Opening Morning - Colorado

Sunrise on the first day of hunting found me at the Snag waiting for the mountain to come to life. It was a little on the warm side but maybe it was the walk down that made it feel that way. My GPS waypoint had me sitting 0.4 miles from camp but the 600 foot elevation difference will tell you how steep the landscape was. Shortly after daylight arrived I saw a small buck feeding in a meadow 250 yards away and just over a small ridgeline. Small buck - first morning - I'll wait. Not too long after I could see a larger buck now feeding, but still he didn't seem big enough to pursue this early. Another short time later, still only a half hour after sun up, the two buck were in the meadow together feeding and sparring. At this point I realized that the bigger of the two was just that, bigger. Now to get closer, they didn't know I was around so I had time. Drop over the ridge, circle the aspen grove, pop back over the ridge and I'm only 150 yards away. It's that easy. But as I popped over the ridge... no deer. I waited a while and headed back to the Snag. As I'm getting back and set up a cow elk call comes from behind me. I look to see two hunters. Where did they come from? Well they sat down behind some pines 100 yards uphill from me. Millions of acres to hunt and they sit on my lap. A half hour later they start moving up the steep slope to north and traverse this slope for the next 3 hours. My day has been shot.