Elk Hunt 2014 - The Hunt...Day Two

Day two of the hunt started about as bad as can be for me.  I woke up at 3:30am with a pounding headache...and by 4:30 was feeling nauseous. After succumbing to the nausea, I realized that I had a case of altitude sickness. Dave Holbrook offered to take me to a lower elevation, but I decided to just lay low for the morning and see how I felt. I woke from a nap mid morning, and felt notably better. I ate a light breakfast, and was ready to go out again by noon.

Unfortunately, day two was a near replay of day one, with the one exception being that we saw many more deer. Dad quit counting at 40, and I saw 20+ in just a half day. Dad and Jack did see 5 elk...while looking over their field, the elk blasted out of a canyon and bolted across the meadow. No shooter bulls in the group, and it would have been a tough shot if there was one.

One member of our camp did score, however. Bob, the cowboy (literally, he owns a horse farm in Ohio and does cowboy shows throughout the midwest) took a small 4x5 bull at dusk. He thought his day was over as he began to work his way back to where they had parked the truck at the base of Flat Top Mountain. Looking down into the aspens beneath him, he caught a glimpse of movement. It was a cow elk...and a bull...both unaware that the hunter that loomed above them 80 yards away! He quickly raised his rifle and fired. The bull dropped in its tracks.

We had a few light showers in the afternoon, and an incredible sunset. The weather overall remains good, and the scenery remains the highlight. Always optimistic, hoping day three will be better for Dad and me.