Feeling that I may have finally gotten the best of my bronchial crud, I endeavored to climb to my favorite meadow at 9,700 ft to watch the sun rise and hopefully catch elk feeding. The sun kept to it's appointed hour, however the elk were not so courteous. I heard cow elk calling to each other in the distance, but before I could locate the source, they moved off northwest toward the peak of Bull Mountain (10,082).
The sunrise was glorious!
Pretty fresh elk sign in my meadow.
The meadow was full of “skid marks” – elk sliding in the snow covered mud on their way down the mountain to feed last night.
My neighbors David & Janet Lochman stopped by to discuss our Wood Duck Introduction Project and mentioned that he had frequently been seeing a big bull elk with a small herd of cows feeding on the Big Meadow above his cabin. So, of course, the evening hunt was at the Big Meadow. The temp has climbed to 51 degrees and most of the deep, crusted, snowdrifts had melted a bit, so getting up there was no problem with the chained up truck.
I immediately found the tracks of a small herd of about a dozen, crossing and recrossing. The sign looked to be a few hours old, from this morning or thereabouts, so after tracking a while, I returned to the Big Meadow for the last 30 minutes of the hunt.
The meadow smelled strongly of elk, however, they did not deign to appear, so I returned home to drown my sorrows in Thai Green Curry with Shrimp and Broccoli.
This years hunt was quite exciting, despite getting sick a couple days before the start. We saw lots of elk (maybe 75 or so – but no clearly identifiable 4point legal bulls), I saw a few deer, we had 2 lovely falls of tracking snow, 30 mph winds, calm days, and the temps ranged from a low of 11 to a high of 51 degrees, so we certainly had lots of variety. Son-in-law Ben displayed great endurance and enthusiasm in improving his hunting craft and was rewarded with a plenitude of elk sightings. He is a fine elk hunting partner.
We ate well, got lots of excercise and enjoyed the peace of the Rocky Mountain wilderness. Can't get much better than this!
Self portrait in sunrise hot light!
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David Willett 