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compasslandusablog · 10 months ago

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Compass Land USA

Compass Land USA’s Guide to Buying Land, Arizona for Sale: Types, Costs, and More

If you’ve been dreaming about buying land, Arizona for sale, you’re not alone. From vast deserts to mountainous terrains, the diversity of land in Arizona can accommodate almost every dream – whether it’s a tranquil retirement haven or the perfect backdrop for adventure.

But before you take a leap into buying land, it’s essential to understand the types of land available, typical costs, and the inherent advantages and disadvantages of each type. Worried about navigating this landscape? Don’t be. Compass Land USA is here to guide you through every step of this exciting journey.

Land, Arizona for Sale

Let’s kickstart this exploration by unpacking the different types of land available for sale in Arizona:

Arizona’s expansive landscape offers a wide array of land options to suit a variety of preferences and needs. These include residential plots, perfect for building your dream home. There are also commercial lands zoned specifically to facilitate businesses, from quaint mom-and-pop operations to large-scale corporate establishments.

Farmers and agricultural enthusiasts can benefit from vast farmland plots, primed for everything from regular crop cultivation to organic farming endeavors. For those interested in the industrial sector, there’s industrial-zoned land, a blank canvas for setting up factories or warehouses.

You will find in Arizona a rich mix of habitable land; desert terrain romancing with mountainous forests, providing unique and refreshing environments. For the wild at heart, hunting lands with an extensive network of public lands are particularly attractive. These lands offer a host of hunting opportunities, from big game like mule deer and elk to small game.

Among the many offerings, you can also purchase plots for vacation properties – an investment in a lifetime of unforgettable getaways. With the average price of Arizona’s land parcels standing at $682,182, there is bound to be a plot that fits your budget and meets your expectations.

Each of these land types come with their pros and cons

Residential Land:

Pros of this type of land include the potential for immediate development, as it’s often already zoned for housing. It’s also typically located in established neighborhoods, which can make it more appealing to potential buyers. However, the cons include higher costs due to its desirable location and the potential for zoning restrictions that could limit the type or size of home you can build.

Commercial Land:

The pros of commercial land include the potential for a high return on investment, especially if it’s located in a growing area. This type of land is often zoned for businesses, which can make it easier to develop. The cons, however, include higher initial costs and the potential for more stringent zoning and building regulations. Additionally, commercial land can be harder to sell if the market is slow.

Agricultural Land:

Pros of agricultural land include lower purchase costs and the potential for tax benefits if the land is used for farming or ranching. It’s also often located in rural areas, which can offer a peaceful, secluded environment. The cons include the potential for zoning restrictions that could limit non-agricultural use and the fact that it’s often located far from urban amenities.

Undeveloped Land:

The pros of undeveloped land include lower initial costs and the potential for significant profit if the land increases in value. This type of land also offers the most flexibility, as it’s often not subject to existing zoning or building restrictions. The cons include the potential for high development costs, the need for extensive planning and permitting, and the fact that it can be harder to sell.

Compass Land USA can guide you through the process of buying land in Arizona, regardless of the type. They have extensive knowledge of the local market and can help you navigate the complexities of zoning, permitting, and development. They can also help you understand the potential costs and benefits of each type of land, so you can make an informed decision.

Comparing Costs: How Much Does Land in Arizona Typically Cost?

The cost of land in Arizona can vary greatly depending on the type and location, ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 per acre.

Given Arizona’s immense span of 114,006 square miles, or 73 million acres, it’s no surprise that land pricing varies greatly. From the sprawling desert landscapes to the rich, fruitful farmland, there’s a piece of land for every budget and purpose.

The overall average price for land parcels in Arizona is approximately $682,182. However, keep in mind that this figure encapsulates all land types, including residential, commercial, and agricultural areas. It’s not uncommon to find properties with prices as low as less than $1,000 per acre, making it an affordable option for prospective buyers.

Arizona’s robust farm and ranch industry contributes significantly to land sales, with an impressive $12 billion of these types of land currently listed. From cotton and lettuce fields to citrus orchards and alfalfa farms, the agricultural possibilities in Arizona are flourishing.

When considering the cost of land, understanding the zoning ordinances, which dictate how the land can be developed or used, can significantly influence price. For instance, areas zoned for commercial use often carry a higher price tag than those zoned for residential or farmland use. It’s an important factor to keep in mind when appraising potential land investments.

Nevertheless, if you harbor a passion for outdoor adventures like hunting mule deer, quail, and elk, you might find value in Arizona’s extensive network of public lands. While these lands may not be available for purchase, they significantly contribute to the appeal of owning property in Arizona.

At the end of the day, Arizona offers a variety of land options that caters to different needs and budgets. Whether your vision is setting up a business, building a home, or farming, Arizona’s diverse real estate landscape allows you to turn that dream into a reality. Compass Land USA can guide you through this process and help match your needs and budget with the perfect plot of Arizona land.

Factors That Influence Land Price in Arizona

The cost of land in Arizona is influenced by a variety of factors. It can vary depending on the size of the land, location, the degree of development, and its intended use. Location is particularly significant and can greatly affect the value of your land. Urban areas, for instance, offer a higher land value than rural ones, mainly due to the presence of amenities and infrastructure.

Land in the vicinity of natural features such as mountains or bodies of water may also fetch higher prices due to their scenic appeal. Conversely, lands that are prone to natural calamities like floods or landslides are generally cheaper.

Desert land in Arizona is typically the most affordable but may require significant investment for development due to lack of water and harsh conditions.

The Benefits and Drawbacks of Recreational or Industrial Land

Beyond the basics of land types, each land offers unique benefits and drawbacks, depending entirely on your planned purpose for it. Let’s take a closer look into each land category to provide you with a well-rounded view.

Recreational Land:

If it’s adventure that you’re seeking, purchasing recreational land in Arizona could serve you well. This type of land is typically used for hunting, fishing, camping, or other outdoor activities. They often include landscapes that are pristine and untouched, ranging from forests to desert terrains. Since Arizona is home to diverse wildlife and landscapes, owning recreational land can provide you not just enjoyment but possibly a return of investment as well.

On the other hand, the downsides to owning recreational land include the potential distance from amenities and cities. Also, accessibility may be an issue, especially if the land is located in remote areas. It is essential to keep these things in mind before making a purchase.

Industrial Land:

For those looking for a business venture, industrial land might be a viable option. These lands are typically suited for warehouses, manufacturing plants, or storage facilities. They are often located near major transportation routes for seamless logistics.

However, industrial land can also bring about challenges. Some areas may have zoning restrictions, environmental rules, or other regulations. These lands can be more expensive to develop and maintain.

How Compass Land USA Simplifies the Land Buying Process

At Compass Land USA, we strive to make the land buying process as simple and straightforward as possible. We understand that purchasing land is a significant investment, one that requires a deep understanding of the landscape, the utility availability, and the potential value of the property in the future. We’ve made what can be a complex process as easy as 1-2-3.

They offer a range of services including due diligence, title transfer, and seller financing.

The first step in the Compass Land USA way is property identification. With 841,423 acres of land for sale in beautiful Arizona, finding the right property might seem daunting. But fear not! Our team will work closely with you, taking into consideration all your unique requirements and preferences, be it farmland, commercial land, residential plot or land suited for recreational purposes. Your dream property is just within reach with us by your side.

Next, we analyze potential land investments based on a thorough evaluation of the location, market value, land use, and potential improvements. We understand Arizona’s diverse landscapes, from its dessert lands to mountainous terrain. We take into account the thriving agritourism industry, hunting opportunities for mule deer, quail, and elk, and the increasing value of properties suitable for building homes or vacation sites.

The final step is to finalize the purchase. Here, we handle all the necessary paperwork with complete transparency. Our aim is to ensure that there are no surprises post-purchase. Apart from this, our affordable financing options cater to every budget.

In essence, if you want a hassle-free land acquisition experience in Arizona, Compass Land USA is the place to be. We make the journey to land ownership easy, affordable, and enjoyable!

Are You Looking for Arizona Land?

New Arizona properties are added weekly. Fill out the short form below to see all Arizona properties and get your exclusive weekly land deals.

https://www.compasslandusa.com/compass-land-usas-guide-to-buying-land-arizona-for-sale-types-costs-and-more/

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techcrunchappcom · 4 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/after-wolves-rebound-across-us-west-future-up-to-voters-national-news/

After wolves rebound across US West, future up to voters | National News

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — The saucer-sized footprints in the mud around the bloody, disemboweled bison carcass were unmistakable: wolves.

A pack of 35 named after a nearby promontory, Junction Butte, now were snoozing on a snow-dusted hillside above the carcass. Tourists dressed against the weather watched the pack through spotting scopes from about a mile away.

“Wolves are my main thing. There’s something about their eyes — it’s mystifying,” said Ann Moore, who came from Ohio to fulfill a life-long wish to glimpse the animals.

Such encounters have become daily occurrences in Yellowstone after gray wolves rebounded in parts of the American West with remarkable speed following their reintroduction 25 years ago.

It started with a few dozen wolves brought in crates from Canada to Yellowstone and central Idaho. Others wandered down into northwest Montana. Thriving on big game herds, the population boomed to more than 300 packs comprising some 2,000 wolves, occupying territory that touches six states and stretches from the edge of the Great Plains to the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

Now the 2020 election offers an opportunity to jumpstart the wolf’s expansion southward into the heart of the Rocky Mountains. A Colorado ballot initiative would reintroduce wolves on the state’s Western Slope. It comes after the Trump administration on Thursday lifted protections for wolves across most of the U.S., including Colorado, putting their future in the hands of state wildlife agencies.

The Colorado effort, if successful, could fill a significant gap in the species’ historical range, creating a bridge between the Northern Rockies gray wolves and a small Mexican gray wolf population in Arizona and New Mexico.

“Colorado is the mother lode, the final piece,” said Mike Phillips, who led the Yellowstone reintroduction project and now serves in the Montana Senate.

WOLF FEARS IN COLORADO

Yet the prospect of wolves is riling Colorado livestock producers, who see the predators as a threat their forbears vanquished once from the high elevation forests where cattle graze public lands. Hunters worry they’ll decimate herds of elk and deer.

It’s a replay of animosity that broke out a quarter-century ago when federal wildlife officials released the first wolves into Yellowstone. The species had been annihilated across most of the contiguous U.S. in the early 1900s by government-sponsored poisoning, trapping and bounty hunting.

