Grand County Colorado

Scouting Trip

June, 2008

This trip covered game units 18, 28, 37, 38, and 181 from Winter Park to Kremmling. Because the plan was to cover as much land as possible there isn’t a lot of detail. However, there is a lot of quality elk information to share.

Jones Pass is a popular destination when the snow is gone around July and August.

The parking lot is small so get there early if you want a good spot. Expect a lot of human traffic on the weekends.

The beauty of this area is NOT the mine but the view from the top of the pass. Elk can be found on both sides of the pass well off the trail. Peek up and over the pass to the west and you’ll find the remote and rugged mountains of the Williams Fork. You can get a different view of the same mountains if you park on the west side of Eisenhower Tunnel (west bound on I-70). Park just outside the tunnel and take the lung-challenging climb to the summit to the north. There you will find elk with a good pair of binoculars feeding around timberline and higher during the lazy days of summer.

This coyote was effectively hunting mice (or some other rodent) in this small meadow. Look for deer, elk and other wildlife in the many avalanche chutes on your short drive from Hwy 40 to the trailhead of Jones Pass.

It’s worth driving when the road is clear – all the way back to Urad Lake. The road is private (reclaimed mine land) but I believe the lake and mountains surrounding it are open to the public. This is unit 39 and if you’ve ever seen the harvest stats for that unit you’d know it is one of the best units this close to the Denver Metro area. In fact it may be the best-kept secret if you are after a trophy 6x6 bull close to Denver. Harvest rates are high and your chances of seeing a trophy bull significantly increase compared to surrounding units. Unit 39 is a draw unit. You’ll have to climb the many steep hills to get one. The secret to Unit 39 is private wintering grounds that help the elk to live longer and grow larger. The other secret is the elk are use to seeing people – lots of people, waves of human traffic almost all year as it is a popular hiking destination for many.

On your way up and over Berthoud pass is an elk crossing area. The elk give birth to calves in the valley west of Empire, CO. Then they head up the mountain along the north side of Hwy 40 and cross here. Don’t worry they walk around the fence on the left side of this photo. This is before the first big switchback heading west on Hwy 40. The elk cross here – mostly during full moon nights if they are smart. I’ve seen nervous cow elk here trying to make it across. They will head up to timberline for the summer. Park here and hike up or park at the top and hike south and west along timberline. The whole area from the summit of Berthoud Pass in a southwest direction to the many avalanche shoots above Berthoud Falls, CO is where elk summer. Most elk in the area stay west of Hwy 40.

In the town of Winter Park, CO there is a road called Vasquez. There is a stop light at the intersection and signs. Take it due south as far as you can drive then get out and walk. The valley is simple and long. The upper basin is home for elk in the summer. As the snow deepens in the fall the elk will migrate down the valley, across many tracts of private property northwest on their way to the wide open valley floor where they will winter. The scenario is typical and predictable. However, the surrounding high and long ridges of Vasquez Creek are very steep. The elk rarely come down to the valley floor except around the upper basin and during their winter migration. There are numerous little meadows and wet areas for elk to be found. And they run the ridges along a series of trails that parallel the road and hiking trail below. If you want to see elk here you have to wait for the snow to melt in the spring, time the rut perfectly or catch them during their migration.

Grand County Road 55 up and over Cottonwood Pass from outside of Granby to Hot Sulphur springs is largely private land. But it’s also wintering grounds for elk and deer in the winter. The only public area will be on the south side of road 55 near the pass. The valley is large and inviting. With a mixture of aspen, pine and creek valleys. It’s heaven. There are a lot of cattle in the area. Look for the small herd of Antelope along the road too.

What a nice treat for us to find these cowboys chasing down a herd of horses. The horses were being moved from one pasture to another when the stallion decided to take them for a run. The best time to visit elk country is any day except for Saturday and Sunday. I promise you will see more during the weekdays.

Here’s a photo of that big stallion in the lead. Reminds me of my sister’s wild horse Dusty who likes to play games like this all the time.

