit higher to where we could see up both valleys really well. If we saw animals on the mountains across the valley, we could try and make a more direct approach today, even though it is a STEEP hike, and see if we could get a shot off.
Often, there will be Elk in the flatter area across the valley just left of the center of the photo. But not today.
My buddy was going to hit a different area we hadn’t really covered yet, that also has a good view back to the South.
Unfortunately, my son and I weren’t seeing much of anything at first light. An hour goes by, and no herds like my buddy had seen on Thursday. However, as the sun began to get higher, I thought I spotted a lone elk across the valley. I wasn’t sure at first, and my son said, “Dad, come on, you’re crazy, that’s a ROCK!” Nope. Turned out to be a lone Elk!!! ~1/4 mile away. Down ~600 feet, then back up ~700 feet, it would be a 2-mile hike to get over there. Doable.
We watched for a bit, trying to confirm whether or not it was a cow. It’s pretty unusual for a cow to be alone this time of year, but not unheard of. Much more typical for a young bull, however. But this animal wouldn’t give us a good view of its head, and was staying in the shadows. Finally after ~90 minutes, I confirmed what I feared. It was a spike bull.
Can you see it?
We sat and glassed until lunchtime, hoping for more action. There was none. However, my buddy had spotted a nice herd on private land to the South, probably ~150 head!!! They were slowing moving down that mountain to the North, and it would be possible that they’d cross onto the South side of the public we were on. So we decided to make our final play that afternoon on those animals. After my son and I finished our lunch, we headed back down to the parking area to meet up with my buddy.
We moved a bit to the West, and parked the truck off the side of the road. The plan was to hike ~3/4 mile South to the top of a ridge that looks over a valley at the very South edge of this public property. We would spread out there, putting ~400 yards between us, trying to cover a large swath in case some Elk came across here. This is what it looked like from where I set up. Looking left:
Looking right. Straight up the hill, ~1 mile directly into the sun, is where that big herd was earlier today. My son was further West, and my buddy was further East. Just about the time I took the photos, my buddy texted that he had 6 Elk ~400 yards below him, that were still on the private property ~200 yards past the fence. The good news is they were moving TOWARDS him!!!
These Elk were just about where the left edge of this picture is, just on the other side of this ridge.
Here’s the weird part I mentioned to keep in mind earlier. While we’re sitting there trying to decide what to do, 2-3 shots rang out back near the entrance road to this public property off the highway. Then 2 more about a minute later. Then several pistol shots. Are there Elk crossing the highway over into this public land? I better hightail it ~1/2 mile, over a couple ridges, to see in case there might be animals coming our way. The 6 Elk my buddy was watching heard the shots too, and starting moving directly away from them, to the SE. So much for that…
As I’m making my way towards the gun shots, I hear several more rifle shots. I can hear the bullets ricocheting off to the West, across the highway. Then a couple more pistol shots. WTF?!?!? 12-13 shots all told. I’m still 1 ridge away from being to see what exactly is happening, but no animals are coming towards me. This is a State Wildlife Area, you are NOT allowed to shoot recreationally on this property. Discharging of a firearm is ONLY allowed during the course of hunting! So what the hell???
Then I see it. A herd of ~50 Elk running back to the West on the other side of the highway. Yes, it’s private property over there. Were the Elk trying to cross the highway onto this public property, and someone just ILLEGALLY scared them back away? 
I’ll never know for sure, I never saw a vehicle or person over there. Talked to 2 other trucks that heard the shots as well, and nobody saw what happened. All I know for sure is that there wasn’t a dead animal or truck anywhere in that area ~45 minutes later when we drove by as we were leaving the property. Sure seems awful suspicious though…
So day 4 was a bust as well. No Elk this year.
Oh well. 
Unfortunately, after driving around the large area a couple times for ~3 hours, stopping to glass often, we didn’t see a thing. So it was off to search some other areas we know that sometimes have animals. (We heard from some other hunters the next day that there were animals down here the next morning, and several people filled their tags. Damn. Just a day too soon…)
Here’s an interesting feature. It’s called Juniper Hot Springs. Sits right across from the Yampa River, practically in the middle of nowhere. It’s a little run down (lol), but according to the signage, it’s apparently open to the public despite being on private property.
