| Weekend Scout Trip (Disguised as a Family Camping Trip) |
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| Written by Aneal Roney | |
| Wednesday, 02 July 2008 | |
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My wife and two girls and I headed up into the high country of Colorado this past weekend for a family camping trip. For my efforts in loading up my truck with pink camo sleeping bags, Dora the Explorer trikes, 3 different sets of wiffle ball bats and matching balls, 14 extra blankets, special pillows and stuffed animals, and probably a whole lote more crap that I don't remember and we never used anyway - I was rewarded by meeting up with my good friend Matt Hogue on Saturday morning to spend several hours scouting the area we hold both elk and deer tags for this upcoming 2008 sesaon. We hunted this area 2 seasons ago, and Matt was able to take a bull. I had my 5X5 elk opportunity spoiled by a hail storm followed by a blizzard, but I'll post my additional excuses in another blog entry.
We first drove some new areas we had not hunted in the past planning some plan B, C, and D options. One of our main focuses for this trip was to get a trail cam over a September wallow that we found was pretty hot 2 years ago. So after a bit of "road scouting" we parked Matt's truck and started the hike up and in to the wallow.
My first reaction to this area I know very well was - WOW THAT'S A LOT OF SNOW. As many of you know, we had a pretty harsh winter in Colorado which dumped a ton of snow. Many areas were well over 140% of the normal snow pack. I couldn't believe how white the mountains still were even at 10,500 feet! Usually in late June you are finding small snow fields well above 11,500 feet. 
Our normal area where we "jump" the stream was a little more challenging with the runoff. After giving up on any other option other than taking off our boots and wading the very chilly water, we were on the trail heading up.
Moisture, Moisture, Moisture. That runoff was everywhere. When we got up to about just under 11,000 feet, we were consistently crossing football size s
We got the camera hung and are hoping for some good pics we can share with you all. More on that in a couple of weeks. We saw 3 sets of tracks that were all good size bulls walking right through the wallow area (at this point it is more like a waterfall/swamp). We saw a few elk on the distant ridges. We were late out of the gate that morning, but there was plenty of sign considering the cows are probably still calved up at lower elevations.
For those of you who have already headed out to scout your targeted areas for big game hunting, we'd love to hear the conditions and animals you discovered. Just post a comment to this blog entry and tell us all about it.
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Comments (3)
  written by Tom Sorenson, July 03, 2008
You guys are braver than we are - we figured this year's hard winter (it was extreme here in Idaho and Oregon, too) would not allow us much access to our hunting grounds, so we're waiting another 3 or four weeks before we head in.
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written by Jason brockman, July 04, 2008
yes it time to scout in utah allso bow season right around the courner. there quiet a few snow drifts here allso the deer i have seen through scouting have been good healthy Bucks. i will have to post my trail cam picks. Anel if you read this could you e-mail detail on FMP movie showing in late JULY in utah east cayon is about fourty five min from were i live,
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 written by aroney, July 06, 2008
Tom, yeah, it was still a little dicey with snow and moisture up there. But I was glad to get out, and can't wait to get back out and check that cam. I learn something new every time I go out, so it is never too early.
Jason, Looking forward to seeing some trail cam picks. As far as the premiere, you can get everything you need plus register for a VIP ticket at www.BowCastVIP.com. Thanks for your feedback guys! Aneal report abuse
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 02 July 2008 ) |
nowfields about 3 feet deep. Hopefully the summer will push that all away and reveal some good green up for the herds.
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