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Basecamp at the end of ATV/Turkey creek and hunt up those little micro/ripple draws.

Good luck, Robb

Depending upon terrain and cover, and time of day, I might like to move toward the 10702 peak to glass the upper basin toward the NE. Especially if I can get there late in the afternoon. This will give me some more info for the next day. (I really like some of the spots around the Mineral County label)

my best, Paul

MikeC

Anyway - First I'd scout it on terrain view. But if this is the only map I have, I would start heading east just underneath of the National Forest words. Catch that contour line and wrap around north through sheep park and take that ridge line all the way to where it says Mineral County unless I killed an elk in one of those drainages on the way up.

If not I'd post up by the pinch at Mineral County and also be on the knob to glass Mullen hole, the big drainage and the other side of the mountain if action was slow.

First, I assume that I am bowhunting. So the season will be early.

I would focus on the upper right corner where it says "nation". That seems like it would have enough altitude to be elk "summer areas"

If it is early season I would expect mid day elk baths.

My feeling is that the east side of the drainage (which is west facing) will be baked in sunlight until the sun drops behind the mountains to the west. The west side (east facing) will begin to experience shade sooner in the day than the east side which could result in elk movement earlier in the day on the west side.

Assuming I'm the only one in the drainage, I would head up towards Mullins Hole and check out the benches and relatively flat country and water holes on the way up.

Above Mullins Hole (to the west) it gets steep and there is a nice little basin near the headwaters of that creek with some good north facing slopes which could hold elk during the day and is also a good place to look for wallows. Also if you continue west from there, there is what looks like a killer saddle where elk could pass over the divide to the west (can't really tell without the rest of the map). I would definitly check out that saddle if the rest of the map looked good.

Also straight north of Mullins Hole near the center of the next black grid square there is what appears to be a fairly large park (meadow) right at the base of the very steep face and there are also water holes nearby. There could be some early afternoon action in that meadow as bedding elk get up and come down off of the steep slope to the west.

Also in the next grid square to the north of that there are 2 small streams that flow together and form a "V". I would fallow those streams up the slope because sometimes the south side of those small drainages can have some good north facing pockets that are too small to show on a topo map but can still hold elk.

I would also work my way up the southerly creek of the "V" to the area where the 9600 contour is. There is kind of a bench basin up there as you contiue to follow the creek that could hold some elk and have some early afternoon or late morning action. There could also be some good wallows up there.

There are also some areas that look good across the drainage on the east side where most others said they would go but personally I would start on the west side. The drainage is narrow enough that I think I could still hear bugling on the east side and I should be able to glass across and see well onto that side when the sun is in the western half of the sky.

Just my thoughts...

I forgot to add. With my bow!

Then, I'd be sure to set up in a spot where the wind shifts to the back of my neck when the elk are coming in. At least, I'd try to do that because when I try to do anything else, I often end up with wind blowing right at them.

In this case, I'd be checking the drainage in the north west corner of the map around the 9600 that's written on the contour line for fresh sign/bugles.

The 2nd place I'd be checking is the bench in the north east corner of the map under the "tion" of Nation. It would be a hell of a climb to get up there, but when pressured, elk go where people don't like to. I would access it by following the ridge from the south if it allowed.

If this place were truly unpressured, I'd start with Mullins hole, then go clockwise up the drainages. 2nd would be the one in the north west corner, then heading north to access that drainage, turning east to check the north slope of that westward draining spur. Then sheep park, and lastly the high ridge under the "tion."

Another option would be to go into sheep park on day one really early, listen for bugles/fire off locators in the dark, if there are none, sit on that point that's on the west end of sheep park and glass west as the sun rises. If you see elk, great. Hunt them the next day. Explore sheep park area for fresh sign as you walk out.

Echoes my thoughts... which is why I would go a bit further up this drainage and check some of the draws that head up the mountain towards the west. Look like some nice bowls for feeding up high.

The obvious areas with nice benches and ponds with intermixed aspens really don't stand much of a chance of not being pressured imo. And it is only like 10 miles from town = unpressured... sure.

I bet I could kill me an elk within that distance in this area.

So how would you hunt this area now? I would guess that nobody would have thought about hunting the bright red and green areas on the very bottom in the SW quadrant? What about the bright red under the N in NATION? Or even the bright red area in the drainage directly NNE of the end of the ATV trail?

Bottom line is that there is no real right way to hunt a specific area. There are too many factors that come into play. But after seeing this, doesn't it make you think that there might be an easier way?

And I wouldn't hunt it any differently because I'd still run into the same elk in the same 3 days of traveling to the spots I would have gone to. And if pressure did come in, if they were in your spots, they'd get blown out.

We went in there appx 6 years ago looking for an alt TH to access the wilderness. What we found were so many rigs and camps at the end we had to park 1/4 mi back. We made a huge loop in there on foot and ran in to more hunters than I have ever done in one day of bowhunting- seriously. That wasn't the worst part. Guys had been quading all over in there -even into the wilderness! We all know how bad elk hate quads. Sickening.

We saw some sparse sign but its like Rick M and Norseman said- find the elk! And they aren't going to be at hunter central- usually. Now I can tell you there are plenty of elk in there pushed into the pockets surrounding that area where most of these guys don't get into. Steep azz canyons, rough country that doesn't see a lot of traffic. That pic I post my buddies shot in the hind qtr was about 4.5 mi as the crow flies from the Turkey cr TH at about 11,000'.

IMO, If you hunt Co OTC, you have to look at the spots- sometimes nooks and crannies guys go past, where the elk go to escape hunter pressure.

Edit; I see Mike has edited his original habitat comments and I would agree- hunter pressure numero uno

Now I know why you picked that handle!!

I have had the benefit of a great friend Kirk in Co [an animal in the mtns!] that loves to break new ground every year...thus I have hunted a lot of the Co OTC over the years.

I'm small potatoes next to you, Medicineman, Big Dan, Blacktail Bob and a whole slew of experienced guys on this site in respect to the places I've hunted.

Mike

The way I recommend using the information on my maps is as follows. If there is light to no hunting pressure in an area, then try to hunt the easy to get to hot spots first and save the more difficult ones for later. If there is a lot of pressure, study the map and locate the areas where most people would go to hunt. Based on the posts above, there are three general areas most hunters would be working. I would avoid these areas and hunt in the fringes around the high pressure areas and let others push the elk to me. That is why I pointed out the hot spot below the "N" and the two areas along the bottom left of the map. Most hunters would not have knowledge of these two areas.

Another point to make is just because I have delineated a hot spot does not mean you should head straight for those areas. In some cases you would want to avoid these areas based upon my explanation above. To summarize, each area is different and in some cases pointing out the obvious can help you to decide to not hunt an area when there is heavy pressure.

The map section you posted is covered in 3, maybe 4 days of hunting. Walking enough miles, bugling in the dark, and covering the drainages and riparian areas, you'll find the fresh sign one way or another.

I realize that your maps may be helpful to some people, but in that basin, if there were elk, I'd find them within a few days, even if they weren't bugling, even if there was pressure, even if I'd never been there before.

To say that the lot of us wouldn't find the elk in any given area is going out on a limb and assuming a whole lot.

I never meant to imply anything negative about how anybody would go about hunting this area. The only thing I was pointing out were the few areas that were overlooked based on the information I show on my maps.

My maps have credible information. If you want to use it, it is there.