CO Unit 181 2nd Rifle Season

ColoradoHunter719

ColoradoHunter719

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Colorado Springs, CO
Good Morning to ALL,

We drew 2 Buck Tags for 2nd Rifle Season GMU 27/181 right by Kremmling, CO. However, we will be concentrating on GMU 181. I have done a good amount of research about the area and watched some of the Semi-Live HUSHIN/MTN OPS shows from 2015 and 2016 since they were hunting the same area. As you can see from this OnXMap, there is a lot of private mixed with BLM but we are not afraid of navigating those boundaries because we use OnXMaps via our cell phones.

Slide1.jpgSlide2.jpg

I’m interested on any advice from anyone who has hunted this area; especially 2nd Rifle season. I’m not looking for your Honey spot, just some areas where I can concentrate doing more research about it and begin creating some potential spots within the spots. Thank you in advance for your time and information. Have a great day.

By the way, No, we do not have the money to pay for private access.

V/R,
ColoradoHunter719
 
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Not hunted that spot but have been through there. Make sure you stop at The Moose cafe in Kremmling...great food.
 
First - go check out Randy's YouTube video about desk scouting and how he identifies areas to hunt. Get a mile or more from the road and the crowd will thin out. If you're first up the mountain you'll have the chance to kill bucks that other guys push around. You may get a PM or 2, but not many people are going to publicly disclose starting points on an easy to draw unit. Units that take 15 points are a little different.

What I would do having hunted surrounding areas with similar terrain is start high in 2nd season and work your way down until you find animals. You need to be in a glassing spot before daylight as your window to find, stalk, and kill a good buck can be short in the 2nd season. Depending on weather, the last 45 minutes of daylight are good if it's not oppressively hot like last year. If it's hot you need to pound the shaded areas with your glass even more.
If you see a good buck move quick b/c there are plenty of guys in the field.
 
Redman,

We will check that place out for sure because we planning on staying at Muddy Creek Cabins which are like .5 miles from that place and about 10 min walk if we don't want to drive lol. Thanks for the info.

ColoradoHunter719
 
ShootsManyBullets,

Thanks for the info. I do follow Randy’s videos and using his Desk Scouting method for sure. I know many people don’t like to share specifics, I’m still learning that but for me, I have no problem sharing information from the other units I hunted. Obviously, we all do research differently and some of us like to follow rabbit holes and overthink it too much lol.

I know what you are saying about moving quick if we see a good buck; specially hunting public areas. Last year while hunting GMU 31 for a late cow tag, I spotted a group of cows and while walking my happy @$$ to a closer distance, another group of hunter that were closer took one and spooked all others.

ColoradoHunter719
 
I lived in Kremmling for 11 years. It’s a great place. I know that area pretty well. As you have been told it is what I would consider a very crowded unit. The vehicle traffic on one of the main roads is down right comical. With that said there is always a lot of game hanging in camps. I’ve always viewed it as a meat hunt type of unit. A lot of does and forky bucks being taken. If you are after large antlers anything is possible. I do see nice bucks on the winter range in that area in January. Send me a PM and I can get you some more specific info.
 
Sagesniffer said:
As you have been told it is what I would consider a very crowded unit. The vehicle traffic on one of the main roads is down right comical. With that said there is always a lot of game hanging in camps. I’ve always viewed it as a meat hunt type of unit. ...A lot of does and forky bucks being taken. If you are after large antlers anything is possible. I do see nice bucks on the winter range in that area in January.
Click to expand...

181 is my family's "home" unit. My BIL's family homesteaded on Whiteley's and has run several large cattle ranches for many years (though most of their ground is now sold). There is a good herd of deer in there and a couple of whoppers turn up every year. As noted by Sagesniffer and others, mostly in the later seasons when they're down in the sagebrush.

That being said - we have begun hunting elk in other units, largely due to the crazy amount of folks up there in the general seasons (my BIL was never terribly interested in deer). I did hunt 181 archery elk and 3rd rifle deer last year. We caught a few sightings of a bruiser old snaggletooth buck during archery elk and I thought I had his lair pegged out, but I never saw him again after September.

