Not your ordinary hunt report...

We spent the night at Scott's house in Denver and were on the road at 4AM Thursday, October 21st. We had to make it to the top of the mountain in time to take over camp from Scott's friend or he was going to have to strike his tent. We wanted that tent badly, and as events proved it was huge. After 5 hours we were at the bottom of the mountain east of Meeker Colorado, in the Flat top Mountains. After a tortuous 45 minute climb, we made it to camp.



The view is amazing, as expected.



The weather is quite warm, probably in the upper 70's, but the forecast calls for snow down in the lower elevations so we are expecting, and hoping, for the chill to hit. We don't have to wait long. That night the thermometer drops fast and the precipitation starts. At first it's rain, but it quickly turns to frozen stuff and there is a solid 9" of fluffy snow by morning.

Since we arrived on Thursday and the hunt doesn't start until Saturday, we have all day Friday to scout. Occasional snow flurries are mixed in with sunshine and about half the accumulation has melted off by evening. We take it easy, scout the morning, and basically rest and continue to acclimate through the day.

Saturday morning we are up at 5:30 and hit the trails. The 3 of us split up and cover different areas with different styles. Scott likes to walk afar and run the edges of the aspen looking for either a cow elk or a mulie buck. I have only a cow tag so I stick to what look like good travel lanes through the timber hoping the snow starts the elk moving out of the spruce/pine and down into the aspen. There is more fresh snow from the night, and several flurries drop an additional 3-4 inches throughout the day. Some melts off during the brief sunny times, but much less than the day before. Visibility runs under 50 yards most of the morning as well as the clouds have covered the mountaintop. By afternoon some of the snow in the trees is melting off, but the ground snow pretty much holds thick.

No one cuts a good trail all day. No elk bugles. No deer tracks. Not even a sighting on far ridges through binocs. There are quite a few beef cattle still on the mountain, and the elk and deer are just not here.

Sunday morning we are once again communing in God's ultimate open air church well before sunup. More snow has accumulated overnight, making a solid 18" accumulation. The sun doesn't come out all day, and snow flurries are hitting every hour or two. It is starting to get deep, and walking gets tough.



We gamely give chase once more. The forecast has continued to deteriorate, so we suspect this will be our last day on the mountain.

Once again Scott hits the ridges looking for his mulie buck. I range farther into the dark spruce timber trying to cut a trail thinking that the elk may be sticking in the deep stuff. If I can just get a fresh track I might be able to set up a stalk or find something else using the same trail.

Once again, we are unable to confirm a single deer or elk sign even with the fresh snow.

Shortly after noon Scott finds me in the field and informs me we are breaking camp to get off the mountain tonight. The overnight forecast is calling for 12-24 inches of snow and up to 70 mph wind gusts at higher elevations. The die is cast and we need to get off the mountain while we are able.



The rest of the trip is a mad scramble to get camp broken and packed out in the snow and slush. The track up has been slushed pretty good by ATV's, and it is a very tedious and careful hour and a half to get down... We head back to Denver and are back at Scott's house by 10PM...3 days early.