SE Colorado Upland Trip

[TheGreek]

For reasons I don’t fully understand I have decided to travel to SE CO to chase birds. Part of the reason is I live in NW CO in the land of ice and snow and dusky grouse closed this past Sunday, Nov 23. Another part of the reasoning is that I have to travel to Northern NM to see the in laws for thanksgiving. So, while SE Colorado isn’t exactly between here and there, it’s close enough to give me an excuse to chase birds I don’t have locally on a hunting license I already have. And upland season has essentially ended here in NW CO as of this past Sunday and I’m not ready to be done. Plan is to leave early Tuesday morning, hunt Tuesday and Wednesday and drive to Northern NM Wednesday late afternoon. I’m hoping to hit Otero, Las Animas and maybe Baca County. New country and new adventure for Creed and I. Wish us luck.

 

[Mountain Man]

Best of luck my friend! Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

 

[Addicting]

For reasons I don’t fully understand I have decided to travel to SE CO to chase birds. Part of the reason is I live in NW CO in the land of ice and snow and dusky grouse closed this past Sunday, Nov 23. Another part of the reasoning is that I have to travel to Northern NM to see the in laws for thanksgiving. So, while SE Colorado isn’t exactly between here and there, it’s close enough to give me an excuse to chase birds I don’t have locally on a hunting license I already have. And upland season has essentially ended here in NW CO as of this past Sunday and I’m not ready to be done. Plan is to leave early Tuesday morning, hunt Tuesday and Wednesday and drive to Northern NM Wednesday late afternoon. I’m hoping to hit Otero, Las Animas and maybe Baca County. New country and new adventure for Creed and I. Wish us luck.

Take a predator rifle and call. By far the most prevalent game we saw last fall out there.

 

[TheGreek]

Obligatory truck loaded and ready to roll photo

 

[TheGreek]

And we are on the road

 

[TheGreek]

Pair of bulls on the way out of town. I’m gonna take this as a good sign.

 

[TheGreek]

Why can’t you get a breakfast sandwich at a maverik at 4:45am? Blows my mind

 

[TheGreek]

Snowy going over the tunnel

 

[Bigjay73]

Look for public adjacent to ag fields. I've seen the majority of birds in that part of the state closer to Springfield. Good luck!

 

[TheGreek]

After a long drive, we’re hunting!

 

[TheGreek]

 

[Sheltowee]

Pretty decent cheeseburger at the Outpost in Kim.

 

[Bigjay73]

Pretty decent cheeseburger at the Outpost in Kim.

Don't blink

 

[Sheltowee]

Don't blink

Don't blink, and don't plan on buying gas on a Sunday.

 

[TheGreek]

No birds moved yet. But lots of prickly things.

 

[Bigjay73]

The only place in Colorado that I've ever seen a roadrunner.

 

[WildWill]

Pretty decent cheeseburger at the Outpost in Kim.

Saw a pheasant once south of Campo. Goodluck some sparse country.

 

[Sheltowee]

Hunted pronghorn down there the first year that I lived in CO. Was prepping my muzzleloader at the range and chitchatting with a guy who'd hunted down there before. Told him which unit I'd be hunting.

"Oh yeah... the tarantula migration ought to be about done by then."
"The what now?"

Reader: the tarantula migration was in full-swing as your humble correspondent tried to camp in the midst of it.

 

[Birdbander]

Hunted pronghorn down there the first year that I lived in CO. Was prepping my muzzleloader at the range and chitchatting with a guy who'd hunted down there before. Told him which unit I'd be hunting.

"Oh yeah... the tarantula migration ought to be about done by then."
"The what now?"

Reader: the tarantula migration was in full-swing as your humble correspondent tried to camp in the midst of it.

Friends from Indiana that joined me for blue grouse thought I was yanking them when I told them they'd probably get to see the migration.
They saw it!
It's been made clear that there's nothing living there that we can't either hunt somewhere else or don't need to hunt

 

[El Jason]

What kind of birds do you expect to find? Quail? Huns?