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GMU 54?

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GMU 54?

Postby Bandit » 04 11, 2018 •  [Post 1]

Hi all,
We are switching archery units this year and we put in for GMU 54. We plan on hunting the West Elk Wilderness and was hoping to find some first hand knowledge of the area. We will be scouting mid-July to get a better plan but was hoping to get some general ideas before we go. We previously hunted GMU 55. Where we hunted in 55(hiked in 3-4 miles) we saw very few people, I'm now hearing West Elk Wilderness is pretty busy which is somewhat disappointing. It was a pretty limited amount of tags issued (280 tags for 2017) so it seems hard to believe it could be so saturated with such a large wilderness area. I appreciate any info I can get or if you have someone in mind I could possibly contact with knowledge of the area. I did speak to a DOW guy about the unit already (he told me its no bueno :| . I can PM you if that's preferred. Thanks in advance!
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby cohunter » 04 11, 2018 •  [Post 2]

Unit 54 gets SLAMMED in the OTC rifle seasons. Archery used to be the same. It's interesting to me that it is now a draw unit for archery only. I'd think the crowds shouldn't be too bad in archery though because it is limited. Just know that hunt pressure the rest of the year is going to be nuts.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 11, 2018 •  [Post 3]

Unit54 has some serious problems The CPW issued too many tags in previous years that cut the elk herd from about 6000 to3000. This year they changed all rifle cow tags to "A: tags, figure hunter swon't put in for that tag, and will stick to bull tags. Many elk from the eastern side of the unit migrate at the start of hunting season to the private ranches along Ohio Creek. Mots of the unit is horse country in that 3-4 miles won't cut it .6-9 is the norm and the pack in is nasty.Even worse packing meat out without spoilage.
I have hunted it for many years and know of a few spots to kill elk, but they come hard.The last two years in 2nd rifle season ,I have seen one elk and that was a calf.Pretty poor as before that,I killed an elk every year for many years.

I am already helping another hunter on this site in an archery hunt,so I am reluctant to send another hunter into those areas.I don't think it would be right .

Look into Soap Basin on the western edge of the unit
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Deanmac » 04 11, 2018 •  [Post 4]

My group hunted 54 last year during first rifle. We had a drop camp on East Soap creek about 7 miles from western boundary. Elk were another 3 plus miles farther up. We had other hunting camps North of us that cut us off from the elk.
IMHO 3 to 4 miles is not going to get in done coming in from the western side. Very rough terrain you either are taking a step up or down (almost no flat ground). This was my third elk hunt and I would not go back to this area.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Deanmac » 04 11, 2018 •  [Post 5]

[quote="saddlesore"

Look into Soap Basin on the western edge of the unit[/quote]

Eagle Mountain outfitters have a base camp on Soap creek on the western side. I think they have about 9 different drop camps covering that area. They probably don't use them all during archery season. I would try to avoid the camps they are using.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 6]

Deanmac wrote:[quote="saddlesore"

Look into Soap Basin on the western edge of the unit


Eagle Mountain outfitters have a base camp on Soap creek on the western side. I think they have about 9 different drop camps covering that area. They probably don't use them all during archery season. I would try to avoid the camps they are using.[/quote]

Yep,but the eastern edge has all those elk running to the Castleton ranch. Access is easier and you get a lot of pressure even in archery season unless you hit the 6-7 mile mark and by that time,you are close to the Unit 53 boundary.Any way t you look at it,it is poor unit for elk hunting as it stands at present.

Tenderfoot is the only outfitter I know of on the east side and his success ratio has been way down for 3-4 years
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Bandit » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 7]

sounds awesome!! I sure know how to pick em. Thanks for the responses.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Bandit » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 8]

saddlesore wrote:
Deanmac wrote:[quote="saddlesore"

Look into Soap Basin on the western edge of the unit


Eagle Mountain outfitters have a base camp on Soap creek on the western side. I think they have about 9 different drop camps covering that area. They probably don't use them all during archery season. I would try to avoid the camps they are using.


