Colorado 2011

[dahlmer]

This is the hunt that I have been anticipating ever last year when we found out we had not drawn. We thought our odds were 100%, but Colorado had cut the tags by more than 50% and we were greeted with the unsuccessful letter. We approached the 2011 draw with apprehension as we debated whether to use our points in the unit which we had hunted twice previously or should consider another unit that may have more deer. We had killed two nice bucks in our previous efforts, but turning up deer had been difficult and access could be a challenge in poor weather conditions. Ultimately we felt our knowledge of the area would pay off and we hoped to be able to score buck for all three of us.

We left the Thursday morning before the hunt anticipating that we would arrive early enough to set up camp and have time to get some scouting done on Friday. The drive was uneventful until we got to the dirt road. A storm had passed through a few days previously and dumped about half a foot of snow. The temperature had risen and now the roads were messy and slimy. We debated chaining up, but determined after a little that the roads were passable. As we headed up the road we came to a steep and tight corner and the horse trailer drug us closer to the edge than we liked. The tires lost traction and suddenly we were stuck. We didn’t have enough room on the side to back the trailer and we couldn’t move forward. We unhooked the trailer and chained up, but it was too little too late. By that time we were too far gone and each effort to get out only pulled the truck closer to the edge. Fortunately, a wonderful gentleman with a winch pulled up behind us and was able to get us back on the road and on our way. Thank you very much!

Here you can see where our front and back tire were at.


Due to our delays we were slower getting camp set up and our scouting time was all but lost. We did see a two point buck Friday night, but he would be safe from us.

Here is camp after we got set up.


Saturday morning another storm set in and the first day was a total flop. The deer were holed up tight and visibility was basically none existent. We got wet, but that was about it.

Sunday we slept in and took a day off. We did drive around a bit and try and catch up on some of our lost scouting, but we still weren’t seeing much. We found several does, but bucks were few and far between. The two point we had seen previously was still in the same place and a small four point had joined him, but he wasn’t really what we were looking for either. We ran into the fish cops and talked to them about what they were seeing, but they hadn’t seen much success yet and indicated most of the deer were still holed up from the storms.

Monday it was time to get serious. We were up a 4:00. After breakfast for us and the animals we headed up the mountain with dreams of big bucks in our heads. The storms had mostly passed and we were hopeful that we would catch the deer out feeding late as a result of several days of stormy weather. We were disappointed to find very few deer in the places we had success in previous years. We found about a dozen does and no bucks at all. We did see some does with a rutting buck, but he was over 1,000 yards away and there was a lot of forest between him and us. Everything we saw was low, but we felt the bigger bucks would be holding higher if they weren’t with the does yet. Tired, we headed back to camp.

We did, however, run into elk everywhere. We had several small 6 points under 400 yards, but without a tag they were safe. On the way out we talked with some elk hunters and swapped info. They had seen a really nice buck up in the quakies Saturday. They had also seen a lot of does and small bucks moving out of the country, but they didn't have any large bucks with them.

Tuesday morning we headed lower and while we found a lot of sign, all we were seeing were does. It was apparent that the bigger bucks had not moved in with the does yet. I did find a pretty good shed though.


For the evening hunt, we decided we would head up into the area that the elk hunters had seen the buck and see what we might run into. We were riding through the quakies and looked ahead and suddenly a buck jumped out of his bed. We rushed off the horses and my dad managed to get two shots off, but he escaped without a scratch. I didn’t get a good look but my dad and our buddy felt it was a solid 4 point. We tracked him for a while, but he went through a herd of elk and his trail was tough to stay on. The sun was setting and we needed to get back to the trail before dark.

By Wednesday we were starting to get discouraged. Five days into the hunt and we had seen one shooter and he was in a spot that was going to be incredibly tough to kill him in. My parents were expecting an LDS mission call and so we needed to get on a ridge that we could get cell coverage from to see if the call had arrived yet. We split up for the morning. I went with my dad while our buddy headed back up on the ridge that we had seen the rutting buck from. We agreed to make radio contact at noon and set a plan for the evening.

[dahlmer]

After the morning hunt we found a spot we could get cell coverage and called home. My mom informed my dad that their mission call would be arriving that day and we made arrangements to be in town that evening at 5:30 so they could open it with the whole family there and my dad and I on the phone.

