Taking the risk!

[iccyman001]

I am trying something new this year.

The past two years I drew the same unit in NM and was successful.
This will be going into my third season and I want to test myself in a different way.

I put in my NM apps and tried all brand new units. I want to test out the things I have learned and hopefully learn a lot more.
The last thing I want to do right now is become complacent and just keep going to the same spots I know.

While they are fantastic spots and I would most likely be able to shoot another elk; Id rather try a new unit and fail this year than go to the same one.


Call me crazy, but how else am I going to be able to fine tune my elk hunting skills if I go to the same spot year after year?



Has anyone else ever done this? Still do this? Any tips?

 

[WW]

Two of the biggest reasons for being a successful elk hunter is to know your area like the back of your hand and knowing how the elk use that area.

 

[JohnFitzgerald]

I commend you on that Dan. I get to hunt many different units so I try to check out one new location a season. Found some great honey holes that way.

 

[iccyman001]

I commend you on that Dan. I get to hunt many different units so I try to check out one new location a season. Found some great honey holes that way.

That\'s ultimately what I am hoping for. Look for new honey holes and fine tune my skills so I can go back to old areas and hunt them better.
:upthumb: :upthumb: :upthumb:

 

[cnelk]

Its a good idea, but I can tell you that your \'old\' area will pull at you like a magnet.
It will call you like an old friend, begging you to come visit.

And you will. And it will feel good to be back in familiar territory.

Im with WW. Having an area to know like the back of your hand is the ultimate goal.

But I like to expand my areas too.
I dont hunt some of the spots I used to due to pressure or other factors.
But I dont dont go far. Sometimes only a couple miles or so. Sometimes 10 miles.

New areas are exciting. Old areas are like a security blanket.

Both better have elk

 

[iccyman001]

Its a good idea, but I can tell you that your \'old\' area will pull at you like a magnet.
It will call you like an old friend, begging you to come visit.

And you will. And it will feel good to be back in familiar territory.

Im with WW. Having an area to know like the back of your hand is the ultimate goal.

But I like to expand my areas too.
I dont hunt some of the spots I used to due to pressure or other factors.
But I dont dont go far. Sometimes only a couple miles or so. Sometimes 10 miles.

New areas are exciting. Old areas are like a security blanket.

Both better have elk

I hope both have elk
The one thing I know my old spot is going to have now is people who shouldn\'t be there :think: roblem:

Who knows, I can edit my apps up until March 23rd. Maybe I will have a meltdown and put my old stuff on it. :haha:

 

[cnelk]

Its a whole different ball game when you need to apply for an area opposed to hunting OTC when you can go here or there.

Absolutely exciting learning a new area!

Good luck!

 

[WW]

Nothing wrong with expanding and seeking new areas to hunt. But just looking at some of the trail cam pictures you have posted in the past, I\'d venture to say most guys, including myself would give an arm and a leg to have elk like that to hunt. Looks like you have a real honey hole. Hang on to it.

Please send GPS cords. LOL!!! :roll:

 

[cohunter14]

Dan, I give you props for being willing to try other areas. As WW said, you have had some great bulls on camera and seem to have your area figured out a bit. If it were me, there is no way you could pull me from an area like that. I would want to continue learning it so I knew I could be successful every year. But then again, you have a lot more time that can be spent on learning a new area than I do!

One thought: how about hunting a different state instead of hunting a new area in NM? There are OTC areas in Colorado that can\'t be more than 4-5 hours from you. You would get to hunt different elk while maintaining your current honey hole. Maybe we could even meet up in one of those locations... :think:

 

[bowhunter]

I understand wanting to find a new place. Maybe your honey hole might go sour and if you don\'t have a plan B then what. Maybe you will find a new honey hole. Good luck. It is always fun to explore new ground.

 

[Swede]

I like to venture out, but maintain my base of operations. I may need to move, but I want to know what I am getting into before I abandon a known area.

 

[elky McElkerson]

Kudos!! to you DAN. i\'ll be rooting for you for sure.

at this point, i\'ll arrow any elk. the dumber the better. dumb, blind, deaf, with a sinus infection.. know of any? i just want to tip an elk over with my bow. been a long time coming for me. 2007 to be exact. that is like 47 years, in \"elk years\" (think dog-years)

i just want all this eating right, jogging, mtn biking, bow shooting practice to culminate into a \"YEE HAW!\"

 

[Deertick]

I\'m spreading my wings this year, too ... Too many people found my honey hole last year, and so ... it\'s time to go.

Luckily, I have some good scouting already started, and I\'m not too worried.

It\'s always a problem ... \"Old Familiar\" versus \"New & Improved\"

 

[Guest]

Well I hunt some old spots for sure But lately I\'ve been exploring new ground a lot more in the last couple years. I personally love the feeling of finding new exciting spots that hold and hide elk from hunters !

There is just something special about a new find that makes you say \" Now this is a good spot \". I just love finding new hide outs I guess. You can add that to your arsenal of places to hunt !

Go for it Dan and maybe you\'ll find a real monster bull waiting for you !!

