Grand Mesa Questions

[Elk Junky]

This year will be my second year Elk hunting. I went last year to Montana and I am HOOKED. After entering in Colorado's DAU 2018 post hunt estimates into a spreadsheet, narrowing them down by several factors (herd estimates/size/public land %, success rates, etc), pouring over GoHunt for about 30 OTC units. I Narrowed it down to 25/26 and 41/411/52/421 (grand mesa area). Once I did that I began E-scouting on GE and did some forum research just to get a feel for what people say about those units (pressure, access, terrain, etc) to help me make the final decision. I Finally settled on the Grand Mesa area for our September archery elk hunt. We'll be leaving on the 18th and coming back to TN on the 26th.

Grand Mesa is very different from my usual E-scouting I feel because of the giant anomoly in the middle of it (the actual mesa) so very few north facing slopes, water everywhere, huge parks on top of the mesa, etc. So I relied heavily on the Colorado ARCgis map and used it to give me some starting points based on ranges/migration Routes/etc combined with GoHunt advice and OnX roadless areas and have come up with Options A, B, C, D. Most of them not being actually on the Mesa.

So I say all of that backstory to hopefully separate myself from the usual "hey im going to this unit where should i go" posts by showing all of the effort and research put into it. I have a few specific questions below that are general in nature (if that makes sense). I also will be calling the biologist for that area at some point this summer when time gets a little closer and asking them specific questions.

1. Hiking on and off the Mesa: Based on Elevation profile on GE and just visually it seems like on the Lands end finger of the mesa, there may be edges that you can hike down besides Indian point at the end? Obviously it wont be fun hiking back up but if we were to park on top of the mesa and use the network of roads to be mobile as we move down our options list. Is this ridiculous or is it doable?

2. Roads on the Mesa: Based on the fact that hwy. 65 is a paved road that goes up onto the mesa and then a network of forest roads/trails off of that. I am assuming that since they are pretty flat on top of the mesa that I should have no problem with a 4x4 f150 on 35" a/t tires? Is that assumption correct or should I still get chains just in case.

3. Glassing / Calling: Obviously the mesa has a lot of open space, but I was curious if glassing off of the mesa down below is effective at all? There look to be a few clearings and such but on GE I cant differentiate low oak brush from taller trees. Just curious if using the mesa as a "peak" to glass/call from is a dumb idea or if it could be viable.

4. Pressure Expectations: Obviously its Colorado, so there will be a lot of hunters. However, is most of the pressure coming from guys hunting the top of the mesa because its easy and flat? If we put in the miles off the mesa are we likely to be able to not be bumping into people left and right?

Thanks in Advance! And if anyone is familiar with the unit and is willing to share any additional knowledge or tell me if my areas i'm looking at and options are totally in left field and nowhere near elk, I definitely would be appreciative for the opportunity to PM them.

Don’t count on an f150 with 35’s taking you everywhere you want to go up there. Many of those “roads” are only fit for an atv or utv......

 

[Phaseolus]

Has anyone on the chat hunted the sides of the Mesa? some of the lower areas 8,000'?

Every year on the B tag. I live on the Grand Mesa slopes.

 

[marksjeep]

Some of those GM B tags are gonna be A this year. 521.

 

[Outlaw99]

Any of you grand junction guys know of Daryl’s Taxidermy?

 

[Phaseolus]

Daryl is well regarded in this valley. He did my Wife’s buck.

 

[Phaseolus]

Some of those GM B tags are gonna be A this year. 521.

Hopefully not 41, that’s my fill the freezer tag.

 

[marksjeep]

Just 521.

 

[Outlaw99]

One of my good friends from out there is good friends with him. He took us there to see his place. I really enjoyed my time there. Daryl is a hoot, and A heck of a character for sure. Really enjoyed his place. He’s a fantastic taxidermist

 

[WyoDoug]

I used to hunt Grand Mesa back in the days I was a resident in Colorado. I have never seen so many ponds and small lakes on a mountain top in my life. Some of them descent fishing too. There are numerous two tracks and trails and for the most part easily navigable I used to sit and glass from the highway torwards the Gunnison valley area and you can literally see elk moving in and out of the treeline as hunters pushed them around.

