I just got back from the ranch and shot a buck. I hunted 6 times, in 4 days. I was all over most of the ranch. Except for one section...(which is where the good hunting is supposed to be). Get yourself a USGS Moffat County map...I think #7, (the one that has Craig on it) I will check. They are a topographic map.
The ranch has about 5 miles touching US 40, and goes almost all the way to the Yampa river. It is less than 10 miles from Craig.
It snowed about a week ago, but after 3 warms days, it was almost all gone when the hunting started. I would expect the snow to stck around for a bit, it it snows again.
You may want to keep and eye on
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/gjt/
then click on Craig. It looks like snow...but it will be warm. Hopefully it will snow enought, higher up, to move/concentrate the elk.
The ranch was muddy at first, and then dried out. If it is wet, you will need chains. The mud is the slick type, where you just sit and spin. The roads are mostly all trails, but none that are all that steep or non-negotiable. The ranch is easy to find your way around on.
It is not terribly steep terrain. In parts of the ranch there is a road on every ridge and/or draw.
I found them to be pleasant and reasonable and the seemed to point people in the right direction...to locate game.
I had no problem at all finding does, and small bucks or herds of antelopes. I passed on about 7 smaller (2 and 3 pointers) prior to shooting the one that I shot. I was about ready to shoot a 3 pointer, but I should have taken the shot that I had...instead I expected him to travel in a certain direction and give me a better shot (he went a dif way). He was a beast w/his antlers a foot taller than his ears, and also 2-3" wider than his ears.
Most, if not all, doe hunters only went out once, or twice. Some of the deer hunters only went out that much. I must have did it the hard way as it took me a while to get mine. I'd some some people at check-in and then never see em again as they went home.
My 2nd day, I walked into the walk-in area and saw 3 herds of elk come in...2-3 minutes or so apart, in a line, the first bunch had 81 in it, then 12, and 31. Guess where the big bulls where? At the end of each string, w/them getting progreesively bigger. There were no BIG bulls in the herd, just some typical CO 6 pointers.
According to the gentelman at the check-in station, in the next week, or so, a ton of elk will come in and there will be elk all over the ranch. He did say something about them being pushed out to the west, by the hunters though.
You'll need a sled and/or cart...or hunt close to a road (easy enough done.
There is no hunting of meadows or pastures...and no driving on them either. But, the wheat fields are huntable. There are areas that have been brush-hogged, to get rid of the sage. The grass has grown fairly thick in those places.
Tenn Vol...PM me if you have any Q's. Also, you know why they picked that orange don't you...that way they can go straight to the game, w/o having to change, after their public service.
BTW...I retired 12/02, from the CO-ANG, but I can't collect till age 60...eat your heart out.
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