We ate lunch and waited for our buddy to radio us and let him know what we would be doing. At noon he radioed and we informed him we would be headed into town for the evening. He had he had hit a 24-25” four point that morning and had been tracking it. After he had jumped it several times he decided to back out and see if he would expire. He was going to spend the rest of the day looking for it.

One of our lunch spots.


My dad and I headed back to camp and then back into town. We got back to town around 3:00 and with a little time to burn decided we would drive around some new areas to get familiar with things. We saw a few deer in town, but once we got a little further out things were pretty sparse. We were making a loop and had gotten back onto an oiled road and were making our way back when we saw buck and a doe moving to cross the road. They stopped and we passed them and they crossed about 20 yards behind us. I initially thought the buck was only a 3 point, but when he turned I could see he had 4 on one side. He was a good buck and far better than anything we had seen.

We debated what to do as we were uncertain if we were on public or private ground. We went about 500 yards down the road and found a place to turn around and head back. We passed the area they had crossed and saw the buck again moving up the hill about 100 yards off the road. We still weren’t sure what to do. We went for maybe a quarter of a mile up the road and passed a sign indicating we were leaving public ground and that sealed our decision. We went back to make a play for the buck.

When we back to where they had a crossed again the buck was now about 300 yards up the hill from where we had seen him. We jumped out of the truck and threw on our orange and went after him. I went to the right and my dad head about 50 yards to my left. The buck had moved off to the left and I could no longer see him. Suddenly my dad knelt down and fired and missed. The buck ran back to the left and stopped and my dad fired again and the shot was followed by a loud pop.

The deer had disappeared so I went straight to where my dad had last seen the deer and my dad circled to the left to make sure he didn’t move out of sight. When I got 20 yards from where we had last seen the deer I could seeing him lying dead beneath an old cedar. I immediately could see he had four on both sides and was a better buck than I had first thought.

It was now just after 4:00 and we needed to hurry. We didn’t have any cameras with us due to the craziness of it so we gutted him quickly and drug him the 400 yards back to the truck. We threw him in the bed of the truck and headed back in town. We arrived with 15 minutes to spare. As an aside my parents received a call to serve in Jakarta, Indonesia.

My dad's buck in the back of the truck.

and back at camp.


After the excitement of the evening we grabbed dinner and headed back to camp catch up with our buddy. After lunch, he had gotten back on the track and jumped him a few more times. The deer would bleed when it bedded and at first while it was moving, but then it would dry up and was difficult to follow. After following for some time the deer headed for a pine, acting like it would bed again. Suddenly the track did almost a complete 180 and ran off in another direction. As he continued to follow the track he noticed that something else was moving in the deer’s track. The deer had run up a steep incline covered with a bunch of aspen downfall and he could no longer stay on the track with his mule.

He headed back to see if he could loop around and when he got back to where the deer had changed direction he went over to the pine. Under the pine he found a fresh fawn kill that I lion had stashed and was in the process of covering when the deer had interrupted the lion. The lion was now hot on the heels of the buck. He never could find the track again and the blood dried up in the downfall. He was unable to find the deer and headed back to camp in the dark.

Thursday morning we headed back up where he had shot the buck to see what might be there now. We tied the horses and walked down the ridge. We immediately spotted a group of deer about 750 yards away. There was a buck with them but in the early light it was hard to see what he was. They were moving away from us and when he sky-lined himself moving into the next draw we could see he was a nice 4 point. We hurried down the ridge hoping we could catch them crossing over the top.

Once we arrived where we hoped to see them cross we didn’t see any deer and debated to move down further to see into the draw they had moved into or wait and see if they would cross. We decided to move down hoping we would catch them crossing in the next saddle or off in the aspens on the other side. When we got there I looked into the aspen draw and caught movement out of the corner of my eye. The buck was 25 yards from me, but moving quickly. I swung my rifle up, but was unable to get a good look at him and he escaped.

[killerbee]

sounds like you guys had a great time!

[waspocrew]

That sounds like an awesome hunt! Congrats to your dad on getting a sweet buck!

