Home Range Bull Elk ‘26
SEASON 26 | EPISODE 12
Quick Summary
- What happened: The Cianciarulos, along with friends and family, take on archery elk season on their home properties in Southern Colorado. Treestands, a RAM Blind, and a whitetail-style approach to bugling bulls moving through familiar timber.
- Best takeaway: You do not have to chase elk across the mountain to hunt them well. Do the work ahead of time, set up where they want to be, and let patience do the rest.
- Also worth watching for: Steep terrain, evergreen country, a mix of sits and stalks, and a family season on the ground they know best.
Hunt Information
Rocky Mountain Bull Elk
Hoyt Bows
Archery, treestands and RAM Blind sets, plus spot and stalk
September archery season, bulls bugling
Ralph, Vicki, RJ, and Aubrey Cianciarulo, with friends and family
The Cianciarulo home properties
Outfitter Information
No outfitter this time. This one is a self-guided hunt on the family's own ground in Southern Colorado.
Episode Breakdown
Some of the best hunting happens right out the back door. This season the Cianciarulos stay home and hunt elk in their own backyard in Southern Colorado.
A New Season at Home
Years of encounters on this ground, a lot of off-season work on food plots and sets, and a fresh season full of opportunity. Hunting your own property is a special kind of pressure.
A Whitetail Approach
Instead of covering miles of mountain, the family hunts elk like whitetails. Treestands and a RAM Blind set where bulls travel, and plenty of time to let them come.
Steep Country, Big Timber
Evergreen pines, cliffs, and meadows that pull elk in at first and last light. Some sits are slow. Others turn on in a hurry.
How It Plays Out
A whole season of sits, stalks, and hard-earned encounters with friends and family. Whether a bull ends up on the ground in their backyard is something you will want to see for yourself.
Location & Conditions
Southern Colorado, Cianciarulo home properties
Steep mountain ground, evergreen timber, cliffs, and open meadows
Typical early fall in the mountains, with a mix of conditions through the season
September archery, elk in the rut and vocal
Treestands, RAM Blind sets, and stalks on foot
Private family ground, hunted carefully
Animal Descriptives
A mature bull elk is a big animal, often 700 pounds or more, with a sweeping rack and a bugle you can hear across the mountain. In September, bulls gather cows and get vocal, which gives bowhunters a chance to locate them.
Elk follow patterns just like whitetails. They move between bedding in the timber and feeding in the meadows, and they use the same travel routes, water, and food. That is what makes a stand or blind setup work.
Shot Placement & Tips
Elk vitals sit low and forward. On a broadside bull, hold tight behind the front leg in the lower third of the body. Their size makes them look closer than they are, so range before the moment comes.
From a treestand, the angle changes your entry point. Aim a little higher so the arrow passes through both lungs on the way out.
Heavy arrows and sharp, tough broadheads matter on an animal this size. Wait for a calm, broadside or quartering-away shot, and give the bull time before you take up the track.
Field Notes & Takeaways
- The work you put in before the season shows up during it. Food plots and stand placement pay off.
- Elk can be hunted like whitetails. Travel routes and patience beat miles of walking.
- Mountain wind is tricky. Plan sets around thermals as much as the forecast.
- Every season is different, even on ground you know.
- Hunting with family makes every encounter count, success or not.
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FAQ
Can you really hunt elk from a treestand?
Yes. Elk use travel routes, water, and food like whitetails do. Set up in the right spot with the wind in your favor and they can walk right into bow range.
Did the Cianciarulos tag a bull?
You will have to watch to find out.
What were they shooting?
Hoyt bows with Easton arrows and Innerloc broadheads, hunting out of RAM Blinds and treestands.
From the Field
There is nothing like hearing a bull bugle on your own ground, with your family right there with you.Ralph Cianciarulo
Bring It Home: Florida Smoked Pulled Wild Hog
Cure it, smoke it low and slow, pull it by hand — Florida swamp hog done right.
Ingredients
- Hog
- 1 wild hog shoulder, 5–7 lbs (bone-in preferred)
- Yellow mustard, for binding
- 1/2 cup of your favorite pork or BBQ rub
- 1 cup apple juice (for spritzing & wrapping)
- 1/4 cup rendered bacon fat or lard
- BBQ sauce, for serving (Carolina mustard or sweet)
- Salt Cure
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp coarse black pepper
Recipe
- Trim the shoulder of silver skin and any hard fat. Mix the salt, brown sugar, and black pepper, then rub it over every surface. Set on a rack and refrigerate uncovered for 24 hours (up to 3 days for a deeper cure).
- Rinse the cure off under cold water, pat completely dry, and let the shoulder sit out about 1 hour to take the chill off before it goes on the smoker.
- Coat the shoulder with a thin layer of mustard as a binder, then season generously on all sides with your BBQ rub.
- Preheat the smoker to 225°F with apple or hickory wood and keep a full water pan inside. Set the shoulder fat-side up and smoke for about 6 hours, spritzing with apple juice every 30–45 minutes.
- When the internal temp hits 160°F, wrap the shoulder tightly in foil with a splash of apple juice to push it through the stall.
- Keep cooking until the internal temperature reaches 200–203°F and a probe slides in like butter — roughly 2–4 hours more, depending on size.
- Rest wrapped for 30–45 minutes. Pull by hand or with two forks, working in the rendered bacon fat and pan juices to keep it moist. Sauce to taste and pile high on buns.
Chef Tips
- Wild hog is lean with tough connective tissue — low and slow past 200°F is what melts it fork-tender.
- Don't skip the salt cure; it seasons deep and tames any gaminess from a swamp hog.
- Keep a water pan going and spritz often — there's almost no internal fat to baste it from within.
- Work rendered bacon fat or lard into the pulled meat to replace the fat the hog doesn't have.
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