Day 5 - Third Day of Hunting

Roger Cesario, outfitter and owner of the lodge, is very high on hunt ethics at his camp. One example of this is when a hunter shoots at an animal, draws blood, and fails to find the animal, he is done hunting. He can continue to look for the wounded animal, but cannot shoot at another bull. I think this is a fair policy, and one that respects the wildlife we love. 

That said, after we made the one mile+ hike with Dad to his stand on the oak knoll, Hayden and I hiked back to yesterday’s scene of the crime. We spent 90 minutes scouring the area for any sign of last night’s bull elk. In the end, we found no blood, and no other sign to indicate I hadn’t missed, and no dead elk lying in the area. Thus, I could continue to hunt. Still very disappointing that I missed. Success rates in Colorado elk hunting run about 18%…it’s not too likely that I will get another opportunity.

We all returned to the lodge for lunch around noon. Dad did not see anything in the morning, and Tom and Josh saw more of the Bull Mountain elk cows, but still no bulls. Dad and Tom decided to take the afternoon off from hunting and enjoy some R&R at the lodge. They showered, talked with Roger and Justin (the hunter who already had his bull), and toward evening enjoyed a cigar and scotch on the porch while watching the sunset over Sheep Park.  These trips are not always just about the hunt…sometimes a relaxing afternoon of fellowship and breathing the mountain air is every bit as good. 

Hayden and I on the other hand got back to work. We headed northeast of the lodge to hunt the high mountain meadows around Sheep Mountain. We hiked for about a mile, with over half of it up a steep slope, to a picturesque meadow at 8480 feet elevation. The snowy 8.773 foot Sheep Mountain peak stood above us as if it was a stoic spectator watching a game. At about 4:30 we spotted 3 cows…about 400 yards away on an aspen ridge that led up to the peak of Sheep Mountain. We anxiously waited for a bull to appear, but we were not so lucky. We started our trek back down about 15 minutes before shooting hours ended, hoping we might see something on the way. We spotted two cows, and they spotted us as well and were out of site pretty quickly. A good afternoon. We saw elk, and had reason to come back to this area in the morning. 

Josh spent his afternoon hiking the flats south of the lodge with Moose. They struck out, but he remains optimistic. Two days to go…we still have time.