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Ever been to a place where you know the elk are but you do not want go in there because it would be insanity to try to get one out? I am talking about a place that has blowdown trees that are at eye level and that you can walk a 1/4 mile without touching the ground because you are walking on the down timber.
Welcome to my world three years ago. We had been hunting for about 4 days without seeing any fresh sign. We all got back to camp after the fourth day and kind of uneasily looked at each other. Over dinner, someone made the profound statement--"So, where do you think the elk are at?"
I looked at my Dad and waited for his answer, eventhough I knew what he was about to say. "Hell's Hole". Not a fun place to hunt. I had been in there when I was in my early twenties, and not a place I looked forward to entering again.
The rest of the story will come later, but wondering if anybody else has a place that they know where the elk are holed up, but really, really would prefer to not get an animal down?
Mike
I know one. I might be there a week from today? If I can get into the bulls on a better location I sure will. If not, I'm heading in to my Heaven, which could easily be defined as hell's hole once am elk is on the ground.
Everyone needs to know their own ability, and limitations. And base it on that.
Everywhere has a place like that. Everywhere I've been anyway.
I know a place that's just so steep and the elk will bed waaaay down in the bottom. It's all burn above them so no cover. I've stood at the top and listened to guys say "Well.... we know they're down there right" and then walk the other way.
I have tons of places like that. Hunting solo, I walk away from bugling bulls often.
The basin I'm looking at in this photo may not have ever been hunted by a white man. It's not in a designated "wilderness" so the gung-ho Sitka Warriors don't go there. The access is so difficult, with deadfall and distance, with no trails, that no one ever goes there. The back side of the mountain is private land and those people all hunt close to ATV trails. So I listen to them bugle across the valley and hunt my side of the ridge.
i doubt there is anywhere in much of the lower 48 that has never seen a white man hunter.
i would wager to say that in colorado there is absolutely no place that hasn't been hunted. just about the time you think so, you find an old can, or bottle, or diaphragm call.
Does anyone ever have time to spend the summer cutting a trail into those hard to get at places? Once in a while, I find some outfitters trails (I suspect) that took some serious work.
The older you get the smarter you get! I know my limitations and if I don't want to pack an elk out I don't go there!
maravia, it's possible someone may have helicoptered in there and been lowered into the basin on a rope. But I've spent five summers trying to figure out how to realistically get in there on foot (and get an elk out...) since I live on the other side of that mountain, and the deadfall, both ancient and recent, and old boulder slides you can't see make it virtually impossible to get anything out, even if you had the gumption to climb into it.
Brunse, I know two guys who spent most of a summer cutting a trail for horses into a terrible place. But it only lasted a couple years and deadfall made it more work than it was worth.
"i would wager to say that in colorado there is absolutely no place that hasn't been hunted. just about the time you think so, you find an old can, or bottle, or diaphragm call."
I can vouch for the truth of that statement. I have been to some really difficult to get to places and found the same.
I'm thinking of a place right now. I somehow made my way into it, found elk, lucky for me I didn't get one. My hike out in the dark was long and frightful, was very concerned about breaking ankle or worse. The elk are there, and they are safe from me.
Everytime I go out I am in places like this. That's Northwest Montana. Deadfall everywhere plus alder brush. Generally I do not hunt these areas, but to get from point A to point B we have to cross through them. I do spend a lot of time out clearing trails through the blowdown and alder, makes the hunting more enjoyable and I have noticed that the elk will start traveling the trails which makes for some good ambush spots.
....can't touch the bottom!
Isn't there is saying, "stupid is, stupid does". I don't enjoy hunting rough, tough bad places any more. I killed a bull one year that was so rough, the horses were laying down on us. Maybe for a big, 380" bull, but for a lil rag horn or a 270" six, why? I think it's hilarious when guys pack in eight miles and then kill cows or rag horns. If you're going in deep, make it worth your while. One spot we hunt is a 300" bull or nothing.
Learn to hunt smart and hunt safe. I get tired of the Search and Resue missions of guys breaking ankles or legs, or getting into an area they ain't familiar with and getting lost. Yessir, sometimes that extra .25 cents you pay with your license pays for search and rescue, but it may not pay for the ambulance ride or the doctors fees. Last year, we carried two dead bodies out of one hell hole, a place they didn't have any reason to be in there. One guy died when he slipped on the mud and impaled himself on the lil five point's horns, and one guy slipped with his knife and cut his femoral artery. And it was search and resue's fault cause it took us so long to get in there and find them..
