Lightning Strikes! San Juan Muzzleloader Bull Tag

To say I was ecstatic to see the SUCCESSFUL text next to the e-mail for my LE elk would be an understatement! I'm looking to talk to any previous tag holders that are willing to share some info. I've got a pretty good feel for the unit and places to hunt, my biggest worry right now is how much the bulls will change locations between now and the rut. From what I gather scouting specific animals isn't going to be very likely, more importantly will be knowing the terrain, how to get to certain parts of the unit most effectively, etc. Any confirmation or thoughts on that would be appreciated.

The size of the unit and the fact that where the elk are during the rut vs where trail cams are showing them throughout the summer has me a tad overwhelmed of what preparations are best for before the hunt. Any general help or information people are willing to share would be greatly appreciated. As always DM's are certainly welcome. Fingers crossed for a monster this fall!

LAST EDITED ON May-17-18 AT 04:37PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON May-17-18 AT 04:33?PM (MST)

Definitely scout the unit to get to know the area as much as you can. It's good to know what kind of bulls are on the mountain so you can set your expectations but as far as tracking their patterns and location goes, it doesn't really matter where you find the bulls in the summer, once the rut starts picking up they will be separating from the bachelor groups and going all sorts of different places. If you want to find where the bulls will be going, find the cows.

edit: also, congrats on the tag! That's definitely a heck of a unit to have a tag on.

There are a lot of great resources out there that will help answer your questions. Corey Jacobsen from elk101 has a great course about elk as well as Paul from elknut. Randy newberg does a weekly facebook live called elk talk where you can ask questions and listen to his advice and tactics. Based on all the elk hanging on the walls in his shed I'd say he knows a lot more about elk hunting than me.

You should have no trouble getting some of the best honey holes from bess. I'm sure he will chime inn!