Colorado Elk, Mule Deer, Bear Self Guided hunts GMU 33

We are always striving to improve your hunting experience, and it shows in the talented people that make it all possible. You'll be hunting a very diverse area with meadows, woods, valleys, and steep draws. Our ranch is located at 8,100 feet, but our hunting area ranges from 7,000 feet to over 10,000 feet with both aspens and pines throughout.

SPECIAL DISCOUNT FOR THE NEXT 2 HUNTERS BOOKED!! 40% DISCOUNT ON YOUR HUNT CHOICE!!

We offer guided and non-guided packages for both elk and mule deer plus non-guided hunts for black bear. We suggest that hunters arrive at the ranch on Friday for hunts based out of the lodge. 

For hunters with drop camp packages, we recommend arriving on Thursday in either Rifle, Colorado or at the ranch to allow you time to prepare for the pack-in the day before your hunt begins. Hunting will start at first light on Saturday. All guided hunts takes place in Game Management Unit GMU033. 

Our guides are experienced hunters who are committed to doing everything possible to put you in a position to bag an elk or mule deer. Each guide will put your safety and that of the group, above all else. Our guides know the area you will be hunting and will jointly plan your hunt each day to provide you with the best opportunity for success. Each hunt is tailored to the ability of the hunter based on his or her expectations, abilities, and skill. Our guides will assist you in all aspects of the hunt.

Weather conditions vary from dry, sunny days in the 60s to single digit temperatures. Weather changes quickly in the mountains so it is critical to be prepared for heat, rain, or snow. Evenings will always be cool to cold. The average high and low temperatures at the ranch are 70° and 32° in September, 58° and 21° in October, and 41° and 11° in November. Some snow is very likely in October and November although large temperature swings are common.

Planning is easy with Colorado's Five-Year Big Game Season plan. At the end of 2010 the Flattops/White River elk herd was estimated to be 42,370 animals which are the largest in the state. There were 7,840 mule deer in GMU033.

We'll customize hunts to fit your individual or group’s need. 

Turkey seasons for 2012 have not been established. The spring season in 2011 was April 9th to May 22nd.

2012 Hunting Season:

2012ElkDeerBear

Archery08-25-12 — 09-23-1208-25-12 — 09-23-1209-02-12 — 09-23-12

Muzzle Loader09-08-12 — 09-16-1209-08-12 — 09-16-1209-08-12 — 09-16-12

Regular Rifle10-13-12 — 10-17-12——

10-20-12 — 10-28-1210-20-12 — 10-28-1210-20-12 — 10-28-12

11-03-12 — 11-11-1211-03-12 — 11-11-1211-03-12 — 11-11-12

11-14-12 — 11-18-1211-14-12 — 11-18-1211-14-12 — 11-18-12

2013 Hunting Season:

2013ElkDeerBear

Archery08-24-13 — 09-22-1308-24-13 — 09-22-1309-02-13 — 09-22-13

Muzzle Loader09-14-13 — 09-22-1309-14-13 — 09-22-13*09-14-13 — 09-22-13

Regular Rifle10-12-13 — 10-16-13——

10-19-13 — 10-27-1310-19-13 — 10-27-1310-19-13 — 10-27-13

11-02-13 — 11-10-1311-02-13 — 11-10-1311-02-13 — 11-10-13

11-13-13 — 11-17-1311-13-13 — 11-17-1311-13-13 — 11-17-13

* Check GMU033

Hunting Rates & Packages...

You can select to hunt out of the ranch facilities or our remote drop camps. From either location you can select to have a guided or unguided hunt. You must go through the draw for all tags with 2 exceptions. Bull tags for the 2nd and 3rd rifle seasons can be purchased over the counter.

Pricing for each of the listed packages is customized. Hunting Packages begin at $1,795 per hunter and run up to $3,600 per hunter. 

You can add on a variety of options which helps to customize the hunt to meet your needs and budget. Area maps will be provided. 

A brief description of each hunt is shown below.

Ranch Based Hunts —

•Hunters are assigned to a specific cabin. The cabin depends on the size of your group. We have six cabins that hold from a single hunter up to 7 hunters. All cabins are heated, have a bathroom with shower and all but one has a fireplace. We work with each hunting party on how to best accommodate your group. Each cabin has beds, seats, bedding, towels, and shower supplies. Cabins do not have coffee makers, microwaves, or mini-fridges. 

•Hunters are provided with breakfast, lunch, and dinner while at the ranch. Breakfasts and dinners are prepared and served in the lodge. Lunches are packed for those hunters who choose to be out in the field all day while hunters who return to the lodge will receive lunch there. 

•Lodge based hunts are available during all seasons.

Drop Camp Hunts —

•Transportation into the drop camp will take place the day before opening day or as agreed with the hunters. We will transport hunters and their gear into the camp via horseback when safely possible. Horses will not remain in camp so all activities are on foot other than packing in and out. 

•The camp will consist of a tent with heating stove, cooking stove, cooking equipment, lamps, chairs, tables, cots, and toilets. Wood will be cut in advance for heating and cooking. 

•Food is supplied by each hunting party unless other plans have been made with the ranch. Food preparation is the responsibility of the hunting party. 

•Hunters are allowed up to 100 pounds of equipment, supplies, and personal items. Items brought in must be packed in duffle bags weighing no more than 50 pounds each. 

•There will be up to 6 hunters per camp. 

•There will be periodic visits by Outfitter to check needs and ensure safety. These visits will be made at least every other day.

•Drop camps are available during archery, black powder, the first rifle, and the second rifle seasons.

Guided Hunts — Hunting Fee $2,900–$3,400   ($ 2900-40%=$1160)

•Rates start at $2,900 for a guided 5 day rifle hunt or guided 6 day archery hunt. Both of these reflect a hunt out of the lodge. 

