Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting C Lazy U Ranch/Outfitters Recommendations or Reviews?

I am looking at booking with C Lazy U Outfitters for the 2021 2nd or 3rd rifle Elk season. They offer 1x1 guided Elk hunts from a cabin base camp on mostly private land. I realize most people will argue against this style of hunting or operation. However, the reason I am considering it is that my wife wants to go with me and she will not agree to camping or packing in. She wants this to be a vacation where she gets to relax, read books, take baths, go horseback riding, and have a spa day or three. I get to go elk hunting. Happy wife, happy life.

Add in to this that it will be my first elk hunt coming from Texas where we hunt whitetails from stands/blinds generally over fed corn and the whitetails are very, very numerous. I don't have the experience or knowledge to be successful going DIY and don't have a group I could go with to learn. So, I was probably going to end up with a guided hunt anyway. I intend to pick the brain of my guide as much as possible and do a lot of research prior to going.

All that above, does anyone have any direct experience with the guided elk hunts that C Lazy U Outfitters does or with the C Lazy U Ranch itself? Thanks in advance for any guidance you can give me.


Cross-posted to TexasBowHunter as well in case you see it there.

All I gotta say is nice stock ( as in not theirs) photos and Nice descriptions of bulls starting at 275 and deer at 180. Nothing like getting people’s hopes up. At least one of those photos I used 10 years ago when writing a little. Can’t remember if I took it or not.




Edit it add, found that photo on article in 2011. Don’t think it was mine though, I think the editor inserted it.

Ok, now that is interesting..... Now I really want an actual review from someone give the stock photo usage. Thank you for letting me know.

There are lots of outfitting crooks out there. You have to be very careful.

Sometimes you are careful and still hire the wrong people.

I would look into Spur Outfitters in Colorado, close enough to Saratoga, Wy where some high dollar folks hang out .

That seems very expensive for that part of Colorado. Under, "what we provide" they do not say that they include meals? Is that right?

You might consider, trying to book a place at JBARH Outfitters out of Meeker. Let your wife stay in Steamboat Springs and have a great time, while you are out hunting with one of the best outfitters in the state.

I do not know exactly what they include. Their price is for a private land 1x1 guided hunt. It's not overly expensive for that. I do not know if it includes lodging or food. I have yet to ask them anything directly. I was hoping someone here might have hunted with them or know someone who has before I directly engage them.


I would gladly hunt with Jeanne if it was just me going. However, this trip will be a trip taken with my wife. She wants to go somewhere that we can spend time together, not apart. That is why I am looking at private ranch hunts as they tend to have lodging/amenities as well as hunting. I am open to other ranches/outfitters, but they seem few and far between in Colorado from my research. So, if anyone has recommendations on places that will meet my wife's needs while also offering me the opportunity to hunt elk, it would be appreciated.

In researching C Lazy U fairly heavily using Google, I have found exactly 4 "reviews" of them for hunting. 1 is from a big game hunting agent that booked a hunt at C Lazy U for a client. Another is from an article where the author hunted mule deer there with Brett Favre at Remington's behest. The last 2 were on TripAdvisor. 1 good and 1 bad review. The good review didn't say if they were successful and the bad review said his father saw one elk and had an inexperienced guide. I was also able to find a 6 minute video from a young lady who was there hunting with a group. Again, no information on if the hunt was successful or not, but they did see elk.

I’ve lived next to the C Lazy U for 13 years and have hunted the public land adjacent to the ranch and in the area all of those years. There are lots and lots of elk here but they are tough to get close to out on the public. On the private things are much better. We watch elk on and around the ranch from our house all year. I know people who work at and manage the ranch and some who have guided there. We eat dinner over there occasionally and have access to the amenities. I think it would be a great hunt and from what you said above about what you are looking for I think it would be perfect. The amenities (lodging, food, spa, equestrian, etc) are top notch and the people working there are great. I hear word of mouth every year about hunting success and success is generally good. If you would be happy with a nice 5 x 5 bull your chances will be excellent. If a gigantor trophy Is top priority this is probably not the place to go although big bulls are taken on the ranch And I see some every year.

Thank you very much for that information. I am not hunting for a trophy. Antler soup isn't very tasty. My main goals are to make sure my wife has a good time, to pick the brain of the guide as much as possible, and to get an opportunity on a bull and (hopefully) take some meat home.

For a grand a day, it better be top notch accommodations!