First, the big pool. It was barely warm to the touch. Must be the summer pool, you definitely wouldn’t be soaking in here during the winter. Lots of algae floating around, needs to be cleaned.
The main hot spring pool. Looked pretty deep, couldn’t see the bottom, at least 8’ deep based on the bubbles we could see rising from the bottom. Nice and warm, probably ~100º, and fairly clean. Damn, I forgot my swim suit!
(Yes, a warm soak sounded REALLY nice with the way we kicked our own asses on Thursday.)These must have been the private baths. Here’s why we can’t have nice things people.
Graffiti. And some assholes had a bonfire in here and didn’t clean up their mess, so much of it is now floating in the water. Note chair down in ~5’-6’ of water. A lot of good it’s doing down there.
Anyhow, long story short, we checked out a few more areas on Friday, putting around 150 miles on the truck, but didn’t see anything anywhere.
Drove up a valley on BLM land ~10 miles to some national forest access and glassed around for a bit at the edge of the dark timber. Still, nothing.
Day 3 is a bust.Saturday, day 4, and our final day to hunt… We decided to go back to the public property we hunted on Thursday and try again. This time, my son and I would head up to the ridge where my buddy was on Thursday and glass the mountains above at first light. We went up a bit higher to where we could see up both valleys really well. If we saw animals on the mountains across the valley, we could try and make a more direct approach today, even though it is a STEEP hike, and see if we could get a shot off.
Often, there will be Elk in the flatter area across the valley just left of the center of the photo. But not today.My buddy was going to hit a different area we hadn’t really covered yet, that also has a good view back to the South.
Unfortunately, my son and I weren’t seeing much of anything at first light. An hour goes by, and no herds like my buddy had seen on Thursday. However, as the sun began to get higher, I thought I spotted a lone elk across the valley. I wasn’t sure at first, and my son said, “Dad, come on, you’re crazy, that’s a ROCK!” Nope. Turned out to be a lone Elk!!! ~1/4 mile away. Down ~600 feet, then back up ~700 feet, it would be a 2-mile hike to get over there. Doable.
We watched for a bit, trying to confirm whether or not it was a cow. It’s pretty unusual for a cow to be alone this time of year, but not unheard of. Much more typical for a young bull, however. But this animal wouldn’t give us a good view of its head, and was staying in the shadows. Finally after ~90 minutes, I confirmed what I feared. It was a spike bull.
Can you see it?
We sat and glassed until lunchtime, hoping for more action. There was none. However, my buddy had spotted a nice herd on private land to the South, probably ~150 head!!! They were slowing moving down that mountain to the North, and it would be possible that they’d cross onto the South side of the public we were on. So we decided to make our final play that afternoon on those animals. After my son and I finished our lunch, we headed back down to the parking area to meet up with my buddy.
We moved a bit to the West, and parked the truck off the side of the road. The plan was to hike ~3/4 mile South to the top of a ridge that looks over a valley at the very South edge of this public property. We would spread out there, putting ~400 yards between us, trying to cover a large swath in case some Elk came across here. This is what it looked like from where I set up. Looking left:
Looking right. Straight up the hill, ~1 mile directly into the sun, is where that big herd was earlier today. My son was further West, and my buddy was further East. Just about the time I took the photos, my buddy texted that he had 6 Elk ~400 yards below him, that were still on the private property ~200 yards past the fence. The good news is they were moving TOWARDS him!!!
These Elk were just about where the left edge of this picture is, just on the other side of this ridge.
Here’s the weird part I mentioned to keep in mind earlier. While we’re sitting there trying to decide what to do, 2-3 shots rang out back near the entrance road to this public property off the highway. Then 2 more about a minute later. Then several pistol shots. Are there Elk crossing the highway over into this public land? I better hightail it ~1/2 mile, over a couple ridges, to see in case there might be animals coming our way. The 6 Elk my buddy was watching heard the shots too, and starting moving directly away from them, to the SE. So much for that…
As I’m making my way towards the gun shots, I hear several more rifle shots. I can hear the bullets ricocheting off to the West, across the highway. Then a couple more pistol shots. WTF?!?!? 12-13 shots all told. I’m still 1 ridge away from being to see what exactly is happening, but no animals are coming towards me. This is a State Wildlife Area, you are NOT allowed to shoot recreationally on this property. Discharging of a firearm is ONLY allowed during the course of hunting! So what the hell???