Initiative opponents have seized on sightings of a handful of wolves in recent years in northwestern Colorado as evidence the predator already has arrived and reintroduction isn’t necessary.

“We can live with a few wolves. It’s the massive amount that scares me,” said Janie VanWinkle, a rancher in Mesa County near Grand Junction, Colorado.

VanWinkle’s great grandparents shot wolves up until the early 1940s, she said, when the last wolves in Colorado were killed. The family runs cattle on two promontories with names from that era — Wolf Hill and Dead Horse Point, where VanWinkle said her great grandfather’s horse was killed by wolves while he was fixing a fence.

“I try to relate that to millennials: That would be like someone stealing your car,” she said. “He had to walk home 10, 15 miles in the dark, carrying his saddle, knowing there’s wolves out there. So of course they killed wolves on sight.”

Mesa County’s population has increased more than five-fold since wolves last roamed there, to more than 150,000, and VanWinkle sees little room for the animals among farms in the Colorado River valley and the growing crowds of backcountry recreationists on the Uncompahgre Plateau.

Colorado’s population is approaching 6 million — almost twice as much as Idaho, Montana and Wyoming combined — and is expected to surpass 8 million by 2040.

“Things have changed,” VanWinkle said.

The pack that showed up in northwest Colorado last year is believed to have come from the Northern Rockies through Wyoming, where wolves can be killed at will outside the Yellowstone region.

Even with protections under the Endangered Species Act, thousands of wolves were shot over the past two decades for preying on livestock and, more recently, by hunters.

YELLOWSTONE RECOVERY

But rancor that long defined wolf restoration in the region has faded somewhat since protections were lifted in recent years. Opponents were given the chance to legally hunt wolves, while advocates learned state wildlife officials weren’t bent on eliminating the animals from the landscape as some had feared.

“I’ve got a simple message: It’s not that bad,” said Yellowstone wolf biologist Doug Smith, who with Phillips brought the first wolves into the park in 1995 and has followed their impacts on the landscape perhaps as closely as anyone.

“I got yelled at, at public meetings,” he said. “I got phone calls: ‘They are going to kill all the elk and deer!’ Where are we 25 years in? We still have elk and deer.”

On a cold October morning, after examining remains of the bison eaten by the Junction Butte pack near a park road, Smith asked a co-worker to have the carcass dragged deeper into brush so it wouldn’t attract wolves and other scavengers that could be hit by a vehicle.

Later, as the sun struggled to break through cloud banks, he hiked up a trail in the park’s Lamar River valley to where the first wolves from Canada were released.

The animals initially were kept in a large outdoor pen to adjust to their new surroundings. The pen’s now in disrepair, sections of chain-link fence crushed by fallen trees. But Smith was able to show where wolf pups had once tried to dig their way out , and another spot outside the enclosure where some freed adult wolves had tried to dig back in.

All around were young stands of aspen trees. The area had been overgrazed by elk during the years when wolves and most grizzly bears and cougars were absent — direct evidence, Smith said, of the profound ecological impact from the predators’ return.

EUROPE DEBATES WOLF RETURN

Yellowstone’s experience with wolves has spurred debate among European scientists over whether a gradual comeback of wolves on the continent could also revitalize landscapes there, and be welcomed or at least tolerated by local people, said Frans Schepers, with Rewilding Europe, which works to restore ecosystems in multiple countries. There have been no European wolf reintroductions to date, but land-use changes coupled with fewer hunting and poisoning campaigns have allowed populations to begin rebounding naturally in several countries.

Since 2015, wolf packs that traveled over the Baltics have established three or four packs in the Netherlands and packs in neighboring Germany and Belgium. Government programs provide money for Dutch farmers to erect fences to deter wolves.

In the British Isles, where the last wolves were exterminated in the 1700s, a wilderness reserve in Scotland is seeking permission to bring wolves to about 78 square miles (200 square kilometers) of fenced enclosure to help control a runway deer population and draw tourists.

Alladale Wilderness Reserve owner Paul Lister views Yellowstone, where wolves controlled elk numbers, as a model.

“All the native predators are gone,” Lister said of the Scottish reserve.

THE BALLOT BATTLE

In Colorado, hunting outfitter Dean Billington foresees economic disaster if the 2020 wolf initiative passes. His Kremmling-based Bull Basin Guides & Outfitters is ideally situated for one of the state’s largest trophy elk herds, the White River elk herd. He estimates his firm alone spends more than $250,000 a year for hunting leases on ranches.

“They’re land wealthy and day-to-day poor,” Billington said of ranch owners. “This income keeps the western ranching guys afloat.”

The initiative calls for initially introducing 10 wolves annually by Dec. 31, 2023, with a goal of 250 wolves within a decade.

“You’re putting wolves in my backyard,” Billington said of supporters of the reintroduction initiative. “They say they’ll compensate for lost cattle and sheep, but how would it feel for these people in Denver if their dog in the back yard was mauled to death by the wolf and someone throws a few bucks at you to make you feel better?”

Rob Edward with the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund, the group behind the initiative, sees reintroduction as a national rather than state issue since it involves public lands that account for 70% of western Colorado.

“Colorado’s public lands are diminished without wolves,” he said.

The Yellowstone experience is key to his group’s arguments: Reintroduction restores balance to the ecosystem, improves wildlife habitat and will benefit hunters by thinning out weaker prey.

Standing in the decaying pen where Yellowstone’s wolves got their start, Smith said that if the Colorado reintroduction initiative passes, success ultimately rests more on human tolerance than the animals’ proven biological resiliency.

“Don’t recover wolves unless there’s areas where you can leave them alone,” he said.

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Anderson reported from Denver and Larson from Washington, D.C..

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On Twitter follow Brown: @MatthewBrownAP; Anderson: @jandersonAP, and Larson: @larsonchristina

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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#across #after #future #rebound #voters #wolves #National

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becketthyni598 · 4 years ago

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How to Master Deer Hunting in 6 Simple Steps

I start my scouting each year by checking the internet for new places to hunt, by using the map feature on the hunting channel online. Pull up 3D images of the areas I have researched through fish and game reports and pope and young entries. Then look for the structures and lanscape features known will hold deer. These are: Water holes, Saddles Benches Intersecting ridges Transition areas And Funels. It is these primary areas that give me my first indication where to start scouting. Methodically examine these areas in 3D mode of THC maps figuring out how they are all interconnected and how deer would use them. Afterward I create maps with GPS coordinates and notes https://diigo.com/0i12h1 to help me locate sign when its times to actually start infield scouting. Taking my maps and corralate them with https://ask.fm/deerproject24291 stuff like deer/car accident reports, look closely at time of year, time of day, deer ratio, frequency and location, then add this to my notes and guide map.

Once season draws near I will go to those areas picked out and begin looking for sign like: Dropping Evidence of feeding Tracks Rubs Scrapes Hair And anything else that might clue me into what is using the area. Once I have determined deer are frequenting an area I will set up trail cameras to record as much deer activity as possible. That way I can pattern any bucks in the area. Some times i will just set up a blind and sit back and observe deer so i can get a first hand look at their behavior. It is very important to learn how deer act and react to your intrusion, anyway this is another topic which we will cover another day.

The rifle scope is obviously a great invention, and like most inventions it was born out of necessity. Most great inventions evolve from someone finding a need for something and figuring out how to make it work. The evolution of the rifle scope began when people started attaching telescopes to rifles to maximize viewing capabilities. This idea was of course very primative and did not provide the desired effect. The first verifiable use of a telescopic sight on a pistol dates back to 1834,but attempts to create a workable rifle scope were unsuccessful until 1880 when August Fielder managed to build the first telescopic sight that really actually worked. This was the predecessor of all modern day rifle scopes. In 1907 a German immigrant named Fred Leupold set up a small shop in Portland Oregon repairing survey equipment. Several years later when he met inventor John Stevens, the marvelous company named Leupold and Stevens was born and still exists today. It was around 1930 after a failed hunting trip, that Leupold began making his first rifle scopes. The small company survived World War I and the great depression but it was the Second World War that changed the company forever. Working with the US Army and Navy, the engineers at Leupold learned the secrets of waterproofing and durable construction that would change the world of optics forever. The engineers learned that by introducing nitrogen gases within the scope that the optics would remain clear, waterproof and fogproof... for a lifetime.

Today Leupold and Stevens is a family owned American company with 100 years of experience. Their modern day state of the art facility employs over 600 employees in Beaverton Oregon. The Leupold engineers design, machine, assemble and test all of their optics within this facility. Only the finest material known to man are used for production of their optics especially the lenses and they are of the highest grade quality that is demanded by Leupold engineers. In addition to rifle scopes Leupold also offers a fine line of binoculars and spotting scopes as well.The products produced are made to last more than a lifetime and they are all backed by the famous Leupold Lifetime Warranty. They set all the standards that other optics manufacturers strive to achieve. Leupold optics are world renowned for their ruggedness, absolute waterproof integrity and their superior optical quality. Leupold offers a vast line of rifle scopes with both fixed and variable powers and many types of reticles. They have many different lines to chose from, sure to please any rifleman. The name Leupold is one of the most trusted, respected, and known names in the outdoor and hunting arenas worldwide.

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Leupold has recently issued a counterfeit warning to its customers cautioning them to be on the lookout for counterfeit Leupold scopes that are illegally being imported from China. These fake reproductions bear many of the marks of the a genuine Leupold, making them very difficult to distinguish externally from authentic Leupold products. Recently many rifle scopes have begun to arrive at the Leupold headquarters for service. Obviously these products were not manufactured by Leupold and are not covered by the Leupold lifetime warranty. Leupold uses serial numbers on all of their optics so if one finds a suspect they can simply contact Leupold at 1-800-LEUPOLD to verify the authenticity.

To me I feel that a Leupold scope is the best scope for the money and I have many of them. I own 9 hunting rifles and they are ALL equipped with Leupolds. I personally thank Leupold for my grizzly bear and dall sheep from Alaska, my mountain lion and elk from Arizona, my black bear and mule deer from Colorado, and the 13 trophy whitetail deer from right here in Pennsylvania. Through many conditions, from rain and snow, to blizzards and fog, to tripping down mountains, and banging around on horseback, my Leupolds have NEVER let me down under any circumstances. Thanks again Leupold for a lifetime of memories!

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thecoroutfitters · 7 years ago

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Written by Guest Contributor on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: Another guest contribution from Kevin Fleeman at LifeUnderSky.com to The Prepper Journal. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly receive a $25 cash award as well as be entered into the Prepper Writing Contest with a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, enter today.

