Colorado 2nd Season Drop Camp Recap

All,

Just got back from a second season drop camp hunt in the Flattops Wilderness of Colorado. This trip was, in many ways, a lifetime in the making. My uncle Vince floated the idea of doing an elk hunt for his 50th birthday and as the resident "expert" I took the lead in planning the hunt. This would be my eighth elk hunt, and of the previous seven I've been on the most memorable for me was my first -- a drop camp hunt in the Flattops Wilderness. Elk camp is elk camp, but for me there's nothing that tops the feeling of riding a pack train in miles from civilization and living in a canvas walled tent for a week surrounded by some of the most incredible country you can set foot in.

Invites were extended and it got to the point where we actually had a group of eleven going. The eleven would have to be accommodated in two camps, which was the only negative of the trip (the two camps were obviously better for hunting success, but the social aspect took a slight hit). Months of planning via email, phone calls, and text messages flew by and before we knew it, we were on the highway headed for Meeker, CO -- seven of us from Louisiana and four from Pennsylvania. We arrived in Meeker a day after we departed, and after a night of drinks, food, and some laughs together, we hit the rack in anticipation of the next days ride into the wilderness.

We met the outfitter, Tel Gates of River's Bend Outfitters, at 7:30 the next morning. In my camp, affectionately known as the North camp (think Blue and Gray, not dials on a compass), we had my uncle Vince, my uncle Chris, Vince's friend Benny, my buddy David, and Vince's friend Sam (who would fly in a day later).

Here's the crew waiting to saddle up. From left to right, me, Vince, Benny, Dave, and Chris


This would be Vince, Chris, and Sam's first ever elk hunt, and everyone's first pack trip (with the exception of me). The months of planning helped ensure we didn't have too much stuff going in, but everyone was amazed at the loads the horses would handle.



With the two camps, we had something like 13 pack horses to load up. After a few hours the gear was packed and we were saddled up. Here's the wild bunch ready to roll!


The ride in was a few hours and left an impression on the greenhorns of the group. The trip was definitely starting out on the right foot...or in this case, hoof!

Looks like this is shaping up to be one heck of a time!

Home for the week (10 days to be exact) was a canvas tent with all the amenities...in other words, a wood stove and a propane stove -- and we wouldn't have it any other way.


We settled in and unpacked and made some food. One thing is for sure, we weren't lacking for good meals on this trip. We prepared meals ahead of time and froze them so that all we had to do was thaw them out and heat them up. This gumbo sure beat Mountain House!


We kept the bar stocked (until the last night) and were never lacking in the food or fire department.




The first day was spent unwinding in camp. We headed out at about 5 PM to familiarize ourselves with the country. The camp itself was in the bottom of a creek drainage that suffered a fire about 20 years ago that left lots of open country and pockets of timber on the slopes on either side of the creek. The drainage worked up in elevation as you moved south and climbing to the top of the slopes on either side of the creek would put you up on the "flat top" of the Flattops. The slope on the east side of the drainage had a nice trail and tended to be more open. The west slope had more timber and a ton of deadfall. The trick was to get on the benches of each slope and try and find pockets of elk. You could glass from one slope to the other (ie, across the drainage) and try and spot game as well. The first night revealed some elk up high (coming off the flat top) and got us excited for the morning. We weren't too familiar with how to hunt the country yet, but we made a gameplan for the morning, finished off some gumbo, and hit the hay. Here's some pics of the country we were camped and hunting in.

Looking from the east side across to the west side and up the drainage.


The "huge" snow storm that was supposed to get the elk moving mid week.


Rocky Mountain sunsets are tough to beat.

Despite seeing the elk up high, we figured we had eight days to hunt and didn't need to kill ourselves just yet! The forecast was calling for snow mid week and we thought that that could push the elk down. The first day we decided to just use the trail to hike up the drainage and see if we could spot game either in front of us or across the other side of the drainage. After some coffee and a quick bite to eat, the packs and guns were shouldered and we set out. To my surprise, about 20 minutes after walking up the trail we heard a bugle below us, and then another! Given the area had been hunted the first season, the fact that it was late in October, and the fact that it was pretty warm as far as Colorado Octobers go, I wasn't expecting to hear much of anything. But this was a pleasant surprise! Later, to a person, everyone said the horse ride in and hearing those bugles by alone made the trip for everyone. But that was later...this was now! I grabbed the cow call and let out a few mews and got a response right away. I told Vince and Benny, who were with me, that we needed to get to a spot and set up NOW, which is what we did. We quickly found a vantage point overlooking a park down in the drainage and Vince set up on the shooting sticks. It was just turning legal shooting light and were only about a third of a mile from the camp as the crow flies.

