rideold
Well-known member
Just back from a week of archery elk hunting in CO unit 421. No luck other than getting amongst some bugling on the first morning in an area that was too thick to get any kind of shot off in. Thought I had done my research and had some good spots marked on my maps. Biggest problem I ran into was getting away from the roads and ATV trails. I didn't realize from the maps I referenced that the entire unit as far as I can tell has an ATV trail every few miles. I had one heck of a time getting away from the motor vehicle traffic (not to mention the cattle!). What resources do folks use for finding areas that are away from the tracks/roads? I ran some basic GIS analysis using the spatial data I could cull from various sources as well as the forest service motor vehicle layer from TopRut but nothing seemed to point me to how many formal trails there were. Maybe I missed the boat when I mined for data but it seems like there should be something out there more comprehensive. I'm starting to think that the only way to get away from vehicles is either to hunt in wilderness areas or pick units with terrain that you can barely walk on let alone get an ATV on.
So, anyone have any research strategies they'd be willing to share? As an aside, I don't have anything against ATV's and I don't want to start an argument about their use or anything. They're just another vehicle. I just want to figure out how to cull areas from my maps that are regularly used by them since it seems the forest service motor vehicle mapping is either out of date or just doesn't include ATV only trails.
Thanks.
So, anyone have any research strategies they'd be willing to share? As an aside, I don't have anything against ATV's and I don't want to start an argument about their use or anything. They're just another vehicle. I just want to figure out how to cull areas from my maps that are regularly used by them since it seems the forest service motor vehicle mapping is either out of date or just doesn't include ATV only trails.
Thanks.