Being Successful Is Nice But At Times..

Grumpy

The Grumpy Grease Monkey mechanical engineer.
Staff member
being successful is nice but at times.. just getting out and enjoying the hunts, something you remember rather fondly.
I had Allen , drop by and we got to discussing a few past elk hunts in CO.
he brought up a hunt we both did one year, on this one evening the temp was about 50F and slowly dropping ,
we had camped about 70 yards off an old abandoned logging access road,
we had crossed a small meadow and parked my 1989 ford dually,
and Allen parked his 1995 ford bronco, about 30 yards away,
both were not visible from the old logging road due to both a small ridge line crest and heavy aspen growth between the two points,
we had used the location several years as it provided privacy and yet was rather easily reached from a semi used main dirt road into the area.
we liked the location as it was only about a 300 yard walk through rather heavy conifer growth,
too the edge of a small side canyon upper end that if followed that lead into a rather large canyon,
where we consistently had been successful in finding both elk and mule deer in previous hunts.
it is rather rare in our experience to locate a decent secure camp site with easy walk-in access to good elk hunting.
on one evening I had taken my browning 78 single shot in caliber 300 wby,
(looked like this one I found the picture posted of)
I have always liked the look and feel of the browning 78 and my 78 in caliber 300 wby is a really beauty in my opinion,
almost too pretty to hunt with,
I brought that rifle , with me simply because Id yet to drop an elk with that particular rifle,
that year or any other year at that time.
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Id located a long un-used clear cut, and found a rather comfortable stump with a large fallen log about 2 ft in diameter,
that was rolled up next to the stump that provided a back-rest as comfortable as a good arm chair ,
I was seated looking over a inclined slope that would if follows lead eventually into the adjacent drainage,
the small slope allowed a rifleman to watch over an area that was only about 50-60 yards wide,
over much of its length between conifer stands ,
but easily 300 yards in length
(rather rare to have that much potential area to watch.)
most of the area we hunt is covered in intermittent aspen and conifer or rock slides ,
and small open meadows, where 50-120 yard shots are about the max range you ever get.
elk and deer cross these open areas,
but if your not observant you may miss your rather brief time frame and shot opportunity.
I was comfortably seated , and it was a good chance to rest, after a day of still hunting further into the canyon complex,
it was nice knowing the tent, camp and a place to sleep was only a couple minutes easy walking away.
Allen had walked back to camp to get a pot of coffee started as he had been hunting hard all day and not seen anything worth shooting for several days ...
neither of us had, but the scenery was impressive the temps rather pleasant,
almost no breeze and the shot as yet re-growth made a seated hunter almost un-noticeable.
as I was seated and getting drowsy ,
I noticed movement down slope at about 270 yards ,
I brought out the Steiner 10x 50mm field glasses ,
it was a couple cow elk (I had no tags for cows,
Allen did but there was no way to get his attention as I assumed he was back at camp by now.
I just watched as they lazily picked their way across the open meadow..
I heard someone walking behind me...
it was Allen, he was not paying attention, and was bringing me a thermos of hot coffee,
I did not call or motion to him as I assumed the cows would be long gone before he reached my location,
and he was shielded from the cows visually by aspen between us.
too my surprise he walked up and reached me with the cows still meandering across the narrow meadow,
Allen had brought a thermos but left his rifle in camp....
I pointed out the cows and offered Allen use of my rifle.. he was tempted..
but this was a 10 day hunt, we were in the evening of day three,
it was getting rather dark, and after thinking about his options he picked up my browning , looked over the cow elk,
and the elk basically made the decision for him by walking into cover,
before he had the chance to assess the shot, range and target...
we both drank a cup of coffee, and neither of us felt bad.. as Allen said,
I just don,t want the hunt to end with me working most of the night by coleman lantern light,
dressing out some small cow elk, when I have 6-7 days left to hunt!
as you get older your less likely to see dropping anything with fur as a goal,
and you tend to appreciate the hunt.
we both look back and remember that evening and smile, a pleasant memory..
and no he never did get a cow elk on that trip,
but he did get a nice 25" spread 4x4 mule deer and never regretted to loss of the potential cow elk.

pictures like these are much more common in my experience than open fields you occasionally see in magazines of elk pictures posted

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Full-362-Deep-Creek-Canyon.jpg

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