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First Hunt in GMU 51 - Advice??

I got a leftover archery elk tag for unit 51 and have never been there. I will be going solo with my recurve so I will need some help and a lot of luck! I have heard that there is a lot of atv traffic on the north end near Devil's Head and up. Other than that, are there any elk in the area?

Is that gunnison by blue mesa? If it is shoot me mail and i will call you

No, GMU 51 is between Colorado Springs and Denver off to the West. It includes the east side of the Pike National Forest and the Rampart Range.

So, you're going all the way from Oklahoma to CO and hunt a unit you've never been to? Hope you have other reasons/tags for the trip! Are there elk in the area? YEP. ATVs - not nearly as many as there are motorcycles in Rampart area.

Best of luck!

Never hunted the area and wouldn't because of the recreational traffic. Besides the off road vehicles you are going to run into bikers, hikers, and every other thing you can think of. There are Elk in the unit, some really big elk. I wonder what the success rate is for this unit? Good luck!

I hunted 51 twice early rifle seasons, and yes the elk are very much intertwined with motorcycle and bike trails. I saw multiple decent 5X5 bulls scouting yet not so much during my hunts. You simply in GMU 51 have to know exactly where you are due to mix of private and public. I missed a big 6pt. bugling on one of the hunts, last day, last hour. That bull was with cow in NF top of small ridge just to the north of the juncture of the main Deckers Rd and Rampart Range rd., that small ridge running E to W. My deduction was the oakbrush was the culprit. I was sick not harvesting that big boy bull as he was a dandy. I saw another harvested (boned out) bull just below off the north side of this ridge, on the FS boundary abutting a open small gorgeous (private) meadow. I only hunted the north part of 51, and found FS as very brushy and in more recent years having lots of deadfall trees. Some elk likely never get hunted much in 51, suburban elk to some extent. Another option not too far away is walking in at Roxborough State Park too, which the park not allowing hunting within the park, but definitely allowing access on their trails to hunters accessing NF above the park. There you have decent trails going different directions, but with an ever present abundance of recreational hikers too. P.S. - Watch out for rattlers in lower elevations. Ugg!

Make sure you're map is good and know where the private is.

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