I have a vortex crossfire on my muzzleloader and it does great at that distance. Very aware that there may be better options, but for my virgin eyes that had only ever used the crappy scopes passed down from grandpa, I found the Vortex to be really really good.
Solid green Sitka intercept pants and a hodgepodge of Subalpine/Open Country/Coyote up top depending on the layer. Tried some first lite pants and they were okay but I just love my sitka gear. Never tried Kuiu.
I say build them yourself and you can make them exactly how you want. It's not rocket science and if you're a carpenter you'll probably enjoy it and do a great job.
Archery mule deer in Colorado and rifle mule deer over Thanksgiving in Montana
Then chasing whitetails locally between those western hunts.. also I finally got a place to duck hunt so I may give that a shot this year as well.
4 x 8 minute rounds
Round 1: 1060m run and max effort burpee pull ups
Round 2: 1200m row and max effort barbell thrusters (135)
Round 3: 1060m run and max effort pull ups
Round 4: 1200m row and max effort handstand push ups
My grandpa got me one here in Oklahoma for my 10th birthday, and it's been amazing. Never have had to buy tags or fishing licenses or anything, even when I lived out of state for most of my 20s. I will be buying one for my son when he gets a little older.
New arrows are going to be your best bet. If that's not in the cards, I'd look at going to a lighter insert cutting your shafts down (FWIW i also have a 28.5 inch draw and my shafts are 26.5 inches carbon-to-carbon).
Get in great shape, get comfortable with backcountry camping, and just start hunting as soon as possible - literally any tag you can get - so you can learn from experience. Mule deer tags take a little more planning, but you can hunt Colorado elk or black bear OTC this fall.
Anybody have good luck with Trout Magnets? I've caught a million panfish on them and would think they'd work based on the name.. I've never even made a cast in trout waters, but am going to give it a go next week on my scouting trip.
Also how are you guys cooking them on an ultralight...
Thank you @guitarpreston for starting this thread. I'm also a first time mule deer hunter and will be hunting CO archery this fall. Question for those of you guys who do a lot of high country summer scouting about timing:
Seems people suggest scouting in late July or August. However, 4th of...
Amazing how people just don't understand how the draw works at all. Saw a fella in a Colorado hunting facebook group that was blasting CPW for his tag costing 9 points... Turns out this is him 😆