I have been looking at some places on line and want some seasoned advise. In gmu 751 camp and hunt near 107* 31' 06" W - 37* 39' 00"N , 107* 22' 27" W - 37* 36' 39" N and in the NW gmu 24 hunt and camp near 107* 22' 03" W - 40* 01' 13" N or 107* 27' 34" W - 39* 54' 46" N. Am I on the right track? This is going to be a DIY backpack hunt in 2013. I am a serious hunter but this will be my first trip out west. The Elk Lake area looks really rough , I don't know if it would be too much.
Areas to hunt 2013 backpack DIY
- Thread starter Daveinjax
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Topgun 30-06
Well-Known Member
It might help if you told us what state to begin with, instead of all those numbers that people would have to have a program to find on their computer. I have such a program, but am not going to recommend anything based on coordinate numbers like you gave. I'm assuming you're talking about Colorado based on that unit 751 number? If that's the case, I'd be worrying as much or more about getting into condition if you live in FL and that will be a first trip out in the mountains on a hunt like that, rather than the coordinates where you're going to sleep.
Already working on the fitness. Yes it is Colorado and I thought it would be easy to put in lat/lon in google earth. Trying to describe the places would be hard. The positions are just to center the area not the exact spot. I'm working it all out as I go. I am working on a equipment list too so I can run it by the guys who know. This will be a solo trip so the only person to suffer will be me if I am not in good enough shape to do this.
Topgun 30-06
Well-Known Member
You haven't said whether this would be a deer or an elk hunt and that would make a big difference as far as packing an animal out. In any event, you need to be a very serious hunter to go where you're talking about. I don't believe I would want to do a solo hunt, at least as a first timer out there in those mountains. I went into my DeLorme computer program and that is not too far east of where I hunted in the wilderness area back in 1980 when I was a spry 33 year old in excellent shape. You're talking about areas that are 11,000 to12,000 feet elevation with only yourself to save you if anything happened. I was not too far south of the Colorado border where you're talking about on a mule deer hunt in NM near the Jicarilla Indian Reservation just last November. The area we hunted was dependent on the migration of animals down out of those CO mountains and it didn't happen because the weather wasn't bad enough up at the elevations you're talking about to bring the animals down out of there. I sure wouldn't want to be up in there, especially by myself, unless it was an early season bow hunt in August or early September. Good luck, but give some very serious thought to where you're talking about for a novice solo trip because you're talking a matter of life and death if something happened and you're by yourself in areas like that.
I hear you on the rugged area. I am doing my homework now and the Elk Lake area looks like it may be too much. The vallecito creek area looks more managable. Follow the creekside pack trail up and hunt the drains around the vallecito and rock creek junction area. If I get myself killed up there , well , I die chasing my dreams , not in a bed with cancer with my family having to watch. My son will be off to college and on his own and I have no one at home to worry about. We will all die of something and I'm not going not follow my dreams because I am afraid of death.
I am planning an elk hunt. In my post about packing meat out I am working on that problem. I plan on trying to hire an outfitter to pack out anything I shoot. At 45 and living in florida I don't think I can get in good enough shape to pack out an elk in a timely manner. I think it will be all I can do to haul me and 60lbs of gear , gun and cloths around. If it is just me and I feel I need to stop and camp because I'm getting tired and unsafe it is no big deal. If I have an elk down then it's another story. I may be crazy but not ******* crazy!
Topgun 30-06
Well-Known Member
I admire your chutzpah and I'm not even Jewish, LOL! What would be the approximate dates of your hunt in order to figure approximately what the weather might be while you're there? Also, how far do you figure you would be from a trailhead where you would have to pack an animal out. It takes me 2 trips to backpack a mulie out by myself like this one I shot last year and it took two of us 4 trips to haul this big 357 3/8" bull out that my buddy shot in 2010 and it's only at about 7,000' elevation. Each trip was about 2 miles in fairly easy country compared to where you plan to hunt. Where you're talking about going I wouldn't even think of trying to take an elk out if the weather wasn't really cold to allow plenty of time to get it out and prevent spoilage.
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I think first rifle starts oct 13th 2013. I plan to hire an outfitter to pack anything I get out. I would not shoot anything I didn't think I could retrieve. Not over the top of a ridge top then 2000' down into a blind ravine with a 25* slope. That elk is safe from me. How far from where a mule can get isa have to be there call. How am I doing , do I think I can handle this? I am not over the top brave at all. My heart will be racing as I start. Fear and doubt will have to be tamed. I am planning to get there 10 to 15 days ahead of season to get adjusted to altitude and work things out camping next to the truck and then a couple of 1 , 2 or 3 night out trips to the area. I don't think I can just show up , hike in and hunt.
I would love to hunt an open rolling mointain top with big beauties like that elk. If I could get one more wish....drive up to it after the shot! Don't think that hunt is in my budget 
. I don't want to hint someplace where the map looks like a jigsaw puzzel from all the roads. Low odds of me getting my elk and high odds of me wanting to shoot someone. I think this is the best way to have the trip of a lifetime and learn at least what not to do next time. I may just move there next spring. I own and drive a truck of a living so I can work anywhere. I am getting tired of hot Florida summers. It was 115* and 97% humidity last sat. on my friends porch.
. I don't want to hint someplace where the map looks like a jigsaw puzzel from all the roads. Low odds of me getting my elk and high odds of me wanting to shoot someone. I think this is the best way to have the trip of a lifetime and learn at least what not to do next time. I may just move there next spring. I own and drive a truck of a living so I can work anywhere. I am getting tired of hot Florida summers. It was 115* and 97% humidity last sat. on my friends porch.Topgun 30-06
Well-Known Member
That's public land where I hunt in Wyoming every year for deer or elk when we can draw tags and there are only two roads within about 10 miles or more. It's in a nonmotorized area with few hunters and why we like it and do well. It isn't quite as open as that picture of the bull would lead you to believe as there are big canyons all over that they go into during the day and where he was going when we caught him right at daylight heading to one. These are two of the smaller, shallow ones that you can actually hunt compared to several that are so steep aguy would be crazy to even try to go in them.
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That is what I have in mind and there is where you might find a bull like that. That is a really nice bull and a beaitiful place to hunt. It is a little after 6am and I'm heading out to my hunt club to work and do a few miles hiking in the woods to help get ready.
