COLOelkman
WKR
I'm kinda wanting to burn my 20 deer points just because I'm not optimistic that things will be much better in the next few years. fyi, to be honest I'm not a "serious" deer hunter and mostly have focused on elk in the past and get a token deer tag just to get out. I'd love to have a chance at a 180+ buck but I'd realistically hold out for that or bigger if I had elk meat (from bow season) and eat my tag if I had other meat. Otherwise I'd end up shooting any buck on the last day. Hate to do that but I'd opt for meat in the end. I also have a couple friends with similar points that may go in with me. I tagged along last year on a unit 44, 4th season hunt so I'm familiar with several areas but we really didn't see many "good" bucks...lots of bucks but only a few OK 4 pts. The pro's to me is I know several area and know a few people that likely would help scout at least part time but not a guarantee. This year, 4th season was warm which made roads REALLY muddy so an enclosed side by side was invaluable just to make things bearable mud-wise. I might have access to one but not enclosed and you'd be covered in mud if weather was similar. I have ATV's and 4WD with chains but many areas would have been tough to access this year considering the mud. My takeaway is to be mobile as you need to go to several different spots daily and scouters are a huge benefit for finding bigger deer. So not sure if 3rd or 4th would be better (7 days vs 5 days and 20 buck tags each season). One of my friends is leaning towards unit 10 which would be 3rd season or possibly 2nd but we've only scouted that last summer for a weekend so not much knowledge there. I'm not sure if any other areas would be a quality hunt, like a RFW tag and I've not looked into those much yet but plan to in the next couple months. I realize weather can really make or break a hunt sometimes so that's a wildcard. Anyone have any experience or opinions or input that they'd like to share with is greatly appreciated.