Here is the public part of the area along Road 55. We found bear sign back in the pines there. The fence along the road runs out and this primitive road takes you to a dead end. This is part of elk wintering range but can also be a good hunting spot for late rifle seasons if the snow falls heavy.

This skull is proof of the elk hunting opportunities in the area. This young bull was taken some years ago. His antlers sawed off. He was either winter kill or taken during a hunting season. Not a mile from road 55.

A little history of Cottonwood Pass.

You can bike or drive the area south of the pass for a long ways. I don’t recommend road hunting at all but if you just can’t hike like you use to then you might sit on one of the many meadows in the area.

We stopped by the CODOW Hot Sulphur Springs district office for some information and photos. The good news is the elk did extremely well surviving winter 2007-2008 despite the heavy snow. The deer didn’t do so well, however. CODOW didn’t have to feed any elk in the Kremmling area at all. They did have to feed elk around Steamboat and Craig.

Here's another trophy bull. CODOW acquires these by either confiscating them from poachers or from road kill.

On road 33 just off Hwy 9 south of Kremmling there is a State Wildlife Area which you can hunt. There is a large mountain south of the road that’s where you want to hunt for bulls. You have to time it right as the elk get pushed around by other hunters. The mountain is steep and partially wooded. I mean it has very steep draws. The bulls will bed about halfway up and only come down at night to feed along the Colorado River. If you walk the river valley you don’t see a lot of elk scat because elk don’t go to the bathroom where they eat.

The elk cross the road here. Coming off the mountain at night to feed. There is a small pull out here for parking.

Here is one of the steep draws where elk bed. I walked the area along a general game trail and the elk scat was heavy from years of use. These elk are very elusive so hunting here takes a lot of patience and timing. The mountain is large and has several access points. Avoid hunting near the easy access points. Go over one or more draws then start hunting. The whole mountain is mostly open sage. Only 10% of the mountain has trees – which is where you’ll find elk during the hunting season. This is wintering grounds so the only good hunting comes late in the season after heavy snows have pushed the elk down this far. In November 2007 it was very warm and dry. Elk didn’t bother to come down until mid December.

This old deer leg bone lay surrounded by years of elk scat. You can simply drive the roads around Kremmling in the winter and see hundreds of elk on the hills just outside of town. Elk converge here from game units 18, 28, 37, 181, and 371.

Elk scat is heavy, like a stock yard, halfway up the mountain. Proof that this is a heavy use area in the winter. I didn’t find any shed antlers so I believe the elk clear out as soon as they can in March/April back towards their summer grounds. But I didn’t walk around as much either. I just didn’t see a lot of track in the mud which is typical of spring time elk areas.

Here is where it gets good. Rifle hunters listen up. If the winter comes early (it should in 2008 but if it doesn’t don’t blame me blame global warming) you need to hunt November in this SWA.

Big bulls will bed on the north facing slopes at the base of trees about halfway up the mountain in the SWA. This is your opportunity. You can peek up and over one of the many knife ridges around the mountain with your binoculars if the wind is right. This large bull was taken in his bed. And this was no ordinary bed. It was carved out of the hill. It was surrounded by many other beds. The last time I’ve seen a bone this large was from a moose. There were many times along my hike up the steep hill I could still smell the bittersweet stink of elk. You know this place is flooded with elk if you can still smell them in June. This reinforces my theory that big elk bed in the shade on north slopes in the winter despite the cold and snow.

This photo is looking west towards unit 127 and the Grand River Ranch. You can see how steep the hill is from here. And how wet the valley is in the spring. That’s Kremmling on the right side of the photo. The area is a large basin and the elevation around 8,000 feet. If winter gets too harsh the elk can’t go any lower. They are basically stuck here in the winter. All they can do is hope the snow doesn’t get so deep and that the wind blows off enough snow on the valley floor so they can feed with out wasting a lot of energy digging.

That is Red Mountain across Hwy 40 east of Kremmling. Elk cross the Colorado River below and cross the Highway where you see that dirt road. That’s road 33 in the foreground. A lot of elk get hit by cars at this road crossing.

