Co unit 40 Hunt!

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These videos were taken on the last three days of muzzleloader season in unit 40. It was a an unreal experience to have so many big bulls around. A large amount of elk are on the border of public and private and all the water was on private so hunting was still tough even with a large amount of elk around. Sorry the video quality is not very good!!
 
These videos were taken on the last three days of muzzleloader season in unit 40. It was a an unreal experience to have so many big bulls around. A large amount of elk are on the border of public and private and all the water was on private so hunting was still tough even with a large amount of elk around. Sorry the video quality is not very good!!
Enjoyed your video of elk in 40. Very fun to watch ! Some good Bulls. ? I've got 15 elk points & having a tough time choosing either 40 or 61 2nd season rifle. Never hunted either unit. Looking for a 350 plus bull, one chance only, never get a 2 nd. I'm 73 & running out of time to pull the trigger on a big bull. Have you hunted 61 anytime ? Just looking for experienced Hunter information. Thanks so much ! Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co ??
E M: [email protected]
 
Enjoyed your video of elk in 40. Very fun to watch ! Some good Bulls. ? I've got 15 elk points & having a tough time choosing either 40 or 61 2nd season rifle. Never hunted either unit. Looking for a 350 plus bull, one chance only, never get a 2 nd. I'm 73 & running out of time to pull the trigger on a big bull. Have you hunted 61 anytime ? Just looking for experienced Hunter information. Thanks so much ! Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co ??
E M: [email protected]
Jerry
I've been in 61 a bit from what I've seen and most would agree is that unit 40 holds more bulls over 350.. however 61 holds a larger number of elk and has wayyyy more public ground. second season rifle i might opt for 61 if it was a rut hunt i'd go 40
 
Garvey Brothers outfitter in 61 is a class act
Thanks for the recommendation of Garvey Brothers in 61. Do they hunt 40 too ? Just wondering. I've got 15 elk points & trying to figure the odds for '21 already. For both units.
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co ??
 
If you want my opinion since you want a 350 type bull there is only one thing I would tell you.
Unit 40 and book it with Mike Lawson. Trophy Class Outfitters.
Don’t nickel and dime it go all in. I’ve lived in both of these units all of my life and that is the best chance you will have.
With that being said there are some awesome bulls in 61 also that I watch every summer and fall including this year but even I at 53 would struggle to get one out.
 
I am a NR with 13 points. I apply for 40 evey year and should draw in a couple years. I am looking for a place to pay a tresspass fee and go diy. I do not need a place to stay I plan to camp. Ideas? I can backpack in if it matters. I have been following unit 40 for a while and understand public land is iffy.
 
I am a NR with 13 points. I apply for 40 evey year and should draw in a couple years. I am looking for a place to pay a tresspass fee and go diy. I do not need a place to stay I plan to camp. Ideas? I can backpack in if it matters. I have been following unit 40 for a while and understand public land is iffy.
Good luck on a trespass free hunt. Most of the prime areas are locked up by outfitters but I may be wrong.
I have 40 acres in P&J bordering Landlocked BLM So how much you paying me?
Lol
 
I figured that, I have found a couple places but they are smaller which makes me nervous. Money is not the reason I simply prefer to hunt diy.
 
These videos were taken on the last three days of muzzleloader season in unit 40. It was a an unreal experience to have so many big bulls around. A large amount of elk are on the border of public and private and all the water was on private so hunting was still tough even with a large amount of elk around. Sorry the video quality is not very good!!
Very cool video! Was this all taken on private land? I have a 2nd season 40 bull tag! I will be heading out in a couple weeks!
 
The elk in the video were split about 50/50 on public and private..We were only hunting public and had no private we could
The elk in the video were split about 50/50 on public and private..We were only hunting public and had no private we could hunt
I will be hunting public only as well. Congrats on an awesome bull! I would be very happy with a bull like that! Fingers crossed!
 
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I was able to get it done 2nd season! Thanks for the video inspiration going into my hunt!
 
