Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

2017 Last Minute Wyoming Cow Elk

cpoplayer

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Joined
Nov 20, 2016
Messages
178
Location
Grand Ridge, FL
Earlier this year, I drew a cow elk tag and a mule deer tag in southeastern Wyoming. I had planned on doing a combo trip in October but, had some health issues and was unable to make it. With work, family obligations, and the holidays, I had all but given up on my chances to make a trip out west this year. With the kids being out of school and my wife being off work the week after Christmas, I decided to take some vacation time. On December 7th, my wife and I were trying to decide where we were going to go on vacation and she asked my if my tags were still good. I knew the deer tag wasn't but, I had to check the cow elk tag and sure enough, I found that it was good until the 31st. When I told her the tag was still valid, she asked if I could be ready by Christmas day and thus the planning began. We decided not to tell the boys just in case things didn't pan out and surprise them Christmas morning. We started packing and staging things in the man cave in secret. I checked rifle scopes and started practicing. So here I sit on Christmas Eve, the car is packed and gassed up and the boys are still oblivious to our plans. So tomorrow morning, as soon as Santa has come and gone, we are going to let the cat out of the bag, load up in the car, and head for Wyoming. Merry Christmas and stay tuned as I should be able to update each night at the hotel.
 
good luck! I'll check back in a few days and expect to see some pics!
 
Well...the wife and I stayed up until midnight packing and playing Santa. It felt like I had just settled in for a long winters' nap when I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Uh Daddy Santa just woke me up." I looked at the clock and it read 3:30 am. Oh the joys of a 5 year old! We managed to contain him until 4 am and he could stand it no more. He went and woke his brother and the chaos that ensued was marvellous!
After gifts and a quick breakfast, we we're on the road by 6:30 am. The trip so far has been uneventful aside from an emergency bathroom break for the kiddos that nearly resulted in a soiled floor in the Circle K in Birmingham. We saw a total of 23 deer with one of them being a Mississippi GIANT. The number of ducks and geese in Arkansas never ceases to amaze me and once Aidan (the 11 year old) saw them, we almost had a mutiny.
We had originally planned on driving straight through but, we got such an early start, we decided to spend the night in Tulsa. We will head out first thing in the morning and hope to be in Douglas by 8pm.
 
We got a late start this morning so, we just rolled into Douglas. The trip through Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado was amazing! We saw lots of deer and thousands of geese. The highlight was definitely seeing my first real live elk just outside of Denver. It was a small heard consisting of a small bull and a half dozen cows. My wife managed to get a pic of them that I will post later.

Unfortunately, there was a problem at the hotel with our room that I have to deal with first thing in the morning. After that we are heading out to see how bad the roads are and where I can actually access to hunt. Tomorrow is also Aidan's eleventh birthday so, I'm sure we will be seeking out the best burger in town! He thinks we forgot his binoculars but, they are actually in the new bino harness he's getting for his birthday.
 
Glad to hear you made it! Went out all day yesterday, Fetterman from Laramie to forty mile flat was clear, but not sure how it is from Douglas down. Palmer Canyon Rd is a no go, IMO. Good luck!
 
We slept in this morning and had the issue with the room taken care of by noon. We had a quick bite of lunch and headed out to explore. I am very uncomfortable driving on these snowy/icy roads so we took it slow. We checked out a couple HMAs right off the interstate to test my driving abilities out. We saw a group of mule deer with a nice buck and a nice herd of antelope. We also saw what I believe to be a couple sets of elk tracks in the snow. I marked some spots on my onX app to check out in the morning. We finished off the day with an awesome birthday dinner for Aidan at The Depot restaurant in Douglas.

The mule deer we saw today...

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...and the antelope.

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Aidan glassing for me while i sat in the car.

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This is fun !! Looking forward to your next post. Thanks for taking us along with you !!
 

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