There’s something raw and primitive about hunting. It takes us back to our roots and connects us with the environment. In normal circumstances, you can save as much stock as you like to secure your future, but this must someday run out.

Hunting makes you one with the wild. You get to provide for yourself and your family while having a respect for nature in all its awesome and different forms. Have you always wanted to go out hunting but never got around to it? Would this be your first hunting trip? Well, we are here to provide you with some great tips on how to prepare.

Observe Safety Procedures and Regulations

If you look at the majority of hunting fatalities, though very low, they occurred because the hunter ignored to observe and practice the right safety procedures.

In fact if you are new to hunting, you should make it a priority to go through the training manual provided by the Department of Natural Resources or the appropriate body in your country.

Remember your safety is paramount. Do not worry about a failed hunting attempt and decide to push yourself beyond your limits. It is never worth it. Some of the best trips result in the ever-changing stories of “the one that got away” and, the bag of dirty clothes. There is no honor in stupidity and no forgiveness for mistakes that harm others.

Let Others Know

It is always a good idea to inform family or friends of your hunting trip. This will make it easy for them to mount a search and rescue in case things go awry. Hunters, like other outdoors enthusiasts in the US, die each year due to exposure from the elements or incurring injuries that limit their mobility. Having a plan before you go and sharing that with a responsible person you trust is a safety net you will never be sorry that you cast.

Another great option is to take a GPS device with you. That way you can pin point your exact location and a rescue team can pin point yours, as long as it is still working. This is a good backup, but a far second to the suggestion in the above paragraph.

Abide by the Laws

Laws on hunting should never be avoided otherwise you might find yourself paying hefty fines or worse, end up behind bars. Reality TV shows about about people arrested and fined for trying to skirt the laws. There are a lot of hunters that are taken to court every hunting season for breaking the law. Trust me; you are better off operating within the confines of the law. And most hunting laws have a valuable basis, in herd management, and the management of the hunters who do obtain permits/tags.

To be on the safe side, visit the website of the Department of Natural Resources in the area where you plan to hunt, remember, from that plan you provided that responsible person/relative above and find the applicable hunters guide. It will give you all the information you require. Rules and regulations vary from state to state and the excuse that “I am from New York” only works if you have broken a driving rule.

Emergency Medical Kit

Always ensure you have an emergency medical kit with you, period. No kit, no trip.

This will come in handy when you get an injury and there’s nobody around to offer assistance. The basic equipment should be bandages, a way to disinfect the wound such as antiseptic, water sterilizer, and a flare to give off your position, and so much more.

Also, there are some places where going cheap is beyond foolish. Medical kits and supplies are one of those, as are good hunting boots that have been broken in and waterproofed, even if you are hunting scorpions in Arizona. They will go a long way to secure you from the major injury.

NEVER leave home to go out into the wilderness without your Bug Out Bag! Never. Know its contents and how to use them through practice.

Keep it Simple

On the other side of the coin it’s easy to get tricked into thinking that you need all sorts of equipment and gear to be successful in your hunt. The truth is you only need the basic equipment to bring down your quarry. But you need to be safe and prepared.

Carrying excessive baggage will slow you down and tire you out before you can launch a successful ambush. As a rule of thumb, you should only carry the things that you will require. Sounds simple. Not doing this right puts your down a few links on the food chain.

Mask Your Scent

Remember you are going after animals that spend their whole lives escaping danger. They are well equipped with strong senses that will detect a predator coming even before they lay their eyes on them. A bear can smell you 20 miles away downwind, the nose of a whitetail deer has up to 297 million olfactory receptors, dogs have 220 million, an elk’s sense of smell has been estimated to be up to 1,000 times more acute than that of a human with humans limiting out with just five million olfactory receptors.

To increase your odds of making a successful kill, you will need to find a way to hide your scent. This is because it could drifts in the air for a good distance and land in the noses of your quarry. They will disappear before you even get a chance of approaching.

You can buy special scent control products that hide your own making it harder for deer and other animals to catch your position….as long as you minimize movement and noise. The last is very important. If you can find a “quiet place” try recording you movement when you have all your gear in tow. The results may surprise you, and indicate why you never surprise your quarry.

Learn to be Patient

It really doesn’t matter what type of gear you are packing, if you are impatient, you will either spook a perfect target or simply give up. You are not going to the woods to take something that was meant to offer itself to you. No sir. You are going after an animal that is trying to stay alive, and does that every minute day or night. You are not its only predator.

Just pick a strategy and be patient with it, eventually, things will pay off.

Have a Mentor

This is perhaps my best advice. Learning from someone who has had a lot of experience will greatly improve your odds of being successful. A mentor can teach you the finer details; how to read the hoof prints, how to stay down wind, how to do scouting, how to set a stand and how to keep from frigiting.

While guides tend to be expensive your experienced buddy may have some long practiced BAD skills to pass on to you. Like everything else, do your homework.

Practice

Nothing beats regular training. When you are not out hunting, you should spend a considerable amount of your time practicing. You can also learn as much as you can from training manuals.

After all you never want to miss a shot that you have been waiting for all season simply because you failed to hone your skills.

Range Time – use it well. Do remember that most wildlife do not understand the commands “stand still”, “move to the left another 2 feet”, and “come closer”. Know what a kill shot is and what it is NOT and never fire unless you have a “kill shot” lined up. Holding your breath and exercising breathing control at “that moment” and having a steady hand on sighting in and trigger control will make a big contribution towards success, a clear miss, or the worst of all cases, trailing a wounded animal to finish what you started.

Conclusion

With these tips first time hunter can go into the bush confident that they have what it takes to come out successful. Hunting is tough so in case you don’t land a kill, persevere and you will soon get the ropes.

About the Author

Kevin Fleeman is the founder of Selfpatron.com that site is dedicated to the sport of hunting. We have a deep respect for nature and for the environment and we therefore take the sport of hunting very seriously. Selfpatron.com provides guides on how to hunt effectively, answer reader questions, and reviews of the latest hunting gear.

The post How to “PREP” for a First Hunt appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

#SHTF #TEOTWAWKI #MARTIALLAW #BUGOUT #PREPPERBAG #USAF #USSOCOM #ARMY #NAVY #SurvivalFirestarter #Sur

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j0sgomez-blog · 6 years ago

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By Michael Lanza

What makes a great backpacking trip? I’ve thought about that more than a mentally stable person probably should, having done many of America’s (and the world’s) most beautiful and beloved multi-day hikes over the years. Certainly top-shelf scenery is mandatory. An element of adventurousness enhances a hike, in my eyes. As I assembled this top 10 list, longer trips seemed to dominate it—there’s something special about a big walk in the wilderness—but two- and three-day hikes also made my list. Another factor that truly matters is a wilderness experience: All 10 are in national parks or wilderness areas.

In the final analysis, though, the only criterion that matters is simple: that it’s a great trip. And that character shows itself over and over in my picks for the 10 best backpacking trips in the country, selected from the many I’ve taken over more than a quarter-century (and counting) of carrying a backpack, both as a longtime field editor for Backpacker magazine and creator of this blog.

Acknowledging my Western bias—it’s where I spend most of my backcountry time—each hike here merits a 10 for scenery. But difficulty and distance vary greatly. So I’ve included the mileage of each—and the longest trips on this list can be chopped up into smaller portions—as well as a difficulty rating on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the hardest in terms of strenuousness and challenge.

While I’ve numbered my top 10 hikes, that’s not intended as a quality ranking; I think that’s impossible. I regularly update this list as I take new trips that belong on it. If you have a trip to suggest, please do tell me about it in the comments section at the bottom of this story. I hope to get to them all. It’s a tough assignment, but I’m working on it.

Accompanying each hike in my top 10 are Close Runners-Up, trips that are exactly that. My advice: Just do every one of these top 10 and runner-up hikes that you can, when you can. You won’t be disappointed.

Todd Arndt in the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park.

A Grand Tour of Yosemite

Distance: 152 miles Difficulty: 4

John Muir saw more than a few world-class wildernesses, and he focused much of his time and energy on exploring and protecting Yosemite. A lot of people would argue it’s the best national park for backpackers. After several trips there, I had thought I’d seen Yosemite’s finest corners, including many trails in the park’s core, its section of the John Muir Trail, and the summits of Half Dome and Clouds Rest.

Then, over a total of seven days, I backpacked 152 miles through the biggest patches of wilderness in the park, south and north of Tuolumne Meadows—and discovered Yosemite’s true soul, a vast reach of deep, granite-walled canyons, peaks rising to over 12,000 feet, and one gorgeous mountain lake after another dappling the landscape.

High Sierra Trail in Sequoia National Park.

See my stories “Best of Yosemite, Part 1: Backpacking South of Tuolumne Meadows,” about the 65-mile first leg of that grand tour of Yosemite, and “Best of Yosemite, Part 2: Backpacking Remote Northern Yosemite,” about the nearly 87-mile second leg.

Get my expert e-guides to backpacking the 65-mile hike south of Tuolumne and the 87-mile hike through northern Yosemite.

Want more of a less-committing, introductory backpacking trip in Yosemite? See my story “Ask Me: Where to Backpack First Time in Yosemite.” The trip I suggest in that story is described in much greater detail in my e-guide “The Best First Backpacking Trip in Yosemite.” That e-guide offers planning tips and suggested daily itineraries for a primary route and alternate itineraries for backpacking trips in the spectacular core of Yosemite, between Yosemite Valley and Tuolumne Meadows.

Close Runner-Up:

Read my “Heavy Lifting: Backpacking Sequoia National Park,” about a 40-mile family backpacking trip in Sequoia National Park that featured campsites that made both my top 25 all-time favorites and my list of the nicest backcountry campsites I’ve hiked past.

Hi, I’m Michael Lanza, creator of The Big Outside, which has made several top outdoors blog lists. Click here to sign up for my FREE email newsletter. Join The Big Outside to get full access to all of my blog’s stories. Click here to learn how I can help you plan your next trip. Please follow my adventures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube.

Jerry Hapgood backpacking the Highline Trail, Glacier National Park.

Two Hikes in Glacier National Park

Distance of each: about 90-94 miles (shorter variations possible) Difficulty of each: 3

With rivers of ice pouring off of craggy mountains and cliffs, deeply green forests, over 760 lakes offering mirror reflections of it all, megafauna like bighorn sheep, mountain goats, moose, and grizzly and black bears, and over a million acres in Montana’s Northern Rockies, most of it wilderness, little wonder that Glacier is so popular with backpackers.

