npaden
Well-known member
Okay, I've gotten a little behind getting things posted. I've had a very hectic couple weeks with my New Mexico elk and deer hunts. I'll try to get caught up now.
I took notes on my phone as the hunt progressed, I'm sure I'll have the tenses mixed up as sometimes I was typing in present tense, sometimes in past tense and even sometimes in future tense. Hopefully you'll be able to follow along, basically as it happened.
Friday evening
Trip up here went very smooth. Left the house around 2:00 pm central time and was parked at the trailhead around 8:00 pm mountain time. The campground was closed and there were only 2 vehicles parked at the trailhead. A pickup and empty horse trailer and an SUV.
The river was running a bit higher than I was expecting, I walked around the campground looking for any easy crossing spots. A few looked doable, but none looked exactly easy. Sure hope I don't start out in the morning getting my feet wet.
Getting settled in to sleep a while in the backseat (floorboard) of the truck. Set the alarm for 5:15, sunrise is at 7:15 so shooting light is 6:45. Would like to be an hour or so up the trail before shooting light.
Saturday
Tough day! Several mistakes, but the biggest one was getting up WAY too high, elk seem to be down around 10,000' and I spent a lot of the day up over 11,000', topped out at 11,816' per the GPS.
Ended up going up a different creek than I had planned because a guy and his son showed up just before I left and were going to head that way. Think they got one, heard 2 quick shots about 8:30 then maybe 10 seconds later another and then maybe 30 seconds later a 4th. I heard what I think was a very small bull and a cow maybe 200 yards from me, but it was thick and early and I didn't go after him too hard, tried to get closer and cow called a few times but I think they skedaddled. I had been following their tracks off and on, just didn't realize how fresh they were. None of the tracks looked very big, about 4 or 5 total in the group.
Here's a picture that I took of the area that I was hiking up. There was still a bit of snow on the ground from a storm that had gone through earlier in the week.
Saw one lone set of tracks from a decent sized elk heading down from up high at about 11,000' before I crossed over to a different canyon. Pretty neat view though.
Went up a lot of terrain like this climbing out of one canyon and moving over to the other.
Didn't see or hear anything else all day though. I was trying out a new pack and the shoulder strap broke when I went to set it down at lunch. The stitching holding the buckle just popped. Thankful I had bought some spare clips to rig my rifle sling and was able to band aid it, but it was far from a perfect fix, if I didn't keep tension on it, it would come undone and I had to mess with it 3 or 4 more times during the day. I finally was able to get it fairly well repaired and it didn't come loose again for the rest of the trip although I was a little worried about it from then on.
The scenery was great and I really was thinking that there should be some elk up there, but based on the complete lack of any tracks I think they had all moved down already.
Another pretty view from 11,816'.
Here's a panoramic picture that I took with my iPhone. Really a wonderful view. It would have been worth the hike if that's all I was trying to do, but to be up that high when there weren't any elk really was frustrating.
If you want to see the full sized panorama I think you can click on this link - http://padens.com/v-web/gallery/album07/panorama?full=1
Set up camp at 10,600' thinking I was close to some overlooks I could hunt the next day, but after setting up camp and hiking over a mile to the nearest overlook I decided I had set it up too far away and too high. Too late to pull it and move it so just camped up high. That part wasn't bad, just not seeing much sign or any elk has me discouraged though.
Here's my tent setup. That part wasn't bad at all. Actually really enjoyed staying in the tent that night.
Totals for the day - 8.46 miles, 3,127' elevation gain.
Sunday
Broke camp in the dark and my goal was to try to find an overlook spot before shooting light and sit and watch the canyon to see if any elk came up. I ended up taking a little longer than I planned to break camp and get going. I ended up walking over 1 1/2 miles to find a mediocre overlook and it was after sunrise before I sat down. Still not seeing much in the way of tracks or anything. The fresh snow from Wednesday was pretty much void of tracks except rabbits, squirrels and the occasional coyote. Did see some bear tracks yesterday. After about a half hour of sitting I headed on down the trail to see if there would be any other good overlook areas. This was the best overlook spot I found. Very scenic, just nothing moving through it.
