53 Muzzy Help!

[bigmuleyboy]

I can't get out to 53 until Sept 12 at around 4pm. Just looking for a couple of peaks or high ridges to scout on the west side of the unit. I am planning on driving around the whole unit....probably just wasting my time...but I am anxious to see the country. Any good vantage points for good visability to glass for a couple of hours? My plans to pre scout have been shot and my plans to hunt the whole season have almost been Kiboshed as well. Just general areas are fine. I am very curious from looking at my maps at the private property and where one can ride a quad. Am I just wasting my time with a quad or should I just hunt the wilderness area? Don't give me any secrets... I enjoy finding the animals myself. Just looking for some general areas and ideas.

Thanks in advance.

 

[BeanMan]

deer or elk? How far can you hike?

 

[BeanMan]

The slopes of Mt Gunnison hold both.

 

[ICMDEER]

Tough to find good glassing points for Mt. Gunnison. The Beckwiths can also be a good spot. Boot leather is a necessary evil and it can be some of the toughest hiking around. Depending upon where you start, it might be 4,000+ feet vertical to get to where you want to be. Best of luck.

 

[bigmuleyboy]

Boot leather is a must for me. I like to hike but I am getting old and don't go as fast and far as I use too. I am looking for deer. I hike about 2000 vertical feet. I can get to where I need to go I am just slow. Thanks for the insight. Any good ridges near roads to glass Mt. Gunnison and the Beckwiths or can you glass from the road? 53 does look very thick as well? Do you think wilderness is worth the effort or do you think glassing from the road about sixes?

 

[BeanMan]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-14 AT 04:19PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-14 AT 07:05?AM (MST)

Given your situation I'll suggest driving to Beaver reservoir and hiking south into HooDoo Gap which is about 2000 vertical. From there you can glass and hunt the steep draws that come off the south flank of Mt Gunnison. From there you can glass across at Smith Fork Mountain and Sheep Mountain and wish you were hunting them.

Here's myself, Lot, and Earl on top of Mt Gunny around 1999. Earl died of an aneurysm a couple of months after retiring. Great hunting partners and I miss those days.

 

[BeanMan]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-14 AT 07:06AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-14 AT 07:03?AM (MST)

We hiked up to the top from the lake without a name up Cascade Creek drainage. That sort of trail would wear our critters out and was an annual event for many years. We accessed it from the Coal Creek road.

 

[bigmuleyboy]

Thanks Bean Man. I love the rocks especially on the mountain tops. Anything that moves on the rocks or rock slides one can usually hear. Sorry to hear about Earl. How long did it take you to hike Mt. Gunnison back in 1999 form Coal Creek road?

 

[BeanMan]

LAST EDITED ON Aug-14-14 AT 04:18PM (MST)[p]BMB,

We rode in on horses and mules. The elevation gain is around 5000', sometimes we would camp halfway up and take an extra day, sometimes not. It took pretty much a full day to go up, especially since the start of the 'trail' is private and you have to bushwack around it. I use the word trail loosely because it got pretty obscure in places and you rode across talus on occasion. I haven't been up there in a good 15 years.

Edit: We would ride as far as Cascade Lake (on maps it is nameless, we called it Cascade lake since it is in the Cascade Creek drainage) and hike to the top of Mt Gunnison. Cascade Lake had a good population of cutthroat trout. The next drainage to the south has a lake named Gunnison Lake which had bigger fish but they were fewer in numbers although the lake is larger.

 

[ICMDEER]

Great pic BeanMan. That's rugged country and you guys are the real deal. Thanks for sharing that. To me, that really is THE GOOD STUFF. That area where you went is a great spot for a big buck, and I looked at it last weekend. But it's a real tough place for a lone guy to hike in, camp and pack out a big buck. But I'd believe there could sure be one there.

The first couple of miles off FR 709 (Coal Creek) look like a killer. I even heard some of the locals talking about horse bones along that (semi)trail because it is so rough.

A place like that separates the men from the boys. In this case, I'm still a boy, but you have proven your manhood.

 

[BeanMan]

Were being the operative word. Back in the day, before marriage etc. I used to spend every weekend up there crawling around. I have four old 7.5 maps of the area laminated onto some backing board, used to call it the Center of the Universe. I pulled it out from behind the bureau a few hours ago and stared at it.

It was easier to go up Little Gunnison and then traverse over then to bushwack straight up to get up there. Of course if you went in at night you could cross Coal Creek where Cliff Creek dumps in and use a real trail without worrying about the folks on the Davenport place getting after you.