I just got back from scouting the northern and central areas of 51A this past weekend. I have a December muzzleloader tag for this year and wanted to see the country I've been e-scouting. I drove from Hopewell south to Mogote Peak and then east and south out of the unit to El Rito. It was about 50 miles on some rough and rocky roads and it took me two full days of driving. I have a 2017 Tacoma which did fine but the roads were dry. I decided I won't be going all the way back to the central part of the unit in December as I am imagining/hoping for snow and if the elk have migrated down I will have wasted lots of time driving.
I think rifle or archery would be amazing. I only spent two nights but ran into many bugling bulls in the north and got within bow range of a solid 5x5 maybe 5x6 and a raghorn. I was 3/4 mile from my camp and there were three others bugling keeping my wife up in the morning haha. I was excited, but don't worry i didn't push. Granted this past weekend was in between seasons but I am used to Colorado crowds so it was nice to see only a few people and lots of elk.
lmk what questions you have and I'd be happy to share what I learned. Might ask for a return favor after your hunt!
