Go Home
 
topper
The History of Tenderfoot Outfitters
Tenderfoot Outfitters
Your premier connection to Colorado’s spectacular West Elk Wilderness and your Rocky Mountain Adventure of a lifetime.
Gunnison Country's Best Adventure Outfitter Award 2005-2011
Tough Enough to Wear Pink?
 
Colorado Division of Wildlife

Colorado Parks
and Wildlife
 
Catch-A-Dream Foundation Page
Tenderfoot Catch-A-Dream
Tribute

 
To see current air service into the Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport please use this link
 
 
Archery and Muzzleloader Rut Hunts
 
West Elk Wilderness Elk Hunts

Bugling bull elk and the high country are an awesome combination that’s hard to imagine, and if you’ve never experienced it, you should. You will pursue rutting bulls during the breeding season, when their eerie bugling fills the mountain air and they become the most vulnerable. Stalking and calling these elusive animals you can sometimes bring them as close as few yards or even feet, allowing you a clear shot, but remember elk have no tolerance for human odor and will blow-out in an instant if they catch a whiff. An elk’s best friend is a thermal breeze and more hunts are fouled by a stray thermal than any other condition, but these up close encounters are still some of the most thrilling and exciting action you will ever experience.

Colorado’s archery seasonruns September 2nd through September 30th, providing many opportunities for the archery hunter. Either sex archery tags are available through the draw and currently take zero preference points.

ArcheryMuzzleloader season takes place the third week of September, providing the cap and ball hunter a tremendous opportunity to harvest a mature bull elk. Muzzleloader bull and cow tags are available through the draw. A bull tag currently takes four preference points and a cow tag takes zero.

During the pre-rut the summer bachelor groups of bulls are no longer buddies. They’re pushing and fighting to establish a pecking order and are constantly on the move seeking out cows to build their harems. Since they are on the hunt for cows during this stage of the rut stalking and cow calling can be a very effective method to lure in a mature bull. During this same time wallows are also a good place to locate a worked up bull as he tries to cool down and cover himself in mud.

ArcheryThe peak of the rut will find bulls with their harems in secluded pockets and timber patches and can be a difficult time to harvest a mature bull. The top priority on a bulls mind at this time is breeding not fighting, so calling can be tough. Cow calling can sometimes convince a herd bull to come gather up a stray cow, or slipping in close to a herd and mixing cow calls with a few small bugles may convince him a satellite bull is trying to encroach on his harem. He just might come looking and if all the conditions are right give you the chance to ambush him.

These archery and muzzleloader hunts are unbelievable, in your face, up close and personal encounters that will rattle the nerves of even the most veteran whitetail hunter. So, if you’re tired of sitting in a tree stand waiting for a buck to walk by, and you’d like to experience the ultimate hunting rush, give us a call and book one of these heart pounding hunts. You won’t be sorry and you might just get hooked.
 

They can hear you twice, see you once, but if they smell you, they’re gone…

Recomended Gear List for Tenderfoot Outfitters Hunts

 
GUIDED 7 DAY TRIP/5 DAY HUNT PACKAGE

ARCHERY OR MUZZLELOADER - $4,000.00

1x1 HUNT - $1,000.00 EXTRA

NON-HUNTER - $1,500.00

* SUGGESTED GRATUITIES *
GUIDE: 10% - 15% OF HUNT PRICE
CAMP COOK: $50 - $75
WRANGLER - $25

9 DAY DROP CAMP TRIP

2 HUNTERS - $1,800.00 PER PERSON
3 HUNTERS - $1,700.00 PER PERSON
4 HUNTERS - $1,600.00 PER PERSON

NON-HUNTER - $1,200.00

* COST DOES NOT INCLUDE TAG *
* ALL INCLUSIVE – NO TROPHY FEE *
* YOUTH AGES 12 TO 16 - 10% OFF *

For your safety and the well being of our horses we have set
a physical weight limit of 230 pounds.

 

 
 My dad and I have been self-guided and outfitted archery elk hunters for 4 years, and have always been a bit “wary” of outfitters, until we shopped and found this outfit. WOW, are we glad we did….it’s much more than a hunt, it’s an experience. High country, great people, great accommodations and food, BIG bulls, shots and shot opportunities like we’ve never had before. Thanks Tenderfoot. We’ll be back next year, and the next year, and the next!!
- Dr. A Ochsner, IL 
 
Meet the Guides
Barbed Wire
FOR RESERVATIONS
CALL
1-800-641-0504
Barbed Wire
 The Boys before a cold hunt
 
We Support the following:
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Mule Deer Foundation Cowboys for Conservation
bottom