Mckelvie National Forrest Trip Advice

Elhew Top Gun

Elhew Top Gun

Member
Looking to do my first sharptail trip to Mcelvie during the opener. I will be tent camping.
1. Should I use the campground or camp in a more remote location where I'm hunting? I'm told that your vehicle has to be 300ft off the roadway and you can camp about anywhere.
2. How close are grocery stores?
3. I have Verizon cell service, how is the service as a whole?
4. Any other suggestions N, E, S, or W you would recommend for what I'm trying to do?
5. How close is the nearest vet (just in case!)

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Elhew Top Gun said:
Looking to do my first sharptail trip to Mcelvie during the opener. I will be tent camping.
1. Should I use the campground or camp in a more remote location where I'm hunting? I'm told that your vehicle has to be 300ft off the roadway and you can camp about anywhere.
2. How close are grocery stores?
3. I have Verizon cell service, how is the service as a whole?
4. Any other suggestions N, E, S, or W you would recommend for what I'm trying to do?
5. How close is the nearest vet (just in case!)

Thanks!
Click to expand...
1. We stayed at the camp ground when we went and other than having the showers I Don't think we would next time. It's just a long drive every morning to the spots we were hunting.
2. I can't remember the town names but from the campground it's 30-45min if I remember right. Not really a grocery store, more like a well stoked convenience store.
3. Can't say for Verizon. I had AT&T and was the only one in our group that had service. It's bad out there, I would plan on not having any.
4. Not sure on those, but I got some good advice from people here and Facebook so I'm sure they will come along shortly.
5. Also not sure here, I didn't have dogs last time so it wasn't something on my radar, I would definitely like to hear what options there are.
 
Hutcho said:
1. We stayed at the camp ground when we went and other than having the showers I Don't think we would next time. It's just a long drive every morning to the spots we were hunting.
2. I can't remember the town names but from the campground it's 30-45min if I remember right. Not really a grocery store, more like a well stoked convenience store.
3. Can't say for Verizon. I had AT&T and was the only one in our group that had service. It's bad out there, I would plan on not having any.
4. Not sure on those, but I got some good advice from people here and Facebook so I'm sure they will come along shortly.
5. Also not sure here, I didn't have dogs last time so it wasn't something on my radar, I would definitely like to hear what options there are.
Click to expand...
Hutcho,
Thanks so much. This forum is more helpful than others I have been a part of. So the campground they have showers? I must have missed that on the website. I am leaning towards just camping close to where I'm hunting I'm sure if I gave them five bucks they would still let me shower. If you think of anything else I need to know please PM me!
 
Elhew Top Gun said:
Hutcho,
Thanks so much. This forum is more helpful than others I have been a part of. So the campground they have showers? I must have missed that on the website. I am leaning towards just camping close to where I'm hunting I'm sure if I gave them five bucks they would still let me shower. If you think of anything else I need to know please PM me!
Click to expand...
Yeah they have a pretty nice campground. We went during the COVID crap but thankfully it was all open still. I think on average we spent 45min to an hour getting to our spots each morning. But we weren't driving fast, and trying to suck down enough coffee to get moving. Unfortunately the week we chose to go the temps averaged 100+ the whole time. So we got a couple hours in the morning and evening and the rest of the day tried to stay cool, tent camping was pretty miserable. Have you hunted sharptails before? That was a first for me and it took us several days to get it figured out. I got 2 birds the whole 5 days we were there and that's the only birds in our whole group. I'm pretty confident going back now I could do better, we just didn't know where to look or even what a flush was gonna look like lol!
 
Hutcho said:
Yeah they have a pretty nice campground. We went during the COVID crap but thankfully it was all open still. I think on average we spent 45min to an hour getting to our spots each morning. But we weren't driving fast, and trying to suck down enough coffee to get moving. Unfortunately the week we chose to go the temps averaged 100+ the whole time. So we got a couple hours in the morning and evening and the rest of the day tried to stay cool, tent camping was pretty miserable. Have you hunted sharptails before? That was a first for me and it took us several days to get it figured out. I got 2 birds the whole 5 days we were there and that's the only birds in our whole group. I'm pretty confident going back now I could do better, we just didn't know where to look or even what a flush was gonna look lik
Click to expand...

I have never been. Hunted quail and pheasant, but I know this is apples and oranges. Any advice you can pass along id appreciate it. My dogs are spending a summer on the prairies so I'm hoping they don't struggle to much.
 
Pack LOTS of water. Of course it was stupid hot when we went but I carried over a gallon on me and the other guys almost as much and between 3 guys and 3 dogs it wasn't enough. We ended up walking from windmill to windmill towards the end of the hunts lol! I'm sure you have onx, if not I would definitely recommend it. Also I had an app that showed all the windmills in the forest area, I can't remember the name right now. As far as hunting though we found that you wanted to get up as high as you could as early as you could and start walking the ridges, and we found them in the little valleys high up. Make sure you're in good shape, it's a lot of up and down walking...
 