•Wilderness camp hunts are $3,400 for rifle or archery hunts and include guides, food, camp cook and full pack out service.

•There will be no more than 2 hunters per guide. 

•Each guide will assist with all aspects of the hunt. This includes, but is not limited to, assisting hunters in getting from camp to the hunting area, tracking game, calling game, identifying game trails, recommending stands, assisting with shot selection, tracking downed game, field dressing, packing out, and care for meat, cape, and rack until stored at drop camp or ranch. 

•Guides will work with each hunter to set up a personalized plan for the daily hunt. 

•Guides are responsible for the safety of each hunter. 

•Fully guided hunts are available for archery, black powder and all rifle seasons. Our guides will work to get hunters in place but will not necessarily stay with the hunters during the later rifle season hunts. Instead guides will continue scouting. Guides will still assist with all aspects of claiming game after the shot with guided hunts.

•See below

Non-guided Hunts — Hunting Fee $1,800 (-40%=$1080)

•Rates are $1,800 for a 6 day archery hunt or 5 day rifle hunt from the lodge. Drop camp hunts for archery and rifle hunters are $1,800. 

•Advice will be given on where other hunters from Coulter Lake will be starting each day. 

•Hunters will be on their own to work out of the lodge or the drop camp. Hunters will be assisted with the area to gain an understanding of the terrain and likely game routes.

•Pack out service is not included in this price. Game will be packed out from the drop camp to the ranch.

Turkey Hunts — Hunting Fee $600–$1,100   ($600-40%=$360)

•Coulter Lake now offers spring turkey hunts!

•Rates start at $600 for a 3 day non-guided hunt and $900 for a 3 day guided hunt; add $200 for private land. Hunts include 4 nights lodging plus all meals.

•The season normally runs from early April to late May.

•License for spring turkey hunts in GMU033 is over-the-counter.

•In 2011 tags were $21 for a Colorado resident to $101 for a non-resident.

Rates, Special Rates & Discounts

•A sales tax of 3.9% will be added as appropriate. 

•Gratuities are left up to your discretion for both the ranch and hunting guides 

•Groups of 5 or more will receive a 10% discount off their package. 

•Youth hunters will receive a 10% discount off of their package. The hunter must possess a youth hunting license to qualify.

•Only one discount per hunter, determined by the best pricing to the Hunter.

North American Elk (Cervus canadensis), is the second largest species of deer in the world. Elk can also be referred to as Wapiti, which is from the Native American word wapiti, or "white rump" used by the Shawnee. 

Elk and other members of the deer family belong to a group of animals called ungulates, the Latin word for "hoof." All ungulates have hooves. Like other ungulates, elk are herbivores -- they eat only plants. Their diet may include grasses, forbs (low-growing, short-stemmed plants), shrubs and trees (including limbs and bark).

Most elk that live in mountainous country migrate to lower elevations as snow covers the higher elevations, and then return as snow retreats in the spring and summer.

Elk have a unique mating ritual in which males perform posturing, antler wrestling and especially bugling, a loud series of screams designed to help attract females and to establish dominance over other males. 

Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) is a deer whose habitat is in the western half of North America. It gets its name from its large mule-like ears. Its closest relative is the black-tailed deer. The two species often share natural habitats, and can be mistaken for one another. 

The most noticeable differences between the two are the color of their tails and their antlers. The mule deer's tail is black tipped. Mule deer antlers "fork" as they grow rather than growing and expanding forward. Each year a buck's antlers start to grow in spring and are shed after mating season from mid-January to mid-April. Mule bucks also tend to grow somewhat larger than their white-tailed counterparts, particularly in cold climates, and have somewhat more prominent ears.

Instead of running, mule deer move with a bounding leap (stotting) with all four feet coming down together. Adult male mule deer are called bucks, adult females are called does, and young of both sexes are called fawns. 

American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) is the most common bear species native to North America. 

It lives throughout much of the continent, from northern Canada and Alaska south into Mexico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This includes 40 of the 50 U.S. states and all Canadian provinces except Prince Edward Island. Populations in the east-central and southern United States remain in the protected mountains and woodlands of parks and preserves, though bears will occasionally wander outside the parks' boundaries and have set up new territories, in some cases on the margins of urban environments in recent years as their populations increase. 

Although there were probably once as many as two million black bears in North America long before European colonization, the population declined to a low of 200,000 as a result of habitat destruction and unrestricted hunting culls. By current estimates, more than 800,000 are living today on the continent.

The ranch is nestled in a small mountain valley twenty-one miles Northeast of Rifle, Colorado. The ranch is easily accessible by two or four wheel drive vehicles until snow arrives.

Airports

The ranch is approximately four hours from the Denver International Airport and 90 minutes from both the Grand Junction and Vail airports. Each airport is served by the major airlines. Shuttle service from the Vail or Grand Junctions airports can be arranged. The charge per carload to pick up or drop off guests from these two airports is $100.

Flying into the Grand Junction Airport, we suggest you try to arrive before 2:30 pm to get back to the ranch and be settled before dinner at 6:30 pm.

Rifle also serves modern general aviation at Garfield County Airport. There is no charge for meeting guests in Rifle.

Trains

Amtrak's Glenwood Springs station is closest at 25 miles from Rifle. Grand Junction also has an Amtrak station. The charge per carload to pick up or drop off guests at Glenwood Springs is $50 and $100 for Grand Junction.

Buses

National bus carriers serve Glenwood Springs and Grand Junction. The charge per carload to pick up or drop off guests is $50 for Glenwood Springs or $100 for Grand Junction.

Your Hunt Destination will be the Town of Rifle Colorado.

Hunt ID: CO-ElkMDeerBBearTurkey-Rifle-CLGRO-Jack

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