The Gates Ranch is a 744-acre working cattle and hunting ranch located on a high mesa above the Colorado River in Central Colorado. About an hour north of Vail and 90 minutes southwest of Steamboat Springs, the property offers a combination of agricultural production, strong water rights, quality hunting, and access to public lands.
Originally patented under the Homestead Act in the late 1880s, the ranch has been owned by the same family for five generations and has never before been offered for sale.
Acreage and Agricultural Production
The Gates Ranch has a wonderful combination of assets that make it a truly pleasurable place to be. The ranch covers 744 acres, of which approximately 340 acres are irrigated hay meadows that produce about 250 tons of hay annually. It has a good set of improvements, including a modest but cozy log ranch home and a charming historic log bunkhouse that can sleep 12. The ranch is capable of supporting about 100 head of cattle year-round. The north side of the ranch gives way to a rimrock canyon that drops precipitously into Derby Creek, which is a free-flowing Colorado mountain trout stream.
Improvements and Infrastructure
With its homesteading patent date clear back in the late 1880’s, the Gates Ranch has a long history reflected by common-sense useful improvements. The original ranch house now serves as a bunkhouse during hunting season. With a spacious 3,039 square feet, it has 3 bedrooms and a bath downstairs, three bedrooms and one bath upstairs and can sleep up to 12. It is rustic and cozy, with a large country kitchen and an enclosed porch decorated by old cowboy hats and ropes. The interior is warm and inviting and furnished with ranch-appropriate décor. Also a log home, the main house is smaller at 1,158 square feet, with three bedrooms and one bath. There are several outbuildings, including two recent metal shop buildings, as well as corrals and loading chutes.
Water Rights
The Gates Ranch has stunning water rights, beginning with a priority decree of 15 cubic feet per second of Derby Creek provided by the Rogers Ditch and South Derby Ditch. Those ditches have an amazing history, as early settlers went through quite an ordeal to bring water across to Derby Mesa. In addition to the massive ditch right, the ranch has several adjudicated springs, which forefather Bud Gates used as the source of water to feed a beautiful 3-acre lake on the north side of the ranch. The water rights have been extensively researched by some of Colorado’s best water attorneys, and all decrees and adjudications are in order. The two homes are served by a high-producing well that gushes clean, clear water.
Hunting and Recreation – Elk, Mule Deer, Bear, Trout in GMU 25
Derby Canyon, on the north side of the ranch, provides excellent big game habitat for elk and mule deer, resulting in excellent hunting opportunities. The open meadows of mountain grasses and alfalfa provide an alluring feed source for big game herds, while the canyon offers excellent cover and bedding habitat. Owner Kip Gates has been outfitting a slate of up to 24 elk hunters a year on the property with excellent success. Typically the ranch receives 2-3 priority landowner mule deer tags each year, and Merriam’s turkeys abound on the property. The three-acre lake in Derby Canyon is deep enough to overwinter trout, and there are some lunker German browns and rainbows in the lake. It’s a favorite spot for friends and family to gather round, have a picnic, and catch fish on a warm summer day. Elk hunters can buy over-the-counter tags for second and third rifle season, and archery, muzzleloader, and first and fourth rifle season tags are an easy draw.
National Forest Access and the Flattops Wilderness Area Are Just Up the Road
For the adventure seeker who likes to ride horseback, hike, or otherwise explore, the Gates Ranch is only a mile south of National Forest lands. The Flattops Wilderness Area, known as one of the most beautiful high-alpine retreats in the Lower 48, has a trailhead just a couple of miles above the Gates Ranch. Hiking, exploring, horseback riding, backcountry fishing and hunting, mountain biking, birdwatching, 4-wheeling, elk and mule deer hunting – it’s all right out the back door from the Gates Ranch. For skiers, it’s an hour’s drive to Vail or Beaver Creek and an hour and a half to Steamboat Springs.
The Gates Ranch offers a combination of irrigated hay production, senior water rights, cattle infrastructure, private hunting and fishing, and proximity to National Forest. With more than a century of continuous family ownership, it represents a rare opportunity to acquire an established ranch in a strong recreational and agricultural region of Colorado.