This top 10 list has long included a 90-mile hike I took in northern Glacier, split into 65- and 25-mile legs, on which we saw all of those things described above—including grizzly bears—and enjoyed a surprising degree of solitude even while hitting many of the park’s highlights.

Jeff Wilhelm backpacking the CDT in Glacier National Park.

But in September 2018, three friends and I backpacked about 94 miles through Glacier, from Chief Mountain Trailhead at the Canadian border in the park’s northeast corner to Two Medicine, combining parts of the primary and alternate routes of the Continental Divide Trail, and adding the high, alpine trail from Pitamakan Pass to Dawson Pass above Two Medicine. Yet again, we saw bighorn sheep, mountain goats, black bears, moose, and a griz, and heard elk bugling almost every morning and evening—not to mention vistas unlike anywhere else in America. An experience at least equal to the earlier 90-miler described above, that CDT hike through Glacier immediately vaulted onto this list.

See my story about the first, two-stage, 90-mile hike “Descending the Food Chain: Backpacking Glacier National Park’s Northern Loop,” and my story “Wildness All Around You: Backpacking the CDT Through Glacier” about the more recent, 94-mile traverse through Glacier.

Get my expert e-guides to backpacking Glacier’s Northern Loop and the CDT through Glacier.

Close Runner-Up:

For much of its distance, the 34-mile Rockwall Trail in Kootenay National Park, in the Canadian Rockies, passes below a long chain of sheer cliffs and mountains with thick tongues of glacial ice.

Time for a better backpack? See my picks for “The 10 Best Backpacking Packs” and the best ultralight thru-hiking packs.

Death Canyon Shelf, on the Teton Crest Trail, Grand Teton National Park.

Teton Crest Trail

Distance: 33-40 miles, multiple variations Difficulty: 4

One of my first big, Western backpacking trips was on the Teton Crest Trail in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, and it so inspired me that I’ve returned almost 20 times since to backpack, dayhike, rock climb, backcountry ski, and paddle a canoe. I can’t imagine that jagged skyline ever failing to give me chills.

Bill Mistretta backpacking above the North Fork Cascade Canyon.

Running north-south through the heart of the national park and adjacent national forest lands, the Teton Crest Trail stays above treeline for much of its distance, with expansive views of the peaks, but also drops into the beautiful South Fork and North Fork of Cascade Canyon and the upper forks of Granite Canyon. Various trails access it, allowing for multiple route options, any of them making for one of America’s premier multi-day hikes.

Yearning to backpack in the Tetons? See my e-guides to the Teton Crest Trail and the best short backpacking trip in the Tetons.

See my stories “American Classic: The Teton Crest Trail” and “Walking Familiar Ground: Reliving Old Memories and Making New Ones on the Teton Crest Trail,” plus all of my stories about the Teton Crest Trail and all of my Ask Me posts about Grand Teton National Park.

Close Runner-Up:

A two- or three-day hike linking any of the east-side canyons in Grand Teton National Park, such as the nearly 20-mile Paintbrush Canyon-Cascade Canyon loop (the most popular in the park), or either of two loops from Death Canyon Trailhead: about 23 miles linking Death Canyon, Granite Canyon, and Mount Hunt Divide; or roughly 24 miles linking Death Canyon, Death Canyon Shelf, Alaska Basin, and Static Peak.

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David Gordon backpacking The Narrows, Zion National Park.

Zion’s Narrows

Distance: 16 miles Difficulty: 3

The North Fork of the Virgin River carves out a uniquely deep, slender, and awe-inspiring redrock canyon in Utah’s Zion National Park, with walls up to 1,000 feet tall that close in to just 20 feet apart in places. Springs gush from cracks in the walls, nourishing lush hanging gardens. In the low-water levels when backpackers typically make the two-day descent of The Narrows, you’re walking in water from ankle- to waist-deep most of the time, over a cobblestone riverbed that makes for slow progress.

Paria Canyon, Utah-Arizona.

But you’ll feel no desire to rush through one of the most enchanting hikes in the National Park System (especially since the lower end is often crowded with dayhikers, while the trip’s first day and second morning are much quieter).

See my story “Luck of the Draw, Part 2: Backpacking Zion’s Narrows.”

Click here now to get my e-guide to Backpacking Zion’s Narrows.

Close Runners-Up:

Paria Canyon, Utah-Arizona North-South Traverse of Zion Coyote Gulch, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument Beehive Traverse and Spring Canyon, Capitol Reef National Park

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Hiking to Silver Pass on the John Muir Trail in California’s John Muir Wilderness.

John Muir Trail

Distance: 221 miles Difficulty: 4

The John Muir Trail’s 211 miles from Yosemite Valley to the highest summit in the Lower 48, 14,505-foot Mount Whitney in Sequoia National Park, has often been described as “America’s Most Beautiful Trail”—and hyperbolic as it sounds, it’s hard to argue against that lofty claim.

The two- to three-week journey through California’s High Sierra (totaling 221 miles, including the 10-mile descent off Whitney, not actually part of the JMT) stays mostly above 9,000 feet as it traverses mile after jaw-dropping mile of a landscape of incisor peaks, too many waterfalls to name, and countless, pristine wilderness lakes nestled in granite basins. You climb over numerous passes between 11,000 and over 13,000 feet, with views that stretch a hundred miles. Although not a place for solitude during the peak season (mid-July to mid-September), the JMT may be the one hike on this list that every serious backpacker should get to.

Granite Park, John Muir Wilderness.

See my story “Thru-Hiking the John Muir Trail in Seven Days: Amazing Experience, or Certifiably Insane?”

Close Runner-Up:

See my story about a remote, partly off-trail, 32-mile traverse of the John Muir Wilderness in California’s High Sierra.

Want to hike the Teton Crest Trail, JMT, or another trip? Click here for expert advice you won’t get elsewhere.

Jeff Wilhelm on the Deer Creek Trail in the Grand Canyon.

Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop, Grand Canyon

Distance: 25 miles Difficulty: 5

To be honest, every backpacking trip I’ve taken in the Grand Canyon deserves a spot on this list—the place possesses all the qualities of a great adventure, in a landscape like nowhere else on the planet. But of them all, the most unique, varied, and mystical may be this rugged and remote loop off the North Rim.

David Ports on the Grand Canyon’s South Kaibab Trail.

Long on the radar of in-the-know backpackers and river-rafting parties taking side hikes, the Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop has an unusual abundance of a rare element in the canyon: water. The two perennial creeks and one river (in addition to the Colorado River) pour over some of the Grand Canyon’s prettiest waterfalls, course through spectacular narrows, and nurture oases of trees and vegetation. Descending a vertical mile to the Colorado River and then climbing back up again, on often-rugged trails, this hike packs in all the majesty you go to the Big Ditch for.

See my feature story “Backpacking the Grand Canyon’s Thunder River-Deer Creek Loop.”

Click here now for my expert e-guide to backpacking the Grand Canyon rim to rim.

Close Runners-Up:

Almost any other trip in the Grand Canyon. See my story “5 Epic Grand Canyon Backpacking Trips You Must Do,” and all of my Ask Me posts and stories about the Grand Canyon.

Hike all of the “10 Best Backpacking Trips in the Southwest.”

The view from Strawberry Point, Olympic coast, Washington.

The Southern Olympic Coast

Distance: 17.5 miles Difficulty: 3

The 17.5-mile hike from the Hoh River north to La Push Road, on the southern coast of Washington’s Olympic National Park, is still one of my kids’ most memorable backpacking trips—mostly for the hours they spent playing in tide pools on the beach (they were nine and seven at the time).

It features giant trees in one of Earth’s largest virgin temperature rainforests; frequently mist-shrouded views of scores of sea stacks rising up to 200 feet out of the ocean; boulders wallpapered with sea stars, mussels, and sea anemones; rugged and very muddy hiking on overland trails around impassable headlands; sightings of seals, sea otters, whales, and to my kids’ delight, lots of slugs; and rope ladders to climb and descend very steep, sometimes cliff-like terrain. Consequently, while just as scenic, it’s less crowded than the more popular northern stretch of the Olympic coast. The 73-mile-long finger of the park on the Pacific Ocean protects the longest stretch of wilderness coastline in the contiguous United States, and one of America’s most unique backpacking adventures.

See my story “The Wildest Shore: Backpacking the Southern Olympic Coast.”

David Ports backpacking Sahale Arm, North Cascades National Park.

Close Runner-Up: Honestly, nothing.

But for classic wilderness trips in the Pacific Northwest, I suggest the hike to Cascade Pass and up Sahale Arm to Sahale Glacier Camp, in North Cascades National Park, with a jaw-dropping campsite view, and the Spider Gap-Buck Creek Pass Loop in the Glacier Peak Wilderness.

Want a bigger adventure? See my story “Primal Wild: Backpacking 80 Miles Through the North Cascades.” See all of my stories about the North Cascades region at The Big Outside.

See “Tent Flap With a View: 25 Favorite Backcountry Campsites”

Todd Arndt nearing Island Lake and Titcomb Basin in the Wind RIver Range.

The Wind River Range

Distance: about 41 miles (variations possible) Difficulty: 3 to 5 (5 if you take the off-trail route over Knapsack Col)

The Winds can’t honestly be described as “undiscovered,” by any stretch. Still, as popular as a few corners are, much of this Wyoming range offers a rare combination of periods of solitude amid some of the most dramatic peaks and beautiful mountain lakes in the country—lots of lakes, in fact. Rank U.S. mountain ranges according to the best scenery and best lakes, and I think the top two are the Winds and the High Sierra—and you could argue which is number one for as many years as it would take to visit every lake in the Winds.

Todd Arndt hiking the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range.

After several previous trips into the Winds, climbing, backpacking, and taking one really long dayhike, I finally visited Titcomb Basin for the first time on my most-recent trip, 41-mile loop from Elkhart Park with two friends. Beyond the fact that Titcomb is one of the most scenically awe-inspiring spots anywhere in the West—with granite peaks rising to over 13,000 feet from lakes at over 10,000 feet—we hiked past a constellation of beautiful lakes on this loop hike, and took an established but spicy off-trail route over 12,240-foot Knapsack Col. The Winds can seriously make you wonder: “Why don’t I just come here all the time?”

