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Mike Jordan DIY Bowhunter

Welcome to another episode of Whitetail Rendezvous. This is your host Bruce Hutcheon. And I’m pleased to bring a friend from Colorado that loves to hunt elk, loves to hunt whitetail. His name is Michael Jordan. And Mike comes from the city of Pueblo. He’s got his wife Andrea and he’s got two children, Bella and Brady. And he’s been hunting for a long time. They attend a Christian church down there in Pueblo. And one of his favorite things to do is chase big whitetails and big bulls either in the Rocky Mountains or along the Arkansas.

Mike, welcome to the show.

Mike: Thanks, Bruce.

Bruce: Say Mike, when you sent me that picture a month or so ago, I was pretty astounded because when I first looked at it, I thought you had shot just a humongous whitetail deer because I didn’t see the split fork on the backside of his right antler. So let’s just jump right into the show and tell people about this magnificent, I’m going to call it a hybrid for lack of a better word, just a gorgeous, gorgeous deer you took out in Eastern Colorado.

Mike: Yeah, I would probably tend to agree with you. I would think it probably is considered a hybrid. But the story on that, I was hunting with Gage. And Bruce, you know Gage. And we were hunting on a farm that I actually insure. And we spotted this buck probably about 150 yards. And luckily he was in a milo field, and luckily there was a fence line. And with the winds the way it blows in Eastern Colorado, it blows some tumbleweeds up against that fence line and we were able to use those tumbleweeds to walk behind and get within range. And ultimately I shot the buck at 33 yards in the milo field and that was that on the buck. He scored a 196. He had a broken tine in the back that problem would’ve put him over 200.

Bruce: Amazing, amazing deer. Now had you seen this deer previously on that property? Had you scouted it? Tell us what led you to hunt that property.

Mike: To be honest with you, we hunted probably a bigger buck that morning in a cornfield over towards Wiley. And this farm is probably about 30 miles east of Wiley. And so after we hunted there and had an opportunity at the buck. But I just didn’t have a shot that I felt comfortable with. So we went over there. And to answer your question, I never did see this buck before. I’ve been over in this area a few times and I’ve never seen this buck. But we just went over there and spotted him out and put the stock on him.

Bruce: How old a buck do you think he is, Mike?

Mike: It’s hard to say. I’m not an expert on aging deer. But I would say probably five or six years old, somewhere in there.

Bruce: Yeah, what do you think he weighed?

Mike: That’s kind of weird, because as big as his back was, his body wasn’t very big at all. Gage and I threw him in the back of my truck pretty easily, just the two of us. And I would say probably maybe 350 pounds, somewhere in there.

Bruce: Yeah, because from your photo that I’m looking at, it’s difficult to see. But it’s just an amazing, amazing deer. Now how many deer have you taken along the Arkansas?

Mike: That would’ve been my second one. I was with Gage, it’s probably been three years prior, and I killed a 182 out there, a muley. So this is definitely my biggest one that I’ve killed.

Bruce: Now in your travels up and down that river card, or river valley, do you see big whitetails just driving down a road on fields or are they pretty hard to see with all the cottonwoods and everything in the river?

Mike: It’s a funny story, Bruce. I actually had a chance and I had my heart set on a muley. That’s ultimately what I wanted and that’s why I drew the tag. But I had a chance. I had a 170 whitetail. Had 35 yards that I could’ve shot and I passed on him because I had wanted a muley. But to answer your question, yeah, there’s definitely a lot of whitetails out there as well.

Bruce: How hard is it to get landowner permission to get down into the cover down along the Arkansas?

Mike: I would say it’s pretty challenging. But fortunately one of the perks of my job, I insure the two biggest farms out there and they both let me hunt. And ultimately I’m going out…actually that’s where I’m driving right now to renew the farm that I killed the deer on. So for the average person to get permission out there, I would say it’s pretty tough to do.

Bruce: What are outfitters charging for a trophy-class whitetail or mule deer out in that country?

Mike: I’m seeing anywhere from $4,500 to $6,000 is what I’m seeing on websites.

Bruce: Now how hard is it to draw an Eastern Colorado tag?

Mike: That’s the amazing thing about archery. I could draw that tag every year with no points. Rifle, it takes three points.

Bruce: Now in Colorado, correct me if I’m wrong, if you get a deer tag, that is good for whitetails or mule deer. And then they have a special season whitetail only. Is that correct?

Mike: Absolutely, yes. You are correct.

Bruce: Yeah. And so listeners, no matter where you are, in the Midwest, in the South, there’s some big deer. Kansas, we all know about the deer coming out of Kansas and of course Oklahoma and somewhat in Nebraska. But Colorado does have some magnificent Boone and Crockett-class whitetails. It’s just hard to get on them because of the large ownership that people have.