Then I see it. A herd of ~50 Elk running back to the West on the other side of the highway. Yes, it’s private property over there. Were the Elk trying to cross the highway onto this public property, and someone just ILLEGALLY scared them back away?
I’ll never know for sure, I never saw a vehicle or person over there. Talked to 2 other trucks that heard the shots as well, and nobody saw what happened. All I know for sure is that there wasn’t a dead animal or truck anywhere in that area ~45 minutes later when we drove by as we were leaving the property. Sure seems awful suspicious though…So day 4 was a bust as well. No Elk this year.
Oh well.
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Great read. Thanks for sharing.Day 3 was to be a road hunting day. My son and I were pretty beat after busting our butts yesterday, so it works out and we can rest our bodies a bit. The plan was to drive around an area known as the Axial basin first thing. It’s a big, open, relatively flat area that borders the Yampa River, with a lot of public property. The Elk will winter in this area, and sometimes you can get a relatively easy stalk and kill, less than a mile from the road.
Unfortunately, after driving around the large area a couple times for ~3 hours, stopping to glass often, we didn’t see a thing. So it was off to search some other areas we know that sometimes have animals. (We heard from some other hunters the next day that there were animals down here the next morning, and several people filled their tags. Damn. Just a day too soon…)
Here’s an interesting feature. It’s called Juniper Hot Springs. Sits right across from the Yampa River, practically in the middle of nowhere. It’s a little run down (lol), but according to the signage, it’s apparently open to the public despite being on private property.
First, the big pool. It was barely warm to the touch. Must be the summer pool, you definitely wouldn’t be soaking in here during the winter. Lots of algae floating around, needs to be cleaned.
View attachment 3038624
The main hot spring pool. Looked pretty deep, couldn’t see the bottom, at least 8’ deep based on the bubbles we could see rising from the bottom. Nice and warm, probably ~100º, and fairly clean. Damn, I forgot my swim suit!
View attachment 3038623
These must have been the private baths. Here’s why we can’t have nice things people.
View attachment 3038625
Graffiti. And some assholes had a bonfire in here and didn’t clean up their mess, so much of it is now floating in the water. Note chair down in ~5’-6’ of water. A lot of good it’s doing down there.
View attachment 3038626
Anyhow, long story short, we checked out a few more areas on Friday, putting around 150 miles on the truck, but didn’t see anything anywhere.
View attachment 3038627
Drove up a valley on BLM land ~10 miles to some national forest access and glassed around for a bit at the edge of the dark timber. Still, nothing.
Saturday, day 4, and our final day to hunt… We decided to go back to the public property we hunted on Thursday and try again. This time, my son and I would head up to the ridge where my buddy was on Thursday and glass the mountains above at first light. We went up a bit higher to where we could see up both valleys really well. If we saw animals on the mountains across the valley, we could try and make a more direct approach today, even though it is a STEEP hike, and see if we could get a shot off.
View attachment 3038628
My buddy was going to hit a different area we hadn’t really covered yet, that also has a good view back to the South.
Unfortunately, my son and I weren’t seeing much of anything at first light. An hour goes by, and no herds like my buddy had seen on Thursday. However, as the sun began to get higher, I thought I spotted a lone elk across the valley. I wasn’t sure at first, and my son said, “Dad, come on, you’re crazy, that’s a ROCK!” Nope. Turned out to be a lone Elk!!! ~1/4 mile away. Down ~600 feet, then back up ~700 feet, it would be a 2-mile hike to get over there. Doable.
We watched for a bit, trying to confirm whether or not it was a cow. It’s pretty unusual for a cow to be alone this time of year, but not unheard of. Much more typical for a young bull, however. But this animal wouldn’t give us a good view of its head, and was staying in the shadows. Finally after ~90 minutes, I confirmed what I feared. It was a spike bull.
Can you see it?
