I know Rokslide typically likes trip reports, and figured I would type mine up, despite it being a disappointer.
My brother and I attempted a muzzleloader mule deer hunt in central Colorado this fall, our second western hunt, and first hunt in the high country. I was the tag holder, and my brother came along to help and just have the experience. I had been wanting to do this for years, ever since I was little, and now that I'm in a stage in life where I have the wherewithal to do things like this, I have voraciously devoured information on the topic in any way possible. I've browsed Rokslide and other forums repeatedly, I've read magazine articles, blogs, and books. I've listened to podcasts and watched hours of YouTube footage (some obviously more helpful than others). I spent basically two years gathering as much information as possible, so when we did go, we wouldn't be in bad shape.
I applied for a unit that had relatively good road access, some wilderness area to avoid ATV traffic, and no OTC elk hunters, and got the tag just as planned. My OnX saw more of my screen time than anything else after drawing, and I had multiple plans of access and glassing points marked and ready for us. I bought a Williams Precision peep sight set for my muzzleloader and was confident out to 200 yards with Federal BORLock bullets, and we had each accumulated a nice starter set of backpacking gear without breaking the bank and had been training religiously, 3-5 mile hikes on the Missouri River bluffs in the heat of summer with weighted packs. We felt confident that we would at least survive and have a good time, regardless of if we saw game or not.
We launched out of Missouri early on Thursday morning before the opener and drove straight to Denver that day. We stayed at a hotel and did a final gear check and grocery store run that night, and got a solid 8 hours of sleep. The next day, we left Denver at sunrise and drove the few hours to the unit so we could check out some trail heads during daylight and make a decision on where to go. The first two we drove past were quite crowded with lots of horse trailers, but I assumed they were mostly elk hunters. The 3rd trail-head, and the one that I had marked as being Plan A, was empty except one truck. We parked and got organized to start our hike in. While standing there loading our packs an outfitter rode by with a string of horses and went up the trail without so much as a wave. We slipped on our packs and locked the car and off we went up the trail, with much excitement and also some anxiety. Only a quarter-mile in or so we ran into a group of elk hunters coming out who had been in there for the entire previous week. They had seen zero deer, but said normally they would see some in there in years past. They also told us the location of the outfitter camp (only 2 miles up the trail), and that there was a cow moose further in with an attitude problem. We went on our way, right past the outfitter camp and up into a higher drainage, bypassing the moose issue entirely. The hike wasn't impossible. Difficult yes, with more stops and breathers, but not as brutal as we had feared. We climbed up into a bench on a ridge to camp for the night, and turned in fairly early. The altitude make recovery slow, and we decided to sleep in some in the morning, and start a little later.
Opening day is when things started to go poorly for us. My brother was struggling with the altitude. He felt ill and had completely lost his appetite. I reminded him to keep drinking and snacking on food as much as he could, and I left him in camp. Before I had even made it 100 yards from camp two does came trotting down the hill within 50 yards of me, and would have been an easy shot if I had a doe tag. Just seeing deer in the unit boosted my spirits and I was optimistic. I climbed up another 1,000ft over another mile or so to the glassing spot I thought would be promising. It was absolutely beautiful, but did not reveal as much open ground as I had hoped. The evening passed without any deer showing themselves and I returned to camp.
Day two arrived and my brother was still not in good shape. He had been up and about, but I noticed he had been making some questionable decisions, and he had not slept well at all. I found a spot to sit in the saddle over a game trail that morning, with no luck. There was lots of elk sign in the immediate area, but no game sighted that day. With a storm in the forecast and limited glassing to be had, and my brother's condition, we made the decision to pull out in the morning and regroup. The hike out was fine despite getting some rain, and we found a spot to car camp that night.
The next day we decided to check out another end of the unit that had also looked promising on the maps. As we drove to the far end we passed more and more elk hunters and each one we talked to repeated the same message, "oh yeah, we normally see lots of deer through here, but not this year". We did see does on the roads, but no bucks. We hiked back into the wilderness area 2 miles that night to sit up high and glass, and sure enough we did see does come out of the brush close to dark, but no bucks. Being up high again, my brother once again was feeling poor, and by this time a really negative attitude had come out, which put a damper on things. I had also developed heel blisters that day, which made each step painful, despite taping them, wearing wool socks, and what I thought were broken in boots. We camped at the car again that night at a lower elevation.
The following day we again drove to a different area, but saw more ATVs and more elk hunters than anywhere else. We again sat over a nice open drainage that evening, but saw nothing. Driving back lower to camp that evening we again saw more does along the road. My brother continued to be negative to the point where we got in arguments. Between the attitude, my blisters, and more impending weather, the next morning I made an audible we we hit the road to go home. I realized I can only deal with 2 types of BS at once, and I had 3 at the time, and the situation was not going to improve, and could potentially get worse if I had tried to drag my brother back up the mountain. We retreated, tails tucked between our legs.
