Week 1 Archery 08-27 to 09-01

There is no better felling as a guide, when you show up to get a hunter out of a tree stand, and he lets you know he shot at a elk. But, it does not help when it is the final minutes of that day, and the day light is all but gone. Scott was not sure where the arrow had hit; only that he believed it was a good hit. We backed out for the night in hope that the elk was hit well enough to do the job. After a brutal night on Scott’s mind, we headed up first thing in the mourning to track him down.  As we began to look for blood or the arrow, both would prove very hard to find. I started up the hill in the direction of where Scott thought the bull had run off. After I covered about 400 yards, I had started to just walk around in circles searching for any sign at all. After I had found every small red leafed bush on that hill side, I started back down to the shot location. Just then I caught a glimpse of red on a yellow leaf, and low and be hold, it was a small spot of blood. A welcome sight for all of us, especially Scott who had started to second guess his shot. Now on the blood trial we started to find great bright red blood, and lots of it, but we were all surprised when we had fallowed blood for 700 or 800 hundred yards and no elk. The trail went up and down, over logs, through the creek and seemed to be endless. Then as Scott and I were focused on looking for the next spot of blood Steve shouted out “There he is”, the three little words every hunter loves to here. For his first elk it was a great one, very heavy horned, long pointed, typical 5x5, which grossed around 260. Great job Scott and I can’t wait to see you next year.

Jerome

We pounded timber for a couple of days trying to call a bull in for a shot; heard a few, but was never able to pull one into our setup. We decided to sit stands. Scott sat in a stand overlooking a wallow and Keith was sitting at the top of a heavily traveled draw. As night drew near Scott had a bull sneak in behind him. As darkness was coming fast, and the bull wouldn’t commit to the wallow, Scott slowly crept out of his stand for a shot. Scott’s arrow connected at 40 yards. The next morning we recovered Scott’s very heavy, long tined 5x5. Keith sat for another day with not to much action. We decided to spot and stalk for the remainder of the hunt; this turned out to be a very good idea. On the last morning we started out on a very elky ridge. As we worked our way through the timber we spooked 3 bulls to our left. We tucked into the timber and I started singing them a sweet tune with my reed. Maybe 2 minutes passed and the bulls walked into an opening about 150 yards below us. When the bulls were out of sight we made a move. We headed into some lodge poles about 60 yards below us, and I started singing that same sweet tune. This time we had only seconds before the bulls showed up. Keith drew his bow as we noticed the antlers moving through the trees. As the bull came into the open and gave one last bugle, Keith released and drove the arrow home. We recovered Keith’s bull within 150 yards.

Steve

The first day of Moose season showed a lot of promise. The first morning we saw a very wide non-typical that we almost took. We decided to pass him up and see what else was out there. That night we saw a lot of bulls, but none that were mature enough to take. They had great racks but needed another year to become true trophies. After another day of looking at numerous bulls, we decided we wanted to take the wide non-typical. He was an old very large bull. We agreed he would look great as a trophy. We went back to the creek he was living in and started glassing the willows. After glassing for a few minutes we saw a patch of willows being shaken violently. Convinced it was him, we started into the willows. After stalking through the willows for about a half an hour, we could hear him. Crouching down we saw him bedded only 25 yards away. We sat and watched him waiting for him to give us a shot. After a while he finally stood. When he turned broadside Chuck made a great shot and the bull was ours.

Steve

Jim Brooks was the lucky reciepent of a cow moose tag in Colorado.  Jim had already taken a bull in Colorado some ten years before.  Jim was able to hunt his cow tag the same time that his friend Doug Harris hunted for a bull.  W hunted all week and seen bull after bull and very few cows.  Towards the end of his hunt Jim Doug and I ran accross a cow and older calf in a heavy creek bottom on the Illinois River but our stalk failed.  Jim decided while Doug and I went back to look at another bull we had seen that he would slip up into Jack Creek to see if he could  find a cow.  He did and soon was calling us to tell us that he had stuck a cow and could not find her.  Doug and I joined him and started tracking the animal when we ran into her bedded not 50 yards from where he shot her the first time.  Jim collected on his second Shiras Moose in Colorado and enters as one of the very few to accomplish this task with his bow!  Congratulations Jim!

Quentin

Week 4 Archery 09-13 to 09-18

We tried everything we could, and hunted hard for 3 days without much action. After hearing some bugles from the same area the last couple days, we thought we had them located. We setup early in the morning at the bottom of a small plateau. We were sitting pretty when the bugling started. But as the morning progressed the Elk were slowly circling around us up the hill. We hustled to get in front of them to setup an ambush. We got to the top of the hill just as the bull was making his way up. Victor got into a small patch of quakes, as I set up under a small pine 35 yards behind him. It only took about 5 cow calls and the bull was 20 yards away from Victor. Victor centered his pin on the bull and then let him have it. A perfect double lung shot put an end to the nice bull.

Early Deer and Moose 10-01 to 10-07

Seeing great numbers of deer when you’re deer hunting is never a bad thing. Except of course when you have a buck tag and all you see are does. We were seeing lots of deer but none had any headgear. But luck was on our side. After glassing a ridge all morning we decided to head to another area. On the way there we saw a buck off the road in the timber. We jumped out and stared our stalk. We snuck into the timber trying to get a shot. After a few minutes we saw him. Buck fever took hold and the bullet missed its target. We never saw the buck again. As we looked over a large park we noticed some deer coming out of the timber only 100 yards away. As luck would have it there was a buck. It was an 8 point whitetail! Setting the crosshairs on the deer’s shoulder he squeezed the trigger. This time the bullet struck its target. A nice deer for a first time hunter.

