Colorado alpine deer hunt

[Keb]

What would be the best real world book to purchase.

[Keb]

Missed that the 1st time, was to busy looking at them awsome photos (Public Land Mule Deer by David Long).

What about cell phone usage, satillite phones, I will need something, to let my wife know I am alive every week or so?

[DarkTimber]

Adam.  I'm sure there are overlooked spots that hold some huge bucks.  My problem is I live 16 hours away and don't have time to scout them out and I don't want to put all my eggs in that basket for a 10 day hunt.  I know if I go high and deep I will get away from 95% of the other hunters and find deer.  I'm sure you can find nice deer closer but from me I wouldn't start closer than 4-5 miles form the nearest road.  Guys that live closer have the luxury of scouting more and finding easier accessable deer.  The areas in the pics above is a little over 9 miles in.    

You can't relly on cell phone coverage so I rent a satellite phone. They aren't too expensive for a weeks rental, just keep the conversations short as they charge quite a bit per minute.

[Keb]

Copy that, do you pack in on foot? I see what your saying on the scouitng, makes sense, since I too live 16hrs away also.

Im looking at the 1st 3 weeks of the season, they have a early muzzle loader season, so it gives me two week from the opener to it.

[DarkTimber]

I pack in on foot most of the time.  You probably won't be able to (or want to) pack in 3 weeks worth of food.  I usually figure 1.5 - 2 lbs of food per day.  So for 3 weeks you'd be looking at 30-35 lbs worth of food alone.  The longest I've ever done was 14 days of food and I can tell you, it was a brutal pack.   If I had 3 weeks I'd get there 5 days before season to give yourself a few days to acclimate and a few days to locate the deer.  

One last thing I forgot to metion earlier.  I know you said you've been running ultras.  That's a great way to get fit cardio wise but I'd recommend supplementing that with some hills with a weighted pack.  I also run marathons and the first year I hunted I relied solely on that training for my hunt.  I found out real quick there's a huge difference in running on flat ground near sea level and hiking up mountains with a 40lb pack at 12,000 + ft.   Just a thought.

[monterey]

You can rent a sat phone and being solo for three weeks it would be very good idea.  Can't count on cell service!  There are also some emergency beacon divices out there that send a distress signal by satellite along with your lat and long.  Thats all I know about them but might be worth looking in too.

[Keb]

Looks like I can rent one for 30 a week, 1 buck a minute, phone weighs 1 pound.

[Keb]

Looks like I got the wife talked into a summer vacation/scouting/ camping trip in August. So I can see what things look like. 200 acres of timber is big wood here.

[monterey]

That's cheap insurance!  Even with hunting partners to help each other out, somebody may need a chopper or other immediate egress like RIGHT NOW!

[Jeff D. Holchin]

Keb, I have a crazy idea, since you won't try the CO hunt until 2014:

Hunt mule deer this fall with an OTC tag where you will (1) spend a lot less money and drive less, (2) see mulie bucks and even some big ones, (3) work out the bugs in your optics and bivy camping gear, and (4) practice for the big time in CO next year.  Where?  NE, SD and ND all have OTC mule deer tags, unless something has changed and I'm mistaken. (Hint - there is a PBS membership hunt in one of the mentioned states with experienced bowhunters that probably would be very helpful to you, just saying....)

[Keb]

I have done allot of research on NE, and may make a run this sepember but my issues is time.

I am 99 percent sure I will draw a Iowa bow tag and have schuedled to take off the 1st 25 days of November. Since its a 3 year wait on tags, it will be my priority this fall.

SD an NE are on my radar for sure,and hope to hunt them in the future as well.

[Jeff D. Holchin]

The PBS membership hunt is in October in NE...

 http://www.probowsociety.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1404

A previous PBS membership hunt in SD offered some opportunities at plains mulies - not quite alpine mulies but close enough...I used my spotting scope, binos, bivy tent and stalking skills, plus there were whitetails and turkeys to hunt that you won't get on an alpine hunt.  Several big bucks spotted.  

PBS membership has many benefits, including the membership hunts all over the country for various critters.

[Gehrke145]

Anywhere down here in the Southwest is covered up with deer and some nice bucks.  Lots of deer over 160 with good ones popping up once in a while.

[Keb]

I actally hunted them near Broken Bow NE, near Oconto about 5 years ago, killed a mulie doe.

Hunted the mulies in the hills in am and whitetail in the evening near the creek, saw a 150 whitetail and forgot all about the mule deer.

[Keb]

Gear List

Pack: Badlands 4500
GPS: Garmin EX 30 with topo/birds eye
Binos: Lepould 10 X 42 w/tripod
Rain Gear: Cabelas space saver rain gear
Sleeping bag: Themarest Antres 20F down 1.15 oz
Pad: NeoAir Xlite 12 oz
Tent: either MSR Hubba 2.9lbs or Carbon Reflex 2 3.6lbs
Stove: Jetboil

Which tent you recomomend, the Hubba or Carbon Reflex 2. The have a Cabon 1, but for the weight the extra room would be nice.

If I go with the Hubba I can get better optics.

[Huh]

No question Hubba and better optics.  What model binos are you looking at?

Good advice given so far.

[slivrslingr]

For sure get the better optics.  I'd recommend the Hubba Hubba, it's a "2" person tent but really fits one with plenty of room.  If you get weathered in, the extra room will really be appreciated.  The nice thing about the HH is that you can set up the fly by itself with out the inner mesh tent, this will cut the weight nearly in half.  Find a copy of Backcountry Bowhunting by Cameron Hanes, LOTS of good info.  A great online resource for backcountry hunting is rokslide (dot) com.

[Steve O]

It is unanimous...go for the gold in optics.  Leupold makes great rifles scopes.  Their binoculars not so much, and their spotting scopes are a big no from the few I have looked thru.  Compact is great unless you need to see well.

[Keb]

Copy that

[Keb]

They were the top end lepould, the midrange vortex are going to be tuff to beat I think.