Mountain peaks draped with fresh snow stretched to the sky behind thousands of acres of golden aspen trees, stamping a beautiful image into my mind. God’s country is what I like to refer to the
Rockies
. I was once again about to start another elk hunt in the
Rockies
in hopes of tagging my first Rocky Mountain Elk.
My plane touched down in Steamboat Springs and soon I was headed to the ranch house on Peabody Recreational Lands. Myself and three other hunters were there to hunt for elk on over 22,000 acres near
Hayden
,
Colorado
. The ranch house was tucked away in between rolling ridges where small herds of antelope and mule deer sprinkled the hillsides, the smell of sage brush and alfalfa lofted in the air. Director of Peabody’s hunting lands, Wilbur Engelhardt took me for a tour of the area, thru the reclaimed land where once heavy machinery rolled in search of coal, now this area was rich in wildlife, rolling in rich pasture lands. Proof that Peabody Coal had made a commitment to restoring this land.
The first morning arrived, Kathy, the cook prepared a feast for us hunters before we headed up the mountain. We headed out for the long drive up the mountains to our first setup. Within minutes of getting out of the truck, we heard our first elk bugling. Dozens of bull elk screamed throughout the mountain range, all in an attempt to out do the bugle before them. Already a smile was pasted on my face; I was having a difficult time trying to hold back my excitement. Gathering up our gear which consisted of my Realtree® pants, shirt and light jacket over my Under Armor® we headed down the mountainside in hopes of getting ahead of some bulls. The sun slowly started warming the mountainside; the hills were alive with elk. They were everywhere, mountain range after mountain range as far as my Nikon® binoculars could see I could find elk on each and every mountainside. The bulls were fired up and pleading for their lady friends to answer, dozens of them were scattering off the mountainside, something was forcing them off the slopes. We later learned that the sheep herders were up on the high ridge rounding up the last of the summer sheep for market. The herding dogs with bells on their collars no doubt startled the herds of elk. What a beautiful site, to watch hundreds of elk evaporate off the far mountainside, only to reappear on the ridge in front of us. My guide spotted a nice 6x6 and attempted to call him in closer for a look. Watching as the bull’s whales tails weaved in and out of the thick oak brush we knew we were onto a really nice bull. We spent the rest of the morning going after him, up and down slick mud-covered mountains. That afternoon we headed back up the mountain to set high on the ridge to glass for elk. We were joined by two extra sets of eyes to see if we could locate the big bull that got our hearts pumping that morning. My host Wilbur, Jason and his father Tracy who is the head guide for Peabody along with myself sat up on a high vantage point. In no time we spotted some cows, they were everywhere. A rainstorm began to roll thru the mountain range as the elk started their evening bugling. Horizontal rain and sleet began pounding us in the face, making me thankful for my Realtree® pattern Squal Tec raingear and Realtree® camo and cold gear Under Armor®. The rain cloud soon blocked our view of the mountains in front of us and we all decided that it was time to call it a day.
Fresh snow moved into the mountain range overnight covering everything in sight. The sun was rising and God had painted the morning sky with glorious shades of pink and blue behind the snow white mountains. We sat up on one bull that Tracy and Wilbur referred to as “the freight train” due to his deep bugle.
Tracy
sat up downwind and started calling in a lost cow type of moan. The bull was interested in finding that lost cow and was working toward us, then the wind changed and he fell silent. That setup was over; we hiked even farther to get setup on a rocky ridge that overlooked a deep meadow and watering hole.
Tracy
decided to put on a show for this Hoosier. He began aggressively calling and stirred up all the elk up the side of the mountain with bugling, cow calling, lost calf calls and everything else in between. The mighty bulls were answering everywhere. Several presented themselves for our entertainment. Another excited morning had come to an end and the elk went silence as they bedded down for the afternoon.
Friday evening
Tracy
decided to take me to the reclaimed land to see if we could find some elk in a large basin. Sitting up on the backside of a ridge we knew the wind was wrong but the weather stared to play tricks with us and would swirl, stop, than start up again. Each and every time the temperature would drop a few degrees and the wind would get stronger and the snow would fall faster and so would the temps. We could hear distance bugling but could not see the bulls because of the heavy fog and snow showers; we had only planned to sit in this location for fifteen minutes or so. But plans sometime change and ours did. The fog rolled in, then the snow, and sleet, we decided that we should leave but when we looked up we saw some cows coming out in front of us downwind about 100-yards. We decided to stick it out a little longer until perhaps a shooter would come out or the weather would pass. I was determined to not be the first one to give up and head for the truck. Finally
Tracy
said “let’s go” the temperature had dropped drastically and we both were now cold and froze to the bone. We didn’t care that the cows were all watching us leave the reclaimed basin. At that moment, our only concern was trying to get blood flow back into our hands and feet. It was obvious to me that weather in the mountains can turn on you and become your worse fear quickly and without much notice. Heading down the mountainside, I couldn’t help but think that this ground was once heavily mined, but now no evidence of the previous industry existed. Providing proof that
Peabody
’s commitment to the environment and it’s effort to return the land to its original beauty was working. Proving that the winner of
Colorado
’s Ranching for Wildlife program did indeed follow thru with their commitment to the land.
My last morning to hunt Tracy and I once again decided that we should return to the same basin that
Peabody
refers to as the “reclaim.” With several inches of fresh snow and ice on the mountain we worked our way up in the early hours. Hiking quietly up the mountain in the dark in deep thick ice-covered grass was not an easy task. Finally the wind seemed to be in our favor and we could hear several bulls already bugling. We worked our way to the backside of the mountains in snow showers and foggy conditions. The bulls were bugling upwind of us and we looked up on the hill to see two cow’s looking at us while they were grazing on snow-covered grass, thankfully our Realtree® gear kept us hidden.
We crawled closer to the rim of the basin to get in a better viewing position. The morning was starting off just right, we sat up on the ridge and started glassing for a possible shooter in the large herd of elk below us. Finally we got our sights on the same bull and I was preparing to shoot. “How far?” I asked
Tracy
. My 6’6 mountain man guide grinned and said in a calming voice, “shoot if you’re comfortable.” Finally the bull stood broadside and I squeezed the trigger and nothing happened, I missed! I shot completely under the bull,
Tracy
reassured me and told me to take my time, I could see that the mature bull was rounding up his herd and pushing them toward their bedding area in the oak brush. Again the mature bull stopped and I whispered to
Tracy
that I was on him again. Just relax and aim high on his back
Tracy
coached me. I squeezed the trigger and watched thru the Leupold® scope as the Federal® Nosler 180 grain partition bullet plowed right thru the bull. A small hop, then the bull started to show signs that he was going to go down. I chambered another round and was preparing for another shot, within a few minutes the bull went down for good.
Tracy
high fived me and was grinning and congratulating me on my first elk. What an exhilaration it was for me, after two hard hunting seasons, to finally have an elk and he was a good one. I stopped and thanked God for this awesome gift that would surely provide some tasty meat for my family. Tracy and I enjoyed the moment for a few minutes while giving the entire herd time to leave the basin. I couldn’t help but to become emotional at this moment. The
Rockies
are a special place to me, God has blessed me tremendously with my first trophy elk and my emotions were as big as this bull elk. I couldn’t wait to make my way down into the basin to see my bull up close and thank God again for this monarch of the mountains. What an exciting morning I had hunting the once barren mining land and now standing in snow-covered grasses looking at my first elk.