Very nice bull !! Well deserved ! Good job ! ?????
How many points did it take to get that tag ? I've got 15 points now & can't decide on 40 or 61 1 st rifle, not early, not enough points. I've never hunted either unit. It seems 40 has bigger bulls but Private is a big problem.What are your thoughts on that ? Any suggestions ?
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co






,
 
Very nice bull !! Well deserved ! Good job ! ?????
How many points did it take to get that tag ? I've got 15 points now & can't decide on 40 or 61 1 st rifle, not early, not enough points. I've never hunted either unit. It seems 40 has bigger bulls but Private is a big problem.What are your thoughts on that ? Any suggestions ?
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co






,
I burnt 20 nonresident points to draw this tag, which is a few more points than what was needed to draw, and I have zero regrets! I had my mind set on units 40, 61, or 76. This was one of the best elk hunts I have ever been on! There is quite a bit of private, but if you can hike, it’s not that big of an issue. The quality of bulls I seen in the 2 days of scouting before season and 3 days of hunting (I filled my tag on the 3rd night of season) was fantastic in my mind. We did get some awesome weather with that snow storm and real cold weather on the 2nd day of season, which I’m sure helped. If I could do everything all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing!
 
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Hey Frugal?

What kind of Gun is that?:D

I Only know a couple of TARDS that still use them here in TARDville!

Nice Bull & Nice Job!
 
Thanks for the recommendation of Garvey Brothers in 61. Do they hunt 40 too ? Just wondering. I've got 15 elk points & trying to figure the odds for '21 already. For both units.
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co ??
350 is a hard number for either of those units. I’ve hunted with Mike Lawson and also have hunted 61 With a different outfitter. 320 to 330 with a few 340 plus is more realistic for both units. They will both give you a chance at a 350 bull, but those units dont produce a lot of 350 plus bulls. Both would be very fun hunts and be a great memory.
 
350 is a hard number for either of those units. I’ve hunted with Mike Lawson and also have hunted 61 With a different outfitter. 320 to 330 with a few 340 plus is more realistic for both units. They will both give you a chance at a 350 bull, but those units dont produce a lot of 350 plus bulls. Both would be very fun hunts and be a great memory.
Thanks so much for your honest appraisal ! Just what I needed.
Very helpful indeed. Lots to consider . Jerry Gold in Windsor, Co.
 
Was fortunate to hunt 40 and 61 this year. 61 first season with my brother and unit 40 3rd with my dad. Both were damn fun hunts. Honestly I find 61 to be an extremely overrated unit as far as trophy quality goes. Spent a lot of time scouting in and seen some solid bulls through the summer and September but they become extremely hard to locate after the early rifle hunt concludes. Honestly archery, muzzy and early rifle in my opinion are the time to hunt it. We took it down to the last morning on my brothers tag and killed probably one of the better bulls to be harvested the week of first rifle. Most guys were killing 5 points and small six points that were a mile off from the 300 inch mark. We only turned one bull of the same quality as him and I’d like to think I’m above average when it comes to finding elk. Where as in unit 40 I scouted the day before season, turned up 16 bulls and then turned up 33 bulls opening day, (15 to 17 of them being 300 plus and one that I had figured to be 360 plus if he wasn’t broke) and dad was done the afternoon of the first day. That being said to kill a mature on the late hunts in 40 you have better not be afraid of cliffs or a tough pack out...

Coloradoboy

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Was fortunate to hunt 40 and 61 this year. 61 first season with my brother and unit 40 3rd with my dad. Both were damn fun hunts. Honestly I find 61 to be an extremely overrated unit as far as trophy quality goes. Spent a lot of time scouting in and seen some solid bulls through the summer and September but they become extremely hard to locate after the early rifle hunt concludes. Honestly archery, muzzy and early rifle in my opinion are the time to hunt it. We took it down to the last morning on my brothers tag and killed probably one of the better bulls to be harvested the week of first rifle. Most guys were killing 5 points and small six points that were a mile off from the 300 inch mark. We only turned one bull of the same quality as him and I’d like to think I’m above average when it comes to finding elk. Where as in unit 40 I scouted the day before season, turned up 16 bulls and then turned up 33 bulls opening day, (15 to 17 of them being 300 plus and one that I had figured to be 360 plus if he wasn’t broke) and dad was done the afternoon of the first day. That being said to kill a mature on the late hunts in 40 you have better not be afraid of cliffs or a tough pack out...