Hutcho said:
Pack LOTS of water. Of course it was stupid hot when we went but I carried over a gallon on me and the other guys almost as much and between 3 guys and 3 dogs it wasn't enough. We ended up walking from windmill to windmill towards the end of the hunts lol! I'm sure you have onx, if not I would definitely recommend it. Also I had an app that showed all the windmills in the forest area, I can't remember the name right now. As far as hunting though we found that you wanted to get up as high as you could as early as you could and start walking the ridges, and we found them in the little valleys high up. Make sure you're in good shape, it's a lot of up and down walking...
Click to expand...
It appears to be some rough terrain, I guess I better get myself on a treadmill from now till then. I appreciate you taking the time to help me.
 
Going to piggy back off this thread as I am planning an early grouse trip up there as well. Hutcho have you had any problems with snakes that early in the season?
 
boomerdawg13 said:
Going to piggy back off this thread as I am planning an early grouse trip up there as well. Hutcho have you had any problems with snakes that early in the season?
Click to expand...
I don't remember seeing any. But I'm sure they were around. I need to do the snake training with my dogs before next trip just in case.
 
Yep - have a CGDA snake avoidance course next week. Hopefully my dogs will learn - the older one loved finding brown water snakes at the lake in SC. Luckily never a cotton mouth.
 
That's the one north of there isn't it? I wanted to try it also but we just didn't have a chance.
 
2 of us hunted there about 12 yrs ago in early oct. For 3 1/2 days. Got rained out halfway thru the last day. We took 6 dogs & stayed in the horsemens part of the campground. At that time there was a warning not to drink the water as it had lead in it. Nice campground. I took the dishes in the shower with me & washed them. The store was sparsely stocked & expensive. Take plenty of gallon ziplocks & plenty of italian dressing to marinate the birds in. We had some pretty big running pointing dogs & were able to kill enough birds to eat 1 meal/day, still take some home. Take plenty charcoal, each lot has its own picnic table & grill. We saw one covey of quail, but season was not in yet. We saw no snakes but did kill 2 porkies. Lots of sand burrs in places, I would bring dog boots of some kind. We had a dually truck with a truck camper & could only drive on the main gravel & dirt (sand) roads because of the width of the tires. Feel free to pm me if you have more questions.
 
Dang how did I forget the sandburrs?! Holy crap were those bad! Especially around the water holes!
 
Halsey National Forest burned last year but it missed McKelvie. It was very dry in the Sandhills last year and most pastures were grazed and some overgrazed but we have been getting some nice showers the last few days in my area but not sure about up there. In the past, the stickers (I call then Texas sand burrs” have been terrible so I always brought plenty of dog boots and they are usually worse during really dry years. As mentioned before, the season opens September 1 and it can easily be 100* F by lunch time or earlier. I try to be out by sun up and quit by 0900 or 1000. Dogs will keep going until they drop and die from heat exposure. There can be some good fishing in Merritt reservoir or the lakes at Valentine to keep you occupied in the afternoon so bring some fishing equipment if you are into that. I think it’s too hot for the dogs to hunt grouse in the afternoon, dove season is open and you can find a windmill and shoot some doves until dark. They had a ban on all open fires last year so you should probably bring a camp stove and not rely on charcoal.
 
airmedic1 said:
Halsey National Forest burned last year but it missed McKelvie. It was very dry in the Sandhills last year and most pastures were grazed and some overgrazed but we have been getting some nice showers the last few days in my area but not sure about up there. In the past, the stickers (I call then Texas sand burrs” have been terrible so I always brought plenty of dog boots and they are usually worse during really dry years. As mentioned before, the season opens September 1 and it can easily be 100* F by lunch time or earlier. I try to be out by sun up and quit by 0900 or 1000. Dogs will keep going until they drop and die from heat exposure. There can be some good fishing in Merritt reservoir or the lakes at Valentine to keep you occupied in the afternoon so bring some fishing equipment if you are into that. I think it’s too hot for the dogs to hunt grouse in the afternoon, dove season is open and you can find a windmill and shoot some doves until dark. They had a ban on all open fires last year so you should probably bring a camp stove and not rely on charcoal.
Click to expand...
So we don’t have sand burrs in Middle Tennessee. How do you acclimate the dog to the boots? Just throw them on and they figure it out kinda thing? Or do you start them on a check cord and then let them free run?
 
This probably isn't the right way to do it but I put them on and turn them lose hunting. When I put them on in the house they would shake their foot and not want to walk but when they are out hunting they are so anxious to go they just take off and run.
 
We ran duct tape "boots" when we went. They didn't work worth a damn. Dogs chewed most of them off before we got to the first spot. What brand are you guys using? I would like to find something that goes on quick. My shorthair doesn't like to sit still for anything, especially when he knows it's go time!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top