CO Early rifle wilderness deer help! What to do?

[Deucebump]

Hey guys, Im looking for some help/advise/direction. I have 13 deer points for CO and would love to burn them up this year. I really want to do an early Sept wilderness rifle hunt but not sure the best place to burn the points. I am normally a DIY guy and have hunted many wilderness areas in the west and been pretty successful, but am seriously considering using an outfitter since Im looking at using up 13 yrs of points. But still feel like I should do it on my own. It looks like I can draw the unit 12 tag (barring any major point creep this year), and I can almost definitely draw the unit 82/86 tag. What other units am I missing that would be solid choices. Im not going to lie, Im looking for a really good buck on this one. I have shot several decent bucks in the 150-172 range, so looking to better that by a bit. I live in PA but fully expect to fly out at least once and get boots on the ground before the season if I do it on my own. Im open to any and all suggestions at this point! Thanks in advance, and sorry for the long post.

 

[sndmn11]

The unit 12 tag would be a poor choice.

 

[Deucebump]

I have been thinking the same after doing some research. Not sure why that tag takes 13 points.

 

[Ridgerunner]

74 or 65 come to mind


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[cnelk]

He wont draw 74 with 13 PPs and 65 is a 5 PP unit for Early Rifle

 

[Deucebump]

Cnelk is correct, I wont draw 74. That has been my target unit for a couple years now but i cant catch the creep. I am looking at 2-3 more years before I can draw that at best and Im just over the building points game. I may look into 65 and see what wilderness areas are there, I do appreciate the heads up.

 

[Dwnw/theAltitudesickness]

Gohunt is showing 65 @ 5, is an off year. Previous few years show it hovering around 10 PP. Few points behind Deucebump and in the same boat. Came to the same conclusion on unit 12, those earlier hunt dates seem appealing though. decisions, decisions

 

[Steve O]

I am mostly a DIY guy as well. I have a pile of CO deer points. At one point I was going to do the early high country rifle and I came to the conclusion that would be one I should hire a GOOD guide for, one who excels at that specific hunt. I did not see how I could get enough scouting in from Michigan to DIY. I also never got a warm fuzzy feeling from any outfitters I contacted. So I have a still growing pile of deer points…tried to use them last year and got hit HARD by point creep. Already have plans for this November so pile, pile, pile.

Good luck.

 

[Deucebump]

Steve O, I completely agree with hiring a GOOD guide! If I hold out until I draw the 74 tag, I have an outfitter waiting. I have talked to tons of outfitters for the past 5-6yrs and he is the only 1 that I knew right away was the guy I was going to go with. Just up to me if I want to wait spend the money and go with him.

 

[Brightwhite]

I haven’t looked to hard into it, but what about a late season December RFW hunt? Have you considered that as an option?

I love the early season too, but if I could ever be patient enough to build that many points going the RFW route would be hard to resist…

Also I will add that I have seen some really big deer in wildness units that only take 4-5 points, so if you’re going the guide route like mentioned above, Don’t overlook guys that might have some pockets really dialed in on lesser point units.

 

[Deucebump]

Thanks for the reply Brightwhite. What is the RFW, Im not familiar with that? I have shied away from 4th season mainly due to the fact that I really have no interest in hunting winter range, even tho I know it is probably my best bet to shoot a great buck. I would love to know what guides have good success on good bucks in other wilderness areas, as I have no doubt they are out there, I just dont have the time to research all of them. So I have been focusing on those that fall around my point count, and historically good units.

 

[Steve O]

I haven’t looked to hard into it, but what about a late season December RFW hunt? Have you considered that as an option?

I love the early season too, but if I could ever be patient enough to build that many points going the RFW route would be hard to resist…

Also I will add that I have seen some really big deer in wildness units that only take 4-5 points, so if you’re going the guide route like mentioned above, Don’t overlook guys that might have some pockets really dialed in on lesser point units.

I thought CO Ranching for Wildlife tags were resident only. And take a LOT of points.

 

[Brightwhite]

I thought CO Ranching for Wildlife tags were resident only. And take a LOT of points.

Oh yeah… I think you are right. Sorry, forgot about that part of it.

 

[Jimss]

just remember that high country hunts in Colo usually have super low densities of deer and youlll have to cover lots of extreme country to find the few pockets of bucks that exist. I would also keep in mind otc elk and other hunters that may be hunting the same time.

To complicate things even more most hunts are dates after bucks shed their velvet and often head into the trees where they disappear until the rut on the winter ranges.

These hunts are a logistical nightmare figuring out how to backpack hunt. It ain’t easy!

With that said, it’s gorgeous country and there are some great bucks if you can find them.

 

[mooretitan]

Moving the dates back really hurt some of these early rifle hunts. I always had a plan to do one of these hunts but now just waiting and doing other hunts in different states. But there is something special about being above the treeline hunts bucks

 

[Paul_E_Hunter]

I thought RFW tags thru the drawing were resident only and do take a ton of points. However, if you're buying the RFW tag thru the outfitter than open to NR. With that said, the NR "tags" are really expensive and generally don't require PP.

 

[ckleeves]

The big problem with 65 is it starts the same day as muzzy with a sep 10th opener. I wouldn’t even consider it with 13 points. If it was a sep 3rd opener like 74 it might be a decent option but it’s always started a week later. There is a reason it takes way less points then 74.

 

[Deucebump]

Thanks to all for all the input through this thread. Ive decided to just get another point and chase the creep until I can get into 74, as that seems to be worth the wait. Im going to put in for an MT deer with no points in the random draw and put it for a limited entry in ID. As well as several other states and tags app that Ill likely not draw, but hopefully Ill end up with at least 1 tag somewhere. If not lm pretty sure I can draw an antelope tag in MT and WY with the points I have.