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Anyone know of meat lockers on east side of 76 to cool elk meat? Archery season. Did some hiking in the area on July 4th around Rio Grande reservoir but no elk spotted. Is Beartown pretty good area for elk? Is 4 wheeler best way to get into that area, seemed pretty rough for full size pickup with conservative driver. on 751, anyone know if its legal to hike from 76 into 751 and hunt with OTC license. Trying to get some hunting in while brothers are in 76.
Yes legal, you can hike though a limited area to hunt an OTC unit 751 but if you get one down, how are you going to get it out as that is rough country to the West.
Beartown, yes, 4 wheeler.
I was in that area also on July 26, up Squaw Creek in about 6 miles and a few other places in that area, Didn't see a thing, not even elk droppings. does anybody have any info if you hunted 76 last year, I think the fire change the elk pattern in that area
Thanks zimmy
It's been 7 years since I hunted there, but at that time there was a place in either South Fork or Del Norte that had a refrigerated semi set up to handle meat.
thanks to all. i talked to backpacker, he saw some elk but sounded like they were in 75 as he was hiking over the divide. Paul, thanks, i haven't been up there, just saw that there were some trails over the cont. divide. i also hiked up squaw creek one morning and spent night on east part of burn but didn't see much sign there either. There were more tracks when i got above timberline. Guess they did well in the burn area last year. going to head back middle of August, hope they will be bugling some by them.
I as in there in 2010. The road from RG to Bear town gets pretty nasty at about the 1/2 way point- bit of a rocky stretch. I wouldn't bring a nice new 4wd truck in there but a quad or older rig is no problem. Heck, the outfitter Sammy Frazier has a camp right at the junction where the road goes to BT and he was towing a trailer through that bad spot.
Quad is nice in there as there are designated quad trails that go for miles. As are horses or mules to get in to the wilderness where you need to be. The F&G is cracking down on guys dropping in to 76 from 751. Two guys riding it- we thought were hunters- checked us one day in the wilderness- they said they know guys have been taking advantage and are looking to catch them.
We towed a couple mules with packsaddles in a big loop in there and had a blast. Its for sure changed a bit with the fire since I have been there.
We've been after F&G for years to watch the boundaries of 76. Lots of guys on here brag of backpacking into the wilderness 8 miles in, which puts them in 76. We found four bull elk carcasses two years ago with the head and backstraps missing and the rest left there...
Its some big country from the Reservior, and not all does hold elk. The fire did change things, pushing a lot of the elk towards Silverton, or down and across hwy 160. I haven't been over there this year, but know the elk will move into the country soon. I know other parts of 76 that got burned and still show no new growth of grass or anything. We were told last year that it might be years before anything grows cause of how bad and hot the fire was. Still pisses me off that the manager of EOS advised Mineral County to let the fire burn, that it wouldn't go anywhere!! He doesn't work for Archuleta County now...
I hunted 76 last year and can tell you where big numbers of elk weren't. At least in a places that a solo guy could get one out of. I changed areas and killed a smaller bull only a couple hundred yards from the road in the middle of the day. Not the biggest one there, but an elk within 250 yds of the road in country like that during the middle of the day on the last day to hunt. I took it as a blessing.
Threads like this make question what I read on the internet. Tons of Elk in 76. The burn was/is good for the habitat. It was most severe in lower forested altitude that elk seldom used anyway. I flew up there Labor Day 2013 to scout for first rifle and I called in a bull in the middle of a patchwork burn area. We had a ton of snow for first rifle and it dampened the rut but still was surrounded by elk. Also saw several moose.
I ended up shooting a nice 6x a few miles inside the wilderness on the third day.
Skelly, glad all worked out for you. Hope you enjoyed it... Glad I could help and you had success. Bucksmasher, the burn in 76 is bad where we go in. Other areas wasn't even hardly burned. Depends on where you go. We rode a lot this summer, and I know what I saw and what I didn't see. Some areas are in great shape, with flowers and grass growing, other areas, like a friend from Bayfield found out several weeks ago, looks like the surface of the moon with ash over a foot deep. He was told, just like I was, that it will be years before grass grows there, if it ever does. Think you need to make some phone calls to get the facts straight there my friend. Go seven or eight miles deep into the wilderness and you'll see what others are talking about.
I will be in Bear Town area 9/12/ and out on the 15 th I will up date @ that time
Lyle, let me know how things are going. I killed a huge bear on Friday, but the bulls aint really bugling much at all. Keep me posted.....
FYI great cheap buther in creede BUT when I was there they would not butcher wild game until Oct. A point they failed to tell me on my 3 summer calls to them!
I was a little salty, kind of important fact to forget to tell me! I showed up with my elk! Ah well just an fyi.
Great tag, be in SHAPE, one of the prettiest places I have ever hunted.