Yep,but the eastern edge has all those elk running to the Castleton ranch. Access is easier and you get a lot of pressure even in archery season unless you hit the 6-7 mile mark and by that time,you are close to the Unit 53 boundary.Any way t you look at it,it is poor unit for elk hunting as it stands at present.

Tenderfoot is the only outfitter I know of on the east side and his success ratio has been way down for 3-4 years[/quote]

It still baffles me a little though. Are you saying that "a lot" of archery pressure was based on when it became a draw unit or when it was OVC? With only 280 bowhunters running around on 200,000 acres and a one month season that there should be ample space to absorb that many hunters. At this point I'm praying I don't get my first choice(54).
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Deanmac » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 9]

Might be plenty of space, but you better be ready to hike in over 8 miles to get up high where the elk are located, I am telling you it is a bear of a hike. Several of the drop camps are up high and they have the prime spots covered. I was a newbie and got the crap of a camp.

I heard of a guy that hiked in last year during ML and got a bull about 7 miles in, it took him 4 days the get the meat out, based on the temperatures during that time last year I would say most of his meat was spoiled.

Good luck and get in the best shape of your life, you will need to be. LOL
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 10]

Bandit wrote:
It still baffles me a little though. Are you saying that "a lot" of archery pressure was based on when it became a draw unit or when it was OVC? With only 280 bowhunters running around on 200,000 acres and a one month season that there should be ample space to absorb that many hunters. At this point I'm praying I don't get my first choice(54).
.

Problem being of those 200,000 acres, a lot of it is in lower country that does not hold elk at that time of year, a lot of it is inaccessible ,rock cliffs, scree, some above timber line that is solid rock into the peaks.The older rancher that has a grazing lease for 600 cow calf pairs that pretty much move the elk out from where they are grazing. A lot of that is in the high meadows where the grass is more abundant.Plan to hike in 6-9 ,miles and you will find elk. How many is the question and getting the meat out without meat spoilage.

I don't know about the archery pressure prior to it becoming OTC, only what the fellow I am helping told me that last two years.Then you get the Muzzle Loader season for 9 days in the middle that go into the area.

Prior to the last two years,I have probably killed at least 20 elk in Unit 54.Bulls and cows and then saw no elk the last two years.The fact that CPW changed all cow tags to "A"tags tells you that the numbers are down.I'm pretty sure you will draw your 1st choice if Unit 54 is it.

I'm just passing along info that I know from hunting in Unit 54 and hunting elk in general for 52 years
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby SoCo Mark » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 11]

Saddlesore is spot on with what he has said. I've hunted 54 since about 2007. I quickly narrowed my hunting area down to one general area, and then I cut it down even further. For many of those years, I would walk in to a certain spot every day of first rifle until I got my elk. Numbers dwindled through the years until I was doing good to see any elk. And as he said, they all head to the Castleton Ranch. It is nothing to see large herds on the Castleton in mid July, and you can see them from the road in the middle of the day. I'm not sure how many live on the ranch year round, but wouldn't be surprised if it was much much more than what one sees from the road. On the eve of first rifle, 2011, we saw a herd of approx. 700 on the Castleton. They were spread out quite a bit and we counted 100, and then compared with what was left. I'm sure 700 is fairly accurate.
I've tried archery season as well. I did see/hear a few more elk in archery, but it wasn't anything that got me excited to return. I will add that I'm not much of an elk caller and the more I read about calling elk the less enthused I am about it. Which call, when, how many times, and what to do if the elk responds back with another type of call, ETC... I tire of all of that rather quickly. I'm sure if you know what you are doing during archery season, you will have more luck than I, though you couldn't possibly have worse luck.

With all this said, I put in for an elk pp and then first season cow tag, hoping that the A list status for cows will give me a better chance of drawing my tag. Last year I picked up a leftover bull tag for first season. I saw a run of the mill Gunnison County 5 by 5 opening morning but blew my opportunity. He was with 2 cows and a calf. The only other elk I saw was the last day, as I was getting ready to leave for the morning when a decent herd came through my area, probably 15 or so. Bull wise however, there were only a couple of spikes and a small raghorn that may have been legal, but not by much if he was.