Trip successes:
There were zero gear failures besides boots. We didn't have anything that I would consider to be premium gear, but everything worked as it should, and we didn't take a bunch of stuff we didn't use--and I owe that primarily to this forum. There is a gold-mine of information on this site.
We were somewhat appropriately conditioned. Living at less than 1k feet makes it tough, but I was pleased with how my body performed. I'm definitely going to work even harder for the next one, but we managed.
I have a better frame of reference when looking at maps of Colorado now. Invaluable for future scouting, and quite humbling as well.
Yes we saw people, but not as many as I had feared. Lots of crazy stories about Colorado on here, but we didn't see a ton of folks, and everyone we did see and talk to was friendly and courteous.
Trip failures:
Altitude was a real problem for both of us, but more so my brother. We should've looked into Diamox, or taking another day to acclimate.
Packed too much food, but apparently so does everyone else, so I don't feel so bad about that one.
Footwear--I had about 30 miles on my boots before we went out there, on a lot of hills as well. I'm not sure why I got blisters, but next time I'll proactively tape my heels and maybe double-up on socks. The boots are Oboz Bridgers and are still in great shape, so we will see how training this year goes.
Hunting partner problems. This goes without saying, but having someone who doesn't want to be there makes it extremely difficult. I'm not sure if he just didn't understand the magnitude of what we were doing and wasn't prepared mentally, or if it was all altitude issues, but it was a real problem. I love my brother dearly, but he was not as invested as I was and I'm honestly not sure if I can consider taking him again unless he is fully invested with a tag and a strong desire to do it.
Questions for the group:
We saw does almost every day, at elevations ranging from 10,000ft to 8,000ft. Everything I've read suggests that the bucks would be higher than the does, but we could glass fairly well above treeline and saw none. Should we have just looked harder and kept moving? Or should we have looked lower in the trees and along travel routes?
I'm already planning on going back next year, but I'm unsure if I should attempt the same unit, or apply for a neighboring unit with more high country basins and wilderness area. I'm just wondering if more glass-able area=more bucks seen, despite having possibly lower deer densities, and then do I go back with a muzzleloader, or should I attempt 2nd rifle? Shooting further is obviously an advantage, but more tags/people are in 2nd rifle.
Thanks again everyone, it's a frustrating passion!
My brother and I attempted a muzzleloader mule deer hunt in central Colorado this fall, our second western hunt, and first hunt in the high country. I was the tag holder, and my brother came along to help and just have the experience. I had been wanting to do this for years, ever since I was little, and now that I'm in a stage in life where I have the wherewithal to do things like this, I have voraciously devoured information on the topic in any way possible. I've browsed Rokslide and other forums repeatedly, I've read magazine articles, blogs, and books. I've listened to podcasts and watched hours of YouTube footage (some obviously more helpful than others). I spent basically two years gathering as much information as possible, so when we did go, we wouldn't be in bad shape.
I applied for a unit that had relatively good road access, some wilderness area to avoid ATV traffic, and no OTC elk hunters, and got the tag just as planned. My OnX saw more of my screen time than anything else after drawing, and I had multiple plans of access and glassing points marked and ready for us. I bought a Williams Precision peep sight set for my muzzleloader and was confident out to 200 yards with Federal BORLock bullets, and we had each accumulated a nice starter set of backpacking gear without breaking the bank and had been training religiously, 3-5 mile hikes on the Missouri River bluffs in the heat of summer with weighted packs. We felt confident that we would at least survive and have a good time, regardless of if we saw game or not.
We launched out of Missouri early on Thursday morning before the opener and drove straight to Denver that day. We stayed at a hotel and did a final gear check and grocery store run that night, and got a solid 8 hours of sleep. The next day, we left Denver at sunrise and drove the few hours to the unit so we could check out some trail heads during daylight and make a decision on where to go. The first two we drove past were quite crowded with lots of horse trailers, but I assumed they were mostly elk hunters. The 3rd trail-head, and the one that I had marked as being Plan A, was empty except one truck. We parked and got organized to start our hike in. While standing there loading our packs an outfitter rode by with a string of horses and went up the trail without so much as a wave. We slipped on our packs and locked the car and off we went up the trail, with much excitement and also some anxiety. Only a quarter-mile in or so we ran into a group of elk hunters coming out who had been in there for the entire previous week. They had seen zero deer, but said normally they would see some in there in years past. They also told us the location of the outfitter camp (only 2 miles up the trail), and that there was a cow moose further in with an attitude problem. We went on our way, right past the outfitter camp and up into a higher drainage, bypassing the moose issue entirely. The hike wasn't impossible. Difficult yes, with more stops and breathers, but not as brutal as we had feared. We climbed up into a bench on a ridge to camp for the night, and turned in fairly early. The altitude make recovery slow, and we decided to sleep in some in the morning, and start a little later.