Aaron and his dad Steve had joined me this year for a deer hunt.  As you have read above Aaron killed a whitetail buck with us early on in his hunt which left him some time to hunt for cow elk while his dad continued hunting for deer.  Aaron and I left Steve my guide and his dad to help scout for moose for a client that we had out along with spend some time looking for a cow elk.  I new that we had been seeing a small herd of elk hanging around the jungle (Michigan River) and thought that as the evening progressed that just maybe they would come out of the willows into the hay field to graze.  We hunted moose hard with a client right close to where these elk had been seen.  We had put countless stalks on a bull moose and were not ever able to get a shot at him with a bow.  In fact the moose ended up leaving the small patch of willows crossing the hay field.  As I watched the bull start to enter into the Jungle I noticed that sure enough the elk were coming out right where the bull moose was going in.  We quickly changed gears and slipped into position about 250 yards from the elk.  Aaron picked out a huge cow and waited until she turned broadside and made an incredible shoot!!!

Quentin

After three months of watching a group deer, who on several occasions had escaped the pursuit of our archery hunters, our early rifle deer season had arrived. Hunting with Brian Victor, a hunter who had earlier in the year hunted elk with his bow, I was certain that this hunt would not take long. I had seen the buck we were after nearly every time I had been to our Gould property. So on opening mourning we set up in the area that the buck would frequent daily. As it goes so often that morning came and went with no sign of the buck. That evening I spotted a group of deer in a spot that I had not since them before, so we spent the night trying to get to them with no luck.  The next morning came and went without any sign of the buck, and I was starting to wonder if the small amount of snow we had received had pushed the deer out of the area.  The afternoon of the second day that all changed with three words, “there he is.” It took a little bit of time to get around the deer, but we closed to with in 80 yards.  The buck was with another buck and tuck down in a small creek bed.  After some pour communication between myself and Brian, the buck had worked his way up out of the creek bottom and was presenting a terrific shot. But, because of the before mentioned communication break-down Brian was looking in the wrong spot and the buck spooked before Brian could get a shot off.  Just when we both thought the day was lost, and that we had lost the buck for good, another buck came out from behind us. He was not as big as the one we after, but Brian decided he was big enough and took the shot. At about 60 yards Brian’s shot found the mark, and this nice 4x4 only went about 80 yards, Great Job Brian!     

Jerome

In Early July I received a list from the Colorado DOW that listed all of the recipients of the Colorado Moose draw.  As I was going over the list I seen that Dennis a who had hunted in Eastern Colorado with me before had successfully drawn his bull moose tag.  I was quick to get with Dennis and tell him and he told me that he really wanted to try and kill it with his bow.  Season came and we started hunting with good bulls seen right away.  The 2^nd day of his hunt we received a huge frost and the moose had turned on the rut!  Bull after bull we called in but we were never able to get close enough for a 25 yard shot with a long bow that he had built himself.  We had bulls at 30 to 50 yards out to a 100 yards but just could not get that extra 5 foot that he wanted for a clean shot.  On our way back to the lodge after the morning hunt Dennis and I spotted a nice bull on the side of the road right on the property line.  The bull jumped the road back into my property and before I could even get stopped Dennis has cleared the bar ditch and made a clean shot with his 30-06 harvesting the bull!  We had seen larger bulls but the smile on Dennis’s face was priceless!

Quentin

Rifle First Season 10-13 to 10-17

If there were ever a group of people that would fit into anyone’s hunting camp, it would be the west family. During the first rifle season I had the pleasure of hunting with Chris and Dan West. On the third mourning of the hunt I had set up both hunters over looking high traffic areas in our Gould Property. I was sitting near Dan and Chris was about 600 yards below us on the bottom of a large funnel.  About and hour after first light the morning silence was burst as Chris shot at a great 5x5 bull. Moments after that shot, I saw a group of elk moving up through the timber, right past Dan and I.  With no time to waste Dan and I sprinted 300 yards up the hill to cut the elk off. It almost never works, but this time it worked like a charm, and the elk came out right in front of us.  I made a cow-call that froze the elk in their tracks and Dan squeezed off a shot. Unfortunately, the first shot missed; luckily the second shot dropped a mature cow in her tracks. Both hunters were a joy to be around and made that week great. Thanks guys!          

Jerome

This year I had the opportunity to Hunt with Lenard West of North Carolina.  Lenard was surprised by both of his sons Chris and Dan that they had purchased an elk hunt with us and that Lenard would be coming with them.  We started out the day like any normal Colorado day, cold and calm.  I had started Lenard out in a tree stand that had produced us many good elk over the course of archery season.  Little did I know that within 30 minutes of setting in a tree stand every bull elk within North Park Colorado started raising cane and bugling just about 250 yards from where Lenard was setting.  It seemed that the elk were moving away from his area so I quickly took him from the tree stand and moved into position in front of the herd.  Bulls were screaming every where and before long the herd started moving out in front of us about 150 yards or so.  There had to be 200 head together and it seemed that every bull we seen was covered by cows and the herd moved by with out ever getting a shot.  That evening the weather changed drastically and snow was upon us.  I had an idea where the herd had gone and so we took off on a journey searching for them.  As the evening wore on Lenard informed me that we had had enough walking for one day and wanted to go set at the pickup out of the snow and rest a little bit while me and another hunter walked up into another draw.  Lenard was setting at the pickup for about 45 minutes when elk started pouring out of the timber into a meadow right in front of him.  Lenard was able to get out of the pickup and position himself for a shot at one of the bulls.  Two shots later Lenard had connected on a fine Colorado bull! Congrats Lenard!  

Quentin

Rifle Second Season 10-20 to 10-28

Journal Entries Coming Soon.

Journal Entries Coming Soon.

Rifle Forth Season 11-11 to 11-15 

Journal Entries Coming Soon.