On a bright note, as I drove back to town I ran into Saddlesore and officially met him face to face. Nice guy he is, and again he is spot on with what he is saying.

Good luck to you, I will say it is very pretty country, and Gunnison, CO is a great town to spend some time in, especially in the fall.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby N2mywake » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 12]

I too hunt 54 during archery. Saddlesore has been a wealth of information for me over the years. I hunt drop camps to avoid the crowds, I'm in pretty good shape for my age but not enough to pack an elk out if the temps rise.
I've hunted with tenderfoot 3x and saddlesore is right there too. Last year we hunted soap basin with Eagle mountain. We got on elk but we worked for it. Their camps are full for archery I think. I do recommend them though. We're going back this year to a new camp.

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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Aldog » 04 12, 2018 •  [Post 13]

New to the forum guys so pardon the budding in. But I was searching for some information about GMU55. Bandit if I may why did you not go back to GMU55? I am a flatlander and have been coming out there for the last 7 years only missing a couple of years. Hard to scout from the mid-west. We archery hunt, backpack and are in decent shape for being over 5 decades now. We have generally hunted the first weeks in September, have changed it up over time. We have hunted mostly in 81. We have let some arrows fly but have yet to harvest. We are not specifically bull hunting, we would like to be successful. Most of all we would like to have encounters even if we are not successful. We decided to put in for GMU55 this year. We are being lead to believe that we stand a good change of drawing. Several reasons for making this decision. But now we have no idea where to go in this big unit.

We are taking a long weekend out to scout the weekend before Memorial weekend. So we won't actually know if we have been successful or not by the time we go on our scouting trip. But I wonder do the elk tend to hang in that 8-10k elevation level or do they go higher come September? We are coming out the first 2 weeks in September. You get on google earth and everything looks good. If a guy was to concentrate on one area what would be a good plan. There is the Crested Butte area, Taylor area, Fossil Ridge Wilderness, BLM land, Pitkin. Heck that unit is so big it is overwhelming. We will be on foot for the most part and backpack in. It seems the unit has a lot of good road access which would lend towards moving easily around. First time asking for some guidance coming out that way. It is hard to come by but am impressed with this forum and the willingness shown to help out fellow hunters and like minded conservationists. Any bones thrown my way very much appreciated. If I could be of help to anyone I am more than happy but again my success speaks for itself, lol.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Bandit » 04 13, 2018 •  [Post 14]

Aldog wrote:New to the forum guys so pardon the budding in. But I was searching for some information about GMU55. Bandit if I may why did you not go back to GMU55? I am a flatlander and have been coming out there for the last 7 years only missing a couple of years. Hard to scout from the mid-west. We archery hunt, backpack and are in decent shape for being over 5 decades now. We have generally hunted the first weeks in September, have changed it up over time. We have hunted mostly in 81. We have let some arrows fly but have yet to harvest. We are not specifically bull hunting, we would like to be successful. Most of all we would like to have encounters even if we are not successful. We decided to put in for GMU55 this year. We are being lead to believe that we stand a good change of drawing. Several reasons for making this decision. But now we have no idea where to go in this big unit.

We are taking a long weekend out to scout the weekend before Memorial weekend. So we won't actually know if we have been successful or not by the time we go on our scouting trip. But I wonder do the elk tend to hang in that 8-10k elevation level or do they go higher come September? We are coming out the first 2 weeks in September. You get on google earth and everything looks good. If a guy was to concentrate on one area what would be a good plan. There is the Crested Butte area, Taylor area, Fossil Ridge Wilderness, BLM land, Pitkin. Heck that unit is so big it is overwhelming. We will be on foot for the most part and backpack in. It seems the unit has a lot of good road access which would lend towards moving easily around. First time asking for some guidance coming out that way. It is hard to come by but am impressed with this forum and the willingness shown to help out fellow hunters and like minded conservationists. Any bones thrown my way very much appreciated. If I could be of help to anyone I am more than happy but again my success speaks for itself, lol.