I did find the area where the other guys shot one on Saturday. Never found the gut pile, but looks like they either too two trips with a sled or brought two sleds. Not much in the way of a clearing, just some aspens that are a little spread out more than the rest. Pretty discouraged.
Went back to the trail head about 10:00. Crossing the river was a little easier in the daylight, but still a little more than just splashing across like I normally would do. Very pretty country though. Here's a view from the river bottom.
I drove in Taos to get cell signal. Talked to my wife and she encouraged me to stick it out at least another couple days. Looked at the maps and decided to just start trying out canyons heading back to the east. Got parked at the first trail head around 3 pm, got across the river and thought I heard voices although there wasn't any other vehicles at the trailhead. Started looking for the trail and there were 4 Asian ladies saving some trout out of a shrinking puddle. One could speak a tiny English, they were staying at a monastery close by. I asked them if they had seen any elk and either they didn't understand me or didn't want me to kill any because they didn't reply. After a bunch if twists and turns I finally got on the main trail only to realize that it was an ATV trail. There were some fairly recent motorcycle tracks but it looked like they had gone in and out. Pretty soon after heading down the trail there were two places that looked like a lot of elk had recently crossed it. I kept heading to where there was a fork in the creek about 1 1/2 miles up the trail. Not much more sign and not any good lookout spots. Got to where I wanted to be and checked out the non-trail side of the split. Really nice area, but the elk don't seem to think so. Not much elk sign. Did see a pretty good sized bear track and then later saw a pretty good sized bear! Nice chocolate brown colored. Of course I don't have a bear tag. Didn't even check into whether the quota was filled or not.
I did take a picture of the bear track in the snow. My boots are size 13 to give some size perspective. Not a massive huge bear, but quite a bit bigger than the bear tracks I had seen the day before.
Between the lack of elk sign and the bear I decided that I wasn't going to stay the night here. I waited a little while and then went back to the places where the elk had crossed the trail and waited until dark. I set up on the heavily used game trail where it crossed the ATV trail. At least I knew that the elk were using it, just not what time of the day, or if they would use it that day. Probably setup too close, just 20 yards, but it seemed like the best spot. I could be using a bow at this range. Thankfully a motorcycle or ATV didn't come screaming down the trail right at sunset or something.
About 20 minutes before sunset a bull bugled a couple times and it sounded like it was up the canyon from me. I gave up my ambush spot and headed that way. I cow called a few times and got close to where I thought he had bugled from, but nothing else. I had left my bugle tube with my pack at the ambush spot so I went back, got the bugle tube and bugled a few times on my way back to where I thought he was. Nothing again. I headed back to my ambush spot and heard another bugle. Headed back that way and nothing. I decide to go back to my ambush spot and then about 20 minutes before the end if shooting light he bugles right down in the canyon across from me. I bugled a couple times and headed that way but he shut up again. Getting really close to dark and I went back to my ambush spot until the end of shooting light. Probably 1 minute before the end if shooting light and he bugled again. This time it sounded like he was on this side of the canyon, sounded pretty close too. I grabbed my backpack and headed that way, I was either going to see him before shooting light or get out of there so he doesn't see me after shooting light. I didn't see him so I headed on down the trail without a light until I got well around the corner and dropped some elevation. I decided to stick there for the morning since I knew there were elk there and at least one bull. Cooked up some supper, organized my backpack for a day trip and slept in the truck again. Not the most comfortable, but I didn't have to mess with setting up and taking down the tent. Not 100% sure exactly where I wanted to be in the morning, he was bedded on the other side of the canyon from the main trail, but I can get in quiet and know where I want to be on that side. If I try the other side in the dark, I would probably be noisy and didn't really know where I would want to set up. Leaning toward just going back to where I was tonight. Not near as discouraged as I was. Still hadn't seen an elk this hunt, but I for sure heard one and it was a bull and pretty close. Maybe I would be able to close the deal on him in the morning!
Total mileage that afternoon 4.44 miles and 885' elevation gain. My GPS had 2.6 or 2.8 or something like that with about a mile to go to the trailhead this morning and the battery went dead before I got there so I think I had at least 3.6 miles this morning. That would put me to a little over 8 total for the day. This morning was mostly downhill, but I bet I climbed at least 115' going up and down some ridges and stuff. We'll call it 8 miles and 1,000' of elevation gain total for the day.
