13 elk

[Deerlove]

The research starts, not afraid of hard work, thoughts, and PM's are welcome.

 

[copple2]

What hunt did you draw?

13 late muzzy for me this year. It'll be my first time hunting the unit. Can't wait!

 

[Deerlove]

2nd season, starts on 23rd? Muzzy NR

 

[billc]

With the hunt being really late this year be ready to glass and look for bulls away from cows. Will be some smaller bulls with cows but bigger bulls will have moved on and find some rough out of the way hiding spots. Be ready to take shots out to 200 or 400 if you can get your set up ready for that distance Good look some great bulls in the unit

 

[OCHO]

Personally the later muzzle hunts are just time in the field scouting. Most times the big bulls have broken away and are headed for nasty thick country to recover and bachelor up. So you have to find the right terrain to find the bulls and usually rocky and nasty.

 

[wildfin]

would you have the same advice for the 1st muzzy.

 

[OCHO]

would you have the same advice for the 1st muzzy.

They bugle a little more on the 1st but just early mornings typically. And there is little to no chance you would call a bigger bull in, maybe smaller bulls. Better chance of the bulls still being with cows. The closer to beginning of October the better. Every year the start of the hunt gets later and resets so if you hit it right you can hit the earlier of the 1st hunt or the latest since it starts on the weekend this is the case.

This year Colorado 3rd season starts when the 4th usually is so next year is reset on this process.

 

[wildfin]

thanks for the reply ocho. It has been nearly 20 years since I hunted 34 muzzy and finally drew again, I shot a dozen bulls while trying to draw again, looking forward to being back in NM.

 

[Ropinfool]

hire a guide

 

[Jarhead]

I would rather hunt the last bull hunt than the first or second.

 

[060785]

This was a couple years ago in 13, October 6th and there were a few studs running around with cows for the week we were there, good luck on your hunts

 

[Deerlove]

Will take that.

 

[ORPhotoGuy]

hire a guide

I'd be very wary of hiring a certain outfitter with a mullet in this unit. I had a horrible experience with one a couple years ago. The outfitter advertised trail cam photos of all these great bulls but it turns out, those were on a small piece of private ground that only his highest paying clients got to hunt. Most troubling, the outfitter assigned me a guide for the late muzzleloader season in November that had never hunted the unit outside of archery season. We wasted 3 days hunting all the spots the elk were in September and not the rugged nasty country the bulls actually live in. The final day we wasted glassing private land that wasn't even open to hunt that I had to show the guide was not public access ground. Be very careful who you hire if you go that route.

 

[smarba]

"Be wary of an outfitter with a mullet"...doesn't that describe about every outfitter LOL

 

[wildfin]

Was in there last weak for 4 days , it is dry, I saw 2 dugouts with water out of maybe 50 . I did see a couple bulls that may have been around 350 and still growing. I saw tons of elk and lots of caves that look to be only 2 maybe 3 weeks old and was wondering at what date would they have been knocked up, It was starting to rain on sunday but it looks like it needs to rain a lot just to get the ground wet , the elk didn't look unhealthy but they didn't look extra fat either and I talked to a cowboy that said they aren't running cattle on parts of there land because there isn't any grass, and he didn't think they got more than a tenth of an inch of rain this year.

 

[yotebuster17]

Was in there last weak for 4 days , it is dry, I saw 2 dugouts with water out of maybe 50 . I did see a couple bulls that may have been around 350 and still growing. I saw tons of elk and lots of caves that look to be only 2 maybe 3 weeks old and was wondering at what date would they have been knocked up, It was starting to rain on sunday but it looks like it needs to rain a lot just to get the ground wet , the elk didn't look unhealthy but they didn't look extra fat either and I talked to a cowboy that said they aren't running cattle on parts of there land because there isn't any grass, and he didn't think they got more than a tenth of an inch of rain this year.

I’d love to see some pics of some mid June bulls that are 350 already. Should be low 400’s by the time they finish out. I’ve hunted that unit a half dozen times and only seen a couple bulls over 350 when they’ve grown their entire antlers.

 

[garneroutlaw]

I had a late muzzle tag a few years ago. I won't hunt it again as it's a tough, cold, lonely hunt. There's a reason why it's an easy tag to draw. Ton of hunters on the west side. Had a deer tag the year before that and I froze my butt off in below zero weather. The BLM land on the west side gets a ton of pressure. I only hunted 2 days and called it a day as I didn't have time to scout it that year. If your plan is to sit water, there will be other people with the same plan. Follow the trail up the mesa and hit them as they descend the mesa. The nice guy always finishes last. I found out in the weeks after someone I knew was up on the slopes above me likely spooking anything planning on hitting the water hole.....Never even knew they were there.

 

[wildfin]

The bulls I saw probably will not grow much more, I think they may be hard horn in like 4 to 6 weeks I wouldn't think much farther out than that. I can only hope for cold weather because I have the 1st hunt and may be alone and hunting as far as 6 miles from access so bring on the cold and lonely, I wouldn't leave that hunt unless me or a bull were dead.