Kremmling Colorado is a small mountain town at the northern end of the Gore range, and the southern end of Colorado’s Middle Park. The population sits right at around 1500 people, and is hailed as the Sportsman’s Paradise. Honestly, I can’t fault them for that moniker. It’s ease of access and availability of public land has brought me back season after season, so much so that my wife and I bought property there in 2022.
GMU Choices
One of the wonderful things I love about the area is that it’s where several game management units (GMUs) come together. This makes Kremmling an ideal base camp. GMUs 15, 18, 27, 28, 37, 181, and 361 all seemingly come together here giving a hunter a choice to make when applying for tags. Looking at the CPW 2025 map for Colorado OTC Rifle tags, you’ll find that all of these are valid for second and third rifle elk.
Deer tags are available as a draw in all of the units, and the units around town are considered trophy pronghorn units.
Weather
The weather in and around Kremmling varies highly, mostly due to the high hills and low valleys mixed with the difference in elevation. It’s worth noting that in town it might be raining but on the mountain it’s blizzard conditions. Remember the rule of thumb that you lose 3.5 degrees farenheit for every thousand feet of elevation gain. Layering is key, and having extra, and dry gear available at your truck will help you from feeling completely miserable.
| Season | Dates | Avg High | Avg Low | Snowfall | Notes |
| Archery/Muzzleloader | Sep 2–30 / Sep 13–21 | 69°F | 39°F | 0.31″ | Mild days, cool mornings, low snow risk |
| Rifle 2nd Season | Oct 25 – Nov 2 | 58°F | 24°F | 7.68″ | Increasing snow, colder temperatures |
| Rifle 3rd & 4th Seasons | Nov 8–16 / Nov 19–23 | 41°F | 14°F | 7.2″ | Snowy conditions, cold mornings |
| Late Rifle | Nov 24 – Jan 31 / Dec 1–14 | 29°F | 7°F | 9.13″ | Deep snow, harsh winter conditions |
Where To?
Whether it’s backcountry, car camping, or RV camping, the area has plenty of options. Hunting in Kremmling means an embarrassment of riches when it comes to public land.
Gas Stations
A word of warning while you’re hunting around Kremmling, have enough gas. Between Kremmling and Steamboat there’s no services for 40 something miles. It’s easy to run around looking for spots to go only to find that you’ve severely run down your tank. Also a word of warning, running around in 4wd all the time does a number on your gas mileage, so be prepared and carry extra gas, and top off when you’re around town.
- Maverik (Kremmling)
- Sinclair (Kremmling)
- Egeria fuel station and Liquor store (Toponas)
- Sinclair Gas (Yampa)
Groceries and Supplies
The mainstay for grabbing supplies in town is the Kremmling Mercantile, a fully featured grocery store with medicine and some camping gear. If you need a tag re-printed or to pick up an over the counter tag, the K-Town NAPA has a CPW thermal printer as well as MTN Ops products to keep you going on the mountain.
One of the topics that often comes up on hunting forum threads is where to get ice. People are often traveling from long distances, and need to keep those coolers iced down! The Kremmling Mercantile in town has block, cube, and dry ice available and Prickly Pear Ice offers an ice vending machine in town right next to the Maverik and Last Chance Pizza at the corner of CO-9 and US-40.
Processors
It’s a good idea to have a list of processors on hand in case you’re successful. I do most of my work myself, but I understand I’m often in the minority in that respect.
Troublesome Meat Processing
5240 County Road #22 Kremmling, CO 80459
(970) 724-3759
troublesomemeatprocessing@gmail.com
Elk River Custom Meats
2464 Downhill Drive No. 11, Steamboat Springs, CO 80487
(970) 871-7975
North Park Specialty Meats
437 LaFever St. Walden, CO 80480
(970) 723-8333
npbiggame@gmail.com
Where to stay?
There’s so many options to stay in town or out of it. Being hunting focused here at APTOutdoors we tend towards boondocking or backcountry camping rather than Hotel stays or short term rentals. However, who says your scouting missions have to be miserable?
Hotels
Kremmling offers three hotels, Hotel Eastin, the Allington Inn and the Super-8 right in town for a place to warm up from your time afield.
Hotel Eastin
105 S 2nd St. Kremmling, CO 80459
(970) 724-3261
Allington Inn and Suites
215 West Central Avenue, Kremmling, CO, 80459, US
(800) 981-4091
Super-8 by Wyndham
113 6th St, Kremmling, CO 80459
(970) 703-3664
Short Term Rentals (STRs)
There’s a bunch of Short Term Rentals available via VRBO and AirBNB though they tend towards the luxury side of things and can be quite expensive depending on your budget. But, budgets vary, and it’s nice to have a whole house to yourself. I figure I won’t be hunting out of a tipi forever.
Campgrounds
There’s several Forest Service, BLM, and private campgrounds around to stay while hunting around Kremmling. Bear in mind that many of the federal campgrounds will be closed during the later seasons such as elk second rifle (usually half way through) and beyond. The private campgrounds are often year round.
- Wolford Mountain Campground
- Red Mountain Campground and RV Park
- Williams Fork Reservoir (Denver Water)
- Pumphouse (BLM)
- Radium River Access (BLM)
- Dumont Lake (USFS)
- Blacktail Creek Campground (USFS)
- Lynx Pass Campground (USFS)
Boondocking / Dispersed Camping
The entire area from Kremmling to Hot Sulphur Springs to the east, Toponas to the west, Rabbit Ear’s Pass to the north, and Heeney to the south is absolutely loaded with dispersed camping options. So much so that your only concern really would be having something like OnX or HuntStand to verify land ownership details.
Choosing a site is as easy is looking for a pull out with an established fire ring. There’s plenty of them available, you really don’t need to make any more, even during peak season you should be able to find something.
I know that’s not a great answer, so here’s some places to look more specifically while hunting Kremmling:
- Wolford Mountain Reservoir, BLM and trails behind the reservoir offer several options for pronghorn, elk, mule deer, and sage grouse camps.
- Rabbit Ear’s Pass and Muddy Pass have several options
- Along Red Dirt Road (19) from 134 once in USFS property to US 40 on the north end.
- Red Dirt Reservoir offers a few campsites pending snow and mud.
- Forest Service Roads that spur off of 134 from Kremmling to Toponas and Yampa.
Miscellaneous Notes
One of the interesting aspects about hunting near Kremmling is that you can drive your OHVs around town as long as you follow some pretty straightforward rules. While you can’t drive on US-40 or CO-9 you can transit on the roads between pieces of public land. Make sure your OHV is registered with CPW, especially if you’re traveling over BLM lands.
During the latter seasons in the area, bring tire chains for your truck. For all four tires. Know how to chain up and down, and where to do it vs where not to do it. Having these available to you is cheap insurance from getting completely stuck on either muddy BLM roads or snowed out Forest Service Roads. Every year people take on more road than they can handle in this area of Colorado. Don’t be one of those guys.
On the chance that you fell in love with Kremmling as much as we did, maybe look for a bit of land to call your own. We worked with Rebecca Guthrie at Re/Max Red in Kremmling and found our place to make hunting and living in the local area a priority for us.
