3rd or 4th season is the question….

[TheGreek]

Meteorologists see 3 snowstorms ahead of Thanksgiving, will it be enough to reverse Colorado’s dry start to the season?

Colorado’s unusually dry fall could be coming to an end, as forecasters predict a wave of snowstorms to start this weekend and continue until about Thanksgiving. Meteorologist Seth Linden — who runs Seth’s Weather Report,...

www.steamboatpilot.com

 

[Yooper906]

Day 1 scouting: 10 bucks, two decent, handful of does

Day 2 scouting: 2 small bucks, handful of does

Opening day: 40 does (mixed between areas) 3 small bucks

 

[Yooper906]

Plan for tomorrow is sticking to script and monitor doe families.

 

[lak2004]

Good luck! Definitely been seeing bucks on does the last few days.

 

[Yooper906]

Good luck! Definitely been seeing bucks on does the last few days.

Ya. I’m seeing immature ones around the does. I gotta assume mature deer are around, but part of me thinks to leave these doe groups and go try a different area

 

[Yooper906]

Well my hunt has come to a close. Saw tons of deer and lots of immature bucks this week. Deer numbers are doing very well in the area I hunted.

The rut seemed to intensify as the week went out, with today seeing two mature bucks. I’m not going to lie, I started feeling the pressure moving into this afternoon. With only an evening and a day left, doubt started to creep in my mind. I blocked it out as best as I could, knowing that my hunt could change in a matter of seconds.

Now, I’ve only killed one mule deer in my life. I kept hearing people tell me 170-180 to hold out for on this hunt. Those deer are around, without a doubt. But at the same time I was asking myself, “ those are big bucks and bucks of a lifetime for some. Am I really that worried about score?”

My expectations going into this hunt were:
1. Experience the mule deer rut
2. Enjoy the laid back camp
3. Shoot a good representation of the species

My expectations were met!

 

[hunthikecamp]

Will be really interesting to go back and read this one start to finish, thanks for taking us along and congrats on the buck!! Looks like it was well worth the points spent, hes a stud!

 

[Yooper906]

Will be really interesting to go back and read this one start to finish, thanks for taking us along and congrats on the buck!! Looks like it was well worth the points spent, hes a stud!

Thanks! He’s definitely a mature 3x3. I contemplated for a second!

 

[Jgill19]

Thats a good deer!

 

[GrandFir]

Great buck, congrats!

 

[Yooper906]

Great buck, congrats!

Thank you!

 

[Neilbob]

That’s a great buck, congrats! Curious if he showed up in a doe group you’d been watching or if you went to a different area.

 

[Alanders]

Obviously, 4 is better but I’d take a good 3rd unit over a not so good 4th.

 

[Alanders]

Well my hunt has come to a close. Saw tons of deer and lots of immature bucks this week. Deer numbers are doing very well in the area I hunted.

The rut seemed to intensify as the week went out, with today seeing two mature bucks. I’m not going to lie, I started feeling the pressure moving into this afternoon. With only an evening and a day left, doubt started to creep in my mind. I blocked it out as best as I could, knowing that my hunt could change in a matter of seconds.

Now, I’ve only killed one mule deer in my life. I kept hearing people tell me 170-180 to hold out for on this hunt. Those deer are around, without a doubt. But at the same time I was asking myself, “ those are big bucks and bucks of a lifetime for some. Am I really that worried about score?”

My expectations going into this hunt were:
1. Experience the mule deer rut
2. Enjoy the laid back camp
3. Shoot a good representation of the species

My expectations were met!


View attachment 971642

Sweet buck. Congrats!

 

[yoopshoot]

Great buck ! Congratulations


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Yooper906]

That’s a great buck, congrats! Curious if he showed up in a doe group you’d been watching or if you went to a different area.

Yes, he showed up amongst a doe group we had found.

 

[poboy2214]

The last 3-4 days of 3rd can bring some really good rutting action. Taking into account the 9 day season length, most (but not all) of the hunters are either filled or burned out and went home.

Something else to think about, are the units your looking at OTC bull tags during 3rd and limited draw during 4th? What’s the number of cow tags during each hunt? Elk hunting pressure will definitely put more people on the hill.

Do your units have enough accessible public land winter range for 4th? Don’t overlook mid elevation hardwood browse country.

This is an excellent point about the elk seasons. I know of a couple units where there’s only about 300 deer tags so on the surface it may seem like a good hunt, but you may have 2000 other hunters out there because of the OTC during third season.

There’s a unit I can hunt from home that’s got me in this particular predicament moving forward. I finally hunted it fourth season this past year and saw more bucks than I had the previous two times when I hunted it during second and third, but I was shocked at how many had moved on to private land. Me personally in my area, I think I’ll go third from now on for a number of factors, most of which is just the higher likelihood to be able to hunt it almost every year.

 

[Kwmountainman]

I will be very interested to read your hunt report. Please post one regardless of how it goes.

I’m in the same boat. But I’m looking at a Hunt in 2026 or 27. I’m sitting on 14 points.

I’ll be hunting in the south part of the state so there is the potential for milder weather. But the area is fairly high in elevation and known for heavy snow and snow that comes early.

But if you stop and think about it, nasty weather is what you want. Yes, it can limit your access. But if it’s that bad, you know the deer will be on the move. If the deer moved prior to that they should be more accessible and also concentrated. One strategy would be to hunt as high as you can. Unless you determine that the deer have already dropped too well below snow line. That’s when private property can become an issue so I try to hunt in areas where deer don’t have as many options to do that.

Not only will the deer be concentrated, but there would be more rutting activity. Priceless! Big bucks dropping their guard when earlier in the season they are like ghosts.

I’ve seen some success rates in the third season equal to that of the fourth. But like KWmountain man said… I’d rather not deal with the complications of a couple hundred deer hunters and who knows how many elk hunters. If I see a buck, I don’t want to be pressured. I want to have the time to make wise decisions which could mean coming back the next day.

If I can make it happen, my plan would be to go out during the third season and start locating deer. Not just bucks but concentration of does where I would have a good chance of spotting rutting bucks later. I do like the idea of being able to talk to all of those elk hunters and 3rd season deer hunters as they get ready to head back home. Since the deer tag is so limited, I think they would be more than happy to share up to the minute information. I thought about a summer scouting trip, but I don’t need to look at high country to plan a fourth season hunt. I need to be there when the conditions are right.

So that’s my plan. At this point, my only question is how quickly do the deer push the button on migrating down and do they hightail it to any private tracks of land by the time the season starts.

Good luck!

I did not draw CO 4th season this year, missed it by one point.