There are very few places in the unit where you can get more than a mile from a motorized travel route. The game is more on getting in front of where the animals are trying to escape the pressure and cutting them off. If you can get into good escape cover and monitor a few routes very early you'll see more game as the other folks push them down.

If you're into bears, the bear population is booming in 181 and as a rule, they tend towards cinnamon-phase. Very pretty bears. I glassed up 5 bears during just a few days hunting 3rd rifle last year.

Zach said:
Kremmling isn't to far from the springs, plenty of weekends between now and then. Never hunted there myself.
Click to expand...

This is probably the best advice in the thread. I'd get up there as much as you can this summer. That's one of the main benefits of the unit is it's proximity and access.

Since you're driving over from town each day you'll want to be on the road WELL before dawn so you can be sitting and ready well before the sun comes up and the pumpkin patch pops up :)

Feel free to PM me with any specific questions.
 
Pretty much echo here what has already been said. Our group has stayed in some cabins in Kremmling for years during 3rd rifle. Can't remember the name but they're owned by a guy who also runs the RV park outside of town. "A Friend" told me there's really good fishing right out the back on rapalas too. The key that we have found is hiking with a headlamp. If you're not hiking when you need your headlamp, you're really missing the boat. Nowhere is the thick nasty hole scouting method more important than the otc units around Kremmling. Also worth noting is the areas that aren't necessarily far from a road as a crow flies, but farther from access, such as a 3mi roundabout walk to get to the backside of a piece of private, etc. During 2nd rifle, deer will still be buried in timber like ticks though, so saddles will be your friend.
 
RE: CO Unit 181 3rd Rifle Season NOT 2ND Rifle Season

ALL,

Thank you so much for the info. Honestly I just realized that I said "2ND Rifle Season” Should be "3RD Rifle Season". As I was reading some of your comments this week I realized that I wrote the wrong season for this post and for some reason I cannot edit the post. This year so far I managed to land the following tags and I was getting confused on the dates LOL:

1. 1st Rifle Season: Pronghorn Buck, GMU 118.
2. 2nd Rifle Season: Elk Cow and OTC Elk Bull, GMU 54.
3. 3rd Rifle Season: Mule Deer Buck, GMU 181.
4. 4th Rifle Season: Pronghorn Doe, GMU 118.

Have a great day and for sure I will PM some of you for more info. Thank you so much in advance.

V/R,
ColoradoHunter719
 
ColoradoHunter719 said:
Redman,

We will check that place out for sure because we planning on staying at Muddy Creek Cabins which are like .5 miles from that place and about 10 min walk if we don't want to drive lol. Thanks for the info.

ColoradoHunter719
Click to expand...

You might run into a guy by the name of Jim Zumbo he is the only other person I know that likes the place as much as I do.
 
181is a bit brutal with all that CO is infamous for, too much orange and too many atv's, tons of closures one would think would help but the hunters do not obey the laws, run right over the markers... You get 27 too right?? Go west! Get up high and stick till after dark and watch the headlights leaving all that sage country on the tributary roads you will quickly understand the problem. Very hard winter changes everything though as the private empties out. Usually after 4th, some years never happens.
 
ColoradoHunter719 said:
Good Morning to ALL,

We drew 2 Buck Tags for 2nd Rifle Season GMU 27/181 right by Kremmling, CO. However, we will be concentrating on GMU 181. I have done a good amount of research about the area and watched some of the Semi-Live HUSHIN/MTN OPS shows from 2015 and 2016 since they were hunting the same area. As you can see from this OnXMap, there is a lot of private mixed with BLM but we are not afraid of navigating those boundaries because we use OnXMaps via our cell phones.

View attachment 71747View attachment 71748

I’m interested on any advice from anyone who has hunted this area; especially 2nd Rifle season. I’m not looking for your Honey spot, just some areas where I can concentrate doing more research about it and begin creating some potential spots within the spots. Thank you in advance for your time and information. Have a great day.

By the way, No, we do not have the money to pay for private access.

V/R,
ColoradoHunter719
Click to expand...
How did the hunt go heading up there Friday I know it was awhile ago lol
 
I will be next door in 18/28 so good luck! Have lived in CO my whole life, but this will be my first big game hunt. Interested to see what the Orange Army looks like
 
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