It was quiet for a few minutes so I let out a cow call and got response CLOSE. Not ten seconds later, I watched as a bull stepped out of the timber and into the park. I quickly put the rangefinder on him and then my glass to make sure he was a legal bull. He was only about 120 yards away but it was difficult to tell whether he was legal or not (4 pts on a side). He kept moving towards us and just as he was getting ready to disappear behind the bluff from the slope in front of us I could make out his 4 pts on his left side. I let Vince know that it was a legal bull and to take the shot when he had it.

At this point the bull had disappeared behind some pines and we lost sight of him below us. When he reappeared it was in a trot heading back across the park. I hit the cow call and he hit the brakes and turned broadside in an effort to locate the cow that was hollering at him. Unfortunately, Vince's shot was blocked by a tree. The bull started moving again and after it went 10 more yards I froze it again with a cow call. This time Vince had a lane and his 300 win mag barked.

At the shot, it didn't look like the elk was hit and I implored Vince to put another one in him. It quickly became evident that that wouldn't be necessary as the bull got wobbly on his feet and then keeled over. It was 7:15 and Vince had punched his bull tag. The excitement on his face and the shaking in his hands after it all went down was something I will always cherish. I know the whole scenario was like a dream to him and he's still pinching himself, not only that he travelled across the country and took an elk, but how the way it all went down.

We dropped down the hundred or so feet in elevation and the few hundred yards to the elk, took some pictures, and got to work, with Dave and Chris joining us to quarter up the elk.

I'll get to the rest in a bit!

My dream hunt right there. Looking forward to the rest of the story!

So far it looks and sounds like a heck of a good time.

I'm not gonna lie it looks like you guys had a lot of fun BUT with all the good breweries in CO and you bring Tecate and Coors....shame shame

I can't wait for the rest of the story

It was a heck of a start to the hunt. This was the opening day of the second season (Saturday) and we were going to be hunting through the following Saturday. Sam would arrive Sunday afternoon. We decided to explore a little more country and were seeing elk up high and back up the drainage away from camp. With all the commotion opening morning, we weren't in elk around camp and it was clear if conditions didn't change we would have to work a bit harder to fill the remainder of the tags.

Monday morning Sam and Vince climbed the west slope of drainage and posted up on a bench that gave them a good vantage point above and below them. Sam heard some noise and watched as eight elk were working their way up the slope out of the timber about 150 yards from him and Vince. There were four cows, a spike, two raghorns, and a decent 5x5 that is now at least a 7x7 in the stories! Vince got in Sam's ear to get on the bull and shoot and the rest of us heard two shots ring out and then a third. We later learned that Sam missed the bull with his first two shots, and heard the sickening click of a firing pin falling on an empty chamber with his third (apparently, he had forgotten to load up the magazine after unloading from his sit the previous night and only had two bullets in). The third shot was from Vince dropping a cow after elk fever got the best of Sam. Vince had now killed as many elk in three days of hunting as I had in 8 trips!! The cow as a young one and will eat well.

Snow was supposed to come in Wednesday and we were hoping it would be enough to move some elk. Well the 6-12" of snow we were hoping for turned out to be some freezing rain and about an inch dusting on the ground. Not enough to get anything moving, and therefore we were going to have to work for our elk.

We didn't see an elk from Monday evening until Thursday evening. There we spotted a lone bull coming out of the timber across the drainage and a herd of elk that was feeding way up the drainage at the bowl that served as the headwaters of the creek we were camped in. I decided to make a play for those elk. As the crow flies it was about a mile and half from camp, but my GPS and pedometer would later tell me I'd hike 5 miles given the deadfall and backtracking I'd have to do to get there. Sam accompanied me and posted up about a half mile short of where I was going to go.

It was Friday evening and I was losing light with no sign of the elk we spotted the evening before. We had seen that same herd feed the same way a few different days as they were pretty much unmolested. At 5:30 I stood up as I was posted in an uncomfortable position on the side of the hill and when I did I heard movement below and behind me. I looked down to see four cows running on a little ridge running in front of my position about 180 yards away.

