FlareBlitz91
Lil-Rokslider
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2022
- Messages
- 187
Hey all,
Long time lurker here, figured I’d make a post and share some lessons learned and maybe help another first timer down the road.
This past year my grandfather died, not to get into the deep specifics of it all, but he was hugely influential on both my father and I and our love of hunting and the outdoors. He always wanted to do a western hunt (we’re from Wisconsin) but never made it, my dad has done one mule deer hunt but never elk, i also was turning 30 this year and said screw it, I’m tired of watching other people do things i want to do. Bought a leftover tag and told my dad to get one or not, I’ll go alone if i have to. At that time the only tags left were cow tags in the bighorns, I grabbed unit 36 and figured worst case scenario we have a great time.
Bottom Line Up Front: We didnt shoot an elk, but not for lack of effort. We did have a good time and learn some things about the unit and hunting in general though.
If you’re looking at this unit, access is DIFFICULT to most of it. We first thought we’d access from Hunter Mesa using the forest road and set a camp. With snow these roads become impassable unless you have an ATV or a dedicated off road vehicle with a winch. We did not so we walked in from the campground on Day 1, getting passed by ATV’s the whole time. The forest here burned a few years ago so is that young dense pine, zero visibility off trail. About 1.5 miles in on the road is where people are setting camp. We did see a cow moose here at about 60 yards so that was pretty cool.
After 1 day of hunting we decided to bail on this access plan. There was no elk sign in the area and 1.5 miles of walking to just reach where other people are camping is a no go for me. So we went down lower to the east side of the NF to access from some state lands. These are really the two main access points. There are others possible but would be grueling to then just be on level with people using these.
The access from the East is far better. LOTS of hunters though, most of them deer. Your options here are to either camp in the designated area on state land or disperse on NF. We did the former because my father doesn’t have the same level of back country camping experience i do, I’d have preferred the latter though to save us miles and elevation gain every morning, but it is what it is.
In this area we found fresh elk carcasses that had been killed opening weekend, saw a couple bulls packed out, and talked to a lot of hunters. Great experience overall, but we could just not seem to locate the elk, and by the sounds of it nobody else could that week either.
We did see a ton of mule deer in addition to the moose, mostly does, small bucks, but at least one bruiser that defied this deer regions reputation. He was in some hairy terrain though….which is funny because the deer hunters we talked to weren’t seeing anything, they seemed to be doing more walking than glassing.
Anyway, we came home empty handed, but had a killer time. I think my dad will stick with mule deer hunts for the future but for me we will see.
Short version if you’re looking for advice: Unit 36 has a ton of available cow tags and is a general elk zone, if you’re looking to dip your toe into it with a reduced price tag it’s a good buy. But be realistic that the hunting pressure here is disproportionately exaggerated by the difficulty of accessing the national forest land creating a couple funnels, one of which is basically restricted to vehicle use. I’d recommend packing in and camping at least 1.5 miles from the trailhead to get yourself a leg up. Plenty of deer in the area (not as many as others probably) but you have to be willing to sit down and LOOK.
Long time lurker here, figured I’d make a post and share some lessons learned and maybe help another first timer down the road.
This past year my grandfather died, not to get into the deep specifics of it all, but he was hugely influential on both my father and I and our love of hunting and the outdoors. He always wanted to do a western hunt (we’re from Wisconsin) but never made it, my dad has done one mule deer hunt but never elk, i also was turning 30 this year and said screw it, I’m tired of watching other people do things i want to do. Bought a leftover tag and told my dad to get one or not, I’ll go alone if i have to. At that time the only tags left were cow tags in the bighorns, I grabbed unit 36 and figured worst case scenario we have a great time.
Bottom Line Up Front: We didnt shoot an elk, but not for lack of effort. We did have a good time and learn some things about the unit and hunting in general though.
If you’re looking at this unit, access is DIFFICULT to most of it. We first thought we’d access from Hunter Mesa using the forest road and set a camp. With snow these roads become impassable unless you have an ATV or a dedicated off road vehicle with a winch. We did not so we walked in from the campground on Day 1, getting passed by ATV’s the whole time. The forest here burned a few years ago so is that young dense pine, zero visibility off trail. About 1.5 miles in on the road is where people are setting camp. We did see a cow moose here at about 60 yards so that was pretty cool.
After 1 day of hunting we decided to bail on this access plan. There was no elk sign in the area and 1.5 miles of walking to just reach where other people are camping is a no go for me. So we went down lower to the east side of the NF to access from some state lands. These are really the two main access points. There are others possible but would be grueling to then just be on level with people using these.
The access from the East is far better. LOTS of hunters though, most of them deer. Your options here are to either camp in the designated area on state land or disperse on NF. We did the former because my father doesn’t have the same level of back country camping experience i do, I’d have preferred the latter though to save us miles and elevation gain every morning, but it is what it is.
In this area we found fresh elk carcasses that had been killed opening weekend, saw a couple bulls packed out, and talked to a lot of hunters. Great experience overall, but we could just not seem to locate the elk, and by the sounds of it nobody else could that week either.
We did see a ton of mule deer in addition to the moose, mostly does, small bucks, but at least one bruiser that defied this deer regions reputation. He was in some hairy terrain though….which is funny because the deer hunters we talked to weren’t seeing anything, they seemed to be doing more walking than glassing.
Anyway, we came home empty handed, but had a killer time. I think my dad will stick with mule deer hunts for the future but for me we will see.
Short version if you’re looking for advice: Unit 36 has a ton of available cow tags and is a general elk zone, if you’re looking to dip your toe into it with a reduced price tag it’s a good buy. But be realistic that the hunting pressure here is disproportionately exaggerated by the difficulty of accessing the national forest land creating a couple funnels, one of which is basically restricted to vehicle use. I’d recommend packing in and camping at least 1.5 miles from the trailhead to get yourself a leg up. Plenty of deer in the area (not as many as others probably) but you have to be willing to sit down and LOOK.
