My last hunt!!

RockingRook · #1

Oct, 2009 was my last hunt. I took my son to Craig, Colorado for an Elk hunting trip. I was stationed in Denver from '65-'66 and
hunted and fished almost the entire western slop of the Rockies and wanted to take my son to retrace some of his old man's
footsteps.

I hired an outfitter with horses and mules and hunted about 20 miles north of Craig and about 20 miles or so from the Wyoming border.
I hunted that area many times for Elk and Mule Deer. Got some really nice bucks but never did get an elk myself. I was with 2 other guys in '65 where one
did get a nice 5x4 but then it took us 3 days to pack the thing back out to our camp.

We did not have any horses or mules, just our own feet. When he shoot that bull our hunting trip was essentially over.

Anyhow, below is a picture of my son with his really nice 5X5 bull. It weighed roughly 900 lbs. The mules packed out the 4 quarters, backstrap and head.

I had not been on a horse for about 40 years and could hardly walk after the first day's hunt. We must have seen over 200 elk.

I tried to upload the picture but it says it is too big. I will try to get it smaller but it is 2 Mb now and do not think I can fir it in.

canvasbck · #2

Were you by chance booked through Elkhorn Outfitters?

cheezit · #3

you can resize in ms paint pretty easy.

RockingRook · #4

Canvasback hello!! you got that right!! It was Elkhorn Outfitters.

Have you used them before?

Chuck

Texas10X · #5

RockingRook - Any luck on the picture?

RockingRook · #6

No luck. The two pics I have stored on my PC are 2Mb the site will only take 256KB.

Do you have any suggestions on how to get my pictures in conformity?

I will go to my pic. editor and see what I can do but if you have any ideas let me know.

One of the pics shows my son with a massive bull.

RockingRook · #7

OK, I think I have it now. Here is the picture of my son and his bull Elk.

030_30 (2). [b]Click on the picture and it will get larger.[/b] jpg

RockingRook · #8

Well, I loaded the picture above. If you click on the picture it will open. I was really proud of him getting that bull.

He used a 300 WSM at about 175 yds. He is an excellent shot. In the picture he is 32 yo. I started taking him out hunting here in
Texas about 15 years ago. I taught him how to shoot and now he is a lot better than I ever was. He consistently can group
less than 2 inches with that 300 or any rifle we have.

As I said in some of the posts above I wanted to take him hunting and retrace some of my footsteps in the area s I hunted in the mid '60s.

RockingRook · #9

If you click on the picture of the Elk above the picture will expand and get larger.

Sorry for so many posts this is all new to me.

RockingRook · #10

Canvasback asks:
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Re: My last hunt!!

Postby canvasbck » Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:53 pm
Were you by chance booked through Elkhorn Outfitters?
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Yes, it was Elkhorn Outfitters out of Craig, Colorado.

RockingRook · #11

Texas10X wrote:RockingRook - Any luck on the picture?

Yes, I loaded it above but it is small. To view it all you need to do is click on it or double click on it and it will
expand. Have not figured out how to get a picture in a post that is full size. I have a lot of pics of my whitetails
and some hog photos as well.

I will keep trying o figure out how to get them full size in here.

BTW, I really think that elk was a hum dinger.

canvasbck · #12

I asked because my brother owns the marketing and booking portion of the business. If you booked through a guy named Bob, it was my brother. If you booked through a guy named Ken, it was my Stepdad. Glad you had a good time! Was Dick your guide?

RockingRook · #13

canvasbck wrote:I asked because my brother owns the marketing and booking portion of the business. If you booked through a guy named Bob, it was my brother. If you booked through a guy named Ken, it was my Stepdad. Glad you had a good time! Was Dick your guide?

Dick is the owner right? His wife is Cheryl? No!! We had a young 22 yo Marine that was "moonlighting" while he was back from Afghan . He put us
on a herd of about 200. We had two bulls come to the call and they were almost identical. My son got one and the 16yo that was hunting also he got the other.

We never did see the entire herd but other hunters up above us saw the herd and us. They said the herd looked like ants there was so many.

Did you see the picture up above? Click on the image and it will get larger. Truly a nice elk. I have seen elk before but they were massive.

As far as who we booked with. I do not know. I made a phone call about a year earlier and booked with one of the guides that when I got there had already been let go. I wanted to get the upper camp
and they filled pretty quick. A year ahead was not too soon.

We stayed at the upper camp. Just about everyone up there got bulls. We went the last of October and the snow had not driven them lower yet.

The lower camp got a couple of spikes but that was all that I saw they had. In Nov. and Dec. as the snows get heavier up above they come down lower to the 6500 ft
elevation. While we were there we must have seen a few hundred Mule Deer in the town as well as in the foothills.

Yes we had a good time and my son will never forget it. We used the local taxidermist that Elkhorn touts. He did a great job and had the mount shipped to us. My son's
mount is practically on the floor level it is huge.

Take a look at the picture above.

canvasbck · #14

Yes, Dick is the owner. VERY nice guy.

Your son's bull is an outstanding animal. I don't just say that to be nice, I'm really familiar with the animals near Craig CO, and your son shot a real trophy...........congrats to him!

Texas10X · #15

Very nice!