Colorada elk hunt/outfitter
Elk
I was wondering if anyone could recommend an outfitter/outfitters in Colorado for a 2015 ARCHERY elk hunt. I have 4 preference points and I would like to have a reasonable chance to kill a good bull. My wife and I would use this as a combination vacation and elk hunt so a family friendly/safe environment with a lodge base camp would be preferred. Don't mind working hard for a bull as long as the night time stay is comfortable safe and includes meals.
Thank You in advance
I think I would start looking at draw stats to determine units where you could draw with 4 points. Once you have an idea of what areas you could draw, then go to the Colorado Outfitter & Guides associate web site a do a search on outfitters in those areas. Narrow it down by researching the guides reports on Bowsite.com and then start making some phone calls. Sorry I can't offer more advice than that. I have only hunted with an outfitter in a wilderness camp in Colorado. Good luck.
Huntn' Addict
Check out banded peak ranch website. I hunted with them 3 years ago. The lodging, food and elk country was top notch. I killed a 6x6 bull on my first elk hunt with my bow. If I could get my wife to go on an elk hunt with me, that would be the place I would take. I know she would have a blast.
checkout WWW.winterhawk outfitters.com great lodging at base camp great cook worth looking into
You did say good bull. You'd be darn lucky to kill a 6 point bull with Winterhawk if that's your goal. Plus they run so many hunters you're a number not a name. You can do better than that in my opinion.
Mule Power, that's crap, I've done drop camps with Winterhawk twice and we saw lots of good bulls. Last year there were 4 guided elk archery hunters in base camp the week we were there, that's not 'so many' in my book, considering the amount of territory they hunt.
However, david, if you're looking for a place that your family will want to hang out in base camp for a week, it's probably not the best choice. They also hunt OTC units, so you wouldn't need to burn your 4 points...
If that's the case things have gone downhill since I've talked to Larry & Russ last. Way downhill. They used to run a dozen camps. I did shows alongside Russ for years and also had clients who had hunted with them as well.
I've never heard of anyone named Russ up there, so guess it's been a while since you talked to any of them. They've actually expanded and added another base camp, so things are going 'uphill'. I'm only speaking to the first week of the season, when I was there-there were three of us in a drop camp, 4 guided archery guys, and a sheep hunter. I had a long talk with Laura, and she said they are getting a ton of repeat clients and more business than ever, so obviously they're doing something right.
Save ur points go to 3 forks ranch guaranteed tags can hunt any weapon starting around Sept 1 plus the nicest lodge you'll find
We have some very good Colorado Bowsite Elk sponsors. Search for them in the "Find a hunt" section. Good Luck, C
Give Jeff Warren a call at Huntin' Fool. Non members can utilize their "Hunt Finder" service.
9 Mile Ranch near Meeker-Private land, nice bulls, nice accommodations, honest owner- limited space
Lol.... Banded Peaks Ranch. One of the prettiest ranches you'll ever see, elk everywhere, and you fall asleep at nights with bulls bugling outside your cabins by the river. You'll see some huge bulls, have chances at solid 300" plus bulls. Dennis runs. Great camp, food is unreal, and the hunting is above anything you'll experience in Colorado. A lot of well known bowhunters have hunted with Dennis.
Some of the Colorado sponsors are fantastic and would be a great place to start if you are looking at outfitted or guided hunting.
I hunted w/ Winterhawk last year during the last week in Sept Archery. It is a good operation but more of a wilderness/horseback adventure than a great elk hunt in my opinion. Camp staff was very good, although the camp itself was a little spartan. We had an outstanding guide but the area they hunt is way too crowded in my opinion. Lots of other camp sites and hunters near our camp. I had a good experience and don't regret going there but probably wouldn't go back.
For the $$ and with preference points i'd go elsewhere.
The Winterhawk guys are based out of Craig and pretty much provide you a pack ride in. Two years ago while moose hunting the Flattops, Winterhawk took 2 out of state guys in about 6 miles on horses, dumped em off and came out. The sad part was there were tons of elk and several bulls near the trailhead they packed in beyond.
They're not anywhere near Craig, and they offer guided and unguided hunts. Sounds like the guys you met were probably in a drop camp, as you can't get moose tags in the main areas they guide. Lots of misinformation on here these days...
Yes there is a bit of misinformation. Welcome to the internet....
Winterhawk has two base camps, Indian Cliffs (the main camp) and Big Springs. There are also quite a few drop camps and spike camps. I hunted with my cousin and a guide (2 on 1) out of the BS camp with 2 other hunters (they were repeat clients and had a great hunt with WH the year before). For most of the week we were the only 4 hunters in that camp but they did have a Ford film crew with a hunter/guide in camp a couple days. The other camp was bigger and had more hunters and guides.
They hunt the Flat Tops Wilderness and the big advantage they have is horses, which can get you in further without killing yourself. That being said, we saw alot of hunters and camps on the way to our camp and saw other hunters while hunting. The FT's get crowded, simple as that.
We did have very warm weather too which hurt the elk hunting. We did see some great mule deer though.
Like I said, overall a good reputable operation but with preference points and for the $$ I'd do some more research.
Outfitters have permit areas and campsites, but they also have day use permits, where they can hunt anywhere in the state of Colorado. That's why we get outfitters from Texas, Arkansas, and other parts of the state around here.
Sounds like several guys defending Winterhawk...as with any outfitter guiding on national forest, you're just money to them, and in all honestly, hunters killing game means just oe thing to them, more work. But a lt f guys hunt with Winterhawk for one reason, cause they offer cheap hunts. And most outfitters do drop camps in areas that have low concentrations of elk. Why would they put you in an area with lots of elk and not their paying customers? Like we always said, if there is lots of elk, we are hunting the area, not drop camping it. Personally, if I were going to pay for a guided hunt, it would be on private land, not national forest...
I agree with what Buglmin said with one exception, a guided Winterhawk hunt wasn't cheap. Cheaper than a private ranch in NM maybe but not by CO standards. The drop camps are cheaper than a guided hunt though for obvious reasons. But he's right, for a guided hunt go private. On public national Forest land you're better off DIY.
My biggest mistake was not doing more research into where we'd be hunting, even though I did quite a lot. It was our first time out there and I made too many assumptions. In my opinion, WH gave the impression that they had exclusive rights to where we'd be hunting in the Flat Tops. I found out the hard way that wasn't true.
Also, yes the weather hurt all of us and was not their fault BUT it would have been nice to have been offered a return hunt at 10-15% off because of that (I know a few whitetail outfitters that do this). I also sent them an email after the hunt thanking them for the experience and for giving us a great guide and never heard back.
We are also still waiting for our "free" hat and t-shirt .....
there's "excusive outfitting rights" and public land, when they cross over, yes you could be the only guided hunter in a crowd of hundreds. It's public land, so if the public can get to it, they will.
My information was not incorrect, the WH guy had a horse trailer with their advertising and I talked to him as he was loading up horses to pack into the Flattops here 12/23/24 units. And there are moose here, in fact I harvested the very first one ever taken in 2013. This drop camp packer was out of Craig.
Google Colorado Elk Hunting Lodges Look over price list and availability.
Check out the Colorado Outfitters Association http://www.coloradooutfitters.org/default.asp
Check out CPW Big Game Summary http://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/Statistics.aspx and look at hunter success rates