Opening day is when things started to go poorly for us. My brother was struggling with the altitude. He felt ill and had completely lost his appetite. I reminded him to keep drinking and snacking on food as much as he could, and I left him in camp. Before I had even made it 100 yards from camp two does came trotting down the hill within 50 yards of me, and would have been an easy shot if I had a doe tag. Just seeing deer in the unit boosted my spirits and I was optimistic. I climbed up another 1,000ft over another mile or so to the glassing spot I thought would be promising. It was absolutely beautiful, but did not reveal as much open ground as I had hoped. The evening passed without any deer showing themselves and I returned to camp.
Day two arrived and my brother was still not in good shape. He had been up and about, but I noticed he had been making some questionable decisions, and he had not slept well at all. I found a spot to sit in the saddle over a game trail that morning, with no luck. There was lots of elk sign in the immediate area, but no game sighted that day. With a storm in the forecast and limited glassing to be had, and my brother's condition, we made the decision to pull out in the morning and regroup. The hike out was fine despite getting some rain, and we found a spot to car camp that night.
The next day we decided to check out another end of the unit that had also looked promising on the maps. As we drove to the far end we passed more and more elk hunters and each one we talked to repeated the same message, "oh yeah, we normally see lots of deer through here, but not this year". We did see does on the roads, but no bucks. We hiked back into the wilderness area 2 miles that night to sit up high and glass, and sure enough we did see does come out of the brush close to dark, but no bucks. Being up high again, my brother once again was feeling poor, and by this time a really negative attitude had come out, which put a damper on things. I had also developed heel blisters that day, which made each step painful, despite taping them, wearing wool socks, and what I thought were broken in boots. We camped at the car again that night at a lower elevation.
The following day we again drove to a different area, but saw more ATVs and more elk hunters than anywhere else. We again sat over a nice open drainage that evening, but saw nothing. Driving back lower to camp that evening we again saw more does along the road. My brother continued to be negative to the point where we got in arguments. Between the attitude, my blisters, and more impending weather, the next morning I made an audible we we hit the road to go home. I realized I can only deal with 2 types of BS at once, and I had 3 at the time, and the situation was not going to improve, and could potentially get worse if I had tried to drag my brother back up the mountain. We retreated, tails tucked between our legs.
Trip successes:
There were zero gear failures besides boots. We didn't have anything that I would consider to be premium gear, but everything worked as it should, and we didn't take a bunch of stuff we didn't use--and I owe that primarily to this forum. There is a gold-mine of information on this site.
We were somewhat appropriately conditioned. Living at less than 1k feet makes it tough, but I was pleased with how my body performed. I'm definitely going to work even harder for the next one, but we managed.
I have a better frame of reference when looking at maps of Colorado now. Invaluable for future scouting, and quite humbling as well.
Yes we saw people, but not as many as I had feared. Lots of crazy stories about Colorado on here, but we didn't see a ton of folks, and everyone we did see and talk to was friendly and courteous.
Trip failures:
Altitude was a real problem for both of us, but more so my brother. We should've looked into Diamox, or taking another day to acclimate.
Packed too much food, but apparently so does everyone else, so I don't feel so bad about that one.
Footwear--I had about 30 miles on my boots before we went out there, on a lot of hills as well. I'm not sure why I got blisters, but next time I'll proactively tape my heels and maybe double-up on socks. The boots are Oboz Bridgers and are still in great shape, so we will see how training this year goes.
Hunting partner problems. This goes without saying, but having someone who doesn't want to be there makes it extremely difficult. I'm not sure if he just didn't understand the magnitude of what we were doing and wasn't prepared mentally, or if it was all altitude issues, but it was a real problem. I love my brother dearly, but he was not as invested as I was and I'm honestly not sure if I can consider taking him again unless he is fully invested with a tag and a strong desire to do it.
Questions for the group:
We saw does almost every day, at elevations ranging from 10,000ft to 8,000ft. Everything I've read suggests that the bucks would be higher than the does, but we could glass fairly well above treeline and saw none. Should we have just looked harder and kept moving? Or should we have looked lower in the trees and along travel routes?
I'm already planning on going back next year, but I'm unsure if I should attempt the same unit, or apply for a neighboring unit with more high country basins and wilderness area. I'm just wondering if more glass-able area=more bucks seen, despite having possibly lower deer densities, and then do I go back with a muzzleloader, or should I attempt 2nd rifle? Shooting further is obviously an advantage, but more tags/people are in 2nd rifle.
Thanks again everyone, it's a frustrating passion!
