Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting unit 12 in Colorado anyone hunt it?

Have any of you hunted unit 12;any advice !

I have. Mostly horse country to get to where you need to hunt.

It's a sea of hunter orange during 1st and 2nd rifle season.

ML bull tags take 10-12 points for NR to draw

Thanks saddlesore

There are some small pockets of BLM that are fairly accessible but that cant be driven into that can be productive at the west end of the unit - but you wont get lonely. When that was included in the units to the South of there we had great luck with deer and Ok with elk. Not the freindliest group of public land hunters or landowners in my experience based on the amount of pressure. The east end looked better but we didn't scout it thoroughly.

I'm doing this from memory, so I might be off.

From Yellow Jacket pass on HWY 13 ,there is a road that goes east that is the dividing line. South of that ATV'a are allowed. North of that, it is closed to ATV's. If you can get far enough up that road, hike into the back side ( north) of Sleepy Cat Peak and hunt that. Rough country,but productive

Thanks to both specneeds and saddlesore for the imfo, I have hunted Col before and know enough to stay out of real high country !Us low landers dont due well up there !

Is it crowded during Muzzleloader season ? Archers ?
(I've got the points)

Not crowded in ML season. There are not that many tags given out. 100 bull tags and 100 cow tags and that includes other areas that are combined. 12,23 and parts of 24.That is a big area that can soak up 200 hunters. There were 630 archery tags, but I don't think it is a popular area for bow hunters and the fact that the archery season is spread out over a month. There are a few archers, but not many. Before mid September, you have to contend with a few thousand head of sheep. Archers don't like to do that late August/early September. I think many archers and ML hunters go in from Yellow Jacket Pass on the west.

Especially if you want to go up higher to hunt where the bulls are hanging hunters get scarce.. I hunt cows, so I see no need to go high I find them about anywhere. Problem being it's a pretty good climb to get to Horses Park, Salt park or up to Wilson Mesa.

I see back packers each year and most are exhausted after making that climb. There are relatively few natural barriers to keep the elk in certain locals, so being mobile is a requirement. Most foot hunters can't make the 10 mile radius to go find the elk and they end up keep hitting the same area after the elk have gone to the next drainage. Then to, there are some big private ranches on the north end that severely limit access .

These reasons are why I hunt the area mule or horse back and why the outfitter has better luck. She either takes her hunters out on horse back or puts them in her drop camps which are fairly well spread out and in good areas. She bought out a couple of other outfitters and then spread out her camps so there is no conflict between each set of hunters

If I was hunting Unit 12 in 1st or 2nd season, that is where I would hunt. The road in to Sleepy Cat is fairly decent on the west side. To continue on the east you need an ATV or vehicle with really high clearance as the road quality degrades significantly. There is a road the comes up from the south past Lake Avery/Big Beaver Reservoir (depending on whether you look at a map or the state signs), This road can get pretty nasty and there are places you will want chains on all 4 if it is muddy.

If the snow is deep on the ground and the migration is on, the Sleepy cat area (and all the high country) can be pretty bleak. Last year I saw hundreds of elk low while the guys that spent the week up high saw nothing.

North of Sleepy Cat there is an access road that enters the forest on the NW corner. This will get you to some lower ground. There is also the Jensen State Wildlife Area just west of the forest which can be accessed off 13 north of Meeker or from a turnoff south of Yellow Jacket Pass. Jensen has lower ground with good hills and can be very productive. You will want chains if the road is muddy.

Pretty much what I have experienced.

Another area for lowland is go east from Hamilton to Pagoda and then go south to the Indian Run SWA. Again be careful of the mud.

saddlesore -

We (wife and I) drove up there last year, pre-season. I don't know what the hunter pressure is as we haven't been there during hunting season but suspect it is much lower than the areas further west or south that are easier to get to.

IIRC they closed the road at the forest edge. In any case, I think this would be a really great area for someone with horses or mules or strong legs and back. (Which leaves me out on all counts...)

From the Indian Run SWA you can skirt the private land by going east and following the two track road for a ways. Then it climbs up to the NF boundary. That is indeed a pretty good hike and climb. That gets you into the Little Sugarloaf area and to the west there is the Pine Creek drainage that holds some good bulls, but it would be the dickens to get one out of there.

I have gone into that country from the Morapos Creek trail head, but looked down into that hole and decided there wasn't an elk alive that was worth me descending, even with mules. Lot
of ups and downs certainly in that country.

If you follow the main road south and take the right fork it climbs up to a private ranch and the NF boundary is only about a 1/4 mile across but the rancher won't let anyone cross his property.

We normally hunt for cows in ML season and find them lower as it takes several points for residents to draw bull tags and 12 or so for NR.

I don't hunt the 1st or 2nd season up there as the ones that do tell me you have to almost have to take your own parking space to get into the area and it's a sea of hunter orange.

The elk migrate out of there to the west, down the canyon and thru Hamilton I am told.

A lot of those elk migrate through the Iles Grove area into unit 211.

I have hunted it with an outfitter just south of HWY 317 in Hamilton on private land. Only once did I not shoot my elk on opening day (third day that year). Plenty of elk, findng access to BLM might be the problem (and a lot of hunters).

What's left of two of them are in my freezer...

I have hunted Area 12 for 6 years in a row. The Sleepy Cat Peak area is good to excellent. There are two camp grounds with no water but outhouses are there. In 2014 with all the snow most of us harvested Elk. You will need to rent a horse unless you can walk 3 to 4 miles to get to Horse Ridge or up to Wilson Mesa. Hard hikes, two hours by horse, but excellent hunting. Mostly Cow's. J Bar H Outfitters is up there and they are outstanding, but booked a year in advance. Good Luck and enjoy.

Wow - you've already hunted the 2014 season? The rest of us have months to go before we can do that...

All of the guys I talked to that were up high near Sleepy Cat in 2013 got skunked, but they were on ATV's and foot. I don't think they got very far north side of Sleepy Cat, probably not to Horse Ridge an certainly not to Wilson Mesa.

Thanks for the correction. Yes I was up there in 2013. Everyone in the lower campground except one couple got one. I didn't get mine until Wednesday and then I had to go low to get it. However, I saw plenty. Jeanne said her hunters got several shots and harvested about 70%. I do not know how the guys at the upper camp did though. The guys that hunt at Larry's cabin said they had tagged out by Wednesday as well. They said they had not seen that many Elk in years. We had to go all the way down the road to the BLM land close to Larry's house and had our pick of Elk. They had migrated off the high tops and were everywhere down lower. We hunted Wilson Mesa hard until Sunday and then there was too much snow so we went to Horse Ridge. Saw a few but migration tracks were everywhere leading lower. We followed those until they went on private land. Decided to try the BLM and in less than one hour had two Elk. I got a Cow and the guy I was hunting with got a nice 4X4. Great area. Area 131 is also a very good area with lots of Elk and closer to towns.

Last year,Ml season, as we were leaving the Monday after season closed. 6 cows ran between our two trucks on the road just below the irrigation ditch.