Skunked in Colorado

[Gellar]

We (My dad and I) are on the way home and we got skunked in CO. We arrived last week to rain and wet, heavy, tent collapsing snow. Our primary area we wanted to hunt was closed because of fires, but was opened back up on Sunday. We saw elk, moose, bears, deer, tons of mountain bikers and atvers. We only heard actual elk bugling 1 night while laying in the tent. The wind and snow from the week before plus the pine beetles made the forest a barely navigable mess. The elk were still there but in different spots then when I had previously archery hunted this unit. When we got back to the camp this morning for lunch I had a message from my wife she was in the E.r. She wouldn’t answer calls or texts and we quickly packed up our gear and were speeding East. As we were going down the hill on I70 into Denver she finally texted and said her face was swollen and she was vomiting. They were going to do blood work and a CT scan. She told us to stay and keep hunting, they were blowing it of proportion. A few hours later as we crossed into Nebraska on I76 she texted and said she had really high white blood counts but the ct was normal. They put her on a strong antibiotic and sent her home to return on Monday. She was mad that we had to leave 3 days early and was insistent the doctors were blowing this out of proportion and she should have never texted me. I just told her she was acting like her mom. I don’t think that earned me any brownie points. Lol.

snow on the road. The higher we went the deeper it got. The biggest bull we saw, about 40 yards off the road. We heard two days later someone shot him shortly after saw him.

view without smoke

close to the same spot with smoke

A relatively clear spot compared to the rest of the forest

A postage stamp on a red reflector in the national forest.

 

[mdhunter61]

Prayers up that your Mom gets better fast. Glad you guys saw some animals even if you had to cut the hunt short.

I was on a remote flyout caribou hunt in Alaska years ago, and was unable to reach my girlfriend (who has epilepsy) or the person who was staying with her. Stressed myself out until I was able to reach them, they had been at a doctor appt. and could not bring cell phones back then. Felt totally helpless being so far away and out of touch.

 

[Gellar]

Other than not getting an elk the trip went good. Here is a short review on our equipment:

Pros:
Clothing - mix of kuiu, Sitka, first lite, and other brands.
Boots (surprisingly) - I like to wear lightweight midheight hiking boots. A few weeks ago I ripped a big hole in them crossing a barbed wire fence. Luckily the goretxt did not rip and the tear did not get worse.
Led lanterns - they were only 10 ozs but put out a lot of light for their size at camp.
Baby wipes - I always bring baby wipes To wipe my armpits and wash my face but had never used them to clean up after going #2 in the woods-life changing!
Water bladder - I had a little bit of ice in the hose the first day but after that it was good.
Msr Pocket rockets - light and fast, easy to use
Food -frozen prepared meals were big hit
Heathers Choice Packaroons are really good!
Wilderness Athlete Packout bars Are really good too.

Cons:
OnX maps - I’ve used OnX for 4 years and I’ve always been impressed until this year for three reasons: 1. Aerial photos are old and out of date- I noticed this around my house. We started developing our property two years ago and OnX does not show any development. 2. Image quality- whether on the downloaded Offline map or on WiFi when zoomed into 200 or even 500 ft scale the picture is very blurry, unusable. 3. Location- I noticed at camp that it would have the blue dot at least 50 feet from where I was. Often when dropping a waypoint in my location it would be off when trying to refine the mark, but most disturbing was I found some elk crossing private land to go feed and return to national forest in the morning. I was going to skirt the private in the dark using OnX and intercept them as they returned to their bed. At on point OnX had me on public by at least 100 feet, but scanning with my headlamp to find a clear path I saw a reflection of the boundary sign. I was on the wrong side of it by 10 feet.
Headlamp- It would randomly shut off and was very frustrating navigating blowdowns
Base camp Tent-no issues this trip, but would not have survived snow storm first night when we were in motel)
iPhone case - I have to take off to get good picture. Doesn’t allow for very good touch navigation because it is loose on the screen.
Cheap butane gas for stove-get msr gas, Walmart brand wouldn’t burn after 1/2 tank

 

[Gellar]

Prayers up that your Mom gets better fast. Glad you guys saw some animals even if you had to cut the hunt short.

I was on a remote flyout caribou hunt in Alaska years ago, and was unable to reach my girlfriend (who has epilepsy) or the person who was staying with her. Stressed myself out until I was able to reach them, they had been at a doctor appt. and could not bring cell phones back then. Felt totally helpless being so far away and out of touch.

