Nathan and I had an awesome trip to CO this year. It was our first time bowhunting elk there. Team DIY member Eddy Erautt just moved to Cortez and was there to help us find some elk. We bought a forest service map and talked to a couple locals and set out to do some glassing.

That first morning we glassed up about 50 elk with 5 shooter bulls in the mix. They were barely starting to rut. Eddy watched as one of the bigger bulls bedded with some cows about 200 yards from a water hole and I watched some other elk feed over the top of a ridge.

That afternoon Nathan decided to go sit that water hole to see if that bull would come in. Eddy and I hiked to the top of the other ridge to see if we could glass those elk up.

Eddy and I reached the top of the ridge at about 2:30. We had just caught our breath when Eddy heard something in the timber below us. He let out a cow call and a cow stepped out into the open about 200 yards away. He called again and she called back. Then she turned toward us and started calling and running right at us. Eddy and she were calling back and fourth as he circled around me so I could get a broadside shot as she came in. She came in broadside at 12 yards and I let that Muzzy fly. She dropped right in her tracks do to a high shot in the spine…yes I almost missed.

We got her about 3/4 of the way back to the truck and decided to get Nathan to help us out. When we got to the truck we waited for dark and Nate came down the road . He whipped out his phone to show us a picture of the bull that he had just shot. I could not believe it! We both tagged out on our first day. DIY, Public land. That is what it is all about!