Elk at 11,200 Feet - Colorado

Hunter: Chet Barber
Cameraman:Tony Perillo
Winterhawk Note: This hunt was filmed in September 2010 and will air on Archer's Choice TV and the Outdoor Channel fall of 201.

After an early start of 3:00 a.m. to try and leave work a few hours early and get a jump on the most anticipated trip I've yet to be on, 2:00 p.m. seemed to take forever to come.

Rushing home to grab my bags and gear, I was on my way to meet Tony Perillo at the local Bass Pro Shop. Arriving there around 5:00 p.m., we loaded up the truck and wasted no time getting on the road.

The seventeen hour drive was brutal after not much sleep and a long work day, but we were amped with anticipation!
We arrived in Denver Colorado somewhere around 9:00 a.m. to see the amazing Rocky Mountains. Enjoying the view, we soon came to a small town called Eagle, which is where we purchased our elk tags before we started our ascent up the mountains. After getting our tags, we headed down some small roads that ran alongside a river. Not long on that road, we spotted a small mule deer coming across the road, so of course we stopped to film and take pictures of the animal. Then to our excitement, there where four deer! They decided we were pests and jumped into the river, swift current and all, and swim across. It was just an awesome sight, right off the bat!

After several hours on the rock roads and another hour down a much smaller road, we arrived at camp, Winterhawk Outfitters, to meet Laura, Larry, and their crew. We quickly hit it off and made friends, telling stories and getting a tour of the camp. We spent the rest of the day setting up a new McKenzie/Delta Elk target and started shooting it with our bows a few times to make sure they were right where we wanted them. After an incredible dinner, we headed to the tent for some much needed rest.
Sunday, September 5, at 3 a.m. started with a voice saying, "Good morning gentleman, biscuits and gravy!" So with that, we got to stirring. I got my hunting gear together, while Tony packed the camera gear (all 60 pounds) in the pack. We headed to the kitchen tent, ate breakfast, packed our lunches, met our guide Dan Bush, and then headed to our horses to mount up for the 3 to 4 hour ride. Once we headed out of camp, the sky went black other than the millions of stars in the sky. The thought of riding a horse through the Rocky Mountains is incredible in itself, but to do it at night, when you can't even see the horse's ears is CRAZY! As we rode, you could hear the running streams at the bottom of the mountain, the horse's shoes hitting the rocks, and the coyotes in the background. Totally surreal to say the least!

We reached our spot to hunt, so we tied the horses up, got our gear, and started the hike up the mountain. Tony and I had both trained for this hunt for awhile, but after only a few hundred yards, we both could feel the thin air taking it's toll on us. As we slowly crept up the mountain, we came to a meadow where our guide Dan had seen elk in the prior years. So we made our way to the 2-acre patch of grass and we were busted by three elk. Unable to see what they were, we gave a few cow calls and Dan was pretty sure where they were headed... yep, straight up the mountain! So in a hurry, we moved our way to the top as fast as we could. We really had to push ourselves with all we had! Finally, we reached the top, at 11,200 feet. At this height, the wind was really kicking, probably about 40 mph. The ridge that we were on could only have been 15 yards wide, with sheer mountains on both sides. Once at the top, Dan gave a cow call. A few seconds went by and then we heard the bugle... it sounded miles away! Our plan was to circle the ridge, get to the adjacent ridge, and try to use the wind to our favor and sneak up on them.

We took a few minutes to come up with our plan. Dan took a few steps and I looked over my shoulder down the mountain, and there he was, a really nice bull! I told Dan and Tony "There he is" and we all took a second to look at him before Dan told me and Tony to get set up. "I can call him up this mountain!!" he said. I jumped down behind a spruce tree, peeled my backpack off, dropped to my left knee, while standing on my right knee (that's how steep the grade was). I told Tony to get behind me as much as he could because that bull was coming quickly! I grabbed my Nikon, Archers Choice Rangefinder, ranged two spots, one in front of a small spruce and one behind another spruce (thirty and fifty yards). Dan gave another cow call and we spotted the bull climbing up the mountain, and within seconds, he was coming to a clearing at thirty yards. I drew my bow to make sure there where no obstructions and we waited a few more seconds and there he was. He looked MASSIVE! He walked right to my first spruce at 30 yards, I asked Tony "You on Him?" "Yes!" he said. The bull walked out of the trees, I drew my Hoyt, a perfect broadside shot, but his shoulder was to far back because of the hill, so I let him walk past a small tree and when that left shoulder moved forward, I buried that pin and let that Hell Razor fly! Instantly, I knew "a perfect shot!" as I watched the green and white NAP Quick Fletch disappear into the brown hide of the elk. A perfect triangle from the Hell Razor - double lung shot!

The bull stood there for what seemed like minutes, Dan was unable to see the shot, but he heard it, and came flying over the hill to see what was going on. When he did, the bull turned, ran twenty yards, fell, then rolled and rolled and rolled (I wondered if he had horns left from the fall)! It sounded like a bowling ball hitting bowling pins as his horns bounced off the rocks. Oh my gosh, I couldn't believe it, my first elk hunt and bull down!

The excitement was crazy! What a rush! I was so thankful to have put a great shot on a magnificent creature and not make him suffer. We gave high fives and calmed down a hair, went over to get the arrow, beautiful bright red, but we were looking at the bull at the bottom of the mountain. As we made our way to him, I asked Dan "Do you have a helicopter?"
As we finally got our hands on this awesome 5x4, yeah I was pretty proud! Dan called Larry back at camp to get mules and reinforcements. For the next few hours, we took what seemed to be a million pictures and video. Then we began the task of quartering him up. Several hours later and with eight people, we were all headed back up the mountain, only to head back down the other side. We loaded our mules with the meat and made our three hour ride back to camp.

The rest of our trip we tried to make it happen for Tony with no such luck, due to the wind, warm weather, and the elk not moving.
A little touch of the flu, a busted head (thank goodness for a doc in camp and superglue), hiking what seemed like hundreds of miles and a lot of good laughs, we finished the week out on cloud nine! What an amazing trip!

Thanks so much Ralph, Vicki, Tony, and Winterhawk Outfitters for making my dream come true!