Unit 48 cow elk
- Thread starter jones422
- Start date
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
I hunted 48 in the past and seems like most of the elk were on private property and tough to get permission.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
Yep, the Orchard Ranch covers a big part of 48 (100,000 acres) where a lot of the elk stay and it's leased out to SnS Outfitters in Casper. Most of the accessible BLM land on the ranch doesn't hold elk, as they are up in the higher country to the south and southeast part of the ranch where the BLM isn't accessible. The Lewtons own most of the rest of the best elk country in the area to the north of there and you'll pay dearly to get access to any of that property.
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shootbrownelk
Veteran member
I quit hunting 48 years ago, after S&S outfitters took over the Orchard Ranch. Used to be that a guy could get permission to hunt from area ranchers, not for a long while now. Last I heard the average trespass fee was around $250.00 for cows, maybe I'm wrong on that though. A trespass fee for bulls is higher...not sure how ranchers/outfitters can get away with charging more for antlers and still call it a trespass fee....but they do it.
Same thing happened to me in Area 49. The going price was $250 to hunt cows. I did find a few people that let me hunt for free but no elk on their land when I hunted it and the blm land I pounded didn't hold any either. I had hunted that area 4 years before that and a rancher let me on for $150, he originaly wanted $300. I won't hunt there again. I think the Lewton's wanted $500 but that was 5 years ago.
libidilatimmy
Veteran member
I'd try and get a hold of the Game Warden working that area, or stop and talk to them while your up there, if you see them. They usually have the inside info on where the herds are holed up and are willing to share that with you if you ask since they're not all that fond of the private rancher's / outfitters controlling the herds. All of the landowners in that area have become quite greedy of late and are more than willing to charge $300-$500 for trespass fees on antlerless elk, but people must be paying it which I find absurd.
WapitiBob
Veteran member
I have relatives in WY that hunt 48. I gave up on it before the app went in, no place to really hunt.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
***Don't kid yourself on your warden statement. Tom (DeSomber) is a good guy and I talk to him quite often when I'm out there (was there the whole month of October this year), but he's just like the other Wardens and Biologists that have to maintain a good relationship with the ranchers in their area because most of their biologist work is on private lands where the majority of the game lives. Most of the game in that part of the state, like many other areas, is on private land. It's the people that are paying the goofy prices that these ranchers and outfitters are asking that are to blame! If people would realize that and basically boycott those prices they would quickly come down to a reasonable level. To pay over $300 for a cow elk tag that is the going rate right now for a NR and then a lot more than that for a trespass fee that doesn't even assure that you'll see an animal is crazy IMHO! SNS is charging over $6K now for a five day bull elk hunt and we are killing them for just the price of the tag on public land that is legally accessible. SNS doesn't like it, but they can't do a thing about it. One time years ago one of their staff tried to harass us and keep us from hunting and he did the same thing to another group from Wisconsin. I contacted Tom, wrote up a complaint against SNS, and he went and warned Sy at their Trout Creek camp that any other complaints of that nature against the company would lead to possible revocation of their license. I've had no problem with them since then and there are now a lot more people hunting the area after that happened. We go so far back in that the latter hasn't bothered us since most people don't want to go more than a mile, if that, from their vehicle. We don't even start doing any serious hunting until about 2 miles from the nearest road. The problem with hunting 48 or 49 is that you need to have hunted the area a long time to know the game movements and be retired or have a lot of vacation time so you can hunt the whole season when sooner or later you can take an animal if you stay at it. We took a 5x5 and a nontypical 6x7 along with two cows during the two week season down there this year by hunting every day and knowing the area like the back of our hand.
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libidilatimmy
Veteran member
Guess I struck a nerve somehow.....I was simply suggesting he stop and talk to one of the state guys for information. The person who asked the original question is new to elk hunting and new to this particular area (which happens to be where I grew up). Just trying to help this individual, not discourage them.
Topgun 30-06
Banned
***Sorry, as that isn't the case at all. I'm just saying that it's doubtful he'll get any useful information from Tom, as I've known him ever since he started working this area and, although he's a nice guy, has never given me any useful information as far as hunting the unit. In one conversation I had with him a couple years ago about some of the stuff we're discussing on this thread he outright told me that he had to get along with all the ranchers because he needs to get on their ranches to do the game biology part of his job, which he spends a lot more time on than he does on the LE part of his job during the year. I'm not trying to discourage the OP and since I know Tom pretty well I don't think what I mentioned was doing that. Send me a PM with your name and I might even know some of your relatives if there are any still in the area, as I've hunted out there most every year since 1994 and know quite a few of the locals.
JEandAsGuide
Active Member
I ran into Tom while deer hunting this year. I asked him about elk since I had a 49 cow tag. He told me were some usually are if they haven't been pressured too hard. I hiked into that area the next evening and seen about 70. Never got a shot since the first herd was about 150 yds onto private property and I got messed up on the next herd. He still put me on them.
