Colorado Elk 2005- Maynard Reece Byrd

[M. R. Byrd]

Hi gang,
 
I am back safely from my second Colorado elk hunt. We had an wonderful time, even though we missed the last day of hunting because of weather. The locals that we were hunting with packed up camp on Tuesday afternoon and said we should too, unless we wanted to have an extended stay of days or more than a week. The area we hunted was beautiful but rugged and certainly off the beaten path. Unfortunately, the most beautiful area was only seen by us during the night and was spectacular in the bright moon, but my digital camera just couldn't capture it.
 
Just getting to camp was a challenge. I had my four-wheel drive crew cab with road tires, with chains available if needed and a nineteen foot flatbed trailer with camp gear and my Polaris 6 wheeler. The first six miles is a steep climb along the rock. My diesel was heating up more than it ever has in making this first six miles. The next six miles is relatively flat, but had mud holes, that were up to thigh deep until Mark drained them with a shovel. Our camp was on flat ground. Mark was in camp a week before season. He was awakened one morning before daylight with quite a commotion. He emerged from his tent with rifle in hand. He figured out it was a pack of coyotes harressing a sow bear and her cub. He tried to get some of the sounds on his camcorder, since he couldn't see them in the dark.
 
There were five of us in camp; Mark age 53, Larry age 62, Lee age 59, Maynard age 55 and Scott, my oldest son, age 31. All five of us had bull tags. Larry and Lee hunted the area around camp. Mark, Scott and myself hunted another area that was an hour from camp. The first 4.5 miles could be made in the pickup or on the 6 wheeler in thirty minutes. The last 1.5 mile was a jeep or ATV trail that took thirty minutes. The last trail was steep and sloping with large rocks and super slick mud when wet. Then there was the pack up to the hunting area of another 1.5 to 2 miles.
 
The area that Mark, Scott and myself hunted on opening morning had not been seen by Scott and myself until that morning. We dropped Scott at a dry pond and park and Mark and I proceeded another half mile into the forest. We stopped and glassed as daylight began to appear. We found out that a group had packed in on ATV's on a very steep trail coming out of a basin on the other side of the forest and were camped about a half mile down slope from where we were now. Mark suggested that I continue into the forest another half mile and check out some parks in that area and he would stay and glass. I came to a nice park that was about 50 yards wide and 300 yards long, sloping down to a dry pond. It was surrounded with scrub oak and a few pines. I proceeded along the shadowed edge of the park to close to the bottom. I sat down to watch and listen for awhile.  Very soon I heard two shots to my northwest, but very close. I watched and waited for some action coming by, but there was none. I was just ready to move west and check out what was happening. I thought it might be one of the group from the other camp. Before I got gone, a shot rings out immediatley to my west and very close and somewhere in the scrub oak on the west fringe of my park. I ready my rifle and there are three mulie does darting across the park about 60 yards from me followed by nine elk cows, but no bulls. Then I hear another shot, which sounded like a dispatch shot. I decided to wait just a bit to see if I hear or see anything else. I wait about ten minutes and all of a sudden three mulie does, maybe the same ones as before tear by me going opposite the previous direction of travel. I ready my gun for a bull elk, but none appears. I figure someone is pushing the deer, then a young man appears, coming through the scrub oak below me in the park. I watch him with my glasses, but he does not see me. He wanders around the dry pond bed looking for tracks. He has a backpack and his gun hanging on his shoulder with a strap. He puts both hands behind his head and proceeds to stretch for quite awhile and then drops his hands and disappears west into the scrub oak. No more was he gone than I hear two shots likely from his gun. Again I ready my rifle, but no game. I wait for about ten minutes then proceed up and out of this park the same way I had came in. I work my way west and can now see a man on his knees cleaning an elk. It appears that it is not Mark or Scott. I do not want to approach him from his rear, so I proceed west and come into another park that is only about 30 yards wide and about 400 yards long and immediately see that the young man has a large elk down about 150 yards down the park. When I get up even with the man cleaning the elk, I see that it is Mark. Mark has a dandy 5 x 6 bull there. He is proceeding well with quartering the elk and I told him I would go check out the elk that the kid has down and be back to pack the first quarter out.
 