Hey there Aldog,
We hunted in and around Texas Creek in Collegiate Peaks Winderness. We mostly hunted at or just below tree line. That puts you at around 11-12000 ft in that area. The reason we were looking to change was there are not a whole lot of elk. We’d see elk but it just never seemed like we could find them on a regular basis. I looked at GMU 54 because based off 2016 stats it looked somewhat appealing. Now that stats are out for 2017 and also from what people are saying here I think I screwed up. Good luck this year!
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 13, 2018 •  [Post 15]

I believe you can turn your tag in early and not get hit with the stiff penalty. Even so,I think it is only $15 or so .Then search around and buy an OTC tag elsewhere.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Kessler10 » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 16]

if you do your homework and work your ass off you will find elk. All you you need to find is 1.

Be in shape
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Bandit » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 17]

Kessler10 wrote:if you do your homework and work your ass off you will find elk. All you you need to find is 1.

Be in shape


Thanks for some positivity Luke!! That will be the plan. And if that fails I will have a hell of a week camping with my Buds. Cheers
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Bandit » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 18]

N2mywake wrote:I too hunt 54 during archery. Saddlesore has been a wealth of information for me over the years. I hunt drop camps to avoid the crowds, I'm in pretty good shape for my age but not enough to pack an elk out if the temps rise.
I've hunted with tenderfoot 3x and saddlesore is right there too. Last year we hunted soap basin with Eagle mountain. We got on elk but we worked for it. Their camps are full for archery I think. I do recommend them though. We're going back this year to a new camp.

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Good Morning N2,
I'm curious since you have experience with the guide services up there. Do they tend to focus on one area to put their camps or are they all over the unit. Also, how many camps do you think each outfitter has in West Elk Wilderness? It would be nice to know where they tend to congregate prior to our scouting/hunting trip.
Thanks,
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Deanmac » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 19]

Bandit wrote:
N2mywake wrote:I too hunt 54 during archery. Saddlesore has been a wealth of information for me over the years. I hunt drop camps to avoid the crowds, I'm in pretty good shape for my age but not enough to pack an elk out if the temps rise.
I've hunted with tenderfoot 3x and saddlesore is right there too. Last year we hunted soap basin with Eagle mountain. We got on elk but we worked for it. Their camps are full for archery I think. I do recommend them though. We're going back this year to a new camp.

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Good Morning N2,
I'm curious since you have experience with the guide services up there. Do they tend to focus on one area to put their camps or are they all over the unit. Also, how many camps do you think each outfitter has in West Elk Wilderness? It would be nice to know where they tend to congregate prior to our scouting/hunting trip.
Thanks,
Toby


Eagle Mountain has 9 camps on the west side from about 7 miles in to 12 miles pretty spread out from north boundary to south boundary. I think Tenderfoot goes in from the south side and I have no clue how many camps they run. I did meet a couple guys that backpacked in from the west side about 12 miles and got tenderfoot to pack out their harvest. I knew of 5 bulls taken last first rifle and they all were very scrub bulls. I have seem many whitetails with larger racks. LOL
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 20]

I only know of Tenderfoots main camp on North Castle creek and one drop camp on Pass creek. He might have other camps in other locations,but his trucks are always parked at Swampy Pass Trail head.Before that he based out of Tom Evans place down the road a mile or so.I have known Tenderfoot Outfitters since Steve Pike owned it, then Tom Evans, the Fred Stinson. Location has always been the same.This has been from1995 thru today.I'm not sure how long before that Steve Pike owned it. I have traveled all over that country on the east side and never encountered any other camps of his.

Soap Basin country has always had better elk hunting and more country which is probably why Eagle Mountain has more camps.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby N2mywake » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 21]

Bandit wrote:
N2mywake wrote:I too hunt 54 during archery. Saddlesore has been a wealth of information for me over the years. I hunt drop camps to avoid the crowds, I'm in pretty good shape for my age but not enough to pack an elk out if the temps rise.
I've hunted with tenderfoot 3x and saddlesore is right there too. Last year we hunted soap basin with Eagle mountain. We got on elk but we worked for it. Their camps are full for archery I think. I do recommend them though. We're going back this year to a new camp.

