Colorado Lessons: Reflections from My First Season Hunt

There’s something sacred about a first-season elk hunt in Colorado—the frost in the sage, the hush before daylight, and that private promise every hunter knows: this might be the season.

I carried an either-sex tag and a plan that looked tidy on paper: establish a resilient basecamp, then push into the high country with a minimalist spike camp to intercept elk on their own schedule. Colorado had other ideas. Daytime warmth flirted with comfort; nights pressed toward freezing. The mountain taught, as it always does.

Basecamp to Spike: Systems Thinking in the High Country

Basecamp was our operational hub—organized bins, clean staging, and a workflow that respected the clock. When conditions and sign dictated, we transitioned up the hill to a two-man spike tent. Shelter stayed lean; calories and hydration stayed non-negotiable. We filtered every liter we drank and cooked on a compact stove with Peak Refuel meals via Jetboil. Weight mattered, but reliability mattered more.

That’s the Caribou Gear® mandate: gear as a system. Each component earns its carry weight by accelerating setup, safeguarding equipment, or compressing risk. It’s why our team builds products for process, not just for purchase.

Weather Whiplash: Warm Days, Freezing Nights

Afternoons ran mild, pushing thermals and animal movement later than we wanted; by pre-dawn, frost gripped guy-lines and the tent skin went rigid with cold. Those swings demand adaptability—layers that vent while moving and seal tight when glassing. They also demand clean campsite discipline: food staged, water topped off, and gear parked where you can deploy it by headlamp without a scavenger hunt.

We leaned into a simple mantra: control what you can—airflow in camp, organization in the pack, and protection for critical assets like the rifle and optics.

Weapon of Choice, Protected on Purpose

I hunted with a .300 Weatherby Magnum mated to a Silencer Central suppressor—a precise, confidence-inspiring mountain rig. The variable was never the rifle; it was the weather, the brush, the crawl to a shooting position. That’s why I ran the Caribou Gear® Rifle Shield™ (Rifle Cover).

Outcome: Optics stayed clean, actions stayed dry, and the rifle shouldered fast when opportunity flickered. No zippers fighting cold, no fabric snagging at the wrong moment—just a clean on/off and mission-ready glass.
Use-case: Brushy sidehills, frosty pre-dawn glassing, and long stalks where dust and sleet punish exposed rifles.

When your weapon is the lynchpin of the hunt, protection is performance. That’s the thesis behind the Rifle Shield™.

On Sign, Off the Grid

We found elk sign—rubs polished bright, wallows churned like fresh mortar, tracks stepping smart along the timber margins. But the bulls never gave us the final page. On day five, a ghost of antler in the aspens dissolved as the wind rolled our thermals back on ourselves. The mountain made its ruling with the quiet authority of old places.

I never pressed the trigger. The tag rode home unpunched. Yet the ledger wasn’t red. It was education—expensive, yes, but compounding.

Spike-Camp Logistics: Minimalist, Not Fragile

Spike camp stayed tight and transportable. The two-man tent handled the freeze-thaw cycle; the stove and meals reduced downtime; the water filter made every ridge and creek a potential resupply. A Hunter’s Tarp® lived in the pack for fast shelter, clean staging, or a rain roof over the cook area.

Food & Cook Systems: Peak Refuel + Jetboil for hot calories in cold air.
Shelter Augmentation: Hunter’s Tarp® – Montana (7′×8′) for weather routing and clean work surfaces.
Transport Layer: Koyukon® waterproof duffels and dry bags for clean hand-off to the truck: Koyukon® Gear.

Minimalist isn’t fragile; it’s focused. Every ounce on your back should justify itself in minutes saved or problems avoided.

Discipline Under Fatigue

Elk hunting isn’t just physical—it’s mental. After miles of sidehilling and glassing until eyes blur, shortcuts start whispering. That’s where a system shows its value. Bags staged where hands find them in the dark. Stove, meals, filter—deployed in muscle memory. Rifle protected until the exact minute it mustn’t be. This is operational discipline, and it’s how you keep your edge when the mountain tries to take it.

What the Mountain Taught

Preparation beats optimism. Warm afternoons don’t cancel freezing dawns—pack for both.
Simplicity scales. If it doesn’t earn its place, it stays home. That’s our Caribou Gear® design ethos.
Failure educates. An unpunched tag can teach more about elk than an easy shot.
Protect critical assets. Rifle, optics, and calories are non-negotiables—treat them that way.

Field-Proven Gear from This Hunt

Rifle Protection

Caribou Gear® Rifle Shield™ (Rifle Cover) — ultralight, weather-resistant, fast on/off. Keeps actions and optics clean through brush, sleet, dust, and frost.

Shelter & Staging

Hunter’s Tarp® Collection — from quick rain roofs to sanitary prep surfaces; the Montana 7′×8′ is the spike-camp MVP.

Food & Cook

Peak Refuel Meals and Jetboil Systems — reliable calories, rapid boil, minimal fuel overhead.

Transport Integrity

Koyukon® Duffels & Dry Bags — waterproof, field-tough handoff from mountain to truck.

Back to the Trailhead

Our last night under the spike tent, stars cut the cold cleanly. The rifle rested beside me, still covered, still ready. No quarters hung, no antlers strapped down—and still, the hunt wasn’t a failure. It was foundation. The kind you build the next season on.

That’s Caribou Gear® in a sentence: systems that honor the pursuit. Protect the rifle, secure the camp, stage the work, and respect the mountain’s verdict—then come back smarter.