The lighting in this photo isn’t great but in the center is a heavily used elk trail. About halfway up the mountain you will start to find numerous elk trails leading to and from each major draw. From the road below you’d never see elk move through here. They chose to be just barely out of site when moving from one area to the next. These trails were worn deep by many, many years of use. Walking is easier once you get about halfway up.

My next destination was to find Smith Creek where cows give birth in the spring. The area in the background is the Troublesome Basin. Home to some 3,000 elk, numerous moose, countless deer and nearly every wild species know to live in Colorado.

Road 21 leads to a web of roads but the main one is road 112. We drove back about 15 miles or so. The roads were in VERY good shape up to almost 10,000 feet. So good you could drive a car without 4wd. This is just off Hwy 40 near Parshall.

National Geographic sells a good map (see Boulder Map Gallery) that shows both public and private lands. The road splits many times. There are many unmarked roads that are either long driveways or 4WD roads.

Here is the intersection of forest road 112 and 112.6D. See how good the road is for early June? You won’t need 4WD in here unless you are driving in the snow. I didn’t take a photo of the five young mule deer bucks in the aspens nearby. They seemed surprised to see us but didn’t run off far. The aspen trees grow so thick in some sections you can barely walk through them.

Here is forest road 112.6D which takes you into Smith Creek basin. It’s a nice little basin where you can see newborn elk if you are lucky. The area use to be for logging so you will see cleared out sections with young pines growing. That’s a good thing because the pine beetle has completely devastated this area over just a few years. There are a lot of aspen in the area so that helps. The many clearings allow for grasses to grow making them popular places to see elk feeding.

Here’s one of many clear-cut sections that are recovering. It takes at least 40-60 years for those pines to become mature enough. This is looking south. You can see part of the Williams Fork mountains and the impressive Gore Range behind them. Smith creek runs below and it’s a steep drop down into the valley below.

Here is the view looking east towards the Front Range mountains. More dead pines in the background. They are all dead for as far as you can see. I would like to take this time to go off on a rant about how the National Forest service did NOTHING to stop the beetle. I know it is natural, bla, bla, bla but if they would have done more controlled burning our forests would be much more healthy. Now all they can do is mitigate the fire danger. And all we can do is wait for the forest to recover. The good news is this doesn’t affect the elk in a bad way. In fact they will flourish and new grasses sprout up on the forest floor thanks to more sunlight. The bad news is trees are falling left and right in high winds. Snapping off right at the base. That makes for some nasty hiking conditions.

The tall peak is at 10,665 with sections of aspen, pine and open areas. Road 112.6D dead ends near the base of it.

Smith Creek Basin. Very nice. My hope is to hike the upper portions of nearly every major creek (and even those no-named creeks) before I expire. Elk can be anywhere in the Troublesome so there is always hope in every creek valley. Surprisingly there is very, very little written or online about this entire area. I hope to continue exploring it to find the best creek valleys for elk. Eventually we may do all of our filming and photography in this area. Of all the places in CO I can’t find one as intriguing or beautiful.

Elk tracks were all over road 112.6D. I even saw moose tracks. All the elk tracks appear to be cows. If I had to estimate the number of elk according to the tracks I saw I’d say several groups of 3-10 crossed the road at different spots. They all appear to be heading east. And they seem to come from over the top during a recent muddy period. There was one large drift on this road that someone had driven through. I estimate the elk tracks were 1-2 weeks old. Evidence of others scouting the area from ATVs, a jeep and a motorcycle were found. Not sure if they were looking for the same elk I was or if they were just having fun driving the back roads in the spring.

As the sun began to set we walked back. Some very loud frogs made noise from the wet aspens in this photo.

This old cabin is actually open to the public according to the sign on the door frame. It’s seen a lot of visitors.

It’s just off the road (FR 112) and you can’t miss it.

The rolling hills of the lower sage valleys were so beautiful. Covered in green grasses, yellow and purple flowers for as far as you can see. Everything is so alive this time of year. Words cannot capture the sights and sounds of Colorado in the spring time. It’s just perfect here.

Thanks for reading. For more details about hunting the unit mentioned in this scouting report subscribe to the hunting page. There you will find more photos and details about where to hunt, where to access and what to expect.