See my story “Best of the Wind River Range: Backpacking to Titcomb Basin.”

Close Runners-Up:

Almost any other trip in the Wind River Range. See my stories “A Walk in the Winds: Hiking a One-Day, 27-Mile Traverse of Wyoming’s Wind River Range” and “Ask Me: What Backpacking Trip Do You Suggest in the Wind River Range?”

Ready to hike one of the world’s great treks? Click here now for my e-guide “The Perfect, Flexible Plan for Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc.”

Alice Lake, Sawtooth Mountains, Idaho.

Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains

Distance: ~50 miles Difficulty: 3

The Sawtooths are one of the West’s most under-appreciated mountain ranges, with national park-caliber scenery, but nowhere near the numbers of hikers found in the most popular parks (although I do hear from more and more readers eager to explore the Sawtooths). Having backpacked and climbed through most of the range since settling in Idaho almost 20 years ago, the multi-day hike I’d recommend there is a roughly 50-mile route from Redfish Lake to Tin Cup Trailhead at Pettit Lake via Cramer Pass and Toxaway and Alice lakes, including out-and-back side trips to the Baron Lakes and Imogene Lake.

It hits many of the Sawtooths’ premier areas, including five-star camping at backcountry lakes. Baron and Imogene each add basically a day of hiking, but are two of the most magnificent lakes in the Sawtooths; camp at both. This route can be hiked in either direction, depending on whether you want to catch the boat shuttle from Redfish Lake Lodge across Redfish Lake at the beginning or end of your trip; missing it adds about five miles of hiking.

See my blog post “Ask Me: The Best Long Backpacking Trip in Idaho’s Sawtooths.”

Rock Slide Lake, Sawtooth Mountains.

Close Runners-Up:

See my story “Going After Goals: Backpacking in Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains,” about a 57-mile hike in the more remote southern Sawtooths, this Ask Me post describing my favorite hikes and backpacking trips in the Sawtooths, and all of my stories about Idaho’s Sawtooth Mountains and neighboring White Cloud Mountains; plus my story about another under-appreciated mountain range dappled with gorgeous lakes, northeastern Oregon’s Wallowas: “Learning the Hard Way: Backpacking Oregon’s Eagle Cap Wilderness.”

I’ve helped many readers plan an unforgettable backpacking trip in the Sawtooths. Want my help with yours? Find out more here.

Jeff Wilhelm backpacking the Timberline Trail, Mount Hood, Oregon.

Timberline Trail, Mount Hood

Distance: 41 miles Difficulty: 3

The 41-mile Timberline Trail around Oregon’s 11,239-foot Mount Hood lives in the shadow of the 93-mile Wonderland Trail (of which I’ve hiked sections) around Hood’s taller and more-famous stratovolcano sibling, Mount Rainier. But the Timberline can go toe-to-toe with the Wonderland for scenery—including waterfalls, wildflowers, and views of Hood’s glaciated flanks around every corner—and probably has an edge in adventure quotient, largely because of several spicy creek fords.

Like the Wonderland, the Timberline meanders from barren volcanic moonscapes to breezy meadows to dense temperature rainforest. But unlike the Wonderland, you don’t have to compete for one of the most sought-after backcountry permits in America.

See my story “Full of Surprises: Backpacking Mount Hood’s Timberline Trail.”

My kids backpacking below Mount Rainier.

Close Runner-Up:

See my story “Wildflowers, Waterfalls, and Slugs and Mount Rainier,” about a 22-mile backpacking trip, mostly on the Wonderland Trail, from Mowich Lake to Sunrise at Mount Rainier National Park.

Anyone contemplating any trips on this list, especially the longer ones, should read my story “Ultralight Backpacking’s Simple Equation: Less Weight = More Fun.”

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wicked-horn-outfitters-blog · 7 years ago

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Almost time!!! #arizona #hunting #archery #bull #elk #outfitters #guide #wickedhornoutfitters

#archery #hunting #elk #bull #wickedhornoutfitters #arizona #outfitters #guide

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ericfruits · 8 years ago

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A tussle in Oregon raises concerns about handing land to states

DEEP in Oregon’s Elliott State Forest, past groves of 200-foot Douglas firs and bigleaf maple trees dripping with emerald green Spanish moss, Joe Metzler pulls over his Toyota truck and peeks over a precipitous slope covered in tree stumps for signs of elk. Mr Metzler, a retired coastguard rescue swimmer who looks a good deal younger than his 49 years, frequently hunts in the area. To make a clean kill with his bow and arrow, he sometimes camps out in the forest for a week. Then comes the really tough part: hauling 300lb of meat to his car, which is sometimes parked miles away. “It is not old man’s hunting,” he says gleefully.

Soon Oregon may sell 82,500 acres, or most of what remains of the dense forest, to a timber company and a Native American tribe. The proposal would allow public access on half the land. But sportsmen, who can currently roam the forest mostly as they please, worry it will be hard to reach or unsuitable for hunting. Environmentalists fret protections for threatened species would be relaxed.

The Elliott State Forest is not directly owned by the state; it is state trust land, which is required by Oregon’s constitution to produce profit for public schools. The Elliott does that through logging. State trust lands are common in the American West. They trace their roots to 1803, when Ohio joined the union and was given a grant of land to support public education. The practice was replicated throughout the process of state accession, and today there are approximately 46m acres of such lands, 85% of which lie west of the Rocky Mountains.

Recently the Elliott State Forest has struggled to meet its financial responsibilities. A series of environmental lawsuits to protect threatened species such as Coho salmon, a Pacific fish, and marbled murrelet, a small sea bird, led to injunctions that crushed logging. Between 2012 and 2013 net revenues from timber in the forest plunged from $5.8m to -$3.3m. Oregon has since dithered between selling the forest and finding another way to compensate the trust.

The potential sale comes at a moment of great angst about public lands and increased scrutiny of state stewardship. At the Republican National Convention last year, the party’s platform included a provision for the transfer of federal lands to the states. In January, prodded by Rob Bishop, a Republican congressman from Utah, Congress changed a key budget rule that will make it easier for such a transfer to take place. But not everyone wants it. States have far leaner budgets for land management than the federal government does. The fear that they will emphasise profit over access and conservation—or, worse, need to sell the lands they gain—has created eclectic political alliances. Nowhere is this clearer than in Oregon, where the potential sale of the Elliott State Forest has led conservative hunters and anglers to join tree-hugging environmentalists and Kate Brown, the Democratic governor, to oppose the sale.

Several states have been successful at managing trust lands. Some of Arizona’s are close to Maricopa County, home to more than 60% of the state’s population; they make money by leasing and developing those lands. New Mexico’s trust lands are flush with oil; by exploiting them, the state raked in almost $500m in 2016. A report published in 2015 by the Property and Environment Research Centre, a think-tank, found that between 2009 and 2013 state trust lands in Montana, Arizona, Idaho and New Mexico returned $14.51 on every dollar spent, compared with 73 cents on every dollar spent by the US Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management, the main stewards of federal land, which are not required to make a profit. But if state trust lands start to struggle financially, “it’s perilous. Things can go from bad to sale really quickly,” says Dean Finnerty, who works as a hunting and fishing guide in the Elliott State Forest.

There is a precedent for such worries. According to the Wilderness Society, a conservation group, Idaho has shed 41% of its lands since statehood; 100,000 acres have been offloaded since 2000. Oregon has sold all but 780,000 acres of its original 3.4m. Selling 82,500 more would not only upset those who love the Elliott, but fuel a wider worry about what happens when public lands are handed to states.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline "Elliott less"

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destinyguarded · 5 years ago

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Five Fool Proof Ways to Kill Big Bulls

I love elk, elk hunting and anything there is to do with elk. I am an elk junkie through and through. There is nothing quite like hunting these four-legged, massively racked creatures. When the taste, smell, and sounds of autumn hit the high mountains, I know it is elk season. Mud flying, nostrils flaring, bugles roaring, horns racking, cows chirping, and antlers locking mean only one thing…get your gun.

Over the term of my guiding career, my hunters and I have been very fortunate to be a part of some giant bulls hitting the dirt. Team Mossback has put close to 100 – over 400” bulls on the wall. One of those is the world record “Spider Bull” taken by Denny Austed in central Utah in 2008. The bull scored an inch shy of 500”, which still is mind-boggling to me. With my obsession of the wapiti over the years I have learned a few things that help me and my team be successful.

Hunt Where They Are

Before the hunt even begins you need to know where the elk are. What I mean by that is you need to do your research. If you want a 400” bull, do not apply for units or buy tags for units where this realistically is not possible. In Utah, for example, there are several units where a 400” bull is not genetically realistic. On the other hand, there are several units in Utah that consistently produce 400” bulls. The elk units in Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico are similar to Utah in good, better, best-type quality. If you want a 400” bull, the “better” and “best” units are the units that you should pursue. If you have the money or the points, focus on the “best.”

There are several companies out there that do the research for you and will handle your hunt application process, as well as help you determine the “better” and “best” units. One of those companies is Hunting Illustrated’s own hunt application and research guru, Jon Crump of Hunter’s Trail Head. Part of their business is doing the research, state-by-state, to help their customers know where to find the elk. This will get you going in the right direction. Also, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call outfitters for advice on the good areas. Today’s blog sites, Facebook, and the worldwide web are phenomenal sources to help you with your research. With the limited number of tags available nowadays, you will be surprised how many hunters will tell you about their honey holes, because the fact is they may never get to hunt there.

Scout

Once that special day has come and you have been awarded a coveted, limited-entry tag, it is time to get to work. Looking at maps is a great way to learn the area without even being present. Technology has made our lives easier in this arena. Google Maps is a great place to check out your area, or even better yet, download area-specific information into your handheld GPS unit. I prefer the Garmin Rhino GPS for this. I pop in an area-specific chip that has details on everything. It tells you who owns the land that you are on and even gives you the unit boundaries. This can be crucial information when hunting units where boundaries are chopped up from several different landowners. Trust me, these little GPS units can save you a lot of trouble resulting from not knowing where you are; and they also will help you find your vehicle again when in a new area.

Once you have a good GPS handheld unit, and you are ready to go to your area, get yourself familiar with roads, 4-wheeler trails and hiking trails. The last thing you want to do is spot a trophy animal during your hunt and not know if you can get to him because you are not familiar with the area.

