A different take on trophy mule deer management - Our solutions have been the problem

[ColoradoV]

I don’t hate archery at all. I archery, muzzy, and rifle hunt.

First you said move the season 3 weeks back for all weapons. Not 1 week.

If the goal is to change the season so the mature bucks aren’t getting hunted when they are the most vulnerable yep moving the season out of the rut helps. But moving any season into August doesn’t. That would just allow archers more time to kill them before they get harder to hunt.

You and I both know mule deer are easier to hunt in August versus September. Not sure why you are denying it.

I’m not a big fan of making it easier on one group while making it harder on another.

So you had to be against moving all the season forward a few years ago just to help the elk hunters at least?

That change for sure 100% impacted archery deer guys negatively and made a crowding issue for archery deer guys as well as muzzy and rifle early deer. Also CPW will say it was a reason for moving all the seasons back as that is undeniable..

Also since I have killed 2 of my last 3 bucks on the last day or the day before the end of the season. 28th of sept on 2 and this year it was the 27th of sept or 2 days before closing... I guess the earlier is easier opinion is also not valid in all cases..

Good luck hashing it out boys I am heading skiing w my girls as that damn buck will not drop his head gear today it looks like. Also one last velvet pic of the buck I shot on Sept 27th of this year as well they all seem to look better to me in velvet rather than hard horned..

 

[dirtytough]

Also since I have killed 2 of my last 3 bucks on the last day or the day before the end of the season. 28th of sept on 2 and this year it was the 27th of sept or 2 days before closing... I guess the earlier is easier opinion is also not valid in all cases..

That data point convinced me it’s easier to kill mature mule deer in September than August.

So let’s move the early rifle hunts to the 3rd week of August, the muzzy to the 4th week of August, and leave archery the month of September. I’m sure the archery deer hunters would love that change. Less pressure when they are hunting and they keep the better season dates.

And since the success rates should lower for early rifle and muzzy hunters, tag numbers should be able to stay the same or even increase on those hunts.

Seems like a win win win.