# I Didn't Want To Sit At Home



## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

After striking out in the draws this year I decided that I would pick up a OTC bull elk tag and head up the hill to my favorite spot and sit to see what will show up. 

After sitting a couple of hours from sunup I heard some noises coming up from down below and figured that my wait would soon be over after listing and getting ready for what seamed like hours this guy stepped out and gave me the old stink eye. 

The things that you see when you don't have the proper tag in your hands. 












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## TheOtherJeff (Oct 7, 2021)

Critter said:


> The things that you see when you don't have the proper tag in your hands.


That's my deer hunt in a nutshell. I could have put a forky's worth of rabbit, chukar, grouse, and turkey in my freezer if I'd had a shotgun with me.


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## silentstalker (Feb 19, 2008)

That is a great buck! 

I know if I had the right tag on multiple occasions my trophy wall would be packed! It’s those experiences that keep me going back for more! 

On the bright side, at least you got a great picture of him!


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

What a great buck! I've grown to appreciate the wildlife experiences in my own life that don't involve a loud bang just as much as the ones that do.-------SS


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## Ray (May 10, 2018)

Now that’s a buck!


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

WOW!!!! That is what dreams are made of. I'm guessing he's close to a 200 incher.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

He is the best buck that I have seen in this unit in the last 4 or 5 years. 

Now to take a nap until the evening hunt.



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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

Beautiful buck!


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## CPAjeff (Dec 20, 2014)

Gorgeous buck!


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## BGD (Mar 23, 2018)

What a beauty!! The mass, the forks, the symmetry, the dark antlers. Just to see a buck like that is an experience of a lifetime for many. Thanks for sharing. Nice to see evidence there are some like that still out there.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Home again home again lickdy dig. 

A nice dinner out of the crock pot, a hot shower and perhaps some football then to bed to start it all over again in the morning

I did happen to see a few cows a long ways off, but then when you have a bull tag what else do you expect to see besides cows and a big buck. That buck did have some company, around 6 does that I saw once he dropped down the ridge a little. He really didn't acted spooked at all he watched me for a while as he was feeding at around 50 yards from me. The nice thing is that I know where he lives now and I should be able to pull a muzzle loader tag in 2022 for this unit. I just need to hope that he makes it through this and two more hunts. 

I never did see another hunter, I did hear a side by side drive down the road that is below me out to a point. They had to of got out and looked around and then they headed back. 

Just so anyone who wants to know, this spot around a mile from I-70 and that buck was around 10 yards off of a road.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Kinda been my story this year without the pictures. Nice buck!


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## BigT (Mar 11, 2011)

Wow. Great buck!

Thats a really good picture Critter. Nice job on that one


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## Wire (Nov 2, 2017)

That's an awesome buck. That's how my luck is too, always see everything but what I have a tag for.


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## MrShane (Jul 21, 2019)

NICE buck!
Similar ironic story here:
Last night I took a friend out hunting who is in a wheelchair.
Another friend of mine had gifted him a doe tag on his private property.
So my friend in the wheelchair and I set up in a field I saw 90-100 does last week and last night we only saw bucks….


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Maybe just me but that awesome buck looks young to me. What do you guys think? Is he in his prime or does he have even more potential? Scary to think what he could become if he is only 4-5 years old.--------SS


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Springville Shooter said:


> Maybe just me but that awesome buck looks young to me. What do you guys think? Is he in his prime or does he have even more potential? Scary to think what he could become if he is only 4-5 years old.--------SS


We will know exactly his age when Critter draws the Muzzy tag next year.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Didn't see a thing today besides birds. 

It appears that a storm in moving in tonight so perhaps Monday will be better. 



taxidermist said:


> We will know exactly his age when Critter draws the Muzzy tag next year.


My problem is that Colorado doesn't age deer with samples like Utah does. All I can go by is his molars. Even the buck that I got in Utah a couple of years ago during the muzzle loader up on the Monroe didn't get aged properly since I took him on a general hunt. But we figured that he was round 5 looking at his molars. He would of grown into a fantastic buck if I hadn't of shot him. Not that he wasn't a great buck when I placed my tag on him


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

Trying to stockpile bucks is nothing but futility. Not many out there who pass up a decent buck with the thought they will get another chance at it a few years down the line. They may pass but odds are that buck won't be around very long.


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## 3arabians (Dec 9, 2014)

middlefork said:


> Trying to stockpile bucks is nothing but futility. Not many out there who pass up a decent buck with the thought they will get another chance at it a few years down the line. They may pass but odds are that buck won't be around very long.


True, but it sure is fun to think about. 


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I'm not planning on stockpiling this buck. This is a unit in Colorado where it will take a resident a dozen years to draw a deer tag. Plus I didn't have a deer tag but a bull elk tag. 

I'll also wager that this buck will be around next year unless it is a hard winter or one of the lions in the unit finds him.....


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Now to finish the story. 

After two days of fog, rain, snow, and wind I was sitting in my spot this morning waiting for the fog to lift. Once it did the sun was out and drying things out quite quickly. The morning passed without seeing anything except for the birds that were getting quite put off with me not shooting something where they could enjoy whatever I would leave behind. 

Noon came and I decided to have lunch and a cup of coffee. I ate my sandwich and was enjoying sitting in the sun finishing off a cup of coffee when I herd some noise down below me. It was too big to be a deer, or at least that I what I thought but I didn't pay it much attention. A few minutes later a cow elk stepped out of the trees at about 50 yards and there I sat with my rifle behind me leaning against a tree. I rolled over and managed to get the rifle without her spooking. She was looking behind her when a calf came out and then a group of another 5 cows and caves. I was watching them feed and make their way down the ridge when I noticed another animal starting to feed out into the opening. I saw his hide and knew it was a bull, so the rifle was soon up to my shoulder waiting for a shot and to see if he was big enough to be legal. 

You all know just how long it takes for a animal to feed into the open without showing you what kind of headgear he might be wearing, but he finally came out and was quartering towards me. I placed the cross hairs onto him and pulled the trigger, he dropped right where he was standing. The 225 grain TTSX bullet had done it's job and punched a fairly good size hole into his off side. 

I paced off the distance and it was 30 steps from where I had been sitting for 4 1/2 days... My spot never fails me.


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## middlefork (Nov 2, 2008)

I missed the ending I guess.
Congrats!


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## DIRTYS6X6 (May 19, 2021)

great job. congrats


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## sambo3006 (Feb 25, 2016)

Heck yeah!
I hope you draw the muzzy tag next year and get a crack at big boy.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

Way to tuff it out Critter! Congrats a nice bull.


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## KineKilla (Jan 28, 2011)

4.5 days in one spot is a commitment but apparently it's paying off. Good job.

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## 2full (Apr 8, 2010)

Nice bull for sure !!
I wish I could be that patient.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

I found this spot around 30 years ago and then it took me another 5 years to figure out what they did. Over the years I have taken 15 cows off of the same spot.

If I am lucky and hit their cycle right I'll only have to sit there less than a day, if I get it wrong it may be 5 or 6 days, but they will come. The longest that I have sat there was 6 days.

The only other elk that I have seen shot near there was when I was trying to figure them out, and that one was poached. The shooter saw me and left the meat in a tree to rot.

The one big nice thing about this spot is that I can drive my truck right to it. The road is about 20 feet to the right of this bull.

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