The kid's elk was in the center of the park, but behind a small thicket. When I get there, I find the fifteen year old has a large 6 x 6 bull down there. It is a real beauty. It is his third hunt and his first elk. I take photos with my camera and get his address to mail him a copy. He tells me that his  brother(actually I find out later it is his brother-in-law) has a big bull down, just at the bottom of this park in an aspen grove. That elk happened to be a huge 5 x 7 bull. He is 31 years old and on his fifth hunt and this is his first elk. The real ironic thing about these young men, is that they made a mistake and wrote the wrong unit number on their application. A real bad mistake? They were really excited and so was I, seeing three respectible elk taken with a period of 45 minutes and in the same little park with the maximum distance between animals of 350 to 400 yards. Even though I could not see the action, I witnessed it all. It was quite an opening morning.
 
The next two days were really quiet and lacking game. On Tuesday, the fourth day of the season, Larry and Lee decided to join us up in the forest. Larry has a rock climbing jeep that should be able to make the narrow and rocky trail to the forest. We get there well before first light. Scott and I knew the area pretty well by now and and I had everyone in areas that I thought could be productive. Scott was on top the rock outcropping, then I was at a park with a pond that had a small amount of water left, Larry and Lee would go to the parks that I was in opening morning and the adjacent one where the three bulls were harvested on opening day. I positioned myself by the dam and waited for first light. A string of mule deer, four does and a buck come out of the timber on my right. I figure that I am going to have to remain motionless while they drink and graze that lust grass around the water. I remain still and let them graze, knowing that if they see me and give alarm, any elk in the area will give flight also. After awhile I decide I will bend down to check out the area of timber that the deer came from since a limb blocked that view. Immediately, I see two dark bodies following the same path as the deer. Needless to say, my heart began to pound out of my chest and my knees were a little weak. I tried to check the elk out with my binoculars, but could not hold them steady enough. In Colorado, a legal bull either has to have either a five inch brow tine or four points on one side. I decide that I will slowly get my rifle in position and steady it against the tree. I had already decided that I would not be greedy for a trophy bull, but shoot the first legal bull I saw. The two bulls were going through some pines and then I saw the first bull had a legal brow tine and was determined to take the shot should he clear the pine and present an open shot. This was my second elk hunt and if the elk provided me a shot would be my first shooting opportunity. I estimated the distance to be about 150 yard. Bull fever was sitting in and I was certainly having trouble getting my gun steady, but then the bull stepped from behind the pines and I squeezed the trigger on my Browning A-bolt, chambered in Remington 300 Ultra Mag. My shot was low and I hit the bull in the upper leg right where it attached to the shoulder. The bull spun around and started for the timber and another shot in the vitals put him down in his tracks. He was a beautiful bull, only a small 5 x 5, but certainly a trophy for me.
 
Lee and Larry helped me get the bull quartered while Scott went for the game carrier. Mark packed the first quarter out in his pack. Scott returned and he and I packed the rest of the meat out on the carrier. Larry and Lee continued to hunt and Mark continue to look for bear to fill his bear tag. By the time that Scott and I got to the Polaris 6 wheeler it was begin to rain and the weather was making a big change. We heard Larry and Lee talking on the radio that they needed to find Mark and get out fast. We tried to reach them on our radio, but could not. We heard them fire a shot to alert Mark. We proceeded to load my entire elk, including the head on the 6-wheeler, along with our packs, extra coveralls, extra fuel, our cased rifles and the game carrier. Then I crawled on the back on top of the load and we began our decent in the cold rain. My job, beside holding on was to be ballast to help keep the 6 wheeler upright on the sometimes sloping trail. Sometimes I would have to jump off the back when we encountered a steep climb and occassionly help push up a muddy slope. The mud in that area is extremely slick and does not clean from the tread, but continues to stick to the tires rendering your tread useless. I wish my camera would have be available to take a picture of the load. It reminded me of the truck in the Beverly Hillbillies. We made it to camp about 2 PM and I told Scott that we would give the guys one hour to get there and if not, one of us would stay in camp and the other go back on the 6 wheeler. It was only about 20 minutes before they arrived. The rain had let up, but the skies were threatening and they said that the color of the clouds was alarming to them and they were breaking camp and getting out and would recommend we do the same. They offered Scott and me assistance, but we said we could get it. It took us much longer to get packed than we thought and then the weather was getting ready for round two. We were moving fast, but not nearly fast enough as both the storm and darkness was catching us. Then the lightning flashes were getting close and the thunder rocking us. It was dark and raining hard when we left. I did have chains for the truck, but decided try it without them. The first six miles was not too bad, but then there would be the steep six miles. Mark had warned me that there were layers of soil between the layers of rock and heavy rains would cause rock slides. Then the fact that there is no guard rails and the drops can be 500 feet or more did concern us. I am a praying man and I was praying. Fortunately, I have electric brakes on both axles of my trailer and I used my hand control to brake the trailer to keep it from pushing my truck. The brakes were heating and stinking. Finally, we were able to find a somewhat level spot to get stopped and cool the breaks for awhile. All I asked of the brakes that they keep me on the road and if I have to replace them, so be it.
 
