Ended up picking up an ebike on sale last minute for this hunt and was seeking tips on maybe some narrower trails where it may be an access advantage. Also, seeking advice on what portions of the unit might be best to mix in some tree stand hunting. I see much of it is low oak brush. Got quite a few water tanks marked in those areas, so likely most of my scouting will be for trees suitable to hunt game trails. Departing Thursday. Will visit family including a new grand daughter in Fort Collins 6 days. Then put wife on a plane home and head to hunt unit August 27th for 6 days of pre-hunt scouting. Looking forward to getting away. Been a rough year at work. Thanks
Zim, I've never hunted 61, but I've spent a bit of time fishing in the general area. What I remember is its mostly fairly steep canyon country. I'm not sure how many trails you'll find that your e-bike will be much help on. But like I said, I haven't covered the entire unit.
You are in for a great time. Tons of roads, atv trails and some single track dirt bike trails to explore. Plenty of country between the top and the oak brush with suitable trees around water. The traffic lessens and bugling increases the later the season goes.
Personally, I liked the north end better then south. It is more open, and you can tell if a 4 point or a booner is bugling, which helps. That really thick foresty stuff, you can't tell if you are chasing a dink or really good bull.
61 is relatively easy country. Some pretty good canyons but not "big country" by any means. Good luck. Pm me and I can give you some tips if you'd like.
"I owned my ebike for a total of 2 weeks before I sold it. Just wasn't worth the hassle IMO"
Sivart, You very well may be right. This is definitely going to be an experiment. I may not even have bought it had I not gotten a big sale discount, plus free upgrade. However, I will have 6 good tags the next 6 years, so I figured this was a good time to try. I do know over my last 30 years I can remember several hunts where one of these would have been a game changer, and others where it would have been totally useless. So I expect much depends on the specific hunt.
I'd love to hear how you like it. I used mine here in the midwest for accessing deer stands. There's too much brush for the bike to work in my areas. It may work great for what you're doing. Good luck. Can't wait to hear the story.
I too have given out my 61 info already. I was in there last year. Chase bugles and look over a lot of bulls. There are some 320 plus bulls in there but you’ll have to sift through A LOT of 260” bulls to find them!
It won’t hurt my feelings at all just having a high elk density and seeing elk be elk. Two of my last 3 hunts were godawful over pressured glorified hiking trips. Spent the first three weeks in Oregon listening to spike hunters bugle 200-300 times per morning. Horrible bow hunt. More than happy to sift through 260’s all day.
You won't be sifting through 260s all day. You will see some but even those aren't behind every tree. Be bear aware. Cant swing a dead cat anywhere around that area without hitting one. Not to many big ones but they are aggressive at times.
Enjoy all the Razor's and dirt bikes passing you in a cloud of dust until after Labor Day weekend. A large portion of that unit is an atv/dirt bike track until then. Don't get discouraged it will slow down after Labor Day. Your ebike will not help you in that unit but certainly won't hurt you to have one late in the season. You don't even need an atv in unit 61.
Like others I already gave my intel to a fellow bowsiter. It is a once in lifetime hunt these days for a 300" bull. Have fun. Good luck!
I used my atv to get my 61 bull back to the truck. I also used my atv on those muddy, slick, shitty roads after it rained - an atv is so much quicker and easier to get around
ww, I have 5 weeks to devote to the hunt so I’ll be trying a combination run-n-gun & stand hunting based on the sign & activity. More likely to hunt saddles than water as well. Same for my camp location. Always flexible and took a spike camp setup just in case. I intend to make it a mountain adventure. Only bummer is I forgot to pack my fly fishing gear.
Arrived in Fort Collins. Took wife on tourist route, visiting Chimney Rock & Scott’s Bluff en route. Dang my body doesn’t deal with these long drives so well these days. Had to fight drowsiness with iced coffee energy drinks the whole drive. Will be great to visit family/friends for a week before final leg to the unit. Bought a new sight that is giving me problems as well. Got to work on that.
Update: Everything went downhill once I put my wife on the plane and finally got my solo time to drive to unit and scout. Gear repairs/returns, 3 work projects had to finish on computer, truck alternator went out needed replacement plus must return for universal belt work, and now got horribly sick from the grandkids virus no doubt. One week of screaming just wasn't enuf. Toddlers are the gift that just keeps on giving. Very miserable just trying to regain strength enough to salvage 1 1/2 days of scouting. What a joke. Had 7 devoted. Instead stuck sick in a hotel in Grand Junction. Can't get much worse.
Still lots of time left. Rest up and hit the mountain. I have never hunted 61 but spent 5 days there at the end of archery season a few years ago scouting.
Hang in there. Drink plenty of fluids and rest. Adversity is elk hunting. No way around it. Plans always change when in the elk mountains. SNAFU. Get better then get out there.
Update: Got so sick on the 9th day had to abandon all my gear in the field and drive to Urgent Care Montrose. I near passed out several times. The doc armed my with Codeine, antibiotics, altitude pills and more. Had to go to Grand Junction as all hotels in Montrose were booked. Told me to stay in town and take meds 3/4 days. I improved Saturday and more Sunday. All symptoms are diminishing. Going to Urgent Care was a good move, and they were even in my insurance network. Will rest one more day and see if cough is rubbed out, plus have belt tensioner replaced on the 4Runner. Also taking advantage to refine my OnX e-scouting.
