The Elk That Got Away

Early one fall my hunting partner and I did some scouting in the area in Colorado where we were planning to hunt in the next big game hunting season. We found a big herd of elk across a big wet meadow. There had to be at least 200 full size elk. We got excited about the possibilities for success for the hunting season.

We set up our tents and settled in for the evening with a nice hot meal. Ray, my hunting partner, and I talked and planned for a couple hours before we bedded down for the night. Planning is one of the essentials of a successful hunt.

In the morning, we woke up at dawn and scouted another area and saw more elk. We looked at each other and said that this is the place where we are going to get our tags filled.

Ray drew a bull elk tag and I drew a cow elk tag when the state wildlife office distributed the hunting tags. We also had mule deer tags issued to us. When we got the tags in June, we got together and finalized our planning.

Ray and I are retired Air Force officers and have access to the shooting range at a nearby Army post. The rifles always get sighted in before the season starts. Ray and I have 30.06 rifles; mine is bolt action and Ray's is a semi-auto. It didn't take long to get our rifles sighted in for 100 yards. One more item on the checklist checked off.

The time came to load up the trucks and head to the mountains. The air was cold and when we got to the mountains and it was starting to snow. We setup our camp and got ready for the next morning to head out and then we had some food and then hit the sacks.

The opening morning was finally here. We got up early got dressed and gathered our equipment and opened the door of the tent and noticed that it must have snowed all night. The snow was about eight inches deep and a few drifts that were at least two feet. The clouds already cleared and the air was a little warmer so we set out to the scouted areas where we saw the first herd of elk. The sun was just coming up over the ridge. It was a beautiful morning and we were excited about what we anticipated to be a great successful hunt.

It was now about 10:00 and we did not even see a single animal where there had been a herd of over 200 elk. This was such a disappointing morning that we didn't see a single elk or deer. This was such a promising location and we thought for sure we would fill our tags before noon.

While walking through the woods that afternoon, I ran upon a huge white snow shoe rabbit. That thing had to be at least two feet tall. Too bad I didn't have a small game license; we would not have gone back to the camp empty handed and would have had fresh meat for our evening meal.

Well, the rest of the trip was just as unsuccessful so we packed up and headed for home empty handed for this hunting season. Better luck next year.

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