Cory Glauner: Colorado Elk Hunt Report

Colorado Elk Hunt

Hal was first up to bat, and we had a tough first few days.

Day one we got absolutely soaked to the bone. By the end of the day my teeth were starting to chatter. Waited too long to put on rain gear then it was past the point of no return. Cody and Hal saw a bull but dad and I, nada. Dinner was amazing. Fun day.

Snowed that night and we had high hopes for day two. Saw a few deer, and drove some REALLY muddy roads. Dinner was amazing. Fun day.

Day three I felt deadly. Nothing in the morning, but it was super pretty, we saw some turkeys, some little bear tracks and I found a cool rock that I thought was a geode… it wasn’t. Had an amazing lunch and went back to the spot we went the first morning, but glassed down on it instead of coming in from the bottom. Found a herd of elk quick and made a move. Perfect situation. Cody, noticing that I’m an old man said "if I’m going too fast grab my pack and slow me down." I said "if I’m going too slow, call me a _____ and keep going." I kept up, but maybe he let me… hope not. 🙂

Spotted a bull down below us before we got to the elk we were after. Hal said let’s go! Got in and set up and it just wasn’t right so we made a little move and closed to 275. Hal smoked him. First elk. It was super cool. Stoke level was high. 😎

I was next. Two more days… Dinner was amazing. Great day.

The fourth morning was foggy, and we heard elk from camp, so we moved out slowly to try to glass them up in the dark and fog. The hope was to find them before shooting hours, so that we could have a chance before they left the fields and went up to the BLM around the ranch. My tag was private land only, so once they did that we were SOL. Unfortunately, they left in the dark and we never found them.

There was one more spot to check where elk like to hang in a big willow patch between the fields and the river, and we hoped that since it was foggy, they might stick around just a little later than normal. Cody and I moved down to a cottonwood about 100 yards from the willows and got set up. He was going to give a cow call and see what happened. It’s really the only chance we had for the morning hunt, and honestly, we didn’t expect a whole lot.

But, sometimes things just work out. Before Cody even called, a few cows walk out of the willows at about 90 yards. I’m on the sticks. Few more cows… a little bull… hmmm. Decision time. I wait. A few more cows, then a nice six point. Game time!

One issue, something has them spooked. We’ve got the wind, but just barely. They all start trotting out into the field and Cody cow calls, and stopped the bull. By this time I was off the sticks. Too close for that. Smoked him. The whole thing took about 15 seconds.

What’s even better is that dad and Hal were sitting on the ridge a few hundred yards away and got to watch the whole thing. Perfect.