Let me introduce myself. I'm a total newbie hunter, despite being about to turn 60. I've read 99 pages on this forum so far, literally - out of 536 - and feel like I've learned so much. Thank you all for your wisdom. I'm semi-retired, and a devoted fly fisher. I've been snooping around the edge of hunting for the past 20 years and am now taking the plunge.
My wife and I are both professors at a liberal arts college, and no one we know hunts, and most people are just totally hostile to the idea if we mention it. I didn't come from hunting people either, so there's no history here. Total newbie rubes.
Last year we did a Backcountry Hunters and Anglers course, which, among other really useful things, included breaking down an elk (this was a really great program). We're down to our last few packs in the freezer, so things seem a little desperate, now that we've gotten a taste for it. The next month we got a late antelope tag for the eastern plains of Colorado - our home state - and went out with our binoculars and a spotting scope, and our new .308, to do some scoping, maybe some hunting if the opportunity was there. We left the gun in the car, but learned a lot over the two days we were out there, including why they call them speed goats. Now here we are and we've got a 4th season antlered elk rifle tag for units 59 and 581 (as well as an antelope tag where we went last year). I've read enough to know that these are tough, crowded units, but they border our little property and we've decided to commit to knowing a local area, and it doesn't get much more local than this for us (I can see 59 from top of our property).
I'm ready to start scouting - I've got lots of time at the moment. I've spent a good bit of time e-scouting, read everything I can, but I know that only gets you so far, and boots on the ground is the way to go. So boots it is. About ten years ago when we took up fly fishing it was a really steep learning curve, but eventually, after many, many miles and many fishless days we started catching fish. We found that focusing on a couple stretches of river was the way to go, and now we feel like we really, really know these stretches, know the bugs and the hatches, know the seasons. It's been really gratifying. We intend to follow the same method, and fully expect to spend many days and many many miles walking and looking. If we harvest an animal at some point we'll consider that a bonus. I'd consider it a victory to just see a few elk.
I really just wanted to check in, say hello. I hope we're not crazy for settling on these units, but we can depend on the leftover draw and OTC to give us the chance to hunt these units every year, and in the process we'll accumulate enough points to try another unit.
We've been hiking these areas several times a week for almost a decade, but that's on trails. So here's my initial question: should we just pick an area that looks promising on the topos and Google Earth, and bushwack? Find game trails? This is steep, timbered forest. What's the best way to go about getting to know a piece of land? I imagine we'll have to find ways to get away from all the people who hike and hunt in here, but first I'd like to start to get to know the terrain. Any tips would be great. I went out earlier in the week and did five miles on a trail, poked off trail a little, but mainly just wanted a first look. It's all intimidating, but we're in it for the long term, so we'll work through what seems like just mystery to us.
I'm really starting this as a place to keep track of our progress. Thanks for reading.
My wife and I are both professors at a liberal arts college, and no one we know hunts, and most people are just totally hostile to the idea if we mention it. I didn't come from hunting people either, so there's no history here. Total newbie rubes.
Last year we did a Backcountry Hunters and Anglers course, which, among other really useful things, included breaking down an elk (this was a really great program). We're down to our last few packs in the freezer, so things seem a little desperate, now that we've gotten a taste for it. The next month we got a late antelope tag for the eastern plains of Colorado - our home state - and went out with our binoculars and a spotting scope, and our new .308, to do some scoping, maybe some hunting if the opportunity was there. We left the gun in the car, but learned a lot over the two days we were out there, including why they call them speed goats. Now here we are and we've got a 4th season antlered elk rifle tag for units 59 and 581 (as well as an antelope tag where we went last year). I've read enough to know that these are tough, crowded units, but they border our little property and we've decided to commit to knowing a local area, and it doesn't get much more local than this for us (I can see 59 from top of our property).
I'm ready to start scouting - I've got lots of time at the moment. I've spent a good bit of time e-scouting, read everything I can, but I know that only gets you so far, and boots on the ground is the way to go. So boots it is. About ten years ago when we took up fly fishing it was a really steep learning curve, but eventually, after many, many miles and many fishless days we started catching fish. We found that focusing on a couple stretches of river was the way to go, and now we feel like we really, really know these stretches, know the bugs and the hatches, know the seasons. It's been really gratifying. We intend to follow the same method, and fully expect to spend many days and many many miles walking and looking. If we harvest an animal at some point we'll consider that a bonus. I'd consider it a victory to just see a few elk.
I really just wanted to check in, say hello. I hope we're not crazy for settling on these units, but we can depend on the leftover draw and OTC to give us the chance to hunt these units every year, and in the process we'll accumulate enough points to try another unit.
We've been hiking these areas several times a week for almost a decade, but that's on trails. So here's my initial question: should we just pick an area that looks promising on the topos and Google Earth, and bushwack? Find game trails? This is steep, timbered forest. What's the best way to go about getting to know a piece of land? I imagine we'll have to find ways to get away from all the people who hike and hunt in here, but first I'd like to start to get to know the terrain. Any tips would be great. I went out earlier in the week and did five miles on a trail, poked off trail a little, but mainly just wanted a first look. It's all intimidating, but we're in it for the long term, so we'll work through what seems like just mystery to us.
I'm really starting this as a place to keep track of our progress. Thanks for reading.
