bald9eagle

The annoying flatlander is back....lol.

I'm studying Unit 54....West Elk Basin, The Castles, Mill Basin.

Will herds still be at these elevations first rifle? Does it all depend on pressure/weather?

Would I be better off just calling the dang hunt planner number?

Muchas gracias.

Muley Hunter

It will be very dependent on the weather that time of year.

dan87bh

If you can make a trip in the winter to the area it is sometimes as usefull as a scouting trip in the summer. I say this because if you can locate them in the winter then you know where they are trying to reach come fall and all you hve left is to find thier migration route to the area you located them in the winter. hopefully that makes sense. good luck and why 54?

Muley Hunter

The way I find the migration routes is to watch them in the spring when they go up. Most of the time they'll come back down the same way.

The weather is much kinder in the spring watching them than in the winter when they come down.

bald9eagle

Heck I don't know. I'm trying to settle on a unit. My father-in-law has been around Meeker a few times. He also hunted around Gunnison some and knows a guy that hunts around Durango a bit. I guess I'm trying to be a tough SOB and hunt the places that others won't. I've never set foot in a Colorado Wilderness area in search of elk so right now I'm just tossing out places.

This is the hardest thing for an Easterner to do. It kinda seems like a one shot deal. With the time to get in and get set up you don't want to be hunting something that isn't there to start with. I've gone in blind on turkey hunts several times and I can say that only once have I been successful.

Also I'm the kind of guy that always thinks that the next ridge or hollow (drainage to you Western boys..lol) will hold something. I walk 5-6 miles for half a day easily during turkey season if I'm having to find a bird. So looking at 54 it appears that it would hold elk and the terrain would keep numbers down and I would have room to walk.

I am completely open to suggestions via PM though....

Muley Hunter

Forget about hunting areas that others don't.

Not everybody is a road hunter.

Oldtimr

If you want success you would be better off hiring a guide or outfitter than shooting in the dark and trying to scout on the internet and get info from people who may or may not have your best interest in mind. No insult intended to those who post here. I am a pretty good outdoorsman, however, I would never go half way accross the country to hunt a place I have never been based on info I got from asking questions on the internet. There are times when it is better to defer to those who know what they are doing until you learn what you are doing.

bald9eagle

It's that $4500 price tag that makes guided hunts a luxury. We are talking about a drop camp hunt but those are probably going to be 2017 or further out.

dan87bh

Any unit will produce. If you really want to hunt the stuff others wont come join me in gmu 86 this archery season and ill show you first hand where they are and how hard you have to work to put them down. I hunt in only 2 units. One is 86 and trust me it is literally all to my self and my hunting buddy for our entire season and another unit closer to home when i dont feel like beating my legs up. What muley hunter said would prolly work better heading up in the spring and finding them on the high basins or the way up to them. I just need something to do in the winter so i head up to my stomping grounds to see what i didbt see during season.

dan87bh

Also forget about a guided hunt. Its much more rewarding to find them stalk them and calm tgem in rather than paying someone to do it for you. When you do it yourself anythings a trophy.