I felt weird about sleeping in and hanging out at the tent that next morning. But it made sense to focus on that new canyon now. Hiking our local canyon in search of an elk had potential, but the new canyon was a sure bet. The only issue was logistics - it was a full hour on horseback and we didn't quite know the elk patterns there. So we played it safe and headed there while the elk were bedded.
When we crested the hill just at treeline we were hit with a wicked hail storm. We dismounted and whipped on our rain gear before continuing on to the canyon.
If you look closely you can see the hail streaking down on Kent as he mounts his horse.
When we reached it, Kent and I talked it over and we decided that our best bet was to split up and hunt alone. I was particularly interested in hunting the gulch alone - exactly where I videoed the bull yesterday afternoon. In addition to the one bull we called in, several others bugled from that very spot. The wind was good for an ambush. And while I had my calls with me, I opted to remain silent and wait it out in a strategic location. It was also a great place for me to self-film with my video camera on a tripod. I settled in for a long wait. It was only 4PM when we reached the area and split up. Most of the action took place at 6:30PM yesterday evening.
I spent the remaining hours watching and waiting in ambush, nothing came.
The hours ticked by as my watch read 6:45PM. Nothing moved. There was the odd bugle here and there but overall it was pretty slow. I saw nothing and neither did any of the other guys. What a difference a day makes. I didn't think we could have blown out all of the elk so maybe something else was going on. Who knows. But we were pretty disappointed in the action this evening.
We rode under the stars and got back in around 9:30PM It was quite an experience riding at night at 12k feet.
We rode back under a brilliant Colorado sky filled with stars so bright I felt like I was back in Africa. If the hunt ended today I would still be happy. We only have 2 days left to the season.