I took notes on my phone as the hunt progressed, I'm sure I'll have the tenses mixed up as sometimes I was typing in present tense, sometimes in past tense and even sometimes in future tense. Hopefully you'll be able to follow along, basically as it happened.
Friday evening
Trip up here went very smooth. Left the house around 2:00 pm central time and was parked at the trailhead around 8:00 pm mountain time. The campground was closed and there were only 2 vehicles parked at the trailhead. A pickup and empty horse trailer and an SUV.
The river was running a bit higher than I was expecting, I walked around the campground looking for any easy crossing spots. A few looked doable, but none looked exactly easy. Sure hope I don't start out in the morning getting my feet wet.
Getting settled in to sleep a while in the backseat (floorboard) of the truck. Set the alarm for 5:15, sunrise is at 7:15 so shooting light is 6:45. Would like to be an hour or so up the trail before shooting light.
Saturday
Tough day! Several mistakes, but the biggest one was getting up WAY too high, elk seem to be down around 10,000' and I spent a lot of the day up over 11,000', topped out at 11,816' per the GPS.
Ended up going up a different creek than I had planned because a guy and his son showed up just before I left and were going to head that way. Think they got one, heard 2 quick shots about 8:30 then maybe 10 seconds later another and then maybe 30 seconds later a 4th. I heard what I think was a very small bull and a cow maybe 200 yards from me, but it was thick and early and I didn't go after him too hard, tried to get closer and cow called a few times but I think they skedaddled. I had been following their tracks off and on, just didn't realize how fresh they were. None of the tracks looked very big, about 4 or 5 total in the group.
Here's a picture that I took of the area that I was hiking up. There was still a bit of snow on the ground from a storm that had gone through earlier in the week.
Saw one lone set of tracks from a decent sized elk heading down from up high at about 11,000' before I crossed over to a different canyon. Pretty neat view though.
Went up a lot of terrain like this climbing out of one canyon and moving over to the other.
Didn't see or hear anything else all day though. I was trying out a new pack and the shoulder strap broke when I went to set it down at lunch. The stitching holding the buckle just popped. Thankful I had bought some spare clips to rig my rifle sling and was able to band aid it, but it was far from a perfect fix, if I didn't keep tension on it, it would come undone and I had to mess with it 3 or 4 more times during the day. I finally was able to get it fairly well repaired and it didn't come loose again for the rest of the trip although I was a little worried about it from then on.
The scenery was great and I really was thinking that there should be some elk up there, but based on the complete lack of any tracks I think they had all moved down already.
Another pretty view from 11,816'.
Here's a panoramic picture that I took with my iPhone. Really a wonderful view. It would have been worth the hike if that's all I was trying to do, but to be up that high when there weren't any elk really was frustrating.
If you want to see the full sized panorama I think you can click on this link - http://padens.com/v-web/gallery/album07/panorama?full=1
Set up camp at 10,600' thinking I was close to some overlooks I could hunt the next day, but after setting up camp and hiking over a mile to the nearest overlook I decided I had set it up too far away and too high. Too late to pull it and move it so just camped up high. That part wasn't bad, just not seeing much sign or any elk has me discouraged though.
Here's my tent setup. That part wasn't bad at all. Actually really enjoyed staying in the tent that night.
Totals for the day - 8.46 miles, 3,127' elevation gain.
Sunday
Broke camp in the dark and my goal was to try to find an overlook spot before shooting light and sit and watch the canyon to see if any elk came up. I ended up taking a little longer than I planned to break camp and get going. I ended up walking over 1 1/2 miles to find a mediocre overlook and it was after sunrise before I sat down. Still not seeing much in the way of tracks or anything. The fresh snow from Wednesday was pretty much void of tracks except rabbits, squirrels and the occasional coyote. Did see some bear tracks yesterday. After about a half hour of sitting I headed on down the trail to see if there would be any other good overlook areas. This was the best overlook spot I found. Very scenic, just nothing moving through it.
I did find the area where the other guys shot one on Saturday. Never found the gut pile, but looks like they either too two trips with a sled or brought two sleds. Not much in the way of a clearing, just some aspens that are a little spread out more than the rest. Pretty discouraged.