It was 10PM  Tuesday night when we got down to town and now again had cell phone service. Scott checked with the airline on moving his flight, scheduled for Friday morning up to Wednesday or Thursday, but found out all seats were sold on all the days up till his scheduled departure on Friday. The torrential rain was continuing. We made the decision on make the drive to my son's home in Kansas City, taking turns driving. The rain continued until we reached higher elevation when it turned to snow. We arrived in Kansas City about 7PM Wednesday night and unloaded Scott's gear. After repacking the meat, I left for my return to Dodge City and arrived early Thursday morning, thanking the Lord for safety and the opportunity to hunt in His presence and the presence of Christian friends.
 
My first successful elk hunt is now history, but such fond memories will last my lifetime.
 
Copyrighted 2005. Maynard Reece Byrd
May not be reproduced in part or whole without written permission of author.
 
For the forum, the following photos follow:
1) Scott, Maynard, Mark, Larry
2) Lee, Maynard, Mark, Larry
3) Mark and his 5 x 6 bull
4) Teenager and his 6 x 6 bull
5) Young man and 5 x 7 bull
6) Scott overlooking the hunting area from a high rock ledge
7) Maynard in the same area
8) Maynard and his 5 x 5 bull

[Gmoney]

Nice story and nice pics Maynard...glad you had a good time and made it back safe.....

[M. R. Byrd]

Sorry guys, I meant to put this in the Elk Hunting Forum, but see I got it in the Campfire Forum. My bad----could be it be lack of sleep?
 
Maynard

[motor (deceased)]

That was great maynard, i felt like i was there with you..:D

[Dragonfly]

Great pics MR!!! Great looking elk too, plus the men ain't too shabby either.

 

And beautiful country out there!!!

[Hunterbug]

Good job and congrats on the successfull hunt. Next year when you come through you'll have to give me a call and we'll do coffee.

[M. R. Byrd]

Hunterbug,

Now you offer me caffeine. I don't do coffee, but plenty of iced tea. I used lots of iced tea and snacks during my turns at the wheel. I would have gladly stopped by, but it might not have been at a very convenient time for you.:D
 
I arrived at my home town, near my ranch at 6:30 AM on Thursday and stopped at the local eatery. I wasn't hungry from all the snacks, but requested iced tea and my friend and waitress, Mary, brewed a fresh pot for me. Oh, what service. I did get some ribbing from the locals for my attire which was camo pants, insulated underwear henley, blaze orange cap, heavy hunting socks and sandals, and oh yes, lots of facial stubble. I declined the offer to sit at their table, due to my heavy body odor of a week in elk camp.
 
We'll have to do coffee(iced tea for me) one day.
 
God Bless,
Maynard

[buckshot roberts]

Congrats, to you guy's I like those pic', good to see you back.

[Highstand]

Congrats! Sounds like a fine hunt!
 
Highstand

[Hunterbug]

M.R., I'm usually up untill about 2am and then back up at 8am so that usually isn't a problem. Like I said though, maby next year.

[Hiker]

M.R. Byrd,
Nice Elk. Thanks for sharing with us.
 
Jeff

[Dragonfly]

Ok guys I have a question. Never have seen an ELk up close and personal.  Seen plenty at LBL but not that close.

Answer me this:

Is a female Elk called a doe?  I know her baby is called a "Calf"

And do they have a white ring around the nose area?  Just behind the mouth and nose?

I'll explain my question when I get your answers.. :)

[Hiker]

Dragonfly,
 
a female elk is called a cow.
 
no white around the nose and neck. it's usually dark.
 
Jeff

[Dragonfly]

OH MY what do I have visiting and bedding down in our back yard?

It's a female with a calf but she has a black nose, large white ring around the back of her nose and mouth...

I've been trying to catch a pic but just can't seem to get her and the calf.

One evening I stepped out on the back porch and heard heavy breathing and a grunt.  Took the flashlight and there they were.  And I see them when I get up early in the morning around sunrise.

Beautiful sight but what are they????

It's not white tail deer that I know for sure.

[Dragonfly]

I've been searching the internet and cannot find my mammal!!!

I've looked at Caibou, mule deer, elk, and nothing is coming even close.

What else can I look for??? I'm serious guys!!!

"Helpme if you can I'm feeling dowwwn. And I would appreciate you being roundddddd. OH Please, Please HELP me" The Beatles LOL!! :D