Now that you have scouted out the area electronically and know the road and trail system, it is time to get out your field glasses and your best scope. Late summer scouting is a great time to find big, velvet-horned muleys, as well as bachelor groups of big bulls. It’s also a great time to get the family out camping; why not camp in the area you will be hunting?

A key time to scout is right before your hunt. Take the time to scout your area a minimum of two days before the hunt starts. If you are on a guided-hunt, it would be well worth your money to pay the guides to pre-scout before you get there. Remember you’re not the only one looking for a monster animal; most likely the first hour of opening morning is going to be your best opportunity to get him. Make sure you know where he is through your scouting efforts.

Hunt the Rut

A big bull is more elusive than you think. Big, mature bulls love to stay in the cool shade of the deep forest; here you will usually find them bedded in thick patches of pine trees. Not only can the shade keep their motor cool, but the pine needles make for some pretty soft beds for the 500+ lb animals. During pre- and post-rut, bulls will lie most of the day, only getting up to eat and drink. This usually occurs at first and last light and usually once during the day, briefly.

When the mating call comes from a cow in heat, that all changes. Something clicks in the big ol’ bull’s skull and he goes absolutely crazy. They seem to go from 0 to full rut in no time; and at that time their breeding engine is wound tight. They have one thing on their mind and it is not eating or sleeping. That is why bulls can lose up to 30% of their body weight during the rut. They spend all their energy in pursuit of hot cows and many times simply forget to eat as much as they need to rebuild all the calories they are burning.

This craze makes bulls very susceptible to hunters. Not only are they giving away their location with a screaming bugle, but also they don’t seem to pay attention to anything around them besides cows. As long as you stay downwind of them, they are fairly easy to sneak up on. During this rutting frenzy even the cows, who are normally “on point” with even the slightest sound, seem to be so distracted by grunts and all the theatrics of the bulls, they seem to let their guard down much more than usual at this time of year.

What does this mean for you? Increased odds. Not only do you see more mature bulls at this time of year, you often see bulls you had no idea were around. Calling is very effective. Chirping in a big bull within mere yards is what makes elk hunting more personal and exciting than hunting any other species.

Plain and simple…hunting the rut can nearly triple your success rate. Whether you are archery, muzzleloader, or rifle hunting, you have the odds in your favor.

Use the Right Equipment

Using the right equipment can cover a variety of things from your boots, to your optics, your weapon of choice, your bullets, or broadheads. If you are hunting the rut, success could boil down to how well you blow your cow call, or how effective your elk bugle is. There have been many hunts where my hunters have wanted to call themselves. Some hunters can call much better than I; whereas others sound more like a duck, and with the squeak of their attempted call, off goes the trophy of a lifetime…never to be seen again. Some hunters buy new equipment that has never been used before until they break it out of the package opening morning; this usually ends in disaster. From breaking in new boots, to driving your family crazy from you practicing a cow chirp, it is all part of necessary preparation for the hunt.

The weapon a hunter uses, and how proficient he or she is with that weapon, ultimately seems to play the biggest factor in the outcome of a hunt. If it is an archery hunt, choose a bow that can shoot farther and faster to increase your range. The same goes for a rifle set-up. Having an accurate rifle that is packable, so you can keep up with your guide, is vital; it can mean the difference of watching a bull run over the ridge while you catch your breath, or being in position to take a 600-yard shot. If you are going to show up at hunting camp with a 10-12 long-range rig, you better be able to pack it; otherwise, you are handicapped before you leave camp. The bows seem to get better and better every year, as do the rifles. Do your research to find out what the best optics, rifle, pack, pair of boots, calls, and clothing are for the area you are hunting, within your price range.

Choose the Right Guide

This goes hand-in-hand with choosing the right gear. The reason you hunt with a guide is for their knowledge and skills. Their product knowledge is what you are paying for. Choose a guide that is experienced in the area you are hunting. An experienced outfitter will have a history of killing bulls in certain areas every year. They will have plenty of honey holes to take you to, as well.

Make sure you check previous-hunter references for the guide and outfitter. Don’t just call one; and if possible, check forums and blogs to find more information about your top candidates before you choose. You should be able to glean the good information that you receive from the misinformation that most likely will be available as well. The last thing you want is to spend your hard-earned money on a guide, only to find out that it just happens to be his first time in the area. You just paid him and are training him at the same time? Shouldn’t you be receiving a discount?

At Team Mossback, I start my guides out as spotters. After they have learned the area and have proven to me that they know it very, very well, then they are given the opportunity to guide our clients in that particular area. Like with most things in life, experience leads to success. Choose a guide/outfitter with plenty of it.

Not all can afford to pay a guide for their hunt. If this is the case, make sure you have plenty of time to scout the area so you can still be successful. If you don’t have the time or vacation days from work to scout, make sure that you are putting in for areas where you have a friend or family member who can scout for you. If you show up blind to a hunt, it will take you the first four to five days just to get your bearings straight, which can cost valuable, premium hunting time.

If you make use of these five steps for killing big bulls, you inevitably will be on your way to a trophy-of-a-lifetime.

Last thing to remember is hunt hard. I’ll see you on the mountain.

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ketivihcmbls · 5 years ago

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Late And Long Range Elk Hunting

Elk hunting by its very nature is most often challenging and demanding. The ultimate test of a hunter’s determination and skill is to succeed on a late season elk hunt on public land.

This is easy to confirm by checking success rates for late season elk hunts vs. rut hunts. In Arizona, the late season success for the most part runs between 30 to 40 percent. What most people don’t realize is that of the successful hunters on late hunts, the vast majority of the bulls taken are four and five point bulls and spikes. To succeed during the late hunt on public land with high numbers of tags issued is difficult; to tag a mature 6x6 bull during this season is without question a huge accomplishment.

LATE SEASON BULLS

Knowing where to look for mature bulls during the late season and employing the proper tactics are the keys to succeeding. A late season hunter must remember that he is hunting a completely different animal during the late season versus the rut. During the rut, a bull will typically be more vocal and in more accessible areas making him easier to find. By contrast, hunting bulls after the rut involves seeking out and hunting more remote, rough areas. Bulls move to these secluded areas to avoid pressure and because their diet has changed from grasses to mostly browse which is typically found in rougher, steeper country. Browse such as Mountain Mahogany, Serviceberry and Cliff Rose occurs more frequently in canyons and on mountains and hillsides so this is where to find the bulls late in the year.

GLASSING LONG RANGE

This brings us to tactics and why it’s crucial to be prepared for long range shooting. Hunting canyon country and mountainous terrain by its very nature lends itself to glassing and long range shooting. There is nothing more effective than mounting quality binoculars on a tripod and methodically picking apart the landscape for elk. Finding bulls will be your biggest challenge during the late season. I use either my Ar 15 10x42’s scope or my Leica Duovid 10-15x50’s if the distance is greater than a mile. Quality glass will allow you to look for hours uninterrupted and without eye strain. Using low quality binoculars or hand holding them will decrease your glassing success tremendously. The importance of using a tripod is proven and cannot be stressed enough.

LONG RANGE SUCCESS

A couple of years ago I was guiding a hunter through several small canyons during the late season. We had spent the better part of the evening moving along the rim of a canyon methodically glassing each new finger that we would come to. About 45 minutes before dark, I spotted a group of seven bulls directly across from us feeding on the steep hillside straight across from us. My hunter and I assessed the situation and realized that our only option would be to shoot straight across the canyon since moving to their side would result in us losing them due to the tall brush they were feeding on. We cut the distance down as much as possible until we were separated by just under 500-yards. I picked out the best bull and setup the tripod for my hunter to shoot. By this time the light wasn’t the greatest and Bob missed the bull. I cow called and the bulls stayed right there and didn’t seem that spooked! Due to the low light, I was having trouble telling where Bob was shooting so we decided to sneak out and come back first thing in the morning.

After a short and mostly sleepless night, due to thinking about those bulls, we drove back to within a mile of where we had left them the evening before. Sure enough, after stealthing along the canyon rim in the grey light we found our bulls within 300 yards of where they were the prior evening. Despite a tremendous wind, some of the bulls were feeding in plain view including a 350-inch class bull that had most of his left main beam broken. What a shame! We decided not to shoot him since we were hopeful that the same bull from the evening before would materialize.

Because he was feeding just out of view in some heavy timber before finally becoming visible, it took me about 15 minutes to locate the same bull we had shot at the evening before. With our excitement level rising 100%, we quickly formulated a plan and snuck down and positioned ourselves straight across from the feeding bulls.

This time I set Bob up with shooting sticks and a tripod so that the front and rear of the gun were firmly supported. I would have preferred to have him shoot prone but with the bulls straight across from us and the canyon being steep, we could not shoot in that position.

Once Bob got rock solid and ready to shoot, my Leica rangefinder gave three readings of 498-yards. Overnight, a 20 mph wind had kicked up and was blowing from right to left, making this shot that much more difficult. My suspicion was that we had missed low the evening before. With the bull now broadside with his head to the left it was time to make it happen. I quickly determined that we had about 36-inches of bullet drop and 36-inches of wind drift to compensate for. I coached Bob that even though his tendency would be to hold his .300 WSM exactly where he wanted to hit that he needed to hold above the bull’s back at the height of where the 3rd tine met the main beam (approximately 18-inches above the back) and directly in line with the center of the bull’s hind quarter to account for the wind drift at this distance. This probably sounded crazy to Bob but to his credit, he nodded in agreement and settled in to shoot.

At the crack of the rifle the bull was hit hard square in the front shoulder and immediately hunched up over. He picked up his front leg for a few seconds and then began rolling down the steep hillside for about 75-yards before a large pine tree stopped him. I was relieved that he didn’t roll any further down into the steep canyon!

Bob and I erupted with excitement knowing that we had just filled his tag with a great late season bull! I was extremely proud of him for holding right where I told him to at 498-yards and executing a perfect shot in tough conditions.

It took us a couple of hours to make it across the canyon and down to Bob’s bull. There was no ground shrinkage and we celebrated and took photos before beginning the cutting and packing chores.

IN RETROSPECT:

Looking back on that long range hunt, I can now see the value of a custom turret or ballistic reticle on a hunting scope. Check out www.nightforceoptics.com and www.huskemawoptics.com for more information. You can also have a custom turret built for your scope- www.kentonindustries.com. In a long range scenario which is the norm on late hunts, your scope is your most important piece of equipment. These scopes and turrets allow you to compensate for bullet drop and wind drift. When you can hold dead on at long range it increases your confidence and precision accuracy substantially.

