Frank's outdoors...

Well, this past weekend was the last weekend of bow season in Texas, and still nothing on the ground, which is only slightly disappointing.  I saw LOTS of activity and had deer within 10yds several times.  In fact, sunrise was at 7:30am and I was heading to the stand at 6:15am and although it was pitch black I was snorted at by several deer.   Later on in the morning, I again got snorted at by a herd of deer (all does that I could tell, but there were 7 or 8 of them) that I didn't see coming when I went to scratch a mosquito that had me in the jugular!  Oh well, was exciting, and didn't like that stand location, so I moved it when the morning hunt was over. Hunt done, stand moved, decided to retrieve my cameras and head to camp.  I was relieved to see several good bucks starting to frequent my area as they must've found the does noted earlier, and the rut is coming on here soon. Next weekend is rifle season, so maybe one will stop by!

So, here it is.  The long awaited trip to Colorado in search of a giant elk has finally happened.  Here are some details and thoughts on that experience. First off, a huge "thank you" to my father-in-law who took me on this hunt.  It was great to share that hunt and experience, and you couldn't have asked for a better more scenic location to be. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and got settled into the ranch ( Smith Rancho in Hayden, CO ).  We stayed in a bunkhouse attached to a garage-like space with lunging area, freezer room, and such in it.  It actually doubled as a wintertime cleaning station!  Next door to that bunkhouse was a nicer, smaller cabin for 2 or 3 people to sleep in. It wasn't too bad at all, and the main ranch house where all the cooking and common area for watching TV and relaxing was had some real sweet mounts in it. First day and a half, we hunted hard in the morning and had many shot opportunities on 4x4 and small 5x5 bulls.  Sev