Trav

 

[iccyman001]

Its a whole different ball game when you need to apply for an area opposed to hunting OTC when you can go here or there.

Absolutely exciting learning a new area!

Good luck!

I can definitely see how it would differ with OTC verse a draw area.

Simply put, 2015 showed me that I cannot trust anyone that I tell spots to and I need to start keeping my mouth zipped.
I was being way too nice and tried to help people get animals and learn how to hunt, but then they all didn\'t respect me and decided they were going to go back to my honey holes with their friends! Not again.

The other thing that kind of drives me bonkers is now these people will go back to my spots and shoot elk. Im very confident in that, but I will know that it shows nothing to their hunting skills or effort put in. They are all just pulling on coat tails and reaping the rewards from someone else\'s hard work. Can you tell I am bitter?

It\'s one of those dangerous roads. You want to be the nice guy and help everyone else be successful, but then that happens...

I am very excited to learn new areas.

Nothing wrong with expanding and seeking new areas to hunt. But just looking at some of the trail cam pictures you have posted in the past, I\'d venture to say most guys, including myself would give an arm and a leg to have elk like that to hunt. Looks like you have a real honey hole. Hang on to it.

Please send GPS cords. LOL!!! :roll:

Yes sir! I do have some great spots and after the hard lessons learned in 2015, I will be holding on very tightly to those spots!!!
However, if you ever want to put in for a NM hunt, then I\'d be more than willing to take you out to one of these areas. You would just need to draw :upthumb:

Dan, I give you props for being willing to try other areas. As WW said, you have had some great bulls on camera and seem to have your area figured out a bit. If it were me, there is no way you could pull me from an area like that. I would want to continue learning it so I knew I could be successful every year. But then again, you have a lot more time that can be spent on learning a new area than I do!

One thought: how about hunting a different state instead of hunting a new area in NM? There are OTC areas in Colorado that can\'t be more than 4-5 hours from you. You would get to hunt different elk while maintaining your current honey hole. Maybe we could even meet up in one of those locations... :think:

Derek, you bring up a very interesting point.
I really am close to Colorado and I probably should be looking into taking advantage of that. I could always put in for my normal unit here and then go try out an OTC unit in CO. That way every year I could try to fine tune the OTC area and learn a LOT of elk experience out there..... you have my wheels spinning!

I understand wanting to find a new place. Maybe your honey hole might go sour and if you don\'t have a plan B then what. Maybe you will find a new honey hole. Good luck. It is always fun to explore new ground.

It sure is fun. I will try my best to make something happen.
Who knows, I could wuss out here a few days before the draw and change my application back to my spots

I like to venture out, but maintain my base of operations. I may need to move, but I want to know what I am getting into before I abandon a known area.

The one thing that makes that difficult here is all of NM\'s units are draw.
If I was able to hunt OTC units exclusively, I\'d always have my base areas to hunt and then slowly widen my range to hopefully find new and better areas!

That is the gamble though I guess!
It makes it fun, exciting, nerve wrecking, and will definitely teach me a lot.

Who knows, my main lesson for 2016 may be \"DONT EVER LEAVE YOUR HONEY HOLE AGAIN\"

Kudos!! to you DAN. i\'ll be rooting for you for sure.

at this point, i\'ll arrow any elk. the dumber the better. dumb, blind, deaf, with a sinus infection.. know of any? i just want to tip an elk over with my bow. been a long time coming for me. 2007 to be exact. that is like 47 years, in \"elk years\" (think dog-years)

i just want all this eating right, jogging, mtn biking, bow shooting practice to culminate into a \"YEE HAW!\"

I have a good feeling your drought will be over soon, bud!!!! I see a really good 2016 for you!

I\'m spreading my wings this year, too ... Too many people found my honey hole last year, and so ... it\'s time to go.

Luckily, I have some good scouting already started, and I\'m not too worried.

It\'s always a problem ... \"Old Familiar\" versus \"New & Improved\"

I\'ve always heard of the people who get too attached to their spot and are never able to try something new. \"Maybe next year\", \"what if something big comes in when I am gone.\", etc.

I figure that I still have some years ahead of me to fine tune this, so I may as well take advantage of it!
Im very excited to see some pictures from your adventures this year. You live and hunt in such a beautiful area!!!

Good luck

 

[iccyman001]

Well I hunt some old spots for sure But lately I\'ve been exploring new ground a lot more in the last couple years. I personally love the feeling of finding new exciting spots that hold and hide elk from hunters !

There is just something special about a new find that makes you say \" Now this is a good spot \". I just love finding new hide outs I guess. You can add that to your arsenal of places to hunt !

Go for it Dan and maybe you\'ll find a real monster bull waiting for you !!

