Book Cliffs archery

realunlucky

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I'm heading over next week to look at the bison, deer are looking good out there.

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rtoreson

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Enjoyed the video. Thank you. Ed F
Quick question for those familiar with the unit. We are planning on coming into the unit from up north through Ouray. We will towing a mid sized enclosed utility trailer with a side by side in it. We are hoping to get to the ten mile knoll area to set up camp. Are we going to have issues with the trailer coming across on the dirt road?
Thx!!!
 
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Quick question for those familiar with the unit. We are planning on coming into the unit from up north through Ouray. We will towing a mid sized enclosed utility trailer with a side by side in it. We are hoping to get to the ten mile knoll area to set up camp. Are we going to have issues with the trailer coming across on the dirt road?
Thx!!!

We pulled a gooseneck horse trailer to 10 mile knoll in ‘13 (via ouray) but haven’t been that far since. The road is paved to the top (moon ridge). Having said that, we’ve had bad luck with tires out there, make sure you have a spare.


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muddydogs

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Quick question for those familiar with the unit. We are planning on coming into the unit from up north through Ouray. We will towing a mid sized enclosed utility trailer with a side by side in it. We are hoping to get to the ten mile knoll area to set up camp. Are we going to have issues with the trailer coming across on the dirt road?
Thx!!!
The Seep ridge road is paved almost to the Book Cliffs Ridge Road though start paying attention about mile marker 14 as there are a couple frost heaves between 14 and 12 that will bottom out the pickup and about blow a trailer off the ball especially at 65 mph.

Once you hit the dirt road it's generally good and 2 plus lanes wide. The first little bit might be rutted up some as the road gets a nice surface layer of slim when wet and that first couple miles is generally the worst. Things can get interesting fast on the Book Cliffs road if its wet and your pulling a load, spots get so slimy that a trailer tends to want to push you off the road going down or your vehicle breaks traction trying to pull the load up hill then there are the nice wet spots in the corners that slide you toward the edge of the world.

Its 100 miles from the end of the pavement to the first gas station, your going quite a ways further out on the ridge road so brings lots of fuel. I would have enough tire chains to hang steel on all four tires if its wet as you'll need them to get the trailer out. While the roads are good gas and oil haul roads for the most part your still a long way from anything so having a couple spare tires for the trailer never hurts as well as an air compressor of some type.
 

muddydogs

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I'll let you know what I see on my camera's after I pull them on Aug 10th. I drew the early rifle bull tag so have been doing some looking around. I did see a couple nice bucks running down a couple side ridge roads a month ago when I was down there, does all over the place as well.
 

realunlucky

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Hey Unlucky,

You happen to see many bucks in your quest to locate some bison?
Plenty of deer out right now. Your not going to struggle to find them. I wasn't looking but didn't see any over 160's guess it depends on we expectations. Going to be plenty of people there with deer and elk archery. My season starts on Sept. 21st. I got a couple more trips planned at the end of the month

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realunlucky

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I'll let you know what I see on my camera's after I pull them on Aug 10th. I drew the early rifle bull tag so have been doing some looking around. I did see a couple nice bucks running down a couple side ridge roads a month ago when I was down there, does all over the place as well.
If you need a hand packing out your bull, we'll be down there starting the 19th until we tag a bison.

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muddydogs

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If you need a hand packing out your bull, we'll be down there starting the 19th until we tag a bison.

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Well thanks for the offer. Do you have an Inreach or other satellite communication device? I wouldn't mind checking out your Bison kill as well. I'll be down from Sept 11th, season starts the 14th to the 22nd or tag out whichever comes first. I get spotty cell service in the Books.
 

rtoreson

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The Seep ridge road is paved almost to the Book Cliffs Ridge Road though start paying attention about mile marker 14 as there are a couple frost heaves between 14 and 12 that will bottom out the pickup and about blow a trailer off the ball especially at 65 mph.

Once you hit the dirt road it's generally good and 2 plus lanes wide. The first little bit might be rutted up some as the road gets a nice surface layer of slim when wet and that first couple miles is generally the worst. Things can get interesting fast on the Book Cliffs road if its wet and your pulling a load, spots get so slimy that a trailer tends to want to push you off the road going down or your vehicle breaks traction trying to pull the load up hill then there are the nice wet spots in the corners that slide you toward the edge of the world.

