Report from the field--Snowcrest opening day MT Unit 324

[huntercrose]

Well, previous posters hit the nail on the head. MT Unit 324 was overrun with hunters opening morning. In the basin I was in, I stopped counting when I got to 30 others hunters in about 7 other groups. One of the groups had a fire going right in the middle of the basin where the elk like to bed down. We saw one bull killed two miles up the basin on the ridge to the North. That gentleman shot at least 10 minutes before legal shooting. No other elk were seen, although there was shooting from every drainage in every direction. I was kind of blown away given that this part of the Snowcrest range is 60 miles from the nearest town (Dillon), 1.25 hours off the blacktop, and 1400' of elevation gain from the truck to the ridge around the drainage. Still, after a big snow storm, the weather cleared up and it was a beautiful morning. I hope everyone had a good opener.

 

[dmandoes]

sounds like 327

 

[ismith]

Not surprising.

 

[Carnage2011]

I didn't think it was that bad. I seen exactly 3 people total for the entire weekend. My wife missed a really good 6 point and a buddy that was with me shot a cow. Total I seen 9 bulls and between 80-100 cows. All in all.....it was a pretty good weekend.

 

[Big O]

Sounds familiar. For years we saw very few people in there until recently. Last year we thought we would go in on the second weekend to avoid the craziness of it all. In the first half of the first day I think we found 4 elk carcasses from hunters, a grizzly and a wolf. We packed up and left the next morning. Too bad, it treated us well for years.

 

[huntercrose]

I went in there because we had some good encounters during archery and saw no people. Different story for the opener. I live in Philipsburg and have some wonderful country right out the back door. I think I'll stick a little closer to home. The area is beautiful beyond compare and I hope to poke arouund in there a little more this summer.

 

[belly-deep]

I skipped opener the last two years. Last year I tried Thanksgiving weekend. Was surprised to find I had the place to myself, given all the people on opener. But couldn’t find a legal bull either. Just cows and spikes.

 

[RobG]

I tried The Notch for the opener about 15 years ago. I think there were 21 trucks at the trailhead, and, when you'd glass, every opening seemed to have at least one person staking it out. I came across a horse camp with Doritos and beer cans scattered around, and a fire that was creeping in the duff, so I used the remaining beer to put out the fire... then there was the quarterback from Butte who packed in a battery powered saws-all and quartered his elk in the field. It was a bit crazy to say the least.

 

[belly-deep]

I keep looking for that public land spot with tons of elk and no people.

Sadly, I don’t think it exists.

Crowds seem to figure out where the elk are (in general terms). That’s just a fact of elk hunting.

 

[Pagosa]

Sounds like 319/340 to me. I seen tons of hunters. It was hard to avoid the pressure. I was a little concerned about stray bullets. We hiked in 2.7 miles before daylight and once the sun came up I seen at least nine other hunters sitting on parks, or walking through the timber. It was nuts.

 

[Big O]

We all say get 2 miles from the truck and your good. Not so true anymore. We spike camp in to avoid all the miles in and out and it still hasn't helped the last few years. My hope is most of the guys will go find easier ground to hunt after a few trips in there. Probably wishful thinking.

 

[Deleted member 20812]

Hunt the sagebrush.