Lost on an Elk Hunt

I managed to get a sunburn bugling for elk over a meadow just below 12,000 feet even though it was only the indirect sunlight of the early morning. That was a beautiful morning! We botched our attempt at making a panoramic photo of the amazing view, but from our nest of logs we could see 50 miles over the San Luis Valley to the San Juan Mountain Range on the other side (above). I’ve attached some of our best photos. Emerson caught a video of a chipmunk that came out and barked at us for about 15 minutes, but we somehow managed to drop the sound or I would include it here.

Emerson and I only had 2 and a half days on scene as I could not be away from work for longer than that. It was clear early on that it was going to be a difficult hunt. Other hunters we encountered were reporting being skunked and we weren’ t even hearing the rifle shots of a failed attempt. We even bumped into a hunter who lived in the canyon below our unit for 20 years, and he said this year was as bad as he had seen it. On our second day, Emerson and I scooted into the town of La Garita for some intel.

The one spotting we learned of was in the vicinity of Bowers Peak with some other tracks we heard of found near Boot Mountain. Locals were theorizing the weather conditions had sent the elk into the cover, so Emerson and I decided we were going to be ╥go getter╙ about it, and head in after╘em. We kind of split the difference between Bowers and Boot as a starting point.

I’ve been misplaced just a couple of times before in the Colorado wilderness, and it is not a good feeling. Less than 50 yards from the jeep we found our first semi-fresh elk pooh. Apart from laying eyes on the animals this is the only sign worth putting much stock in. A 700 to 1500 pound grazing animal is the very definition of a sh***ing machine. If you ain’t seeing poop, they ain’t around. Elk unlike deer, will cover enormous distances to find comfort. Encouraged by the fresh-ish pile we found, we charged up the mountain and deep into the thick feeling assured our contrarian approach was gonna pay off.

Thick is a subjective term. I lived as a kid in Panama and played in the rain forest.   If that is a 10, we were in about a 7. Lots of fallen trees and dead undergrowth made hiking a noisy chore, and we had a line of sight that did not go more than 30 yards in any direction except straight up. Anything linear that is carved out by a 1500# animal, sticks out on a landscape like this, and we did eventually find just such an elk highway about an hour into our hike. That was good news, so Emerson and I had a whispered huddle about our options. We had the highway and we had the hoof prints everywhere, but we were still light on the poop. Climb a tree? Build a blind and bugle until sundown? We pressed on, and shortly thereafter we were on top where the ground fell away from us in every direction.

Being on top is of little help when you can’t see off the top. Nearby Boot Mountain is a treeless peak we had seen from the other side the day before. We looked for a patch of brown through the trees that would tell us which way Boot Moutain lay, but even the blue of the sky could only be seen by looking up. We checked our map, took a quick pee, tanked up on water, and then we headed down in what I thought was a direction back toward the jeep. At least I think that is what I was thinking. High elevations have a way of giving you a mountain form of Alzheimers. I think going pee is what served to get me turned around. Note to self: Next time just pee in the direction you╒re already facing, Gilmartin. No one can see you anyway.

Heading in a down direction, we saw a lot more tracks, and I was really feeling good about our strategic choice, but then Emerson and I began to wonder even if we did encounter elk, if we would really want to take it there. Getting the animal out would be a two day affair, and we just weren’t sure we were up to the challenge. We could not even drag it out on quarters on our sled, the terrain was so rough. That’s when we began to discuss heading back to the jeep, and that╒s when we realized we had completely different ideas as to which direction the jeep lay. I am not kidding one bit when I say this. We were pointing in completely opposite directions as we discussed this, and that╒s a bad thing.

We had a little bit of a shouting match right there in the middle of the woods, and for the record, it was the kid with the GPS who won the argument. Good thing too! He was right. It was pushing 3PM, and our side of the mountain had already fallen into a shadow, and it is amazing how quickly my mind took a mental inventory of the contents of my backpack. If we got stuck out there overnight, I knew we would be okay, but it would not be a pleasant stay in the woods. Emerson and I double timed it back toward the jeep, and when we emerged from the woods, we came out onto a very precarious boulder field above the jeep trail. Screw it!, I thought, and we climbed down the boulder field to the road.

We were pretty wiped out after that hike, and with only an hour or so left, we did the rest of our scouting from the jeep. I think Emerson will be talking about that day when he is old and gray. I was just happy we did not wind up as an evening news story. -Great time in the mountains though.

Roxgilmartin