View attachment 3038629
We sat and glassed until lunchtime, hoping for more action. There was none. However, my buddy had spotted a nice herd on private land to the South, probably ~150 head!!! They were slowing moving down that mountain to the North, and it would be possible that they’d cross onto the South side of the public we were on. So we decided to make our final play that afternoon on those animals. After my son and I finished our lunch, we headed back down to the parking area to meet up with my buddy.
We moved a bit to the West, and parked the truck off the side of the road. The plan was to hike ~3/4 mile South to the top of a ridge that looks over a valley at the very South edge of this public property. We would spread out there, putting ~400 yards between us, trying to cover a large swath in case some Elk came across here. This is what it looked like from where I set up. Looking left:
View attachment 3038630
Looking right. Straight up the hill, ~1 mile directly into the sun, is where that big herd was earlier today. My son was further West, and my buddy was further East. Just about the time I took the photos, my buddy texted that he had 6 Elk ~400 yards below him, that were still on the private property ~200 yards past the fence. The good news is they were moving TOWARDS him!!!
View attachment 3038632
View attachment 3038631
These Elk were just about where the left edge of this picture is, just on the other side of this ridge.
Here’s the weird part I mentioned to keep in mind earlier. While we’re sitting there trying to decide what to do, 2-3 shots rang out back near the entrance road to this public property off the highway. Then 2 more about a minute later. Then several pistol shots. Are there Elk crossing the highway over into this public land? I better hightail it ~1/2 mile, over a couple ridges, to see in case there might be animals coming our way. The 6 Elk my buddy was watching heard the shots too, and starting moving directly away from them, to the SE. So much for that…
As I’m making my way towards the gun shots, I hear several more rifle shots. I can hear the bullets ricocheting off to the West, across the highway. Then a couple more pistol shots. WTF?!?!? 12-13 shots all told. I’m still 1 ridge away from being to see what exactly is happening, but no animals are coming towards me. This is a State Wildlife Area, you are NOT allowed to shoot recreationally on this property. Discharging of a firearm is ONLY allowed during the course of hunting! So what the hell???
Then I see it. A herd of ~50 Elk running back to the West on the other side of the highway. Yes, it’s private property over there. Were the Elk trying to cross the highway onto this public property, and someone just ILLEGALLY scared them back away?
So day 4 was a bust as well. No Elk this year.
Hammer67
Gold Member
- Joined
- Nov 9, 2012
- Messages
- 11,011
Day 3 was to be a road hunting day. My son and I were pretty beat after busting our butts yesterday, so it works out and we can rest our bodies a bit. The plan was to drive around an area known as the Axial basin first thing. It’s a big, open, relatively flat area that borders the Yampa River, with a lot of public property. The Elk will winter in this area, and sometimes you can get a relatively easy stalk and kill, less than a mile from the road.
Unfortunately, after driving around the large area a couple times for ~3 hours, stopping to glass often, we didn’t see a thing. So it was off to search some other areas we know that sometimes have animals. (We heard from some other hunters the next day that there were animals down here the next morning, and several people filled their tags. Damn. Just a day too soon…)
Here’s an interesting feature. It’s called Juniper Hot Springs. Sits right across from the Yampa River, practically in the middle of nowhere. It’s a little run down (lol), but according to the signage, it’s apparently open to the public despite being on private property.
First, the big pool. It was barely warm to the touch. Must be the summer pool, you definitely wouldn’t be soaking in here during the winter. Lots of algae floating around, needs to be cleaned.
View attachment 3038624
The main hot spring pool. Looked pretty deep, couldn’t see the bottom, at least 8’ deep based on the bubbles we could see rising from the bottom. Nice and warm, probably ~100º, and fairly clean. Damn, I forgot my swim suit!
View attachment 3038623
These must have been the private baths. Here’s why we can’t have nice things people.
View attachment 3038625
Graffiti. And some assholes had a bonfire in here and didn’t clean up their mess, so much of it is now floating in the water. Note chair down in ~5’-6’ of water. A lot of good it’s doing down there.
View attachment 3038626
Anyhow, long story short, we checked out a few more areas on Friday, putting around 150 miles on the truck, but didn’t see anything anywhere.
View attachment 3038627
Drove up a valley on BLM land ~10 miles to some national forest access and glassed around for a bit at the edge of the dark timber. Still, nothing.
