New Area For my Elk Hunt In The Fall.

[Muley Hunter]

I want to try a new area next fall. This is an area i've wanted to try for decades, but kept putting it off. Now is a good time. I'm tired of the old areas.

It's a ghost town that's been preserved. An old mining town at 10,000ft. Lots of areas to camp around town, and is busy in the summer. Should be pretty empty in Sept for the hunt. Camp near town, and drive up another 1000ft each morning to the area I want to hunt, and hike in from there.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Nice! What distance do you reckon' your shot will be?

 

[Muley Hunter]

I'm going to be using a Jonathan Browning Mountain Rifle with open sights, and a PRB (.50). My shot will be under 50 yds. I'll be in the timber areas trying to to still hunt close enough for a shot. I won't be taking any open area long shots.

The last picture is about how it should look for the muzzy hunt. Maybe the leaves won't be that yellow yet, but they should be starting to turn.

The good part is I don't expect to see many hunters up there for muzzy season. I should be able to find some solitude.

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

That is a nice distance. Comfortable and relatively certain. A nice choice for rifle, too. 
I am fond of the PRB in .50.

Yeah, you can find solitude all right! Just you and the ghosts of the town... 
Ghosts... 

Take some holy water with you! :tongue:

And, it is beautiful. Keep us updated!

 

[Jlc378]

That looks incredible!  Nostalga and beauty!

 

[SCHUNTER1]

Beautiful country.  Thanks for sharing and good luck...

 

[Al-53]

Pete ..thats beautiful country...i been to Colorado a few times...loved it...even went to a concert at Red Rocks way back in the 70's..amazing place....

I would love going to old mining sites and explore...even use a metal detector to find old atrifacts of the era...I live very rural here and on a small mountain..nothing like you have there..I use to live right outside of Boston and moved out to western Ma...now I hate going to ANY city...

I bet your dog buddy loves it there..you know how pits are they love to explore and sniff everything...

my pits love to watch the turkeys when they come in to feed...but never leave the porch..I think they scared of them..lol...but after they leave they sniff every piece of ground they were on...haha..

 

[Muley Hunter]

Thanks guys. I'm doing my best to find a cabin I can live in full time in this area. I tried to do it in another area near me. Maybe i'll have better luck in this area.

Winters will be tough, but it will be heaven the rest of the year. If I can find a place remote enough I think I can hunt for food without a tag. That will make it so much easier. I can also fish for trout in the creek all year.

 

[Muley Hunter]

Here's a small lake that can be fished during the summer that's in the area. Full of cutthroat trout.

The creek. I've caught a bunch of trout in it.

 

[RonRC]

I've been up in that area, and it is NICE!
You are right. Winter should be quite the adventure up there.

Ron

 

[Smokin' Joe]

I just looked it up on Google Maps!  If you need help packing out your elk,  I can grab my muzzleloader, go have a beer at the American Legion, hit the road and be there in 16 hours & 18 minutes (1050 miles).  Then have another beer! 

 

[Muley Hunter]

You going to help Joe, or get drunk?

 

[Muley Hunter]

Everybody picks a persona for the rendezvous. Mine is the hunter supplying meat for the brigade from 1820-1840. They travel together, and can be up to 100 men. Lots of meat needed, so they had full time hunters.
I also plan to just turn into this character, because it's so close to being me. I even look like him. I just need some buckskins that I want to make out of the next elk I kill. If I can't find a cabin up by Winfield i'll turn into him anyway while living where I am now. I wish the picture was in a more mountain setting, but the rest I like other than he should have a Hawken instead of the long rifle.

 

[Smokin' Joe]

"Only" TWO beers Pete! 

 

[Muley Hunter]

Everybody lies about how many beers they had. 

 

[Muley Hunter]

Anybody have any deer skins they don't want? I need to make some buckskin clothes.

I want to use what I shoot, but deer tags are so hard to get here, and was told elk hide is too heavy and hot to wear except for coats and mocs.

Brain tanned deer hide seems to be the best for pants and shirts.

So, i'll need your brains too.

Ok, i'm kidding. I know you guys couldn't spare any brains.  :clown:

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Great picture!

No. No brains to spare here! LOL :tongue:

 

[Muley Hunter]

Damn! Damn! Damn!!  I thought I had found a cabin in Winfield. The only one on the whole mountain. It's an original building that's been completely restored and improved to bring it up to date. It's a rental, but only listed July dates. I called them up, and said I wanted to rent it full time. They thought I was nuts to want to live there in the winter. I did my best, but they weren't going for it. They wouldn't even rent it to me for my hunt in Sept. July only, and that's it. Crap!

 

[Kentucky Colonel]

Does that mean you can't do your hunt?

 

[Muley Hunter]

No, it just means I can't live there unless I can find something else, but there's not much there. If it wasn't for the attraction of the ghost town it wouldn't get any traffic to speak of.

I'll just have to sleep in my Jeep for the hunt. This is only one of the places i'll hunt though. The hunt is 9 days, and I have a long list of places to go to. I invited Jon to go to Winfield, but he isn't interested. I would have stayed there for the whole hunt then, but being alone i'll move around a lot. I've hunted this unit since the 50's, so I know it well. I have secret spots that I never talk about with anybody.