went on a scouting run today... (pics)

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duck911

New member
Picked up a doe tag for Colorado GMU 6 (and surrounding units) so I headed up to Walden, Colorado to do a little scouting and explore around Colorado State Forest, which is where I will likely hunt.

I love Colorado... In 1 day's worth of scouting I saw elk, deer, antelope, moose, badger, coyote, and too many other small animals to list.
 
Here is a picture of the continental divide that I pass over on the way to North Park...

divide.jpg
 
My ultimate destination: The mountains in the background have aspen stands between 9,000-10,500 ft, which is where I focused my scouting.

gmu6.jpg
 
bumped into this young buck on the way through some BLM land on the way to the hills in the previous pic:

lucky.jpg
 
These 3 mulies were in sagebrush country and a ways from the nearest cover, EXCEPT for 1 lone patch of aspens about 2 acres in size. I passed by the stand 3 more times while scouting and these deer were in the aspens or around them each time. I may pick up a buck tag and see if the bigger buck in the back sticks around for Sept.

muledeer.jpg
 
This little guy wasn't too afraid. He was bedded down at 9,800 ft, and stood up when he saw me coming.

In addition to this and a few other bucks, I probably saw 30 or so does, and dozens of antelope... I also caught a glimpse of a bull moose from the road south of Walden.


deer2.jpg
 
Awesome! I like where I live, but that just makes me want to move there.

Seriously though I'm a bit curious. Is it difficult to get tags? How about if you're a resident, and how expensive to hunt up there? Is it anything like other states where $50 and you hunt most seasons--some I'd imagine not like that?
 
Absolutely beautiful. I've always loved Colo, espec those aspen groves. I too would like to move up there. Thanks for sharing. What is the nearest town to this area? Is this where plains meet mountains?
 
Chesmist,

tags are pretty easy to get in these areas. There are a lot of over the counter and leftover tags for both deer and elk a guy can pick up. You'll be trying a while for moose though, because North Park is probably the #1 moose area in the state...and you may have to build up a preferenace point or two for antelope.

But for the average hunter looking to lob sticks or hunt with a rifle, you can plan on hunting something in this general area every year.
 
FirstFreedom,

North Park is one of Colorado's three "parks" (high alpine valley). North Park is roughly 45 minutes southwest of Laramie, Wyoming, and the little town of Walden, CO sits in the middle of the park.

The park floor sits at about 8,100 feet up, so this is not the plains! The headwaters for the North Platte RIver start there too, which I've always though was unique. Because it's an alpine basin it's always very wet and because of that they grow a fair amount of ducks each summer.,

The park is surrounded by the Rawah wilderness and Colorado State Forest (to the east), the Never Summer Range (to the south), the Medicine Bows (to the north) and the Mt. Zirkel Wilderness (to the west). Just about any direction you look from down on the valley floor, there are mountains with snow above timberline, aspen forests, alpine lakes, etc.

Because of the scenery and diversity, It's my favorite place in Colorado to play ;)
 
Thanks for the cool pics. I have an elk tag for gmu 55. I have never been there. My son lives there and we are hoping for a good time.
 
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