Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting West Elk Wilderness - CO

Who has hunted in the West Elk? Looking for general information not honey holes or way points. I am thinking of burning my 3 elk pts to apply during muzzleloader. Plan to use an outfitter to pack me in and out.

Thanks

C ROY:

I have hunted the West Elk Wilderness most years since 1979. There are several outfitters that have concessions there. Each is required to operate in a separate area so that hunting grounds do not overlap. I am familiar with the following:

Tenderfoot Outfitters (Gunnison) sets up a base camp on Castle Creek, in unit 54. http://www.tenderfoot-outfitters.com/

John Ferrier (Paonia) runs about fifty or sixty horses up the Coal Creek Road every year and sets up camp on a legacy ranch located on Little Johnson Creek, in unit 53. I don't know the name of his company.

Soap Mesa Outfitters operates on a private ranch and on US Forest Service land in the far southwest corner of unit 54. http://www.southwestcoloradoelkhunting.com/

Eagle Mountain Outfitters operates out of a legacy ranch located in Big Soap Park (unit 54) and they setup several drop camps in the vicinity. http://www.eaglemountainoutfitters.com/

There's a base camp located at Rock Springs on Coal Creek (the little one that runs into Blue Mesa Lake). I think it may be operated by Coal Creek Outfitters but I'm not sure about that and their web site doesn't mention anything about a camp in the West Elk Wilderness.

Rainbow Lake Lodge (Gunnison) outfits hunts in the vicinity of Rainbow Lake, in unit 54. http://www.rainbowcoloradooutfitters.com/

KC

Thnaks KC. I plan to use west elk wilderness outfitters. http://www.westelkwildernessoutfitters.com/

That is Gary Ballard territory. You're in good hands.

Might want to poke around top end of Cow Creek.............

I have hunted the area several times.I might caution you if you are getting someone to pack you in and out. Make sure that if they say they will pack yourm eat out, that means from the kill site or close to it rather than from your camp location.
I have run into a few unhappy hunters concerning that.

John Ferrier runs out of Little Robinson, not Little Johnson. It's Bar Diamond Ranch. They have a camps all over the place. As far as I know they have one Cliff Creek, Little Robinson, Soap Basin, and Coal Creek.
http://bardiamondranch.com/

So now it must be them (West Elk Wilderness Outfitters - Gary Ballard/John Nelson) that setup their base camp at Rock Springs. It used to be Coal Creek Outfitters but maybe they went out of business or moved to Durango.

Interesting that you should mention Cow Creek. About fifteen years ago, I was backpacking into that area, just scouting, during the summer. I was camped on a little trickle that runs into Cow Creek just east of Little Soap Park. While I was sitting there heating water for freeze-dried, a young bear came foraging his way down the creek, turning over rocks as he went. He didn't see me and I just sat there motionless. He got to within maybe 15 feet when he suddenly looked straight at me. Maybe he heard the quiet wisper of the stove. He stared at me for a couple of minutes, niether of us moving, and then he sprinted away. That was a neat experience.

KC

We have hunted in the West Elk Wilderness the past two years. This year I saw a good bull but couldn't get to him due to the snow (read BLIZZARD) that came over the Mtn on us. I had an opportunity on a cow but passed thinking that it was only Sunday and we would be there for a week. That night a blizzard rolled in on us with about 70mph winds early Monday morning. We boogied out and barely made it back to the trailhead. We had rented horses and if we would have had someone to take care of them while we hunted it would have been nice instead of having that aggrivation.

No matter the outcome of your hunt, to me, that has to be one of the prettiest places I have ever hunted. Did I want to kill an elk?...youbetcha. Was I upset that I didn't? Nope. The adventure that we had this year only fueled me more to get back. It truly is some of the most beautiful country I have stomped around in.

Rode all over that country a few (or maybe more) years ago with a friend from Ft. Collins who was working with a group of ranchers that combined their herds and moved them almost daily. We were in elk almost every day, mostly cows with calves still at heel. Wonderful country! Whether or not you kill an elk (and I bet that you will), the experience will be priceless.

GPS coordinates and 3D imaging would work