Trav

Thanks Trav!
I sure hope I can find a monster.
If I do I will tie him up and have a contest on here. Winner can come shoot him :mg:

 

[Zpd307]

dan, it seemed as though many others had found my honey hole this year too...... :downthumb: actually it wasn\'t that hard of a spot to find.....
so off I go to find another! the wife thinks its a good excuse to go west with the family and scout :upthumb:

 

[Ol' Arky]

I know duck and elk are a world apart but we have spots we can kill duck most anytime (except this year) and we hunt a lot of different spots but they are all in the same area... For the except this year... Warm weather and tons of water everywhere have made for a dismal duck season for the boys anyway... Mine\'s been dismal but for different reasons...

Bill said give them you GPS location... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Not saying Bill would do this but we had a guy that hunted with us for several years... One day we found a new spot and hammered um... Next day the same thing... The best thing about the spot is it was very hard to get to... So this guy gave the GPS location to a local game warden (we found this out after the fact) and asked if there was a easier way to get to it than we were using... The game warden told him no and that was it... Next morning when we got to the new spot that same game warden and 5 or 6 of his buddies were there... Morale of the story... DON\'T TRUST ANYONE when it come to hunting locations... The guy no longer hunts with us either... And I guess the game warden and his buddies have given up on the spot since we had a few dry years.... Year before last while the water was high enough we hunted that exact spot and killed limits of duck for 12 days before the water dropped out... This year there is so much water everywhere the ducks are all over the place... Here today and gone tomorrow is what the boys are telling me... So that spot is just another memory in the the ol\' data base... But it\'s in the data base for when the time is right...

SO another morale to the story.... Don\'t give up on a spot like others will do if you have a dry year or two...

I hope you fine that \"new spot\" this fall so it will improve your \"data base\"...

 

[Baby Huey]

Dan, Like others have said, there is a great advantage to learning more about the same area year after year. I believe Pete has been hunting his area for umpteen years and knows every nook and cranny as well as the elk travel cooridors, bedding spots, etc. So, maybe don\'t give up on it entirely - unless it is truly compromised by those that have taken advantage of your kindness and are exploiting the spot more that you would like.

Derek has a great idea as well for perhaps hunting in a CO over the counter unit. I hunt CO OTC every year as my pref points build, and I also like to explore different OTC areas and hopefully find other good spots to hunt. One thing I would recommend (if you can do it) is to scout the new area at least once if possible, as boots on the ground are different that a computer, maps and Google earth. This past archery season I had one weekend to hunt, and chose to try a new CO OTC area I had been looking at for a few years, but had never scouted. I only had a cow elk tag and 2 days to travel/hunt. I should have just went to my known honey hole location, but I wanted to try this new spot. The spot I wanted to pack into, I couldn\'t get to, because of the steepness of a mountain that backed up much closer to private land than I thought when looking at the maps, so I had to pitch camp in a spot I didn\'t care for too much. It turned out to be more of a scouting weekend, where I wish I just went to my old haunt to hunt for those 2 days.

I don\'t mean to put a damper on trying a new area, as I still have about 10 spots in CO OTC areas that I have marked in a notebook that I want to try out for hunting spots. I just want to try to get there before season starts to check them out. But, that is easier said than done. I have been putting in for WY elk, but just going off of maps and Google earth, which is all I can do right now. If I ever draw a WY tag, I will strive to try and make it up there to scout.

 

[iccyman001]

I know duck and elk are a world apart but we have spots we can kill duck most anytime (except this year) and we hunt a lot of different spots but they are all in the same area... For the except this year... Warm weather and tons of water everywhere have made for a dismal duck season for the boys anyway... Mine\'s been dismal but for different reasons...

Bill said give them you GPS location... :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Not saying Bill would do this but we had a guy that hunted with us for several years... One day we found a new spot and hammered um... Next day the same thing... The best thing about the spot is it was very hard to get to... So this guy gave the GPS location to a local game warden (we found this out after the fact) and asked if there was a easier way to get to it than we were using... The game warden told him no and that was it... Next morning when we got to the new spot that same game warden and 5 or 6 of his buddies were there... Morale of the story... DON\'T TRUST ANYONE when it come to hunting locations... The guy no longer hunts with us either... And I guess the game warden and his buddies have given up on the spot since we had a few dry years.... Year before last while the water was high enough we hunted that exact spot and killed limits of duck for 12 days before the water dropped out... This year there is so much water everywhere the ducks are all over the place... Here today and gone tomorrow is what the boys are telling me... So that spot is just another memory in the the ol\' data base... But it\'s in the data base for when the time is right...

SO another morale to the story.... Don\'t give up on a spot like others will do if you have a dry year or two...

I hope you fine that \"new spot\" this fall so it will improve your \"data base\"...

Isn\'t it sad that we have to think like that \"Don\'t trust anyone\". It\'s sad because it\'s true and I just learned the hard way this year.
I\'ll never forget this spot and I will DEFINITELY be out there hunting again at some point. I just really like the idea of having options :upthumb: :upthumb:
Options will be one thing these other people don\'t have because they don\'t have the capabilities to find new areas. I think that\'s why they are sucking into the honey hole area like leaches. YUCK.



Oh well, you live and learn! This is what makes hunting so interesting. Not only are you battling the wits of the animals, you\'re battling people as well.