Colorado Unit 147 Question

[Coach W]

I need to ask someone in "the know" about state trust land in Colorado. Coming from NM and TX I realize there's a difference between huntable land and state trust land. I drew Antelope in 140/147 this year and at first glance it appeared 147 had 50k acres in its heart to hunt, but now upon closer review that land may not be huntable.

I know the drill, I've hunted public land in TX and NM. I'm not looking for honey holes, gps coordinates, etc and I dang sure ain't looking for you to post them here. However, if someone could PM me that knows the land around 147 I would much appreciate it. I plan on putting boots on the ground at least once before the hunt, but any help would be much appreciated.

 

[CodeMonkey]

Looks like there are a few patches of public.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Atlas

ndismaps.nrel.colostate.edu

 

[Coach W]

Looks like there are a few patches of public.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Atlas

ndismaps.nrel.colostate.edu

Yes sir. Thanks for the info, do you happen to know how the state trust land works?

 

[cnelk]

Yes sir. Thanks for the info, do you happen to know how the state trust land works?

Everything. I mean everything is on the CPW site.
There is even a helpful Search box on their page

Here ya go

https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/RulesRegs/Brochure/lands.pdf#search=Search%2E%2E%2EState%20Trust%20Lands

 

[mlgc20]

I researched that unit a couple of years ago. My recollection was that state trust land did not allow hunting. In fact, I thought I remembered that it didn't have any public access at all.

 

[Clarkdale17]

As Cnelk said you can check the CPW website, but the vast majority of state trust land is not huntable.

 

[ForwardFlight]

I need to ask someone in "the know" about state trust land in Colorado. Coming from NM and TX I realize there's a difference between huntable land and state trust land. I drew Antelope in 140/147 this year and at first glance it appeared 147 had 50k acres in its heart to hunt, but now upon closer review that land may not be huntable.

I know the drill, I've hunted public land in TX and NM. I'm not looking for honey holes, gps coordinates, etc and I dang sure ain't looking for you to post them here. However, if someone could PM me that knows the land around 147 I would much appreciate it. I plan on putting boots on the ground at least once before the hunt, but any help would be much appreciated.

How did your hunt in 147 go?

 

[Coach W]

How did your hunt in 147 go?

There are ZERO Antelope on public land in 140/147. It was a total bust. Plenty of Lopes around but all in private. There is one sliver of public that doesn't hold Antelope confirmed by the GW that's been there for 30+ years. We ended up simply hunting for land to hunt on and came up short. Hopefully this post helps someone else avoid the headache we had.

 

[def90]

Yes sir. Thanks for the info, do you happen to know how the state trust land works?

State trust land is generally closed to the public unless that parcel has a deal with CPW for hunting access. CPW puts out a public land book every year that lists every State Trust Land parcel that they have a hunting access agreement on.. Or you can just get OnX and click on the parcel and it will tell you if it’s open to hunting or not.

 

[ForwardFlight]

There are ZERO Antelope on public land in 140/147. It was a total bust. Plenty of Lopes around but all in private. There is one sliver of public that doesn't hold Antelope confirmed by the GW that's been there for 30+ years. We ended up simply hunting for land to hunt on and came up short. Hopefully this post helps someone else avoid the headache we had.

Thats pretty unfortunate to hear considering we already drew tags for the unit. Does anybody have any different experiences in units 140 or 147?

 

[def90]

Thats pretty unfortunate to hear considering we already drew tags for the unit. Does anybody have any different experiences in units 140 or 147?

Yeah, looking at those units on OnX 147 has close to zero public land, there is Picket Wire Canyon which is public via the Comanche Grasslands but I have hunted white tail in there in the past and have never seen a single Pronghorn down in the canyon bottom. Unit 140 has the Fisher Peak State Park and the 2 SWA's attached to it but that is mountainous elk and deer territory, not pronghorn land. The 50k acres of State Trust land mentioned in a previous post is not open to the public.

You are going to have to start knocking on doors if you don't have private land set up yet.. or turn the tags back in for a refund.

 

[Coach W]

Yeah, looking at those units on OnX 147 has close to zero public land, there is Picket Wire Canyon which is public via the Comanche Grasslands but I have hunted white tail in there in the past and have never seen a single Pronghorn down in the canyon bottom. Unit 140 has the Fisher Peak State Park and the 2 SWA's attached to it but that is mountainous elk and deer territory, not pronghorn land. The 50k acres of State Trust land mentioned in a previous post is not open to the public.

You are going to have to start knocking on doors if you don't have private land set up yet.. or turn the tags back in for a refund.

This is exactly what we found. We hunted hard for land. Talked to two GW's and two other groups of hunters. It was a neat hunt in that we got to see a lot of land and meet some new folks, while searching for a place to hunt, but we were never in a position where we could actually start hunting for pronghorn. Between us and the two other groups of hunters we met we hit all those places mentioned and found it to be true; no huntable public land for Antelope in 140/147. Knowing we were going to have a hard time going in we came with NM Barbary Sheep tags in our pocket as well. Day 3 of our "CO Antelope hunt" we found ourselves in NM chasing sheep. Which was successful, so we made the best of our bad situation.

Later after the hunt I was selected for a colorado survey. I sent the survey and included a note about the lack of antelope huntable public property in 140/147 to the CPW Commission. I received the following reply but, they didn't make any notes changes or edits in the book for this year, so I guess it fell on deaf ears.

Hello,

Thank you for your comments. Your comments will be shared with the Commission as part of the public input process.

So, I tried, but to no avail. I actually did my research better this year and drew a unit with huntable public property, so I'm stoked for this season!

 

[ColoradoCowboy]

Thats pretty unfortunate to hear considering we already drew tags for the unit. Does anybody have any different experiences in units 140 or 147?

Unfortunately the OP experience of zero public land holding antelope is what I would expect as well. FWIW, I would turn the tags in and see if you can pick up a leftover tag for a unit that has some public access (that may be tough as well though).

Whatever you decide, good luck!