Colorado Unit 74 Hermosa Creek Wilderness Area

Studd muffin

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 20, 2016
Messages
130
Location
South Louisiana
My dad and I are planning an archery elk hunt in September in Unit 74, specifically in the Hermosa Creek Wilderness Area. Does anyone have any experience in this area? Not asking for spots, just if there are elk there and if we will have an opportunity to be successful. The terrain varies from slightly less than 12,000ft to about 8,000ft. From research, this area is pretty rugged. Would it be beneficial to start the day at a higher elevation and work down or vice versa? I would assume during the heat of the day, the elk will be in the shade in the dark timber. I was also going to locate water holes and scout these out as well. I appreciate anyone's assistance.
 

Beendare

WKR
Joined
May 6, 2014
Messages
8,247
Location
Corripe cervisiam
We have killed bulls in there. Huge area and is a well used TH by a lot of horsebackers. Junction creek to the S gets a LOT of hunting pressure with camps every 50' along the road that pushes elk into the Hermosa.

Its almost solid timber on the east side of the range...and it holds elk but usually not right on the trail usually back in aways in steep pockets. If you plan on hiking the trail to get away from guys, guess again as there are camps a long ways in up and all over the divide. The top of the range to the west is more classic elk country with open meadows and Aspens mixed with timber.
 

Pow

FNG
Joined
Mar 14, 2016
Messages
47
Location
Durango, CO
I wouldn't spend too much time in that area sitting water holes. Normally, there is water everywhere and water holes don't see much action. If you are in a dry drainage, there probably won't be any elk there.

As far as the high to low type strategy, I would stay high trying to locate elk and when you do, get in position to intercept. It helps to know the bottoms of those drainages because some of them are very hard to move through and you kind of need to know where the game trails are to know how elk will be moving through them.

Jct Creek Rd isn't as bad in archery as it is in 2nd and 3rd. There are some pretty good spots up there, but also some chunks of private here and there you need to avoid.
 

jcamp213

FNG
Joined
Aug 28, 2019
Messages
1
We have killed bulls in there. Huge area and is a well used TH by a lot of horsebackers. Junction creek to the S gets a LOT of hunting pressure with camps every 50' along the road that pushes elk into the Hermosa.

Its almost solid timber on the east side of the range...and it holds elk but usually not right on the trail usually back in aways in steep pockets. If you plan on hiking the trail to get away from guys, guess again as there are camps a long ways in up and all over the divide. The top of the range to the west is more classic elk country with open meadows and Aspens mixed with timber.
I was wondering if you could give me more info on this unit. I know this was from 2014 but we are looking at this unit this year and it seems like you have some great advice. My email is [email protected]
Thanks
 
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