Coloradoboy

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I’d agree with you 100 percent. I’ve never hunted in 61 but have spent lots of time scouting there for shed hunting. We found way better bulls in 40 but to kill them you best lace up the boots because you arnt gonna kill one from the truck
 
Good luck on a trespass free hunt. Most of the prime areas are locked up by outfitters but I may be wrong.
I have 40 acres in P&J bordering Landlocked BLM So how much you paying me?
Lol
Reading your older post above I too am a Non resident & planning an Archery hunt. Is your 40 acres still available to hunt or for access ?
 
Understood. I'm from Western NY on hobby farm w/ 170 acres. Good whitetail hunting. Archery hunt possibility just surfaced. Got 17 preference points. Didn't mean to offend you. Doug
 
As a reminder, there is a good % of private ground in 40. Most of the prime ground happens to be private on top of the mesa that has the best elk habitat The easier access public gets hit pretty hard and the elk generally know the fence line borders. Some of the better public is a heck of a drag in and out and may only include smaller scattered zones to hunt. Some of the public is also lined with cliffs so go into it knowing you will have your work cut out for you on public.
 
Thanks Jim's appreciate your info. Trying to put together a d.i.y. Archery Elk hunt. Other than area 201 this unit got recommended. With a 40% bull success in trying to find out the public vs private success.Had a bad experience years ago paying for a drop camp. Very interested in hooking up with like Archer to hunt together.
As a reminder, there is a good % of private ground in 40. Most of the prime ground happens to be private on top of the mesa that has the best elk habitat The easier access public gets hit pretty hard and the elk generally know the fence line borders. Some of the better public is a heck of a drag in and out and may only include smaller scattered zones to hunt. Some of the public is also lined with cliffs so go into it knowing you will have your work cut out for you on public.
 
Even unit 10 has some private land and dinosaur park access issues but I would definitely pick 10 over 40!
 
Even unit 10 has some private land and dinosaur park access issues but I would definitely pick 10 over 40!
I’m considering trying for Unit 10 this year- have 17 points & never hunted there, staying in Dinosaur Motel ? if weather gets rough. Your thoughts on this ? It seems I might pull a 1 st season tag, but not 2 nd season, I’ve got enough points for 1 st season, 2 nd season likely not. Thanks so much !
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Colorado ???
 
I’m considering trying for Unit 10 this year- have 17 points & never hunted there, staying in Dinosaur Motel ? if weather gets rough. Your thoughts on this ? It seems I might pull a 1 st season tag, but not 2 nd season, I’ve got enough points for 1 st season, 2 nd season likely not. Thanks so much !
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Colorado ???
If you draw it will you return it if the atmosphere isn’t a 100% to your liking?
 
Question for you guys : trying to get an older buddy of mine to hunt area 40 with me. He'd be muzzleloader hunting. What is the quality & population of Mule deer in that area. Thanks Doug ?
 
I’m considering trying for Unit 10 this year- have 17 points & never hunted there, staying in Dinosaur Motel ? if weather gets rough. Your thoughts on this ? It seems I might pull a 1 st season tag, but not 2 nd season, I’ve got enough points for 1 st season, 2 nd season likely not. Thanks so much !
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Colorado ???
17 points won’t get you close to any elk tag in 10. You do have a chance in the hybrid, about 1.3% of drawing.
 
