This was my son’s first big-game hunt and we harvested this 72-inch buck in Eastern Colorado. Nick, 12, managed a double-lung shot from about 320 yards with a Stephens .243. 

It was one of the best hunting trips I have been on because I got to be with my son when he harvested his first big-game animal.  I’m looking  forward to more years of hunting together. 
- Damian Lopez, Nick's father

Stuart Evans on left with Rick Evans on right

Realizing this was probably a once-in-a-lifetime draw, my brother Stuart took a week off of work and helped me get this 10-year-old ram in Unit 32. We lost 40 pounds of weight between us getting ready for this sheep hunt.  

We used the spot and stalk method to hunt. It took four days to find this ram, and we climbed nearly 4,000 vertical feet. Once we got 225 yards from the ram, it spooked and started making its way across a rock slide. I took a quick shot and dropped him.  

Thank you, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, for the chance to hunt big horn sheep.

Photo by Crystal Lambert

After hunting hard with no success all first season with a Unit 54 leftover cow tag, on the seventh day of the second season I finally had my shot. 

It was a very cold morning and I was sitting in one of my favorite spots.  It was a spot I knew could produce because I've been seeing tracks come through this small opening for years, but the timing was never right. 

At about 7:30 a.m., while I was checking out a bird with my binoculars, I look down and see this bull quartering towards me.  I knew it was the best chance I've had all season so the adrenaline started flowing.  The wind was at my back and I knew my window of opportunity before I was busted was small so I got ready.  After he was about 30 feet into the opening, a much larger bull followed - the size of bull you rarely ever see, especially if you are hunting.

This is a choice you don't get often; do you take the first, closer animal or risk being winded by the first animal in hopes of shooting the big bull? My decision was quick though and since I hunt for meat, I chose the animal with the best chance for success. Thanks to my wife, Crystal Lambert and Chris Matison for helping me pack him out.

I learned a great deal this hunting season and my mental elk war chest seems to get larger every year.  Remember to never get discouraged, enjoy the time in the woods, and especially, the time you're not at work!

Photo by Blane Klemek
Joe Welna (front) and John Zack (rear, carrying antlers)
head back to camp.

We had a front row mountainside seat as we watched the entire hunt unfold when John Zack harvested his first elk.

Joe Welna and I were processing our mule deer in camp, cutting and wrapping our venison. At about 4:45, we were surprised when John returned from the nearby mountain, out of breath and looking at the slope behind Joe and me.

He pointed to it as I asked him why he was back so early. Turning to look, we saw more than 30 elk on the sage-covered ridgetop almost a mile away.

“I don’t think I can make it in time,” John said as he glanced down at his wristwatch.

“Yes you can!” I answered.

In the ensuing minutes we helped John by suggesting the best route for a stalk and then bid him good luck as he began his descent to the creek bottom and back up the other side in hopes of positioning himself for a shot at a bull.

John made it with only minutes to spare. The elk were everywhere, foraging, unaware, but only a couple of bulls were amongst the herd. 

We watched him crawl toward a big Douglas fir tree. We watched him disappear. We waited for the sound of his rifle. And then we heard one shot… then a second… and one more, all evenly spaced in a period of about a minute.

Then through our binoculars, we saw John stand up, facing us, his arms held high above his head and spread out, giving us the sign for bull elk down.
Yeah!

By Blane Klemek
Routt National Forest
October 2011

I considered using my 20 years of preference points in Units 2, 10, 61 or 201, but decided to go with the Bosque del Oso property because of the stories I'd heard about it.

At first light one morning I headed up along the bottom from my camp, sneaking along to stay in cover. About 500 yards up the canyon I saw several nice bulls. I looked farther up the canyon and spotted this bull up in the rocks. In cover and with him looking straight at me I couldn't judge how big he was. As the bull turned his head to go, I instantly knew he was a shooter. 

He disappeared in the terrain and I was sick I didn't shoot him when I had the chance.  As luck would have it, he stopped for one last look at me in a small opening, giving me a shot at his ribs just behind the shoulder. At 300 yards, I put one behind his shoulder and would have never known he was hit except for the thud of my bullet. He moved a few steps and stopped with only his head and neck exposed. As long as big bulls are on their feet I keep putting rounds into them, so I held on the neck and hit a little high. My third shot broke his neck, dropping him in his tracks.

As you build points through the years to 20, you have hopes of being able to go on the hunt of a lifetime.  It is really something when it comes together! I’ve hunted big game for 44 years and this is my biggest bull to date. I truly appreciate the chance to hunt on a place like Bosque with real trophy potential!

My name is Jon Prince and I am 68, born and raised in deep South Texas. From 1974-94, I made trips to northern Colorado to hunt elk. I had my share of harvested bull elks, most of nice size but nothing huge.  After almost 18 years not hunting in Colorado, my wife and I bought a cabin south of Pagosa Springs. I debated whether or not to hunt and finally bought my tag for third rifle season. 

I hunted three days, some in blizzard-like conditions, and each day I saw signs of elk. On the fourth morning, I set out determined to hang with the weather and find a bull.

After tracking one for more than two hours, I caught sight of him deep in oak brush. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would get a shot at him. I stayed with him and, a hour before dark, he emerged, I shot and down he went. Now how was I going to get him out before dark? It wasn’t possible,  so I gutted him, marked him and made my hike out of the woods.
 
When I reached the cabin, I contacted friends to help me pack him out in the morning. Great friends in Colorado - all showed up early and off we went. They couldn’t believe their eyes – I took a random walk in the woods, new to the area, and there lay a 6X6 bull that scored 305 points! I was elated.
 
Thank you, Colorado, for the best hunt of my life.