Went back to the trail head about 10:00. Crossing the river was a little easier in the daylight, but still a little more than just splashing across like I normally would do. Very pretty country though. Here's a view from the river bottom.
I drove in Taos to get cell signal. Talked to my wife and she encouraged me to stick it out at least another couple days. Looked at the maps and decided to just start trying out canyons heading back to the east. Got parked at the first trail head around 3 pm, got across the river and thought I heard voices although there wasn't any other vehicles at the trailhead. Started looking for the trail and there were 4 Asian ladies saving some trout out of a shrinking puddle. One could speak a tiny English, they were staying at a monastery close by. I asked them if they had seen any elk and either they didn't understand me or didn't want me to kill any because they didn't reply. After a bunch if twists and turns I finally got on the main trail only to realize that it was an ATV trail. There were some fairly recent motorcycle tracks but it looked like they had gone in and out. Pretty soon after heading down the trail there were two places that looked like a lot of elk had recently crossed it. I kept heading to where there was a fork in the creek about 1 1/2 miles up the trail. Not much more sign and not any good lookout spots. Got to where I wanted to be and checked out the non-trail side of the split. Really nice area, but the elk don't seem to think so. Not much elk sign. Did see a pretty good sized bear track and then later saw a pretty good sized bear! Nice chocolate brown colored. Of course I don't have a bear tag. Didn't even check into whether the quota was filled or not.
I did take a picture of the bear track in the snow. My boots are size 13 to give some size perspective. Not a massive huge bear, but quite a bit bigger than the bear tracks I had seen the day before.
Between the lack of elk sign and the bear I decided that I wasn't going to stay the night here. I waited a little while and then went back to the places where the elk had crossed the trail and waited until dark. I set up on the heavily used game trail where it crossed the ATV trail. At least I knew that the elk were using it, just not what time of the day, or if they would use it that day. Probably setup too close, just 20 yards, but it seemed like the best spot. I could be using a bow at this range. Thankfully a motorcycle or ATV didn't come screaming down the trail right at sunset or something.
About 20 minutes before sunset a bull bugled a couple times and it sounded like it was up the canyon from me. I gave up my ambush spot and headed that way. I cow called a few times and got close to where I thought he had bugled from, but nothing else. I had left my bugle tube with my pack at the ambush spot so I went back, got the bugle tube and bugled a few times on my way back to where I thought he was. Nothing again. I headed back to my ambush spot and heard another bugle. Headed back that way and nothing. I decide to go back to my ambush spot and then about 20 minutes before the end if shooting light he bugles right down in the canyon across from me. I bugled a couple times and headed that way but he shut up again. Getting really close to dark and I went back to my ambush spot until the end of shooting light. Probably 1 minute before the end if shooting light and he bugled again. This time it sounded like he was on this side of the canyon, sounded pretty close too. I grabbed my backpack and headed that way, I was either going to see him before shooting light or get out of there so he doesn't see me after shooting light. I didn't see him so I headed on down the trail without a light until I got well around the corner and dropped some elevation. I decided to stick there for the morning since I knew there were elk there and at least one bull. Cooked up some supper, organized my backpack for a day trip and slept in the truck again. Not the most comfortable, but I didn't have to mess with setting up and taking down the tent. Not 100% sure exactly where I wanted to be in the morning, he was bedded on the other side of the canyon from the main trail, but I can get in quiet and know where I want to be on that side. If I try the other side in the dark, I would probably be noisy and didn't really know where I would want to set up. Leaning toward just going back to where I was tonight. Not near as discouraged as I was. Still hadn't seen an elk this hunt, but I for sure heard one and it was a bull and pretty close. Maybe I would be able to close the deal on him in the morning!
Total mileage that afternoon 4.44 miles and 885' elevation gain. My GPS had 2.6 or 2.8 or something like that with about a mile to go to the trailhead this morning and the battery went dead before I got there so I think I had at least 3.6 miles this morning. That would put me to a little over 8 total for the day. This morning was mostly downhill, but I bet I climbed at least 115' going up and down some ridges and stuff. We'll call it 8 miles and 1,000' of elevation gain total for the day.