Its 100 miles from the end of the pavement to the first gas station, your going quite a ways further out on the ridge road so brings lots of fuel. I would have enough tire chains to hang steel on all four tires if its wet as you'll need them to get the trailer out. While the roads are good gas and oil haul roads for the most part your still a long way from anything so having a couple spare tires for the trailer never hurts as well as an air compressor of some type.
Thank you! This is great info and is much appreciated. We decided to bring a travel trailer as well so we have that to deal with as well. We will have two transfer tanks, one for diesel and the other for regular fuel for the side by side. I don't want any part of that sliding off the road to the edge of the world. Makes me pucker up a bit just thinking about it. We will drag some chains over as well. We plan on having spares for everything we are bringing over. Gonna look like a Les Schwab truck coming in there. What is the location of the closest gas station anyhow?
 

rtoreson

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Plenty of deer out right now. Your not going to struggle to find them. I wasn't looking but didn't see any over 160's guess it depends on we expectations. Going to be plenty of people there with deer and elk archery. My season starts on Sept. 21st. I got a couple more trips planned at the end of the month

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Thanks for the update unlucky. We aren't too hung up on score, just want to have a good time and hopefully arrow a respectable buck. We are gonna try to get off the beaten path a bit and hopefully find a couple decent ones to chase. If we have any way to help you guys out with elk or bison, we are happy to do so.
 

realunlucky

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Thanks for the update unlucky. We aren't too hung up on score, just want to have a good time and hopefully arrow a respectable buck. We are gonna try to get off the beaten path a bit and hopefully find a couple decent ones to chase. If we have any way to help you guys out with elk or bison, we are happy to do so.
How's your season gone? Been up a few times looking at bison and chatting with tag holders seems everyone is seeing bucks but mostly smaller. Hopefully your boy filled his tag

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How's your season gone? Been up a few times looking at bison and chatting with tag holders seems everyone is seeing bucks but mostly smaller. Hopefully your boy filled his tag

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We both did not monsters. Wonder if you happened to be one of the bison hunters we talked to. We talked to about 8 or so looking for bison.


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Was there opening day of the archery deer hunt and deer are everywhere. We did see one big buffalo, the first in the couple trips we've made there. I have nothing but great things to say about the area and the numbers of deer. The elk in the area we scout seem to move into the roadless area about the first of August.
 

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Here’s a fun video of our hunt on ‘14 my buddy’s wife and I had archery tags.


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Very cool video that portrays a very realistic view of the hunt experience anyone drawing this tag could have. Thanks for sharing.
 

rtoreson

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How's your season gone? Been up a few times looking at bison and chatting with tag holders seems everyone is seeing bucks but mostly smaller. Hopefully your boy filled his tag

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We both filled our tags with decent 4pts a day or two before we had to leave. We both had chances at bigger bucks but no monsters. The unit was as advertised and 150-160 bucks were abundant. We had a great time and met some neat people. It was a fun hunt. The country was amazing.
 

realunlucky

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We both filled our tags with decent 4pts a day or two before we had to leave. We both had chances at bigger bucks but no monsters. The unit was as advertised and 150-160 bucks were abundant. We had a great time and met some neat people. It was a fun hunt. The country was amazing.
Awesome glad you guys had a great trip. Bookcliffs are sure an awesome place to experience. Can't wait to get back up there.

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machinethomas

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I was out at the Book Cliffs a bit this summer and just spent the Labor Day weekend out there. My dad had an archery deer tag. There is a lot of bucks out there, we saw a few over 160”. Most of the bucks we saw were in the 130-150” range. My dad isn’t picky about what buck he wanted to shoot, and didn’t get too far from his Rzr. He ended up shooting a decent 4 point the last night before we were headed home. It’s an awesome unit for getting a bunch of stalks on some pretty nice bucks. I think it’s an awesome unit for archery, I’ve heard mixed reviews about the other hunts.

Side note: I talked quite a bit with a guy that had a rifle bull elk tag and he was quite disappointed in the bulls he was able to find. He seemed VERY knowledgeable about the area as well.


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realunlucky

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I was out at the Book Cliffs a bit this summer and just spent the Labor Day weekend out there. My dad had an archery deer tag. There is a lot of bucks out there, we saw a few over 160”. Most of the bucks we saw were in the 130-150” range. My dad isn’t picky about what buck he wanted to shoot, and didn’t get too far from his Rzr. He ended up shooting a decent 4 point the last night before we were headed home. It’s an awesome unit for getting a bunch of stalks on some pretty nice bucks. I think it’s an awesome unit for archery, I’ve heard mixed reviews about the other hunts.

Side note: I talked quite a bit with a guy that had a rifle bull elk tag and he was quite disappointed in the bulls he was able to find. He seemed VERY knowledgeable about the area as well.


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Awesome experience to share with your dad. Did you see any buffalo?

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machinethomas

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Awesome experience to share with your dad. Did you see any buffalo?

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No unfortunately we did not. The guy we had talked to a bunch told us he had been seeing a lot. I believe he said it was in Willow Canyon. But I’m not positive about that.


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