Moral to this story is never mix grand kids and elk hunting. :) Ok, I would have done the same thing, especially if taking my wife out got me a few extra days of scouting. Bummer, hope you feel better soon and have an amazing hunt. They should be screaming by the time you are up to chasing them again. I'm actually stuck in a waiting room as my mom broke her hip yesterday so my hunt may get postponed. Thankfully, I had encouraged my sister to schedule a trip out here so I think I will still make it out next week but only to an OTC unit.
Do not take codeine at altitude. Or at least not at night. Your respiration is already slower at sleep and Gets worse while you sleep. If possible you need to sleep lower than you’re working during the day. Zim, maybe it’s a blessing it will make you slow down and sit instead of walking all over. find where they’re moving through and take a seat.
Remember not even a 61 tag is not worth your health
I stayed at low elevation 4 nights and will return tomorrow morning. Camp is at 9k. I will study more about your suggestions in the day I got left. Had a few benefits, including refined e-scouting.
Am hunting 61 with long time buddy. We are in the s portion at about 8300'. So far bugling is sparse. Had one come silent to circle us downwind. Might not have seen him except we could smell him to alert us. Wondering out loud if I should be spending my hunt at Cottonwood or Spruce n slopes. Have not figured out the canyon aspects either.
I hunted with a guy 20+ years ago in the Flat Tops. The higher we got the sicker he got. Finally after 2 days of his puking his guts out we pulled the plug. Once we got below 7000 ft he finally was hungry and was able to keep food down. The other 3 guys had no issue at all. Best of luck on your remaining hunt.
Good luck out there. It sounds like you"ll still have plenty of hunting time. From what others have said your in a unit with very vocal bulls. Most places I've elk hunted the bugleing action gets going sometime in the next week, so on a bright note your at least not missing prime time.
I hope you get a good one, and the rest of your hunt is enjoyable. I remember reading about your hunt in my home state of Oregon, and that sounded like a big dissapointment even though you got a really nice bull.
I’ve been hitting it hard. Reporting from Denny’s Montrose.
Got some trailcam photos of the megawallow I could not locate until recently because all 6 days of my scouting were stolen by the GOH virus. Now that the wallow season is concluding. Had a regular visitor while I was sick in the hotel.
Here he is standing 30 yards broadside from my tree stand while I was busy being sick and playing musical chairs. The big guy walked past at dusk but only came within 80 yards of the wallow.
I had an incredible one hour stalk on Friday on 7 bulls with about 20 cows. The herd bull was a legit 380”, with two of the satellites being a 340” 7x7, and a 320 I got on video chasing three of the lesser bulls into my lap. First legit stalk after losing the first 15 days to illness. It was very difficult with a swollen sprained knee. Had to take a day off afterwards. Would have been a slammer hunt had I not gotten Ill.
I’m just resting body in Montrose a couple days. Good timing as I got a quick project from work to submit FY2022 schedule. Will get back at it Thursday evening if rain holds off. Plan to hunt to the last day if necessary.
I’m just resting body in Montrose a couple days. Good timing as I got a quick project from work to submit FY2022 schedule. Will get back at it Thursday evening if rain holds off. Plan to hunt to the last day if necessary.
I’m reporting from Fort Collins, where I finally made it despite 5 hour delay due to fatal tunnel accident shutting down Eastbound I-70. This fits right in with the rest of my hunt lol. Wanted to spoil my grand daughters again before the long drive home. I did not see the 380” again because it was it was way too hard on my ancient knees to get back the 4 miles to Big A Canyon. Just not possible. Ended up taking an average bull late in the hunt but there was no blood trail and I lost the meat to a bear. First time I failed to recover an elk since 1997. Needless to say, losing the best 3 weeks of a 5 week hunt to the virus was catastrophic.
With no blood trail, how did you end up finding your bull? How long after the shot did you find him? Where was the bull hit? Give us some details, brother.
Grey Ghost, Ya the weird part was I even got a photo of him on my trailcam after the shot. On my hands and knees right where he stood, not one drop. He headed straight West, so same there, but zero blood. Found my last two deer in Illinois with zero blood after arrow hit back side shoulder bone by doing grid searches. But not this time. My mistake was focusing on the direction he headed, West. Only once did I have a hit bull do a 180 and circle back. But this guy was the second. He still ended up in my grid search area, but in a blow down. I had to walk right by him. Go figure. Another hunter happened to find him 4 days later. And I happened to be chatting with his dad at the trailhead when he came out and informed me on 9/29.
I’ll be reading some threads on this topic to improve my grid search skills. Also want to revisit increasing my bow poundage or arrow weight to get full penetration. I lowered my draw weight from 70 to 62 after shoulder pain years ago. I don’t expect to penetrate deer backside shoulder bones, but this elk shot should have passed through at least the entry side. I’ll try to attach the trailcam photo so you can see it failed to. Arrow exit is at the bottom of the image.