I lived in Grand County for many years, '77- 2004 , minus my tour in 2/75. I have worked (concrete) at ClazyU, know the outfitter personally, if it is still in the same family. He hunts surrounding ranches in area and his is the sole outfit( or used to be) I worked the troublesome basin north of there for three different outfitters over 20 years. Samuelson outfitters and I believe Dave Parry still works the basin, both are a top notch outfit. The elk are where you find em and I do not believe you could do much better than linking up with either . Send me a msg if you wish more information.

That does help quite a bit. Thank you.

MIke Garrett used to run the outfitting out of C lazy U for many years. He and I played softball against each other many years ago. He and his wife are salt of the earth! I have been gone for many years now(not by choice) I miss hunting the high country!

Paul Klees is the person in charge now according to the website. Assistant General Manager for the ranch and Hunting Manager for the outfitter side of things.

Ya, we aren't as young as we used to be. I am sure many things have changed hands. Cindy Crawford's sister used to work at C lazy U. Would have been late eighties or so IIRC. We used to hang out on the boardwalk in Grand Lake waiting for Cindy and her sister to walk by shopping! We were such dogs back then! Your wife will enjoy the accomodations and the array of activities she can do while there. Grand Lake, Winter Park etc......

I've been hunting around unit 18 since 1978. Here is their hunter schedule

https://www.clazyuoutfitters.com/typical-day/

Their photos are about as old as Cindy Crawford and some of their “hunter” photos are models lacking required hunter orange headgear. It’s their website so they can tell it anyway they want to! LOL!

Yeah, the website doesn't look to have been updated recently. Then again, most outfitter websites are not updated all that often from what I have seen. I have seen some with 2013 dates in there. My guess is that website traffic doesn't generate much business for most outfitters. Even Jeanne Horne's J-Bar-H site isn't great and it is agreed that her Outfitting service is one of the best around.

C Lazy U does seem to have a more updated Instagram page with posts from recent Elk/Deer harvested: https://www.instagram.com/clazyuoutfitters/

Obviously an Instagram page doesn't make anything legitimate or good in and of itself.

I contacted C Lazy U with questions to see what their answers were. I am sharing the questions and the response for anyone else that ever searches for it:

I think for that kind of cash and looking out for wifeys welfare I’d make a quick scouting trip to that place before I spent that kind of money. Might be $500 well spent... just kinda “show up”.

I might just do that. My sister and her husband live in Colorado Springs so it wouldn't be too far out of the way to go check out the C Lazy U and then go visit my sister and brother-in-law. If that happened to coincide with 2nd or 3rd rifle elk season that would be sheer coincidence, right?

Sounds like your female is WAY too demanding. I would split the two objectives. Plan a vacation time with her. Don’t try to hybridize the two or you’ll be disappointed. Plan your Elk hunt for you & leave her at home.

I’d like to do the same spouse vacation/ hunting trip for me but am thinking South Africa is where we may do that. Elk county during elk season isn’t usually my idea of outdoor vacation weather without a rifle or bow involved. We have a family hunt in BNW Colorado annually but men and a couple of friends who have girls who hunt with enthusiasm are all that go.

South Africa is on the list, but it probably won't be until our daughters are in college. The appeal of Colorado is that if something goes wrong, my wife can get on a plane and be back home within a day. That just isn't possible from SA. For Fall 2021 we will have one in college as a Freshman and the other in High School, but with a car/license. So, they can be self-sufficient while we are gone for ~9 days.

Also, SA has the other issue of having to be stuck in a flying tube of germs for 24+ hours possibly during a continuing pandemic. Not something either my wife or I are thrilled about. For SA we would also want to take our daughters with us because that is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of trip (well, maybe not once, but you get my point).

Sent you a PM

Yes sir. I got it and thank you. That information was very helpful. I am looking at Three Forks Ranch as well. It is definitely more expensive, but has the benefit of being a Ranching for Wildlife property.

It is not known for being cheap but is known for being top notch service wise. I've poured a lot of concrete there for the little 10K square foot starter homes. Your wife will be happy pretty much guaranteed, they pamper. The hunting is subcontracted out but known for producing animals as the private sucks them all in from the orange punkin patch surrounding the ranch. The bucks are past tense but you are after bull elk correct? You should have a great first time if you get the right guide, which is pretty much always true. It is not a rugged back country hunt, specifically the opposite. It is in very pretty country which never hurts. If you don't mind the price go and have a great time. When you are dying to suffer and hunt like the rest of us rent my llamas and get away from the orange army.

Yes sir, I am after a bull elk since that is an OTC tag for 2nd/3rd rifle. My wife being happy is a very important consideration as well. The more I have learned about C Lazy U, the more it seems to fit my specific needs for this particular trip. Thank you for the extra information as well.