Last year in Colorado we got a message on the Inreach that my 18 year old cousin had died in a bus crash in Canada. We were getting ready to hike out with our gear to go home, but they told us not to because it was going to take 3-4 weeks to get his body back. The mood of the hunt was very different the rest of the week. Luckily we tagged out and got to leave a few days early.

 

[EastTNHunter]

Sorry to hear that your wife had health complications. I’m sure that I would have been leaving as well

 

[CoffeeGoat]

I hope she feels better soon. Sounds like a check of an adventure even without tagging out.

 

[SandyCreek]

Cons:
OnX maps - I’ve used OnX for 4 years and I’ve always been impressed until this year for three reasons: 1. Aerial photos are old and out of date- I noticed this around my house. We started developing our property two years ago and OnX does not show any development. 2. Image quality- whether on the downloaded Offline map or on WiFi when zoomed into 200 or even 500 ft scale the picture is very blurry, unusable. 3. Location- I noticed at camp that it would have the blue dot at least 50 feet from where I was. Often when dropping a waypoint in my location it would be off when trying to refine the mark, but most disturbing was I found some elk crossing private land to go feed and return to national forest in the morning. I was going to skirt the private in the dark using OnX and intercept them as they returned to their bed. At on point OnX had me on public by at least 100 feet, but scanning with my headlamp to find a clear path I saw a reflection of the boundary sign. I was on the wrong side of it by 10 feet.

ive noticed this in certain areas when im at home anywhere on the property OnX has me pegged 2 miles south east from where i am (it has to be OnX because checking with google or apple maps they have me located correctly) It skipped around on me a bunch in Wyoming this year but i knew where i was. Looking forward to Gohunt getting their system up and running

 

[Gellar]

ive noticed this in certain areas when im at home anywhere on the property OnX has me pegged 2 miles south east from where i am (it has to be OnX because checking with google or apple maps they have me located correctly) It skipped around on me a bunch in Wyoming this year but i knew where i was. Looking forward to Gohunt getting their system up and running

I’m definitely going to be looking at other options as well.

 

[eddytheeagle]

I don't think OnX has anything to do with the location on your map. It's using the GPS that your phone is picking up. You might want to look at getting a different phone or just accept poor quality phone GPS you're relying on....

 

[Gellar]

I don't think OnX has anything to do with the location on your map. It's using the GPS that your phone is picking up. You might want to look at getting a different phone or just accept poor quality phone GPS you're relying on....

I definitely considered that and it is probably true to an extent. I have an IPhone 7. Other mapping apps that I use like google or navionics are usually spot on. But my phone has nothing to do with the outdated aerial imagery.

 

[Xbolt]

I definitely considered that and it is probably true to an extent. I have an IPhone 7. Other mapping apps that I use like google or navionics are usually spot on. But my phone has nothing to do with the outdated aerial imagery.

Its onx. Not the Iphone

 

[Reverendekim11B]

I've always hated the terrain lines on 0nx. Looks like a gentle hike just to be cliffed out.

 

[SandyCreek]

I don't think OnX has anything to do with the location on your map. It's using the GPS that your phone is picking up. You might want to look at getting a different phone or just accept poor quality phone GPS you're relying on....

clearly that's not the case when Gia, google maps, apple maps and wayze all have my location correct and onx doesn't. not sure what else you can do when you have a brand new iPhone either

 

[FredoTwoWheels]

I've always hated the terrain lines on 0nx. Looks like a gentle hike just to be cliffed out.

I pretty much burned a day yesterday discovering that. Going to cross reference all this stuff with Earth from now on.

 

[Reverendekim11B]

I pretty much burned a day yesterday discovering that. Going to cross reference all this stuff with Earth from now on.

Check out basemaps. They have way more map options. For instance they have actual forest service maps you can choose from

 

[Losing_Sanity]

Sounds like every hunting trip I've been on. Seems it's always something. My family and I always call it an "adventure" because we never know what each season will bring and what trials will be thrown at us. It's kind of an ongoing joke with us. Each year is different.

I hope things are better with your wife. Never good to get that kind of news.

 

[Stocker]

I've always hated the terrain lines on 0nx. Looks like a gentle hike just to be cliffed out.

+1

 

[Gellar]

Sounds like every hunting trip I've been on. Seems it's always something. My family and I always call it an "adventure" because we never know what each season will bring and what trials will be thrown at us. It's kind of an ongoing joke with us. Each year is different.

I hope things are better with your wife. Never good to get that kind of news.

She had a follow up this morning. What they thought was a stye on the corner of her eye was an abscess l. The antibiotics seem to be working and she is on the mend. She goes back to the doctor on Friday and they will either continue the antibiotic or go a different route if it is not better. Thank you for the support.