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Good Morning N2,
I'm curious since you have experience with the guide services up there. Do they tend to focus on one area to put their camps or are they all over the unit. Also, how many camps do you think each outfitter has in West Elk Wilderness? It would be nice to know where they tend to congregate prior to our scouting/hunting trip.
Thanks,
Toby
The other guys have mentioned the camp numbers. The locations are chosen by fish and game. Fred took away the pass creek location and told us he was going to stop doing Drop camps (but I do see they still have them listed on their page). My dad killed his bull in their area 318" (still proud of that one).


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Re: GMU 54?

Postby N2mywake » 04 14, 2018 •  [Post 22]

I will add that the terrain (where we were in soap basin was VERY rugged). We were in elk but we worked for them.

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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Colby3 » 04 16, 2018 •  [Post 23]

Hello to all. I just joined the site and appreciate all the information it has to offer. I live in Ohio and have archery white tailed hunted since i was 17. Im at the ripe old age of 60 now. On my bucket list is a archery Elk hunt. My son in law and his brother and I are planning a hunt this September and have put in for unit 54 in Colorado. We have been training for the hunt since December and have picked a few areas out after many many hours of research and phone calls. Bandit, if you read this maybe you can PM me and we can compare notes. I tried to PM you but I think I need 3 post before I can do that. You can also reach me on my cell if that works (440) 213-0810 Thanks again to all.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby six » 04 20, 2018 •  [Post 24]

I have archery and rifle hunted 54 a handful of times. Killed my first bull there during the second rifle season. I have glassed 500 elk on Castleton Ranch from the Wilderness Area during third rifle season. I've listened to a bugle fest November 3rd coming from Castleton as I was hunting the fence line between Castleton and Stateland. I would go back on an archery hunt in 54 in a heartbeat. Only thing stopping me is the flights only come in and out of Gunnison on Sundays. I would need to fly in Thursday night Friday morning and leave the following Thursday.

Gunnison is what God had in mind when he created elk country.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 20, 2018 •  [Post 25]

six wrote:I have archery and rifle hunted 54 a handful of times. Killed my first bull there during the second rifle season. I have glassed 500 elk on Castleton Ranch from the Wilderness Area during third rifle season. I've listened to a bugle fest November 3rd coming from Castleton as I was hunting the fence line between Castleton and Stateland. I would go back on an archery hunt in 54 in a heartbeat. Only thing stopping me is the flights only come in and out of Gunnison on Sundays. I would need to fly in Thursday night Friday morning and leave the following Thursday.

Gunnison is what God had in mind when he created elk country.


When was the last time you hunted it? Things have changed in the last thee years after they starter screwing with the tags. It started when they offered the 2nd Rifle, Either Sex tags ,500 w/cap /Now notice all cow tags are "A" tags, mean to rebuild the herd
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby Deanmac » 04 20, 2018 •  [Post 26]

saddlesore wrote:
six wrote:


When was the last time you hunted it? Things have changed in the last thee years after they starter screwing with the tags. It started when they offered the 2nd Rifle, Either Sex tags ,500 w/cap /Now notice all cow tags are "A" tags, mean to rebuild the herd


Sure wish I had know or seen this post before I went last year. LOL I should have know when I heard they recently changed from either sex to bull or cow.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby six » 04 20, 2018 •  [Post 27]

Last time I hunted was 2015.
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby saddlesore » 04 21, 2018 •  [Post 28]

six wrote:Last time I hunted was 2015.


Big change since then
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Re: GMU 54?

Postby N2mywake » 04 24, 2018 •  [Post 29]

saddlesore wrote:
six wrote:Last time I hunted was 2015.


Big change since then
The area really has changed. I continue to go back even after the last 2 seasons tags are unfilled.

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