2011 is the year! Goin deep into the San Juan National Forest, more precisely the LizardHead Wilderness Area! It will be a Bivy style hunt done in the Cam Hanes fashion, fast paced and low drag! JetBoil meals, goin to live off our backs, sleeping with the elk! A 2 week affair, goin lightweight, Eureka Solitaire 2 tent, Eureka Casper bag, Schuh pack, dehydrated meals, jerky, etc.! Got the bow/arrow setup ready...i think(#55 Bear Montana, 525gr arrow with a 165gr Ace Express head, sharp of course, shots limited to 25yds or so)! Never too early, i just reread the best elk hunting tutorial ever on here, members here know the one!!! We plan on bringin 'em hell, bear tags as well if we get lucky enough!
Maybe shouldve called it a "Preview", either way! Conditioning is already in high gear, 3mi snowshoe trek with an 80lb pack on!!! Piece of cake!!!
Sounds challenging which is the best kind of fun. Hope I can go one someday.
Good Luck and be safe ,Aloha
Sounds like an adventure for sure. Have fun. Good luck. Hap
That is beautiful country up there. I have not hunted it but was in there last year doing some hiking in the summer. Remember, that your limiting factor in how far back in you go is your ability to get an elk out. Enjoy the adventure. Jim
"I just reread the best elk hunting tutorial ever on here, members here know the one!!! "
Not sure which one you are talking about :readit: Please tell!! :bigsmyl:
Tracy
I have plans to be doing the same if the AZ draw isn't kind. I've been playing with various gear combo's already. I wish you the best of luck. Regardless of the outcome you will spend some time in awesome country.
What plans have you to remove the elk if successful from deep in the wilderness?
The tutorial is by justahunter i believe! We plan on leapfroggin between mountain streams with our cache! Take it to a butcher and get it on refrigeration and then head back out! We will be bringin plastic bags to line the game bags with to keep the water off of them! Mountain streams are around 52deg so the meat in the bags should make it without a problem! We have came to the conclusion that upon a kill its game time, hunting days will be sacrificed, but for the greater good!
That's what I thought, Just checking to make sure I didn't miss one :thumbsup: :D
Tracy
Take a flyrods, some great fishing in there.
Im getting quite interested in ultralight camping/hunting. I will definately be keeping an eye out for updates. Good luck on your adventure.
Hows about one of you fellas that knows where this best elk hunting thread ever is at bring it up for the rest of us uninformed...please. I am always up for learnin' :wavey:
http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=059344 Here ya go. Really good tutorial. I referred to it a lot when I planned my first elk hunt last year.
Ahhhh, i remember that now. Will have to read it over carefully. Thanks.
lots of great info!
mnbearbaiter, where are you from in MN? I also live in MN and am heading west next year. Probably SD for mulies and elk somewhere.
For what ever its worth. The last time I hunted in the Lizard Head I came within 4 hours of being snowed in for the season. It is high enough and big enough that you can get caught and not be able to get your truck out. I got lucky and had a CO. native tell me that I had better follow him and his buddy. Cause the snow was coming and they were leaving. I headed down and followed them out. I was snowed in for 2 days in the town of Rico which is at 9000' more or less. Check the weather before you head in.
MAP
Sounds like you've got an awesome trip planned! Go get 'em!
Always good Fun, enjoy...and As always ... Keep us posted
Good luck on your hunt. Get in shape and have some fun,take a few pic's for us.
Went on my first backpack elk hunt this past September... it gets in your blood. I'm already planning for 2011. I had been on a couple drop camp hunts, but going light is a blast!
Have fun (that's a given) and be safe.
Good luck.
Yep, that tutorial was fantastic!
In 1977 I spent my first month on the job after college "counting trees" in the San Juans. I was based at a place called "Continental Reservoir". Spent a few weekends in Creed, Colorado. I saw elk almost every day. In fact, the beasts interfered with my work as they would bite my yellow plastic surveyor's tape off at the knot. I needed that flagging to quickly get back to my transect each day. I had to start bending down trees and tying it higher. Of course I'm sure a lot may have changed regarding the elk herd during the ensuing 33 years?
There's some pretty nasty country in them thar hills! I spent most of my time a timberline walking through talus slopes.
I, too, have been looking into this. I told myself that if I don't draw for WY this year I'll drive to CO and do a solo hunt. What kind of pack and footwear to doing? Been looking hard at Mystery Ranch. Leaning towards the Crew Cab. Also getting a pair of Kenetrek Hardscrabbles soon so they're broken in by mid-summer.
ScottinPA - You might take a look at the new ultralight packs at Kifaru.
http://www.kifaru.net/KU.html
I like the idea of starting light before adding gear. More room for food. Good luck.
Have a great hunt, enjoy it all, scenery, companionship, the majesty of it all.
Good fortune to you and your companion.
I drew a tag for unit 76 back in September '96, helped an outfitter for a couple weeks and hunted for a week or so, beautiful country. Around the middle of the month hurricanes came in from the Pacific and the Atlantic at the same time and converged right on top of us, dumping close to 2 feet of snow, it was crazy!! About a dozen mules and horses broke the rope they were tied to and were heading for home when we caught up with them up on the divide trail in the middle of this blizzard. It was a good time :)
This hunt will be taking place in Unit 70, probably enter in from the south trailhead(Navajo Lake trail), although in having a bit of trouble gettin the maps i want! I have area in my GPS already, have located website that caters to my needs, and allows me to customize my maps! I then have also found the standby USFS map and the National Geographic map as well! What maps to most of you use when hunting out west?