Word of warning for Grand Mesa, you usually will experience precipitation year round and temperatures rarely rise much above freezing, often falling well below freezing especially at night. It is usually snow free from around July 1 to late October, then in winter it is not uncommon for that area to get up to 30 inches of snow. Be prepared for subartic temps that can happen there at any time.

 

[Phaseolus]

I used to hunt Grand Mesa back in the days I was a resident in Colorado. I have never seen so many ponds and small lakes on a mountain top in my life. Some of them descent fishing too. There are numerous two tracks and trails and for the most part easily navigable I used to sit and glass from the highway torwards the Gunnison valley area and you can literally see elk moving in and out of the treeline as hunters pushed them around.

Word of warning for Grand Mesa, you usually will experience precipitation year round and temperatures rarely rise much above freezing, often falling well below freezing especially at night. It is usually snow free from around July 1 to late October, then in winter it is not uncommon for that area to get up to 30 inches of snow. Be prepared for subartic temps that can happen there at any time.

We talking about the same Grand Mesa I’ve lived next to for the last 33 years? Grand Mesa isn’t any different from most 10,000 elevations in Colorado weather wise. I would love to see a 30” dump, that’s awful rare.

 

[WyoDoug]

Wo

We talking about the same Grand Mesa I’ve lived next to for the last 33 years? Grand Mesa isn’t any different from most 10,000 elevations in Colorado weather wise. I would love to see a 30” dump, that’s awful rare.

Grand Mesa north of Gunnison River and east of Grand Junction? Yeah 30 inch dump when I hunted late season back around 96, 97 season and I froze my ass off. I ended up giving up and going down into the valley. You may be right but when I did the climate lookup it showed 30 inch dumps as common in the winter. If you live by there your input on the climate there is likely more accurate than anything online and anything I could say.

Edit: Maybe I need to look at more recent climate data for that area? What I looked at was for 1970-1979. I am going to defer to you since you live there. The source is the below link which is obsolete more than likely.

https://wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/cliMAIN.pl?co5520 and now that I looked at this again, I question it's accuracy if you read the line starting with Max Temp.

 

[fwagner]

Has anyone on the chat hunted the sides of the Mesa? some of the lower areas 8,000'?

I've hunted the Mesa/Unit 41 for 10 years, mostly below Indian Point. The lower areas in the Oak Brush hold elk all season long, and the bulls I have seen there are monsters (for the mesa) and are almost impossible to get at. You watch the bulls move through the oak brush like ghosts and then when you go after them you wonder how in the hell they make it through that mess!! Hunting pressure over my grand mesa tenure has grown exponentially it seems with less and less calling activity every year unfortunately. Agree with other posters that the bears are thick in there with some cool colorings though. One way I have never hunted the mesa but wanted to try was to start from the radio towers below indian point and work up hill in the morning, though the trail leading up to the towers would eat some truck tires if you weren't prepared!!

 

[Phaseolus]

I've hunted the Mesa/Unit 41 for 10 years, mostly below Indian Point. The lower areas in the Oak Brush hold elk all season long, and the bulls I have seen there are monsters (for the mesa) and are almost impossible to get at. You watch the bulls move through the oak brush like ghosts and then when you go after them you wonder how in the hell they make it through that mess!! Hunting pressure over my grand mesa tenure has grown exponentially it seems with less and less calling activity every year unfortunately. Agree with other posters that the bears are thick in there with some cool colorings though. One way I have never hunted the mesa but wanted to try was to start from the radio towers below indian point and work up hill in the morning, though the trail leading up to the towers would eat some truck tires if you weren't prepared!!

Well’s Gulch is raunchy, I don’t even like riding my ATV up that sucker.