I quickly got on the gun and found one of the cows standing broadside in my scope. She started to run and I knew there were two more cows coming behind her so I waited for the next one to come into the sight picture, and when she did, I squeezed the trigger. After reacquiring her in the sight window, I saw she was dragging her back legs. I quickly cycled another round in, settled the reticle behind her shoulder, and touched off another round. She appeared unfazed at the second shot and continued struggling to keep up with the other three cows now running off. I cycled one more round and took a shot trying to get another bullet in her.

I lost sight of her as she dropped off the ridge for a second, but moved position and saw her lying there about 200 yards away in the snow. Elk down!! I went to get Sam, worked our way to the cow, and got to work breaking her down in the dark. We had her quartered and hung in about an hour, and then began the hike back in the dark...which sucked. We finally rolled into camp at 11 PM, looking a bit like death warmed over. But as anyone that's been there knows, it was more than worth it!!



Sam with the game bags.

We had punched three tags (should've been four) with six people in camp. In fact, Benny wasn't hunting because of a shoulder injury, so it was really five hunters. Anyone that hunted it knows that second season was EXTREMELY warm this year...made camping nice but didn't do much for the elk hunting! Given the reports coming from the other camps, we did a fantastic job given the success we had. The next day we dined on fresh tenderloin and made some backstrap fajitas (with some awesome roasted green chiles I picked up on my NM elk hunt the month before).


We basically took Saturday off (I did anyway!) and got packed out on Sunday. My uncle Chris was the one who got me into hunting and when Vince came along (he's an uncle by marriage) my time in the outdoors was spent with him if it wasn't with Chris. This is a trip they dreamed about and it was an incredible feeling to be able to set this up and for them to have the experience that they did. There was a paragraph in an article in the last issue of Bugle that summed up what we will all remember most about this trip. It reads, "elk hunters know that sitting around a campfire after a long day of hard hunting, sharing stories with the best friends you'll ever have, listening to the murmurings of a nearby creek or the whispering winds in the boughs above wondering "Is there Anybody Out There?" when you gaze heavenward and marvel at the sparkling, infinite brushstroke of the Milky Way, is as much a part of elk camp as moving slowly through the aspens with rifle in hand."

To a person, everyone said it exceeded the expectations that they had, which were high. I'm sure we'll be telling stories for years and I know they're already missing the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells of elk camp as much as I do (we're already planning the next one!), and I'm thrilled we'll be able to share in that nostalgia for years to come. Truly one for the books.

Mthuntr said:

I'm not gonna lie it looks like you guys had a lot of fun BUT with all the good breweries in CO and you bring Tecate and Coors....shame shame

I can't wait for the rest of the story

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Haha I know. We did hit up Tommyknockers on the way to Meeker in Idaho Springs and the Dillon Dam Brewery on the way out of town, for the record. Tecate is my "elk hunting beer" after we drank it for a week on a trip to NM. And others felt we had to get a taste of the Rockies with the Coors (gotta love marketing! haha)

Wow, great trip, great photos, and a wonderful story, thanks! Hope you can do that again.

Love the Flat Tops, have since my first backpacking trip across the top with the Scouts in 1963. It's grand country.

Great story and some great results

Sounds like a great trip! Thanks for the story and pics!

There was a paragraph in an article in the last issue of Bugle that summed up what we will all remember most about this trip. It reads, "elk hunters know that sitting around a campfire after a long day of hard hunting, sharing stories with the best friends you'll ever have, listening to the murmurings of a nearby creek or the whispering winds in the boughs above wondering "Is there Anybody Out There?" when you gaze heavenward and marvel at the sparkling, infinite brushstroke of the Milky Way, is as much a part of elk camp as moving slowly through the aspens with rifle in hand."

Click to expand...

That pegs it....

Another awesome hunt account as per usual bigeasy, thanks for the meticulous imageryshare. Damn fine writing.

Nice write up and great hunt!!! PA boys get it done again!!

Great write up guys...love the atmosphere on the hunt and in camp...great times are made even better by sharing campfires with good keen hunting partners. A hunt to never forget.

Awesome adventure!

Super writeup! Looks like you great trip!