I just want to know where "That great thread" is about Mule Deer.
I've been doing these hunts for right about 25yrs and if you search the Bowsite you will get some good info- lots of bivy and spike out guys there
I would suggest finding a pack outfitter in case you get an elk down along ways from the trailhead. You get an elk down 10 miles in, those trips with meat on your back will be long. Also remember that altitude is the biggest problem for the low elevation guys. Good luck and have fun!
Oh yeah, im very familiar with the altitude being a problem for us "Flatlanders"! Im goin to be in the best shape possible before i get there(training 5 days/wk already), we also plan on taking our time getting in to help with acclimation, weve both hunted higher up than we are here in MN, and never really had a huge problem, especially after a couple days! As far as bowsite.com goes, there are tons of good info there for the type of hunt we are doin, but most are alot shorter than the 12 days we will be goin for!
I have various ?'s left to ask, but if i were to ask just one it would be...Whats the "Best" time to hunt southwest CO for elk? As of right now, we plan on goin in somewhere around Sep5-7, due to a friend of ours who hunted that general area around opener, and didnt hear a bugle until the 10th day of his hunt! Is it better early or later in sept?
Scott, Check out the new packs(and other ultralight products) soon to be availible from KUIU....world class materials, design, and technology.
I think you'll be impressed with what you see and read!
From the 10th on is when the rut gets going here,I'd image its the same in Colorado.
Yeah, id imagine it would be about the same! Thats good then, wed be there a little before it heats up and during i guess!
I've been spending a lot of time researching gear for backcountry elk hunting. The elk page on bowsite has a ton of good info on all sorts of gear. Shelters, stoves, packs etc. Do a search for bivy gear, pack reviews etc and you'll have tons of reading. There are a good number of guys who post there regularly that do a lot of that type of hunting and are very helpful in answering gear questions.
Not sure, but lining your game bags with plastic might not be the best way to go, I would think you need to keep it open to the air to prevent bacteria growth, just a thought.
aahhh!! still keeping an eye on this thread. :coffee:
I have most of the major gear so far, stove, shelter, clothing, pack, etc.! The plastic actually wouldnt be a lining, but more of a covering for the bags if we put them into a water source to cool them a bit! They are a tough, thicker material that would resist puncturing well, and they fold down nicely for transport too!
Just make sure that they are cotton meat bags that the blow flies cant spit their eggs through.You can easily hold meat when its hot out,because it gets cold at night you can get it cold.I use meat bags that are made out of old sheets with draw strings.The most important thing when you get your elk,{and you guys are going to}is to get them cooled out a.s.a.p and skinned out.Then when bagged you can useally hang in the shade while you are packing out.Also,if you are going inway far make arrangements in advance with one of the local horse guys/packer and then you will get them out.Especially if you get two down at once.Then it can get a lil crazy if its just two of you.Its going to be a trip of a lifetime,and I am stoked for you guys.Keep us all posted when you get back.Oh yeah,if it was me I would want the last week of the season for the rut.
QuoteOriginally posted by shortynes:
Not sure, but lining your game bags with plastic might not be the best way to go, I would think you need to keep it open to the air to prevent bacteria growth, just a thought.
I too would have concern about using the plastic bags (inside the game bags or outside). One of the advantages of the game bags is that they allow draining and air circulation around the meat.
I killed a bull this past september when temps were in the low 60s for highs. We hung the deboned meat in game bags in shade of an evergreen. From death to the cooler was a total of 48 hours and I didn't lose any meat.
I've read the trash bag suggestion before, including putting them in streams, just not sure about it myself.
I also wouldn't use plastic bags.I have layed pine branches over spring creeks to keep the game bags out of the water and the meat cool.The most important thing is to debone the meat asap after the Elk is down.
Oh yeah... you WILL have a blast. And I too would recommend the 10th and later. I called in two bulls the evening of the 14th last September.
Paid an outfitter to haul my meat out as I was in 8 miles. Money well spent!
Good luck.
What does it usually cost to get meat packed out? Is a guy supposed to climb a mountain, and make a phone call with gps coordinates of the cached meat?
Travis...there is a great paperback book, called "Elk Talk" if you can find one, it's the best reading "TIPS" available. Last time I had an outfitter come in and pack an elk out the mountains (IN Idaho) it was $300.00
I was 8 miles in and it cost me $125 to have the deboned meat hauled out on horseback. I had to hike out and drive 11 miles in order to get cell phone reception, and then call the outfitter who arranged for a lady wrangler to come in the next morning to get it. (I had to walk the 8 miles out and then 8 back in the next morning to make sure she found it... and 8 back out... behind the horses.)
I also lost 4 notches on my belt during my two week hunt.
I would call the outfitter before hand and line everything up before you go in the woods.Say you get one,debone all meat and hang it in cloth bags, either call out or hike out with meat on your back to meet the outfitter.An average size Elk is about 6 trips if you decide to pack it out yourself.
...or 2 trips if you take 75# on your back a trip...I personnally would never do that :^)...right Fnshtr?