CouesWhitetail Report post Posted April 1, 2008 Hi All, Last season I had a ranch owner call me asking for advice on how to setup a coues deer hunting program on his ranch. We finally were able to schedule a time when both of us could be at the ranch and I went down for a visit. The ranch is called the Cerro Colorado and has some interesting history to it. Apparently there used to be a very strong hunting program there in the 80's which is the time their grandfather was running it. The grandfather also spent time entertaining dignitaries including Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Well the grandfather died and left it to his daughter and others to run. None of them were very interested in the hunting end and so the business suffered. The family has been debating whether to just sell the ranch or try and make a go of it. One of the grandsons is motivated to keep the ranch in the family and is trying to get everyone on board on the need to get the ranch to make some money through various options including hunting. So anyway, they are getting setup to offer some coues hunts. I went down and spent three very enjoyable days on the ranch and glassed up one buck that was probably somewhere between 110-118. It was far away and moving fast so it was tough to pin down a score, but it was a very nice buck. It was wide and tall and had a smaller buck with him. Those were the only bucks I saw, but we saw many does also. Here are some pics of the ranch. The facilities are very nice. The rooms of the main house are very comfortable and are heated by a fireplace in each room. They also have several buildings next to the main house with nice rooms and also full bathrooms and fireplaces. They also have satellite TV and internet connections at the ranch. The other interesting feature of this ranch is that the grandfather was interested in having non-native species, many of them from Africa. So they built an enclosure that houses many species (I think there are 11 now, used to be several more including giraffe and hippo). Apparently they got the animals from the San Diego Zoo many years ago. Some of those include: wildebeest: buffalo: water buffalo: Argentine ponies: zebra: red deer: I also found a red deer skeleton in the enclosure and I never realized how different their teeth are from elk. Oh and here is an Addax. It's one I didn't see during a drive through the enclosure, but Dan Bishop got pics and emailed them to me. Gorgeous animals! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted April 1, 2008 The family of the ranch treated us to some great food and hospitality. One afternoon they took us to a place they call the sanctuary. It's a place with large sycamores and a spring and they have added some roman-looking columns to make some atmosphere for parties. They served all kinds of drinks and snacks (herbed tomatoes, fancy cheese, etc) and grilled up some carne asada for wonderful lunch. It was a wonderful afternoon. Dan Bishop and his wife Lisa were able to come join us for the afternoon. Dan runs Cola Blanca outfitters, a long-standing sponsor of CW.com and is the outfitter that will be doing the hunts for this ranch. some pics at the sanctuary: here is a pic of Dan and Lisa on some horses at the sanctuary. Several of the guests rode horses back from the sanctuary and here they are against the sunset: If you are interested in hunting on this ranch, please contact Dan Bishop and ask him about the opportunities there. They are trying to work in some hunting of the exotics with some of the coues hunts, so this could be a very interesting opportunity. Some of the other interesting species they have that I didn't get a photo of are barbary sheep (auodad) and addax. Dan will probably be charging a premium to hunt this ranch since the facilities are so nice, and I think he may already have most of the tags sold, so if you are interested...call or email him soon! dan@colablancaoutfitters.com http://www.colablancaoutfitters.com And you should check out the website for the ranch. You can see more photos there and read more about it. http://www.cerrocolorado.com.mx Thank you very much to Antonio Yturbe for the invitation to come to the ranch and for hosting us there for several days. Antonio and his mother and brothers all speak English and are easy to talk to. In addition to having hunting on the ranch, they would also like to have people spend their vacations there. So if you have a large family or group of people that want a very nice place to visit, plan a vacation on the Cerro Colorado! Amanda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted April 1, 2008 Oh, I almost forgot, here is a pic of some locked antlers that were on the wall. I didn't notice them until the morning we were leaving or I would have scored them. One buck looked to be well over 105. Oh and this ranch is easy to get to. It's only about an hour drive south of Douglas! You can go through Douglas or Naco checkpoints. here are photos of some nice murals at the Naco checkpoint as we were coming back into the US Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coues7 Report post Posted April 1, 2008 Very nice......just wish I could afford to go. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
IHunt2live Report post Posted April 1, 2008 Looks like a great ranch. I was in Dan's shop talking with him the day before he want down there and he sure seemed excited to check it out. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
firstcoueswas80 Report post Posted April 1, 2008 what a nice ranch house! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
az4life Report post Posted April 2, 2008 That is one of the nicest looking places I've seen for Mexico hunts. If thye have hospitality like you said to go with it they will be very Busy! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chillcouesmaniac Report post Posted April 2, 2008 Looks good I know that ranch is just north of El Bolletal sergio gonzales roguel and his brother great people!!! where we hunted a few years back there has to be some good grey ghosts there.CM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