I definitely prefer magnum calibers for long range shooting during the late hunt. Any 7MM or .300 Magnum caliber in a bolt action rifle with a 26-inch barrel is made to elk hunt at extended range. Team that with a great scope and bullets constructed for heavy, thick skinned game and you are ready to tag a bull at long distances with the right amount of practice at the range!

Best of luck on your elk hunts this year, especially if they are late and long range.

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luckyluciano2 · 5 years ago

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Photo Safari in Arizona

Days in The Wild Outfitters Not only specialize in hunting trips in Arizona but Photo Safari trips as well. We are connected with nature and love to spend time observing and capturing photos of Wild Horses, Elk, Deer, Bighorn Sheep and other desert dwelling creatures.

Our Trips Range from single day photo trips to week long photo safaris. Depending on the time of year and animals you wish to…

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#Photo safari in Arizona #photo trips #wild horse photography trips

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josephkitchen0 · 7 years ago

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Old and New Methods of Agriculture in The San Luis Valley

By Karin Deneke, Photos by Chuck Reel and Karin Deneke

The San Luis Valley’s farming legacy includes old and new methods of agriculture within a historically sustainable alpine location.

You cannot miss the hay trucks when traveling east on La Veta Pass. Loaded with heavy bales of alfalfa, they slowly and carefully maneuver the steep and winding U.S. 160 on their way to the lower elevations and bigger populations of Colorado’s Front Range. The crop they haul was raised west of the pass in the San Luis Valley, a huge high-elevation alpine basin topped by the pass itself, which rises to 9,400 feet at the summit.

The irrigated sandy high desert soil of the San Luis Valley produces—on large acreages—alfalfa, hay, potatoes and small grain. In the northwestern end of the valley, migrant workers harvest the head lettuce fields. Livestock farming—mostly cattle breeds—boosts the valley’s hard-earned farm income. Long, very frigid winters and moderate summer temperatures add up to a short growing season and limit the diversity of agricultural crops. Soybeans and field corn are nonexistent here.

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Farming practices in the San Luis Valley, as we know them now, have undergone a major change since the post-World War II years. Ninety-year-old Augustine Medina can attest to that. Raised on a small farm in the southeastern section of the valley, near the historic community of Fort Garland, at the age of 17, his life took him away from the farm to a new frontier. In 1942, Mr. Medina was sent to what he refers to as “pre-induction training” in preparation for his draft into the Navy at the age of 18. Duty on a destroyer, escorting troupe ships from Pearl Harbor, followed.

Before the war, diversified and small family farms were normal in the valley, Mr. Medina recalls. His parents worked hard to put food on the table during the Great Depression, and most fieldwork was performed with teams of horses and simple farm equipment. Wheat harvesting entailed mowing the mature wheat and feeding it in bundles into a hired steam-fired threshing machine. The separated grain then was stored in bins and later hauled to a mill in the nearby town of San Luis to be ground into flour.

Irrigating small grain in the valley.

Pinto beans, what Mr. Medina called “field peas,” became a major crop on the Medina Farm. Since the growing season in the valley lasts a short three months at the most, night frost could—and still is—expected as late as during the middle of June and again by the middle of September. Before fall arrived, Mr. Medina’s family hired kids from town—“town kids,” he called them—to pull the acres of still green plants. The crop then was piled into mounds, roots up, and left in the field for drying, a staple used as livestock feed during the long winter months.

In spring, his parents started hundreds of cabbage plants in hotbeds, which were then painstakingly transplanted. In fall, the mature heads were harvested by hand and sold to an outfit that sent trucks from farm to valley farm to purchase the cabbage. The crop was then hauled to warehouses in Texas and Oklahoma.

Another produce variety grown in the valley, Mr. Medina recalled, was cauliflower. It was shipped east in refrigerated train cars. He also remembers fields of spinach, harvested by seasonal Mexican workers, and added that California, with its milder climate, could raise two crops per year, and that advantage eventually put the valley out of business for most trucked garden produce.

Farmers helped each other during planting and harvest season, Mr. Medina said. Diversification was necessary in those days, and each small farm also kept livestock, a few cows, a flock of sheep and pigs.

Lard from pigs and tallow from cattle was used for soap making. Meat was stored between large chunks of ice, harvested from a nearby reservoir during the winter months. They stored large blocks in sawdust and it kept all summer.

Branding day on the Oliver Ranch

Mr. Medina’s mother dried pumpkin chips, chilies and apples to boost the family’s winter food supply. To keep mice away, she would hang everything from the ceiling in bags. Canning was a major method of preservation, and jars were stored in the root cellar. He made a point, that farmers near his family during The Great Depression took care of themselves, but farm folks in the surrounding villages were supported with government commodities.

During the early years of the Depression, livestock prices plummeted. Eventually, FDR ordered the slaughter of thousands of cattle and hogs to bring stability to the market—known as the Agricultural Adjustment Act. To this day, Mr. Medina can remember beef and pork jerky drying in the sun on many fences in his rural neighborhood. Jobs were scarce in the valley. One of Augustine’s relatives made a living trapping beaver in the northwestern end of the valley. When the government created the WPA—a workforce with a mission to build roads—things eased up a bit.

With an average rainfall of only seven to 10 inches for the valley, irrigation of the primarily desert land was a must. It still is. During the 1850s, the first network of canals and irrigation ditches tapped the snowmelt-filled Rio Grande and Conejos rivers, encouraging more farming.

Hayfield with mountains in the background.

But like most areas, change continued as often as the different seasons. After the war, small farms in the valley started to sell off, and many owners moved to Colorado’s Front Range to find work. Large farms now dominate the landscape, producing potatoes, alfalfa, wheat, and barley, using old and new methods of agriculture. In the southern region today, canola is being raised and converted into fuel. There is a new crop on the horizon—commercial hemp for fiber production, which eventually makes clothing and rope. (And of course, since the legalization of marijuana in 2014, another industry has developed.) The roots of most of the valley’s residents go back to Spain and Mexico. The valley has the largest native Hispanic population in Colorado and is rich in cultural history. It is not unusual to hear Spanish spoken on the streets and in the stores, as many residents are bilingual. San Luis, the oldest town in Colorado, located in Costilla County, close to the New Mexico line, was founded in 1851 and was once part of four Spanish Land Grants decreed by the King of Spain.

Nomadic Indian tribes, such as the Utes, prior to the first Europeans, hunted and settled in southwestern Colorado.

A wheat field in the San Juan valley in the fall.

Prior to World War II, the valley was home to a thriving Japanese American Community. First generation Japanese Americans worked on the railroad and as laborers on farms. Sadly, by the onset of the war, many Japanese were unfairly jailed in internment camps. During the past decade, Amish families, drawn by relatively cheap farmland compared to that of their former homes east of the Mississippi, have settled in the southwestern end of the valley. Using old and new methods of agriculture, Amish farmers raise hay and small grains, keep livestock and plant large vegetable gardens.

The San Luis Valley, in addition to agricultural products, relies on the income generated by tourism, hunting, fishing and winter sports. The national forests surrounding it harbor big herds of elk, and are home to mule deer and other large and small game. Years ago, precious metal mining brought in revenue as well.

90-year-old Augustine Medina.

A High Valley with Deep Roots

The San Luis Valley, 122 miles long and 74 miles wide, has the distinction of being the largest agricultural alpine valley in the United States. Surrounded by the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the east and the jagged San Juans in the west, it is accessible via several steep passes and reaches into a section of northern New Mexico on the south. Fifty percent of the two million acres in the valley are privately owned. The remainder is comprised of state and national forest land, and sections of Bureau of Land Management acreage. It is made up of six counties, with Alamosa being the largest city, located in the county by the same name. U.S. 160, a major highway, enters the valley from the east byway of La Veta Pass, and leaves Colorado at the Four Corners Area, where Arizona, Utah and New Mexico connect.

Relying on both old and new methods of agriculture, the San Luis Valley continues to be a sustainable farming hub.

Karin Deneke writes about agriculture and other topics for Countryside from her home in Fort Garland, Colorado.

Originally published in Countryside May/June 2016 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Old and New Methods of Agriculture in The San Luis Valley was originally posted by All About Chickens

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bigbuckregistry · 7 years ago

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213 MIA ANSTINE - The Horseback Hunt for Colorado Muleys

Mia Anstine recently found herself on the cover of Field and Stream and rightfully so, Mia is an outdoor writer, podcaster, and hunting guide in Colorado. You'll hear Mia's positivity as we discuss the numerous species and hunting opportunities that Colorado has to offer. Mia loves getting in shape both mentally and physically in preparation for her guided horseback mule deer hunts and explains why waiting patiently for the right shot will pay huge dividends. She loves the variety of game found in her home state and enjoys intense temperature and weather swings that often appears during hunting season. Mia shares with us how to prepare for all the fun that comes with hunting the big country.

OUR SPONSORS: Advanced Treestands, Covert Scouting Cameras, Horny Buck Seed Company, Morse's Sporting Goods, Strut Zone NWTF

DEER NEWS:

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HERE'S WHAT WE DISCUSS:

Durango Colorado and a View of New Mexico

The Climate Zones and Elevation

Getting in Shape, Training, Health and Fitness

Living in the City, Moving to the Country

Boy Crazy, Buying Every License Available

Guiding for Turkey and Mule Deer

The Whites of His Eyes

Antelope, Elk, Bear, and CWD

The Cover of Field and Stream

Outdoor Writer, Nut Bucks, Daughter's Help

Starting on a Mule Deer Hunt, How To Begin

A Guide VS DIY Muleys

Multiple Hooves, and Tracking

Getting in Shape for Horse Back Riding

A Layering System, Bicycle Shorts

19 Degrees in the AM to 90 Degrees in the Afternoon

I Love the Dark

An Hour to Stalk 100 Yards

Wait Til They Stand UP

Thermals and Wind Direction and Smokin Clothes

Playing Distance Hunting with a Rifle, Resight on Arrival

Podcasting and Blogging and Outdoor Writers

A Variety of Game and Deer

A Positive Attitude, Coyote Hunting

Hunting Everyday, More Guns Than Shoes

What's MAC?

Memorable Deer Hunt and 10 Rapid Fire Questions

Our APP: www.BigBuckRegistry.com/app

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DON'T MISS THIS ONE!

