CTGilley said:

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OTC that is absolutely true. First rifle is a little more spread out. It is about a 3 hour hike in to the start of the hunting grounds. This year we are camping to get a little deeper.

There is a group that hunts both first and 2nd on the other side of the mountain. I am not sure how that will work with the 10 day gap this year.

We only saw 4 groups last year. The annual group on horse back. 2 guys cut through on horseback and 2 more that were there first day but left the 2nd. We watched an herd of elk walk right through where they were camping. We did not know they had left or we would have tried to move in. (It was pretty late) The other group was a father and son hunting bear while we were packing out an Elk.

Now that I type that I realize we are the only ones dumb enough to go in on foot and not horse. It is pretty rough.

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. Interested in what y'all would recommend for a strategy for 1st time DIY hunters for 1st rifle. ( no ground knowledge of units we are hunting)I have been studying OnX and planning a backpack hunt based On Picking an area away from pressure per Randy N podcasts. Then I read where being vehicle mobile and moving until you find good sign before packing into an area is more effective since committing to a backpack hunt before finding sign will likely result in no elk. I have also read that trying to anticipate elk movement Based on hunter pressure is a good strategy on opening day of rifle which has been alluded to above.

In the end, we are approaching this year as a true learning experience and any elk sightings will be a success. I know we need to just a choose a strategy and go with it instead of trying to utlize multiple approaches so interested in getting your input

For a first time elk hunt, hunting from the truck can be a lot nicer/less overwhelming and more mobile. Early on I backpacked into a spot with 9 days of food. I backpacked back outta there with 5 days of food and I only stayed 2 of the 4 days as I "went so far just to turn around after 2 days of no elk"....however it's a ton of fun and rewarding to do

I dunno man there's nothing quite like walking up on your first elk wadded up against a bitterbrush on a 45 degree slope, grabbing a leg to roll it over so you can start cutting, and realizing how much the damn thing weighs, how far you are from the trailhead, and just how much work it's gonna be to get the thing on ice before the meat starts to spoil. I feel like knowing you also have to carry all your gear down adds to the experience

stdeb11 said:

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I backpacked into a spot with 9 days of food. I backpacked back outta there with 5 days of food and I only stayed 2 of the 4 days as I "went so far just to turn around after 2 days of no elk"....however it's a ton of fun and rewarding to do

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Hahahhahha this pretty much sums up my first hunt!

I also remember getting a way later start on the trail than expected due to parking issues/logistics and the trail head to camp site hike being WAY further than it looked on ONX. And it being much colder than I anticipated at night. We saw plenty of sign and a moose but no elk.

Incredible experience though. Wouldn't have changed a thing other than at least being able to see a few elk.

yeahhh....sorry about that. Hope you get to knock one down this year!

NRD09 said:

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yeahhh....sorry about that. Hope you get to knock one down this year!

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Hey if we just woke up with Elk in our lap there wouldn't have been any hunting involved haha. goodluck this year, hope ya knock one down as well- and hope its right by camp !
Getting skunked last year has me more motivated this year for Pagosa.

InReach question: Does anyone know if you cancel/suspend current service if activation runs until the end of the month you have paid for, or does it cut off immediately?

AgEng06 said:

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InReach question: Does anyone know if you cancel/suspend current service if activation runs until the end of the month you have paid for, or does it cut off immediately?

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I haven't paid attention to it lately, so you asking suddenly has me doubting my answer. According to their website "suspension is not an immediate action and will take place on your plans upcoming renewal date."

Thanks. I guess I should have done some digging first because I found that as well. I also screwed myself when I activated it for our scouting trip because if I had waited one more day I could have stretched one month to cover our hunt as well.

It last till the end of that billing cycle

I'll be heading out with 3 other Aggies next Thursday for a DIY elk hunt around Pagosa. We're going in with the expectation of a backpacking trip while carrying a bow, but we're excited and are hoping to find the elk.

I'll be there 9/10-20 with a buddy in the same general area. We went on a scouting trip there last week as well. Shoot me an email if you want to chat about the area and maybe bounce some ideas around.

aggieeng06 at gmail

If not, good luck to you guys.

Same area here as well. Northeast of Pagosa. Sept 12-20. Me and one buddy.

*that's called bowhiking

Good luck!

Hell, shoot me an email too if you want!

Stay active until 30 days runs out - I turned it off after activating and had service until end of paid for prriod

Nice! Go get em. Expect some sweet pics in a week.

Good luck to everyone headed out tmw.

I will probably be too bloody to post updates for a day or three

Get some!

cupofjoe04 said:

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Guesses on the score of this bull?

(and say a prayer that he stays alive and where he is 2 more weeks- I would LOVE to get my Old Man on him when he makes it up here for our hunt)

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Nice. I really have to drive down and hang out with you.

Awesome bull. Are you guys going to be muzzy hunting?

Score : Better than anything I've seen on the hoof while hunting. I'll pass on trying to guess actual score because my gut says I'm going to guess smaller than he is with the weak tops.

Good luck getting your pops on him.

Nice bull, 330s? I'll admit I'm not the best at scoring though

Good fronts. Medium 3's. Fourths and backs are average. Mature bull but on the younger side of maturity, I think. 300-310" is my guess.

bkf0005 said:

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Nice bull, 330s? I'll admit I'm not the best at scoring though

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I'm not very good at field judging them either- I've just only seen a handful of truly big bulls (which I know is an extreme blessing to see any!), so I don't have a big sample size to go off of. It gets harder for me to differentiate the bigger they get.

I'm not overly concerned with points- my objective is always just to get them in a basic range of about 25 points: i.e. 275-300, 300-325, etc. Depending on my hunting conditions, I usually draw a "who gives a crap, just shoot" line somewhere.

I feel this bull is in that 325-340 range, but could be wrong. I have a 320 on my wall, and this bull seemed to be a class above that. His 1's & 2's are really nice, and has decent length up top. I think his 4's are about 16"- and I believe a 350" bull has to average 16" G1-G4, so he's definitely not anywhere near there. What I think really hurts him are his weak G3's.

AgEng06 said:

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Awesome bull. Are you guys going to be muzzy hunting?

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Negative. We start the final day of muzzleloader season.

Yeah, I had to use a similar method. The one I shot a couple years ago we taped out at 344 so I was trying to compare them. We hunt OTC so this one would be a taker for sure in my book. Hope y'all get a chance at him, good luck!

shaynew1 said:

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We're on the board! I whacked a little one in the brush last night.

Boned him out there and got him down at midnight.

F oak brush and locust.

I'll post pics sometime.

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YEAH!!!! Congrats buddy, way to let the hate flow!!!!

agingcowboy said:

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Good fronts. Medium 3's. Fourths and backs are average. Mature bull but on the younger side of maturity, I think. 300-310" is my guess.

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This was almost exactly what I thought, so maybe I'm not that far off. I'm always hesitant to guess score based on a photo from behind. They always look bigger.

Hell yah!

I don't think he's as "little" as you say... but what do I know.

And congrats again!