Unit 55 Colorado
- Thread starter Tbeak
- Start date
3855WIN
Well-known member
What season are you planning and resident or not? Over the counter tags in some of the gun seasons for residents. It has been years since I've hunted there, but it was crowded in those days. Fine country. Elk could be above timberline early, which means high altitude.
elkduds
Well-known member
Wilderness along the NE border of the unit. Many atvs in this unit every season.
Yelp it's the atv capital of the world! I would stay away from Creste butte area in my opinion. It's too touristy and PPl out on the atv roads etc. But taylor park is the same way. I've hunted it twice abd there are elk but u will def work for them. Very high altitude hunt Id day for muzzle loader the elk will be at least 10k plus and closer to 11-12k
CasperOutdoorsman719
Member
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2011
- Messages
- 57
I am heading to 55 for rifle elk for the first time this season. I am going with a friend who has hunted it in the past so I am going to be learning myself. Good luck
waygoner
Member
Be aware that Cottonwood Pass is closed through 2017 for a paving project. Access from the east will be cut off.
D
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Thomas11, we are also planning 3rd season riffle hunt in the gunnison area. We just got back from out first trip to kinda check things out. We are planning on going once more and then arrive a couple days before season to get some good scouting in. It will be my first hunt without some one experienced and my buddies first elk hunt ever. You mentioned "stay away from Creste Butte" because it "touristy", do you know much about the mt axel/carbon peak area? Is it just as crowded? We had it circled on our map to look into.
Any one else with some advice would be much appreciated.
Any one else with some advice would be much appreciated.
Dougfirtree
Well-known member
Pretty much anywhere in that area, that is within a couple miles of a road, will likely have other hunters around. You are not apt to find solitude there, but there are elk in there.
Thanks, yeah we planned on there being quit a bit of hunting pressure so we've been looking high and as far away as possible from roads and trails. hard to do in this area though, there are a lot of roads and trails in unit 54 and 55.
deer_shooter
Well-known member
I've hunted there a couple times once archery and once rifle. I would consider archery and muzzleloader but don't think I'd go rifle again. Too many people and atv's running damn near around the clock. Beautiful area though. You will have to get far off the beaten path. During my archery hunt we got into elk on the backside of American Flag as well as in between South Matchless and Baldy Mountains.
Dougfirtree
Well-known member
And if you get too far in, you'll run into the outfitters. But, there are some nice, elky spots where you can ditch alot of the crowd, if you're in very good shape and well acclimated (West Elk Creek Canyon, for instance).
We talked to CPAW and they said that exact thing. The farther you hike in the more chance you have of running into outfitters on horseback. Thanks for the advice. We have a couple spots around American Flag and Boston Peak but it all depends on if the roads are closed to atv's or not. The spots we have picked out are 2-3 miles back in there but if the roads are not closed were screwed. I need to call the forest service on a couple of them.
RidgeRunner76
Active member
More than likely the roads will be open. Been awhile since looking at the motor use plan but no closures I can remember up there. Fossil gets hammered depending on where you choose access it. Locals give it a wide berth for the most part.