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buildercar · 8 years ago

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New Post has been published on http://www.buildercar.com/roaming-with-buffalo-in-a-2017-audi-a4-allroad/

Roaming with Buffalo in a 2017 Audi A4 Allroad

It’s a good day to get lost out here,” Steve Dobrett says, his voice calm and comforting as it crackles over the radio. During his 24 years as the manager of New Mexico’s Ladder Ranch, he’s explored every inch of this 156,000-plus acre property. As he guides us to one of his favorite spots at the ranch’s north end, his white Chevrolet Silverado bounces over rocks that we edge around in our Gotland Green 2017 Audi A4 Allroad. The wagon’s ground clearance is good, but it’s no truck. Gray rain clouds hang low, and thick fog obscures the rutted two-track, so we take it slow as we scan the horizon for bison.

“Do you hear the music playing?” Dobrett jokes as we climb up and over a ridge and see some 200 bison huddled together, their damp, dark-brown fur matted and dripping. Dobrett comes to a stop but waves us on, telling us we can drive into the heart of the herd if we go slowly and keep quiet. The Allroad’s 252-horsepower, turbocharged inline-four faintly hums as the stout Michelin Defender LTX light-truck tires we strapped on for this trip delicately crush bushes and brush. When grunting bison fill each of the Allroad’s windows and mirrors, we turn off the engine, get out of the Audi, and lean against the driver’s door, listening to the deep, powerful breaths of the broadchested bovines.

Media mogul Ted Turner had the right idea buying this property in the early ’90s, wanting somewhere to kick back, hunt quail, and concentrate on his ongoing conservation efforts. Ladder Ranch sits just outside the small town of Truth or Consequences, which changed its name from Hot Springs in 1950 when the NBC Radio quiz show “Truth or Consequences” offered an annual party to any town that renamed itself after the program. The ranch rests in the foothills of the mountainous Black Range, with elevation spanning from 4,500 to 10,000 feet, and it shelters four tributaries of the Rio Grande river — the Animas, Seco, Palomas, and Cuchillo — which help support breathtaking biodiversity.

The Allroad feels surefooted on this red gravel trail. Its body stays composed as its suspension soaks up the washboard earth.

Turner’s then-wife Jane Fonda decorated the property’s adorable, two-story ranch house (Turner still visits often, and the house can be rented as part of a Ted Turner Expeditions experience), while he focused on creating a privately owned preservation for New Mexico’s flora and fauna. Throughout Ladder Ranch’s 245 square miles, you can see elk, deer, antelope, mountain lions, bears, buffalo, turkeys, and wolves wandering through cottonwoods and pines and across desert grasslands. There are even petroglyphs carved into rocks by ancient indigenous peoples. The rich habitat around Ladder Ranch allows at-risk species, such as leopard frogs and cutthroat trout, to survive and also helps healthy species thrive.

Turner brought in Dobrett — a respected biologist researching quail — from the outset to build up the property’s quail population as well as nurture habitats for other sensitive species. Dobrett started by removing 250 miles of perimeter fence so Turner could bring buffalo onto the property. Now, a quarter century later, Dobrett oversees a team of employees and a herd of more than 1,000 bison. “I never had any experience with bison when I came here,” he says. “Twenty-four years of handling buffalo has taught me a lot about that species. It’s been an all-around education to the facets of ranching and managing wildlife on the property.”

It’s hard to believe places like this exist. Staring out on the open expanses of land at Ladder Ranch is overwhelming, almost as overwhelming as standing in a herd of a couple hundred bison

Through the bison’s measured inhalations, we hear one sharp, snappy snort and turn to see a giant female with her tail pointed straight up. Dobrett says she probably thinks the Audi is a “critter” because of its peering, eye-like LED headlights and tells us to move slowly as we get back into the Allroad. We shift the wagon’s seven-speed automatic transmission into drive and begin to herd the bison, but it’s not long before they buck and run toward the hills where we can’t follow.

Ladder Ranch is lovely but also daunting, with the majority of its rugged terrain pretty much inaccessible to anything without hooves or paws. “There are about 500 miles of ‘road’ on the ranch,” Dobrett says. “We try to get out and clean them once a year if we can. Some of the roads, we don’t, and they’re not very passable.” It’s a 20-mile straight shot to Turner’s ranch house where we’re shacking up, but we’ll need most of the day to get there, winding our way up and down tight mountain passes, tiptoeing through deep creeks, and doing our best not to beach the Audi on a boulder. The Allroad’s plastic-covered belly can handle scratches from small stones and tall grass, but it’s best to avoid the big stuff.

The rain slows to a stop, and we set off south with Dobrett leading the way. The car’s adaptive dampers are set in off-road mode, and the Allroad feels surefooted on this red gravel trail. Its body stays composed as its suspension soaks up the washboard earth, and its rear end breaks loose and slides as we power out of slippery corners. Dobrett heads up a particularly steep stretch of road, and after the crest his taillights disappear in the fog. We charge after him but stomp on the brakes near the top, stopping to turn on hill-descent control, which holds the Allroad at a set speed. The ABS gnaws at the brake rotors as the car saunters down the slope at a steady 6 mph. We land in a stark, narrow offshoot of Cuchillo Creek, where the dried-up bed is a craggy mess of sharp stones and bulging landmasses laced in loose gravel. Worse yet, heavy mist has once again settled on top of us, so visibility is nil. We switch on the Allroad’s front and rear fog lights before crawling forward, getting out every few hundred feet to lift and heave particularly gnarly stones; the heated steering wheel, part of the $500 cold-weather package, is now much appreciated.

The Allroad shimmies as the tires claw at the glassy, muddy route, which thankfully turns to gravel when we eventually reach the top.

Slivers of sunlight leak through the overcast sky as we slowly make progress. We’re happy to have satellite radio playing through the wagon’s Bang & Olufsen audio system, the music helping to keep the mood light as we navigate the ranch’s remote and wild terrain. As the creek jogs left, the bed turns to soft, smooth sand that the Allroad plows across. “That should be the worst of it,” an apologetic Dobrett says. We begin to climb again, and as we snake up narrow passes, horses and stallions start to appear in the mist, steam shooting from their splayed nostrils. The clouds clear, and we see snowcapped mountains jutting up from the skyline, and in the foreground a huge herd of giant elk prances up the face of a verdant slope.

We stop on the spine of a tall hill, pull up Google Maps on the Allroad’s navigation system and confirm what we already know: We’re in the middle of nowhere. We stare out across the boundless landscape, appreciating the opposing color palette that seems like it shouldn’t blend together as well as it does. As we walk, we scoop up black, pearly white, and pink dirt sandwiched together like Neapolitan ice cream — an amazing soil variety the likes of which we’ve never seen before. We get back in and press on, but it’s not long before we stop again near the edge of Animas Creek, where Dobrett points toward a humongous tree with a thick trunk. “I like that tree,” he says looking up at its lanky branches, spinning and twisting out in every direction like long, white ribbons. “It’s mystical. It’s a mystery how these trees got here. It’s the only canyon in this drainage that has these Arizona sycamores. They’re more common west of Continental Divide, but for some reason we have them here. And they’re ancient trees.”

Back in the Audi we cross the first of about two dozen creeks that grow wider and deeper as we get closer to the ranch house. We enter each creek slowly, making sure the Audi won’t bottom out, then go flat out toward the far bank. The rushing water overwhelms the Allroad’s flared wheel wells, flies up, and lands on the windshield, causing the rain-sensing wipers to turn on. Fortunately the wagon has no issues fording the little rivers. “I know you’ve heard me say it before, but that should be the worst of it,” Dobrett says just as we come to an appropriately named pass called Greasy Hill. Not a minute after Dobrett jinxed us, we hit a slick patch of road that sends the Allroad into a four-wheel slide, and the passenger-side tires land in a deep rut on the edge of the trail. The wagon is fine, but we have to back down the hill to level ground and take another shot at the ascent. The Allroad shimmies as the tires claw at the glassy, muddy route, which thankfully turns to gravel when we eventually reach the top. Just below us is the white ranch house.

The Audi Allroad isn’t a rugged, do-it-all, off-road machine, but it doesn’t mind having some fun with a little light rock crawling. Who cares about a few scrapes on the underbelly of an all-wheel-drive wagon?

“I was concerned that we were going to tear up the car or get stuck where we’d blow a tire or bust something, but as it turns out, it performed just fine, especially in the rocks and mud,” Dobrett says as we drink coffee next to a hissing fireplace. “It just doesn’t have enough clearance.” Maybe not to make it across Ladder Ranch completely unscathed, sure, but the Allroad has plenty of clearance and absolutely enough talent to be considered a light off-road vehicle. Ladder Ranch turned out to be more treacherous than originally expected, but the Allroad handled it just fine, and its underbody has a few scars to prove it. The ranch’s chef, Tatsu Miyazaki, cooks us an unexpectedly luxurious meal that starts with salad and soup made from locally sourced, seasonable vegetables, moves to a perfectly cooked, prime cut of bison that comes from the same place that processes Turner’s herd, and ends with a delicious mousse sitting atop a frothing mixture of water and dry ice.

When we ask Dobrett what he’s going to do now after such a long tenure at Ladder Ranch, he says, “I’ll stay connected to this ranch as long as Ted wants me. I think it’s an example to others how a ranch can be managed, balancing commerce and conservation.” After a handshake, he tips his cowboy hat as a goodbye. We can barely keep our eyes open as we slink back toward the fire and collapse onto one of the house’s bison-fur rugs, rubbing our bare feet along the soft center. We smile as we drift to sleep, recalling the hauntingly beautiful sound of 200 bison taking deep, heavy breaths.

About Ladder Ranch Ladder Ranch is part of the larger Ted Turner Expeditions luxury travel experiences, featuring eco-conscious adventures individually tailored to guests interested in anything from mountain biking to bison photography to simply exploring the ranch’s 156,000 acres of unspoiled wilderness. A three-night expedition for two people with accommodations at Ted’s house starts at $9,000. Visit theladderranch.com.

2017 Audi A4 Allroad Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $44,950/$52,625 (base/as tested) ENGINE 2.0L turbo DOHC 16-valve I-4/252 hp @ 5,000-6,000 rpm, 273 lb-ft @1,600-4,500 rpm TRANSMISSION 7-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, AWD wagon EPA MILEAGE 23/28 mpg (city/hwy) L x W x H 187.0 x 72.5 x 58.8 in WHEELBASE 110.9 in WEIGHT 3,825 lb 0-60 MPH 5.9 sec (est) TOP SPEED 130 mph

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