Elk Scouting Trip!

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I'm leaving in about 10 hours for a scouting trip to southern Colorado.  I am hunting a new unit this year and want to get a feel for the place before the end of August.

This will also be a shakedown cruise for the new additions to my elk arsenal!

 

I bought these boys in October of 2009 and have taken them from pets to pack animals.  They are doing great and hope they work out for me.  Thanks to Rik here on Tradgang for answering some of my rookie questions on llamas!

I'll put some photos up when I get back on Monday.

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To officially make this a trad thred, I will be hunting elk with a recurve!  

This is Jalopy.  He is 4 years old.  This guy was the easiest to get used to the saddle and to pack in tandem.  Unfortunately, Jalopy isn't going to work long-term so he is already sold and will be delivered when I return from my hunt in mid-September.  He has a quick gait and has to almost trot to keep up at times.  He'll work for this year and I'll take it easy on him.

 

 

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This is Jazz.  He is very energetic, strong and affectionate.  He's 5 years old and I think he will work out well for me over the years.  He was gelded at a later age so he better developed physically.  

 

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Nice... I like Jazz something about 2tone colors

[stickhorse]

What part of southern colorado you heading too?

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Originally posted by stickhorse:
What part of southern colorado you heading too?

I'll be in the San Juan Wilderness area.

[stickhorse]

Nice country over their! I'm in the sangre range on the other side of the Valley. You may have to use a cook stove, as they had a fire ban in effect a couple weeks ago. been getting some rain and it may have been lifted. take lots of picks. Have Fun!!!!!!!!!

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I returned this morning from my Colorado Bomb Run.  I left KC at 3am Thursday and arrived at the trailhead around 7pm Thursday.  It was supposed to take around 14 hours but I had to pull over for a work call.  

Friday morning we hit the trail and covered about 7 miles.  We came out Saturday morning which was about 5 miles to the truck.  I loaded the llamas at 4pm Mountain Time on Saturday and made it home at 8:30 this morning!

Here are some pics in chronological order...

Heading to CO:  

Somewhere in Western KS!

 

I pulled over at about half way to let my llamas air out.  

 

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I could not be happier with my llamas.  They did an AWESOME job and handled all of the obstacles like pro's.  They never did creek crossings until Friday.  After a time or two, they wouldn't hesitate!

Llamas are made for the mountains and packing.  They acted like they were home!  They had a little extra spring in their step the whole time.  Llamas don't require any special feed.  My boys ate aspen leaves, grass, brush...whatever.  And you can stake them out and they can manage to not get themselves tangled up.

 

 

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Here we are on the trail.  Jazz had about 50lbs on and Jalopy had 40lbs.  Many people ask "how much can they carry?".  That depends on size of llama, condition and terrain.  I've read that best practice is 25% of body weight.  For my boys, I wouldn't hesitate putting 100lbs on Jazz and 80lbs on Jalopy if we have a decent trail.  

 

A piece of new gear this year is the black shirt I'm wearing.  I don't pack "extra" clothes on my hunt so I wear the same clothes every day.  I take an extra pair of socks and underwear...that's it.  I wanted to try wool baselayers this year as I had to throw away the polypro I wore last year.  I couldn't get the smell out after I returned from my hunt!    

The wool baselayers are Terramar Woolskins and I couldn't be happier.  I wore them next-to-skin and they didn't itch.  It got up in the 70's during the day and 40's at night.  I didn't have the baselayer pants on but I'm confident they will work great!

I took the bow along to shoot stumps....

[kennym]

COOL!!

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It rained pretty much the whole time we were there.  

Friday afternoon we put up the tarp to get out of the rain, eat lunch and relax.  Here is my friend Nick doing some mapology.  He shoots wheels but he's still a pretty cool dude!  

 

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The rain set in Friday afternoon around 6pm and rained the entire night.  When it started, we just decided to pitch our tents and go to bed.  I came out of my tent Saturday morning when it stopped raining.

My tent met expectations yet again and kept me dry!

 

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We loaded up and started heading back to the trail head.  The sun came out and it was a beautiful morning to be in the mountains!

 

[slivrslingr]

Looks like a beautiful but rough area.  Hope you get into some elk!

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Overall, I have to say mission accomplished.  Got to see some very rugged country where I think we'll find elk late August.  We found some good habitat and good sign.  Most of the elk were being seen on top.  We were scouting between 9000 and 10000ft.  I like our chances...

Nick and I were each carrying about 40lbs of stuff in our packs for training purposes.  After covering 12 miles in about 24 hours, I'm definitely a little sore.  

Come on 8/28!

[steadman]

Very nice! Good luck!

[RLA]

Keep the pic's coming! Wish I was goin!

[Gatekeeper]

COOL!!!!    

I agree about the clothing. I don’t take a bunch with me either.  I’m enjoying this thread so keep it going. I need to come over a see you and your Llamas one of these days.