[TheGreatwhitehunter]

Sounds like a good time

[dahlmer]

Frustrated and tired we decided we would head down the ridge further and see if we look back into the aspens and see him again. We worked our way down into a pass that looks back into the draw he had been in and saw nothing. From where we were we could also see onto the open side below us and I immediately found a couple of does in my binos. We looked and looked, but there didn’t appear to be a buck with them. We did, however, find one of the biggest bull moose I have ever seen. He had huge paddles and brow tines and appeared well over 40” wide. I’ve seen 1 or 2 really big bulls and he was as big if not bigger than anything I have ever seen.

We sat a glassed for about half an hour debating what to do now. We had come down the ridge close to a mile and it was a good hike back out. My dad and I continued to glass around the does, but no buck seemed to be present. Finally, we decided we would walk down to the next saddle and see what was there. One of the does had fed into cover and as I looked back, there were now two deer standing together. I put my binoculars up and a buck had materialized out of nowhere. The sun had still not hit the face and it was hard to tell how big he was for sure, but he looked tall and his antlers were an inch or two wider than his ears.

I mentioned earlier my rifle had been dropped. I had test fired, but was not comfortable with where I was at so I had taken my dad’s rifle that morning. My shooting sticks attach to my rifle and my dad’s did not have an attachment so my sticks were useless with his gun. He had forgotten his shooting sticks so I was working to get a good hold, but just could get comfortable in a sitting position. I laid down, but had trouble finding the deer because of the trees and brush in front of us. I finally found the deer and asked for the distance. My dad replied 307. It was downhill so I held a little low with the 300 mark and fired. The deer moved forward a bit and stood broadside for about five seconds, but I couldn’t get him back in the scope and he ran off into cover.

We went to check for blood but found nothing. My dad asked me where I was aiming and I told him. He asked why I was using the 300 yard mark when the deer what 374 yards away. I said because you told me 307...I guess we miscommunicated. I think I must have come up short and the bullet may have been affected by the brush in front of us as well. After checking for blood some more, we made the long hike back to the horses for lunch.

Our buddy had stayed back looking for any sign of the deer he had shot the morning before, but he came up empty handed as well. After lunch we decided to head over the area my dad had killed his deer in for a little road hunting and change of scenery.

The evening turned out to be a bust...all we saw were people. Friday would be our last day of hunting so we decided we would try the same ridge one last time and hope for the best. We were tired and frustrated and didn’t hold out much hope for more luck. We felt we had missed our best opportunities.

Wednesday we got out a little late and headed up to the top of the ridge. On the way up we found a couple of groups of does, but no bucks were present. We tied the horses and headed back down the ridge. The first draw was empty as was the second. We were moving along quickly trying to get to where I had shot at the buck the day before and as we looked into the draw we hoped to see the deer cross in the previous morning we couldn’t see anything. We started glassing and immediately saw some deer across the draw and there was a buck.

He looked to be pretty good so I sat down and got ready to shoot. He was 410 yards away. Our buddy shot first, but missed. I found him in the scope put the 400 yard mark on his chest as he quartered to us and fired. He dropped in his tracks. My dad headed back for the horses while the two of us headed down to the deer. When we got to him he was better than I expected. My buddy said he was sure he had five on one side and maybe on both. Turns out he was a six by seven.











Once my dad got back we got pictures and then quartered him and loaded him on the horse. My dad and I took the deer back to camp while our friend stayed back to hunt until dark.

Both deer back at camp.


When he got back he indicated he had gone back to look for the deer he had shot for a bit, but couldn’t find any new sign and no indication from birds anywhere. He went back on the ridge and saw a nice 4 point in the aspens, but a long gunner from about 1600 yards away shot about 40 rounds and the deer moved away to where he couldn’t get in for a shot.

Just an idea of how cold it was.


This has to be one of the most memorable hunts I have ever been on. The cold weather made a big difference as the deer began migrating through the area and the snow helped us to gain some very valuable insight into the area we were hunting. It was a tough hunt, but one that I’ll remember for a long time.

[Bow-man33]

awesome story and beautiful bucks! congrats!

[MuleyMadness]

WOW!! Outstanding, enjoyed the story. Glad you took the time to recap everything, was fun reading. You guys killed 2 awesome bucks and you smoked a giant IMO. Awesome.

[Vanish]

I love detailed stories like this!

[bh107]

Great write-up and beautiful bucks. Congrats!