Winterhawk Adventure - Colorado

Hunter: Gary Smoot
Cameraman: Kevin Dishong

As I received my first view of the Rocky Mountains just outside of Denver, Colorado, I had the sudden realization that the hills I’d been walking up and down in Illinois, was not preparation enough for the adventure that lay in store for me.
 
I had picked up POSSE member Kevin Dishong in Missouri, and we were now on the final winding road which brought us to the Winterhawk Trailhead, where we met up with owner, Larry Amos. After introductions and repacking gear into Larry’s truck, he drove us the rest of the way to Winterhawks’ impressive and well structured base camp. Larry has been outfitting for over 25 years and you could tell, the camp consisted of wall tents for clients and guides, a large cook house, tack tent, and a corral for the horses and mules that had been tweaked to perfection over the years.

Kevin and I unpacked our gear and checked everything out to make sure it traveled well and that our bows were still spot-on. Then we grabbed a bite to eat in the cook house where we met up with our guide Dave Winters to discuss our game plan for the week—which consisted of some hunting out of base camp where we would ride horses in to our hunting spots as well as some hunting from a spike camp where we would walk in to hunt.

My adventure started as we stepped out of the tent at our spike camp. The air was cool and brisk, but the mornings walk kept us warm. As we walked the trail that cut along the side of the mountain, we caught a faint elk bugle echoing through the valley below us.  The bugling grew louder and as we reached the curve in the trail, we could see that the valley below us had two BIG bulls, three satellite bulls, plus cows and a few spikes. The elk were moving off to the dark timber with not much hope of us being able to catch them, when Dave spotted a 5x5 that was with a couple spikes that were just hanging in a small opening. We quickly dropped down into the valley and circled to a good vantage point and set-up. The bulls’ response to Dave’s calling told us that the bull had taken a different route and had gotten around us. After a couple other quick set-ups, we realized that this bull just wasn’t going to play the game.

We sat down on a log to take a quick rest; above us was an avalanche shoot that made its way up the mountain. Suddenly Dave says “There’s an elk!” All I could see was a small tan colored spot way up the mountain, so I grabbed my Nikon’s and glassed up the mountain to see a herd bull standing on a flat way above us. He was acting like he had cows with him, then we watched as another bull approached from underneath the flat, it was a 3 x 5 and he was acting lonely but was not in any hurry to go up and mess with the bigger bull. Dave looked at me and said “That’s a good bull to go after for this afternoon!” Now I’m a flatlander from Illinois and as I looked up this steeply inclined 12,000 foot mountain, I have to admit my thoughts on getting to where we could hunt that elk was, well, not exactly positive; however, my experience thus far had all pointed to the fact that Dave knew what he was doing and I had complete confidence in him.

Instead of marching us straight up the mountain, Dave took us on the long route.  We took our time and hunted our way through the woods. The route he took us on was so gradual that five hours later, I was surprised to find us back on the shoot; but this time a mere 150-200 yards down from where we had spotted the elk that morning. Our thermals were still drifting up the mountain, so this was where we were going to have to wait and make a plan. The wait was made easier as we spotted the 3 x 5 make his way across the shoot and into the woods on the right. We had a storm coming in and our thermals were still rising—time was becoming our enemy as we approached close to two hours of waiting. Finally our thermals started to drop just as some light rain started to fall, and we started the climb up the mountain to get in position.

Kevin and I set up on the right side of the shoot as Dave positioned himself on the left side of the shoot to try to call the bull over and down in front of us. His calling was answered with a bugle and I heard Kevin whisper “There he is!”  The bull was about 60 yards above us to the right, and he was definitely interested in Dave’s cow calls coming from the other side of the shoot. As the rain increased, I set my TruGlo Range Rover sight to 30-yards, expecting the bull to come through the shoot between 20-40 yards.  But best laid plans don’t always pan out, as instead, the bull hit the shoot at 50 yards above us and walked up and across the shoot at 60-65 yards.

We were stuck! The bull was now in the woods 60+ yards above Dave and both Kevin and I knew that the bull was trying to circle Dave to catch his wind. By some stroke of luck, Dave crept to the edge of the shoot to see what was going on and Kevin was able to signal him that the bull had crossed on to his side. Dave checked the shoot and quickly dashed across to our side, positioning him below and to our right. His first calls received a booming reply with a deep chuckle at the end of the bugle, this was not our 3x5 but instead, Dave had caught the attention of the herd bull that was on the flat above us. Kevin whispered to me to look at the camera and described what was going on. I turned toward Kevin and started to whisper the details when I see Kevin’s face turn white and heard him say “DON’T MOVE, HE’S 35 YARDS RIGHT BEHIND YOU!”

My heart was somewhere in my size 12 boots as those words bounced through my ear drums. The 3 x 5 had snuck back out to the shoot and I was turned 180 degrees in the wrong direction!  The only thing I could do was slowly attach my Scott release on my string loop and wait for Kevin to give me the ok to start turning. After what seemed like an eternity, he gave me the green light and I slowly started to turn, the bull was walking up and across the shoot, I had no other option but to draw my Hoyt back now! As I came to full draw the bull froze and looked in our direction, he was quartering slightly and had his leg back, covering most of his vitals. I whispered in the mic to Kevin, “I can’t take the shot like that.” Once again, time stood still as I waited and finally the bull started walking across the shoot and I slowly brought my Hoyt into position, but the bull was already alert and that little bit of movement made him bolt up the shoot!

What I didn’t know from before is that the bull had not caught me drawing, Dave had tried to keep his eye on us from his position, and when he saw I had turned and was looking at the camera so long, he thought it was over. When he started to slowly walk up to us he looked up and saw the bull standing just beyond us looking down at him coming through the woods, he froze, fearing he had just ruined our chance. But as fate would have it, Dave was now in a position that he could see everything and as the bull bolted up the hill on me, Dave quickly let out a couple cow calls.

The bull crossed the shoot and entered the woods approximately 50 yards above us. Hearing Dave’s calls, he stopped and looked for the cow. I swung my bow around the tree and urgently asked Kevin if he was on! Kevin’s reply was almost instant and I released my Hellrazor tipped Beman up the steep incline. The shot was good and the bull ran back across the shoot and into the woods as Kevin, Dave, and me celebrated at the amazing course of events that seemed to continually go wrong, but somehow it ended up being so right. From the shoot, we could hear my elk take his last breaths so we knew he was down, but between the rain and the high exit due to the incline, we were having a tough time with the blood trail in the dark and as a group, we decided it would be best to retrieve him in the morning.

After a long walk back to camp, a relatively sleepless night, and a long walk back in the next day, we found my elk just up from where we had stopped the night before. I’m not known as being real emotional, but there was such a feeling of accomplishment with this hunt that I couldn’t help but cry. There is no way I can ever put into words what this hunt meant to me as a person. It was a constant mental and physical challenge to keep moving and keep trying, and knowing that it only takes one second for everything to turn around and work out right.