RFW Lope ranches
Colorado
Anyone have any input on any of the RFW ranches for lope? Wanting to put in for a tag this year but dont want to burn the points on a dud. Or does anyone know of a resource to research these ranches other than CP&W site? Thanks in advance!
If your looking for a bow hunt, you should check with the ranch first to see if they will allow that. Mostly they are rifle hunts with other hunters. Maybe one that only gives a few buck tags may let you use a bow. We have put in for Rimrock with doe tags the last few years. Takes a few points to draw that as a doe, 2 to 3. The first year we hunted bucks. Not a lot of trophy size bucks, but a lot of lopes around. Very nice area to hunt. Took my daughter to Kiowa Creek for a doe several years ago, also a good ranch, but not a lot of trophy bucks. A friend of mine several years ago who was very proficient with his lever action rifle, they told him he couldn't use that & would have to hunt with a scoped rifle. Sorry I don't have more info than that.
Kiowa creek was the ranch they wouldn't let him use his lever gun.
Thanks samman. I appreciate any feedback even negative as I have never hunted a RFW ranch. Looks like they have some designated as Archery only.
The way those Ranching for Wildlife tags work is that, for ranches enrolled in the program, the ranch gets tags for the species on the ranch that they can sell for guided hunts and they get to pick a 90-day season for those hunts. In exchange, they have to have a public hunt for those species. Typically, you are required to check in and out, can not camp on the property, and are assigned an area within the property to hunt.
I am not sure what the ratios for male species public vs private, but I think it is like 10% of the male licenses go to the public drawing.
All of the RFW hunts are listed as rifle (any weapon) for the public draw hunts. The Ranches set the rules and they are different for each ranch. They may have other hunts going at the same time for different species (both public and private tags).
Your best bet with questions is to go to the CPW website and contact the ranch directly or contact the closest CPW office to the ranch and there may be someone there that can answer your questions.
My one and only RFW experience was not one that I would ever want to repeat. I burned a lot of points for a buck hunt to find out that there were cow elk and doe deer hunters at the same time as the buck hunt. The outfitter on the ranch had been hunting bucks on the ranch for the previous 90 days for 35 buck hunters. We were not allowed to drive on existing roads on a lot of the property, even though the ground was frozen, not even to retrieve game. There were very few decent bucks to be found on the property and it was extremely crowded with all the cow and doe hunters and most of the top end had been shot out previously.
That's really typical of most all the RFW ranches. Those animals are worth too much to them, and they really don't want someone to shoot a big buck or bull for free. They make it as hard as possible for the public hunters. I"ve known ALOT of friends here in NW Colo. who have drawn RFW tags over the years , none of them have ever shot a really good animal of one of the ranches. This program is the biggest joke for the public hunter here in COLO.
Treeline and Ruger x 2.
My wife had an EE elk tag back in '11. They close off many of the access roads to the public. A couple bozo's gut shot elk that were running. It's a real shit show all the way around.
Really appreciate all of this input. Enough said here to look at a different option with my points. Thanks to everyone and good luck in the draw!
I've hunted or helped others on several RFW ranches. Each is a little different. Some were horrible experiences and others pretty good. You can check out hunting dates and number of cow/doe hunters to figure out which ranches have hunting pressure before or during your particular hunt. Most ranches have private clients hunting optimal dates while the public hunt 2nd rate dates. You may want to be somewhat leery of ranches that subdivide their properties. Sometimes the areas may be quite small. It's always nice to have an entire ranch available to hunt! Several ranches are definitely worth burning a bunch of pts on....some are a total waste!
So far all the responses are accurate. I burnt a boat load of points this fall for antelope to hunt a ranch that I had previously hunted. Completely different conditions, every bunch of does had a 10-11" "herd" buck. The cream had definitely been skimmed.