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Topgun 30-06
Banned
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
Interesting posts guys. I know the area well as I started hunting there in the the early 80's on Clear Creek Ranch. It was pretty easy to get tags then and the Hendrys didn't charge much for trespass fees.Things really started getting out of hand in the late 90's when Rob & Leslie took over. They leased out hunting to an outfitter for a while and the trespass fees went outa sight. I havn't hunted it for 10 or 12 years.
I used to hunt the northern part of Clear Creek ocassionaly that bordered Orchard. There was a school section that was totally surrounded by the 2 ranches that I hunted. Orchard had it fenced and posted and I used to climb over the fence and hunt it. Had there security guy and outfitter stop me and tell me I was trespassing. They changed their tune when I showed them my tags signed by Hendry.
The last years I hunted there the deer herd had really taken a hit and the numbers were really down. I do keep in touch as a good friend of mine is in charge of security there during the hunting seasons. He keeps telling me I need to come back and hunt. Maybe one day.
I used to hunt the northern part of Clear Creek ocassionaly that bordered Orchard. There was a school section that was totally surrounded by the 2 ranches that I hunted. Orchard had it fenced and posted and I used to climb over the fence and hunt it. Had there security guy and outfitter stop me and tell me I was trespassing. They changed their tune when I showed them my tags signed by Hendry.
The last years I hunted there the deer herd had really taken a hit and the numbers were really down. I do keep in touch as a good friend of mine is in charge of security there during the hunting seasons. He keeps telling me I need to come back and hunt. Maybe one day.
shootbrownelk
Veteran member
Topgun, Tom also neglected to tell you that an area rancher flies his aircraft for G&F. And when he radios his outfitter as to where the elk are, they look the other way. To say he has to get along with area ranchers is putting it mildly. The outfitters/ranchers also allow G&F employees to hunt for free. Trying to get information from a G&F warden is like pulling teeth. From what I hear from folks that still hunt there is that you had better have a good GPS and a land status chip. The wardens also patrol for the outfitters, looking for trespassers.
shootbrownelk
Veteran member
Colorado Cowboy
Super Moderator
I knew he had a plane and flew around a lot during hunting seasons, but so do several other ranches in the area. It's all about the money today! I think Spratt was one of the first to have a plane and do that kind of foolishness.
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Topgun 30-06
Banned
I've seen Rob up in his plane doing his thing! A couple years ago when I had a buck antelope tag and was up on top in the BLM to the north of the big pond along the main road he flew down at almost ground level and scared every goat in the area that I was watching onto deeded land. That year I was just unhooking my trailer the day before the season opened to camp near the pond on the legal BLM ground near there when an old man (no idea who he was) stopped and asked me what in the He** I thought I was doing. I told him I knew right where I was and was going to shoot a goat on a tag I drew and so were a couple friends that were coming in with me. He started in hollering negatives about NRs and how residents were paying taxes only to be bothered by us NRs and to get out or he'd come down and kick my azz! I just hollered back that I was there for the kicking and he better have good boots, LOL! He took off throwing gravel and I never saw him again. I ended up taking an 80" goat the 4th morning and the other two guys took nice ones the first 3 days. Last year my buddy from Sheridan drew a goat tag and we ended up taking one that may go over 80" after the 60 day drying period and it was right in the small section of State land that touches the road near the north end of the Orchard International Airport (LOL at that one) landing strip below Mahogany Butte. We do have Garmin GPS equipment with a chip and they are the best thing ever to stop arguments when ranchers stop to try and run you off legal public land, which they try to do all the time in some areas. Chuck Lewton was always good at that when he was still living out there full time, but he's now living in Spearfish and we don't see much of his sorry azz any more! His boy Kent and younger boy Lonnie now pretty well do everything out on their properties and are pretty easy to get along with, but to hunt any of their land you pay dearly! I just ran into Lonnie a year ago when I was starting to backpack a mulie out near the end of the October season and he drove his quad over to see who I was and I figured he was going to hassle me and say I was on his property when I was on a piece of legally accessible state land. We had a nice little chat and he actually took me on his quad a good 1 1/2 miles to my truck and saved me that walk with the meat. When I thanked him I made a little comment about his Dad that he could tell wasn't very complimentary and he smiled as he left and said: "We aren't all bad!" I had a good laugh at that as he drove off!
Topgun 30-06
Banned
***Because he buzzed me so low I thought I was going to have to go prone to keep from getting hit, LOL! I know the color of his plane and I also went by the landing strip and saw his truck parked there after it happened! I'd like to know how you can say he shares that hanger when that one little T-shaped building is designed and only big enough to back one small plane into!!!
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shootbrownelk
Veteran member
By the color. I have good binos...but as low as Rob flies, I really don't need them. You're right TopGun, they spook a lot of game, harassing wildlife perhaps? But don't expect G&F to do anything, Rob is a county commissioner.