Glad to see all the great birds! My hunt this year ended without a bird, but I was disheartened in what I did find.
I like to pack into areas to hunt all my game. Maybe I like the punishment, but after having setup my camp, I proceeded to search out basins around me for turkey. Plenty of turkey sign, but they weren't responding to calling.
As I dropped down into a basin to follow a small creek and look for more sign, I came across this guy.
He looks like he would have been a great 6 x 6 for someone, but instead he was dead in this basin. I turned him over to the game warden in the area, and after a two week investigation, it looks like he was shot in the hind quarter. He's not a record breaker, but still would have made a hunter very happy.
I just hate seeing elk get wasted like this. If you come to Colorado, please practice your shooting so I don't have to find these out in the woods. The warden gave it to me to keep since he didn't think it was a poaching incident. I think I'm going to turn it into a Euro mount.