smokepolehall

ALL right nice pic's and running story! Yup i can see why you got worn out, get some rest and sleep. We will go on the hunt with you soon as you are ready. Thanks. I used to hunt out of New Castle and Elk creeks! Hope to get back, have about healed up from back surgery and can walk again.

grndhntr

Sorry guys, no hunt today. The forecast calls for high winds- up to 100 mph gusts. I don't know if it has been that high yet, but the wind chill is nasty right now. I know the elk will be holed up in the "dark timber" and not in the "quakies" or "parks". Hopefully it will calm down tomorrow and the elk will be out. Maybe this wind will blow some areas clear where they can feed. I'm planning on checking out another area tomorrow. FYI,All my "areas" are within 10 miles of my home in Estes Park, Co. I hunt areas that other hunters avoid. Usually they are not easily accessable, steep climbs into parks, or no roads or trails.
Elk hunting usually includes a lot of hiking to find where they are. In my experience, it doesn't do much good to scout unless it's a day or 2before you hunt an area. Elk may be here today, 5 miles away tomorrow, and another 5 miles away day after tomorrow.One cow elk I heard about was tracked (with a radio collar) from Loveland to Grand Lake (about 100 miles over the Continental Divide). She did this trip 2 years in a row wintering in Loveland and spending the summer in Grand Lake. Loveland is at about 5000' elevation. Grand Lake is about 8500 and the Divide where she would have gone is over 12000'.
Again, sorry I don't have a hunt for you guys today. Hopefully I'll have moreof a storyand pics. tomorrow.
Groundhunter

grndhntr

I should tell you guys that I'm hunting anything without antlers. My daughter (12 yrs. old) already filled the freezer with a big cow elk in Nov. with a rifle so a nice tender calf would be fine with me (also easier to pack out), but I'll take whatever lets me get a bolt into it. I'm hunting with a Horton recurve crossbow. 2219 bolts with Zwickey 2-blade heads and 125 gr. adapters for added weight. 30 yds. is my comfort zone for shots with these 650 gr. bolts. Hopefully it willmake an interesting story for everyone and help you pass the time until your next hunting season. BTW, the wind is HOWLING right now so I'm glad I took the day off.

smokepolehall

Thats ok they eat better, spect its going to be a good hunt. I'm ready when you are.

grndhntr

Tues. Jan. 9

For todays hunt I went to a different area. This area is about 1,000 acres. It has a road going into it, but it's gated and is rarely ever used. The road goes to a house way up on top of the mountain, but I've never seen anyone living there. The house is on a small piece of property, probably about 10 acres, surrounded by national forest. This area has been good in the past for me for deer and sometimes elk.
I parked at the highway and proceeded up the hill. Now this "hill" is about a 45 degree slope for about 1/2 mile and then it levels out some on top. Usually it takes about half an hour to get up but today it took almost 2 with the snow. I took a 20 yd. shot at a rabbit on the way up- missed. I tried to get a picture of the steep slope but it doesn't quite capture the extent of its steepness.

grndhntr

As I was trudging up I was unable to do so quietly. Today I decided not to take the snowshoes. They would be tooslippery on the slope and I was hoping for less snow up on top. I don't know if I made the right choice. What do you think?

squirrelkilla23

Did ya see any elk?

grndhntr

Well, since I couldn't be quiet I decided to sit still for a while (very difficult for me). I cut a few branches out of a Juniper tree overlooking a nice park and waited. At about 10:00 the wind started picking up so it was possible to move around without being heard. Here's my "blind".

grndhntr

After the wind picked up I started a big loop that would cover most of the 1,000 acres. I just wanted to look for tracks to see if the elk had been in there. I found tracks from rabbits, deer, and coyote but no elk.
Atnoon I started a fire and meltedsome snow for tea and ate my lunch. Now I was about 2-3 miles (as the crow flies) from the car butit took me 4.5 hrs. to get there.I finished up the loop and looked for more bunnies on the way back. Since Ididn't find any tracks I got back earlier than I had to.I also didn't want to slide down that slope in the dark. It was another difficult hikebut I never get bored looking at the scenery. Tomorrow I think I'll try a totally different area. Here's the view from close to where I took lunch today.

grndhntr

Stay tuned...