I’m considering trying for Unit 10 this year- have 17 points & never hunted there, staying in Dinosaur Motel ? if weather gets rough. Your thoughts on this ? It seems I might pull a 1 st season tag, but not 2 nd season, I’ve got enough points for 1 st season, 2 nd season likely not. Thanks so much !
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Colorado ???
Don’t think 17 is gonna let you play ball in 10 but I could be wrong ??‍♂️
 
I’m considering trying for Unit 10 this year- have 17 points & never hunted there, staying in Dinosaur Motel ? if weather gets rough. Your thoughts on this ? It seems I might pull a 1 st season tag, but not 2 nd season, I’ve got enough points for 1 st season, 2 nd season likely not. Thanks so much !
Jerry Gold in Windsor, Colorado
Jerry, are you talking about unit 10 elk or deer? There is only one rifle bull season. There is also no 1st season for deer.
 
If you draw it will you return it if the atmosphere isn’t a 100% to your liking?
Thanks for your question ! It will depend on
situation/weather at that point , it all depends on a number of factors. Too many things to consider. At 75, I want as many positive factors as possible. I’ve eaten too many bowls of tag soup in the past. Unit 10 has a tough winter ahead, so say the experts.
Jerry Gold In Windsor, Colorado
 
Regarding the Unit 40 archery elk hunt, not to be a killjoy, but you might want to keep in mind the rule change which has cut the NR allocation beginning this year. They'll only issue 10 NR licenses now, instead of 18 licenses. In all likelihood the minimum points to draw will jump by about 3 points this year for NR. It may take 18 points to draw as a NR.
 
23 pts for 2nd season deer was the cut off last year for a NR . You will draw with 17 if your a resident and if you do draw shoot me a pm be happy to help.
 
Gotcha. I'm a N.R. with 17. Hmmm - yeah guess I'll hold off digging deep til the draw results. Is 40 a good Mulie area ?? I've got some good Whitetail hunting if ur ever interested.
 
Regarding the Unit 40 archery elk hunt, not to be a killjoy, but you might want to keep in mind the rule change which has cut the NR allocation beginning this year. They'll only issue 10 NR licenses now, instead of 18 licenses. In all likelihood the minimum points to draw will jump by about 3 points this year for NR. It may take 18 points to draw as a NR.
True on the quota change but it doesn’t look like too many NR hunters are chasing this tag so unless a bunch of new higher point applicants jump in or overall tag quotas are reduced it looks to me like he would draw with 17 points this year…Horniac
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The point classes above him took 10 tags last year. That'll be the new quota this year. Keeping in mind that point creep has been reliably holding at almost 1 per year for this hunt, and that people hold out on applying and then jump in when they are ready to be guaranteed a tag. That's why there are fresh applicants every year in the 18-23 point class. It's certainly worth applying though. I was in the same point class a couple years ago, and am thankful to have already drawn that tag and burned my points, before this happened!
 
Awesome Video!! Hawkin rifles are the bomb. Been in unit 40 hunting deer, bear and spring turkeys. I have 13 points for elk but it's going to take a few more.
 
I put in for 40 this year (muzzleloader) and am a NR. I think I have a decent shot at drawing with 21 pts. However, I am getting mixed feelings about hunting this unit DIY. Not afraid to get out and hike. Thoughts?
 
I put in for 40 this year (muzzleloader) and am a NR. I think I have a decent shot at drawing with 21 pts. However, I am getting mixed feelings about hunting this unit DIY. Not afraid to get out and hike. Thoughts?
I don’t think you will have enough points, I am pretty sure they will be cutting the NR cutoff to 20%. Hopefully I am wrong for your sake. Good luck,

Mark
 
I don’t think you will have enough points, I am pretty sure they will be cutting the NR cutoff to 20%. Hopefully I am wrong for your sake. Good luck,

Mark
Yeah they are cutting the NR tags it was under the 35% NR cap regulation last year (10 NR tags) This year under the 20% NR cap regulation there should be 7 NR tags assuming a 35 total tag quota.