Saturday, day 4, and our final day to hunt… We decided to go back to the public property we hunted on Thursday and try again. This time, my son and I would head up to the ridge where my buddy was on Thursday and glass the mountains above at first light. We went up a bit higher to where we could see up both valleys really well. If we saw animals on the mountains across the valley, we could try and make a more direct approach today, even though it is a STEEP hike, and see if we could get a shot off.
View attachment 3038628
My buddy was going to hit a different area we hadn’t really covered yet, that also has a good view back to the South.
Unfortunately, my son and I weren’t seeing much of anything at first light. An hour goes by, and no herds like my buddy had seen on Thursday. However, as the sun began to get higher, I thought I spotted a lone elk across the valley. I wasn’t sure at first, and my son said, “Dad, come on, you’re crazy, that’s a ROCK!” Nope. Turned out to be a lone Elk!!! ~1/4 mile away. Down ~600 feet, then back up ~700 feet, it would be a 2-mile hike to get over there. Doable.
We watched for a bit, trying to confirm whether or not it was a cow. It’s pretty unusual for a cow to be alone this time of year, but not unheard of. Much more typical for a young bull, however. But this animal wouldn’t give us a good view of its head, and was staying in the shadows. Finally after ~90 minutes, I confirmed what I feared. It was a spike bull.
Can you see it?
View attachment 3038629
We sat and glassed until lunchtime, hoping for more action. There was none. However, my buddy had spotted a nice herd on private land to the South, probably ~150 head!!! They were slowing moving down that mountain to the North, and it would be possible that they’d cross onto the South side of the public we were on. So we decided to make our final play that afternoon on those animals. After my son and I finished our lunch, we headed back down to the parking area to meet up with my buddy.
We moved a bit to the West, and parked the truck off the side of the road. The plan was to hike ~3/4 mile South to the top of a ridge that looks over a valley at the very South edge of this public property. We would spread out there, putting ~400 yards between us, trying to cover a large swath in case some Elk came across here. This is what it looked like from where I set up. Looking left:
View attachment 3038630
Looking right. Straight up the hill, ~1 mile directly into the sun, is where that big herd was earlier today. My son was further West, and my buddy was further East. Just about the time I took the photos, my buddy texted that he had 6 Elk ~400 yards below him, that were still on the private property ~200 yards past the fence. The good news is they were moving TOWARDS him!!!
View attachment 3038632
View attachment 3038631
These Elk were just about where the left edge of this picture is, just on the other side of this ridge.
Here’s the weird part I mentioned to keep in mind earlier. While we’re sitting there trying to decide what to do, 2-3 shots rang out back near the entrance road to this public property off the highway. Then 2 more about a minute later. Then several pistol shots. Are there Elk crossing the highway over into this public land? I better hightail it ~1/2 mile, over a couple ridges, to see in case there might be animals coming our way. The 6 Elk my buddy was watching heard the shots too, and starting moving directly away from them, to the SE. So much for that…
As I’m making my way towards the gun shots, I hear several more rifle shots. I can hear the bullets ricocheting off to the West, across the highway. Then a couple more pistol shots. WTF?!?!? 12-13 shots all told. I’m still 1 ridge away from being to see what exactly is happening, but no animals are coming towards me. This is a State Wildlife Area, you are NOT allowed to shoot recreationally on this property. Discharging of a firearm is ONLY allowed during the course of hunting! So what the hell???
Then I see it. A herd of ~50 Elk running back to the West on the other side of the highway. Yes, it’s private property over there. Were the Elk trying to cross the highway onto this public property, and someone just ILLEGALLY scared them back away?
So day 4 was a bust as well. No Elk this year.
My elk season was a bust this year as well. Our general season is shit now, so I opted for early archery season. Had a few bulls come in, but never close enough for a shot. At least you got out and spent quality time in the field with your son.
Jsega51
Gold Member
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2015
- Messages
- 9,234
My nephews from Raleigh area love coming up in winter to enjoy the snow and they really wanted to give ice fishing a try. Luckily we’ve had good conditions for ice and they were pumped to run the auger and finally drop a line the other day! It was a rough couple hours with little action but they had a blast and didn’t care.
