Any CO Unit 36 hunters hanging out around here ?

[thegarbrah]

Just wondering if anyone calls unit 36 in CO home around here? I've hunted it for the past three seasons and have completely different experiences each time. Seemed like last year the warm weather kept the elk above 12k and the only guys I saw packing elk out where all on horseback. I hunted OTC rifle and hung around timberline for the better half of 7 days solo. Decided to switch up and checked out homestake which was a zoo and then finished at hale. Came up empty handed, but found some great early season spots. I'm going all in for bowhunting this year.

Just seeing if anyone found the past two seasons more difficult than usual? Seems like the winters were fairly mild and I was seeing tons of sign but the hunting pressure and warm weather just had them pushed back deep.

 

[cmbbulldog]

I texted my buddy today about doing a couple hikes in 36 this summer. Always been on my radar for deer, but knew there was some elk up in that high country too. See any good bucks up that way?

 

[Slugz]

Changes yearly IMO.....cant really nail down consistently the weather from 2nd season on in my experience. Case in point...my time in the woods from archery opener till the close Sept 25 roughly the weather is always been the same. Few days of hot, cold snap comes, few days rain....wash rinse repeat until the first hard hard cold snap.

1st rifle is a change over period some have been bone dry hot....others I've taken 8" of snow depending on location in CO.

2nd/3rd/4th complete crapshoot...we don't hunt 2nd or 3rd but always hunt 4th.....Some years in 4th I was on a snowmobile getting back in.....others I hiked in a long sleeve shirt.....last year balmy on day one, blizzard day 2 with 5 inches of snow and bluebird skies.

To answer the ? No different the past few years at all from others IMO. Only difference I have seen was in antler growth the past 4 years. Its been above average due to the better forage available up hi due to the overall wetter May/June/July timeframes.

Disclaimer we are in 6 different GMUS consistently every year to include scouting so that's what I'm basing my comments on. I gotta pretty good feel year to year in July what I see and basing it off the years prior. So that info could be localized to my GMUS only.

 

[hoshour]

What's your outfit called?

 

[gypsumreaper]

Are you talking homestake creek area out of minturn? And camp hale cause that's all a completely different unit than 36. That's all unit 45,

 

[thegarbrah]

I've focused on 36 for backpacking on foot because most guys aren't spending a lot of time at timberline and I've only run into guys on horseback. Seen big black bears, deer if you are in the right bowl section, and elk, you just need to be in great shape and ready to go through hell to get an animal out. If you're not father in than 3 miles then you need to go deeper. In know homesteak and hale are in 45, I use them as a back up. They can be productive areas if you know how to work around pressure, guys on horseback, and road hunters keeping the elk deep into dark timber.

 

[Predatore]

I hunted 36 last year, elk for 2nd season OTC, and deer for 3rd season. My wife shot a 4x5 bull around 9300' in the aspens, and I shot a small deer around 10,200'. That was my first year hunting that unit, and I did spend a lot of time scouting it and unit 361. I put eyes on a whopping one cow elk in some nasty thick lodgepole forest up at 10,200' when I was scouting in Sept and that was it. We returned to that area opening day of 2nd season and couldn't find any fresh elk sign. We dropped down in elevation to the aspens on day 2, hiking in 1.5 miles on a trail. There was a ton of fresh sign there, around the burned area and aspen. We first saw a spiked bull, then later that day after still hunting very slowly, we walked up to my wife's bull that she shot. I don't know the area well enough to speak about the trends, but I do know that scouting and our back-up area saved the day. There were a ton of hunters camped off of the main road, but we didn't run into any hunters farther than 1/4 mile from the road. Send me a PM.

 

[BKC]

Red sandstone road might as well be a highway but it does get you access to the center of some good country. A lot of the unit is up and down, tough country. I know the west side better than the east side. There is some areas that hold good elk if you know where to look.

 

[thegarbrah]

I'm looking at the east end of the unit, staying away from all roads. I found a decent access point last year that will allow me to ridge hop. I plan on getting some summer scouting in, and hopefully narrowing down some spots. Stay steep, go deep is the plan. I'm considering some remote areas in the western portion of the unit, but I don't think I'll have enough scouting time this year to follow through .

I found a lot of elk sign last year around the 10k -11k mark but it was deep timber and deadfall. There was a horsecamp where the guys had taken down 3 bulls in the area but they were working spots around 9.5k up to 10k. I ended up running into a beautiful billy and some rams but struck out on the elk.

Spent too much time hiking in and out of spots due to gear mishap with my tent and ended up burning out day 4 of the hunt. This year I'll stay up high and camp at timberline.