Not everyone has access to ranch X or Y. Sometimes I wonder when the last time you really hunted public land.
brunse wrote: "Does anyone ever have time to spend the summer cutting a trail into those hard to get at places? "
I did this summer. I finally have the time off to join a group this year that I've been missing out on the last few years. They do a trail work weekend every summer because the FS doesn't go in the area (or volunteers). Over the 25+ years the main guy has been going there, he's cut and/or maintained the main trail that heads out from camp, and several feeder trails off that to hunting spots. By the second day (after working for a day on the trail) I began noticing trail improvements more. When I asked him about them, he could tell me (approximately) what year they did it. After talking with him more I learned that when they started hunting the area there were no trails. It was easy to see the cumulative benefit of working on the trails a little every year, for so many years.
I hunt a lot of public land, and yes, some of it is protected by private. But it's through work that gains me access to the public landlocked national forest.
Yessir, I use horses a lot, and a few years ago, while being stubborn to access certain areas in Utah, almost killed a horse and the man on him. We have to know our limits and the limits of the horses, if we use them. Standing there staring at a big bull on the ground is no time to realize how far in you're in and then trying to figure out what the hell to do. I dream on the high, lonely places just like the next guy, but I also know when to admit it's beyond my reach. Sometimes, a persons drive to kill something overrides our common sense...
One sticks in my mind. It was northern Colorado in a place full of deadfall with no trails. I finally broke out into an aspen patch and found a clear spot to glass and see if I could find a survivable way out. As I'm glassing, I see a lanky character way off on an outcropping with a floppy hat toting a recurve. He was staring down into this hellish basin. It looked as though he was smart enough to stay out of it.
I never did make it out. The hunting has been great but winters are rough. Luckily I found a current berry bush to plug my phone into so I could post.
That's why natural forest fires are good, to clear this stuff out.
Jaquomo did you photoshop that picture to hide its origin?
the farther back I go, the more picky I become
I read an article one time about some guys moose hunting and they posted pics of just a gawd aweful massive 75" ore more moose ... and they said he was too far from the river.
That's not me... I just don't believe in the too far or too deep etc. More work yes .... impossible? I don't think so
Nope. I actually have a spot just like the one referred to in the OP and we have hauled several elk out of there. I will never turn down a bugle. Elk hunting is hard work and with time and effort you can get an elk out of anywhere. It's just part of the "fun".
I would have never got this bull out if I didn't have my son with-a total hell hole-took 3 days to pack it back 1.4 miles. This was a burnt area in unit 75 1st season First 2010 public land DIY -my biggest bull
Buglmin says "I think it's hilarious when guys pack in eight miles and then kill cows or rag horns. If you're going in deep, make it worth your while."
I think it's hilarious when other people judge one for shooting a raghorn or cow and it "not being worth it"...lol
The above picture is my son-he didn't have a tag and went along with me -the area burnt in 2003 or 4 I believe its in SW Colorado-- the bull followed a small herd of cows after some shooting about a mile away-we could hear them coming for 5 minutes- they tucked into the blow down area about 100 yards below us-by the time the herd was into cover good I was able to get 30 yards closer and shot the bull hopping over the deadfalls-what a rush!
I don't judge anyone, but if you go in six or seven miles, why shoot a cow or a rag horn? Is it that important to kill something just to make your trip a success? If you hunt hard enough, you'll find a bul worth the reason you go in so far. That's all I'm saying....
As I get farther from the truck, I look for smaller elk. Those things are heavy! On a 6-7 mile pack-in hunt, a calf or yearling cow is about all thats left on my list :^)
I have learned the hard way to avoid blowdown deadfall hells. Ask yourself the question- if you can't touch the ground, how are the elk going to? which isn't to say they aren't in the area, but they sure aren't walkin on wood. Sometimes with a new area you just find yourself in one, but that plus a heavy pack is a sure prescription for a disaster. I solo hunt quite a bit, and am aware there are some places you'd never get out of with a broken leg and they'd never find you. Agree with one commentor that there are areas where a forest fire seems appropriate.
I see more elk in the oak brush than dark timber
RogBow and WilliamTell,
Not to derail my own post, but I totally agree with your points on fire. I had a few classes many years ago, and the one thing the professors preached was the more you suppress fires, the more catastrophic they will be in the future. Most forests were made to burn naturally. I can go on and on and on...
Mike