It’s dry land. You got to be near creek bottoms. You got to be near agricultural sources. And there’s a couple lakes out Eastern Colorado that the state has, but it’s tough to do. So do your homework if you’re thinking of coming out this way. You can get the tags. That’s the easy part. But as you’ve heard from Mike, it can get pricey and that’s just what a quality deer is worth out here.

let’s talk now about the hunting tradition, how you get started hunting and why you continue to hunt today.

Mike, let’s talk now about the hunting tradition, how you get started hunting and why you continue to hunt today.

Mike: Okay, great. Well, I started hunting when I was five years old with my grandfather. And he had since passed away a couple years ago. But we started out primarily hunting elk in Unit 84, which at the time was not a draw unit which it is today, which would be the Greenhorn area. And so we have probably hunted there for about six years and then moved directly across the road to Unit 85 and 851 where I’ve killed probably I’d have to say about 13 elk. And it’s all the same area, which would’ve been Sheep Mountain. And so I killed about 13 elk there since then.

After that, I went [inaudible 00:09:10] in for about three years to the high country on a place called Slide Mountain. And I had some great success there. And actually I killed my biggest bull I’ve ever killed archery up there. He scored 363 gross, 357 net. And I killed him up there. And also killed two other bulls up there that were decent six points. But after that, the last probably six to seven years we’ve been very fortunate to hunt a 24,000 acre private ranch. And that’s what we’ve been doing the last six years, been hunting that ranch, and it’s an amazing place.

Bruce: Now for our listeners out east that hunt whitetails, that get out of their house and walk in the back 40, the back 120 or whatever. You mentioned packing in slide mount. So once you hit the trailhead, how far do you have to ride to get to where you’re setting up to camp? And at what elevation is it? And then finish that up, and then we’ll talk about hunting high altitude elk.

Mike: Okay. So it’s an eight mile trip one way. So it’s eight miles in and eight miles out. And typically what we would do is there would be two of us, and we’d each ride a horse and then we’d pack on one. And we’d stay up there primarily the weekends and then the whole last week of September.

But as far as high altitude elk, I think what’s really important as far as what I’ve learned is to hunt with the person that you have the similar styles. There’s a guy in our hunting party currently. My opinion on elk is when they’re hot, you got to get right in there with them. And unfortunately we got a guy in our party that is so afraid of blowing them out that he just does not want to get aggressive at all. And I totally disagree with that because when they’re hot, that’s going to be your best opportunity to kill an elk. And I firmly believe that you got to definitely get right in there with them when they’re hot and take advantage of the situation.

Bruce: Now what altitudes are you camping at and hunting at?

Mike: Okay, so when I was on Slide Mountain, I think it was right at about 10,500. And we’d hunt all the way up to the top of Slide on occasion, which is over 12,000 feet.

Bruce: So folks, the trailhead is what, about 6,500, 8,000? What’s the trailhead at?

Mike: Yeah, somewhere in there.

Bruce: And so you’re going up another 2,000 feet. How many horses are you taking in?

Mike: We would take four. So we would each ride one and pack on two.

Bruce: And then you’ve got your camp. So the horses are carrying what, 50-70 pounds, 100 pounds?

Mike: Yeah, somewhere in there. Just camp and food, sleeping bags. That’s pretty much about it.

Bruce: So what I’m trying to do is paint a picture. One, you got to have a horse trailer. And the roads into the trailhead, some are good and some are interesting. And at this time of the year there’s going to be other rigs parked in the trailhead. So you got to know how to move your horses around and get them there. Secondly, you got to have horses. Third, you got to [inaudible 00:13:19]. And then fourth, you got to be able to ride up in it. And that’s why a lot of out of state people will hire a drop camp or an outfitter. And in my opinion, I think Mike would agree, outfitters are worth their weight in gold if you get a good one.

Mike: Yeah, I would definitely agree with that.

Now let’s talk about the similarities between hunting whitetails and hunting elk.

Bruce: Now let’s talk about the similarities between hunting whitetails and hunting elk. You mentioned when the elk get hot, and we can correlate that to the rut of the whitetails. When the whitetails are in a rut, they’re moving. And you never know when they’re going to pop up. So one of the keys to hunting whitetails during a rut is being in the woods near where they are, because they’re going to come by. You just don’t know what time of day they’re going to do it. How’s that correlate to hunting elk?

Mike: Well, I think it’s very similar. Obviously, I would have to say the reason that the buck I killed had a broken tine was because he was fighting. But that was definitely during the rut. Typically the rut really gets going around Thanksgiving time. But it was actually the week before where I killed my buck, and I think they were going pretty hard then. But as far as the similarities, I think it’s very similar. Other than with elk obviously, you’re calling them in. And I think that’s one of the things that is a science, I believe, is calling elk. It’s not easy to do.

And that’s where it goes back to what I said initially about hunting with someone that hunts similar to the way you do. With Gage, that guy is an amazing caller. Trent Stafford [SP], he’s an amazing caller. I would say that I’ve probably hunt better with those two guys than anyone I’ve ever hunted with before. It’s just one of those things that it really clicks. And when you have partners like that, they’re hard to find. And I really appreciate those two guys.

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