It all depends on who applies this year. If all of last year’s applicants apply again you would have approximately a 20% chance of drawing IF no new applicants with higher points apply which is probably not likely…
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Horniac
 
I put in for 40 this year (muzzleloader) and am a NR. I think I have a decent shot at drawing with 21 pts. However, I am getting mixed feelings about hunting this unit DIY. Not afraid to get out and hike. Thoughts?
I would bet you don't have enough points as it took 22 last year and not everyone drew at that level. Good luck though.
 
Yeah they are cutting the NR tags it was under the 35% NR cap regulation last year (10 NR tags) This year under the 20% NR cap regulation there should be 7 NR tags assuming a 35 total tag quota.

It all depends on who applies this year. If all of last year’s applicants apply again you would have approximately a 20% chance of drawing IF no new applicants with higher points apply which is probably not likely…
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Horniac
Just want to mention, that's not actually how the NR quota ceiling is determined. They subtract the landowner tags first. So the total quota of 35 first gets cut by 20% for the LO allocation. Leaving 29 tags for the public draw (instead of 28 because of rounding-down rules resultant from the 10% public and 10% private LO tags). Then at the new NR ceiling of 20%, that means 5 NR tags will be available (previously it was 10) again because they always round down for the NR allocation. I suspect a lot of NR folks are not doing the math on this and will be shocked after the draw. The reduction from 35% to 20% NR ceiling is going to be a VERY big deal for the affected hunt codes, not only for the total allocation change, but also for future point creep.
 
Just want to mention, that's not actually how the NR quota ceiling is determined. They subtract the landowner tags first. So the total quota of 35 first gets cut by 20% for the LO allocation. Leaving 29 tags for the public draw (instead of 28 because of rounding-down rules resultant from the 10% public and 10% private LO tags). Then at the new NR ceiling of 20%, that means 5 NR tags will be available (previously it was 10) again because they always round down for the NR allocation. I suspect a lot of NR folks are not doing the math on this and will be shocked after the draw. The reduction from 35% to 20% NR ceiling is going to be a VERY big deal for the affected hunt codes, not only for the total allocation change, but also for future point creep.
Thanks for the clarification on the landowner tags being skimmed off of the overall hunt tag quota before the NR tag percentage is applied. Good to know!

Horniac
 
Thanks Trevor I try for the right people.
Hi there, researching a muzz hunt and saw this thread. I have 25+ pref points(not enough for unit 10). Would like your opinion, I have years of experience hunting elk dyi(archery and muzz), have mules(they have the experience too). Are there places(public with decent trails/access) to pack into and camp with water and have access to good bulls?
 
Thanks Trevor I try for the right people.
Hey Todd touching base once again regarding Area 40. Trying again for draw. Thinking ahead : early Archery usually steamy - for pack out , local horses or hirees for a day's work ?? Heat n Mega meat way back in sounds like possible headache. Thanks for thoughts.
 
I know there are several areas in 40
That may be tough to access with horses due to deep, rocky canyons and private land blocking access routes.
 
40 can be tough on public. Had a buddy who hunted public land and I helped him a little after my hunt and it took him the full season and he ended up with a pretty small bull. And on top of it, it was in the nastiest area that took almost a full day to get back into.
 
Interested in Area 67 for Archery Elk. Descent 5 pt would be huge success. Any drawbacks in this area?? Appears to be massive public hunting ground. Main goal : low pressure & adequate size herds. Any thoughts appreciated. Also - was told to pack out an animal must hire outfitter who has permit in area.
 
Lots of public, decent numbers of elk, lots of hunters. If you are hiring someone to pack out your stuff, yes, they need to be licensed, just like everywhere else in the state. Just like most places,the hunters aren't evenly spaced, and it can be hard to predict where they are from year to year. If you are a beginner, luck can be a necessary component.
 
Bit the bullet and booked a first season rifle elk hunt for my son with Mike Lawson. He moved to CO a few years back for work. Finally making good use of the points I started buying when he was a kid!!
Mike is a class-act. I've known him for 35+ years. He will take care of your son. Access to a lot of amazing country! I believe it is some of the best in the State. Managed very well. Good Luck!
 

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