Colorado 2nd rifle mule deer - elevation?

[Newtosavage]

I pulled a tag on the leftover list for mule deer in a pair of units that range from 12K all the way down to 6K feet in elevation. The units contain everything from alpine meadows with scattered aspen/fir to timbered slopes, to aspen parklands, to sage flats to pinyon/juniper down to high desert ravines and draws along a major river.

I also plan to grab a Bear tag just because.

I'm pretty sure the answer is "anywhere" but if you were hunting an area like this in late October, where would you personally start looking and why?

One of my concerns is getting stuck up high in deep snow. I'm really not interested in dealing with that and I expect a lot of elk hunters up high as well. So I'm leaning toward focusing on the areas below 9K feet but have no idea how productive that would be.

Thanks in advance.

 

[griebel303]

While I am a rookie at Mule Deer hunting and going into my 3rd season, I have found them the last 2 years hanging out between 9000-9500 ft for second season. I think it will also depend a bit on whether we get an early snow like last year as well. Hope that helps some

 

[Upchurch_k]

We elk hunted 2nd rifle in 62 last year and saw a stud of a buck at around 9,000 and some does around the same elevation.

 

[Newtosavage]

While I am a rookie at Mule Deer hunting and going into my 3rd season, I have found them the last 2 years hanging out between 9000-9500 ft for second season. I think it will also depend a bit on whether we get an early snow like last year as well. Hope that helps some

It does. I like that elevation and will probably start there depending on the weather of course.

I was near the flattops for 1st rifle (elk) last year and we bailed out because of the early snow. It turned out to be a very good decision as we saw hundreds of elk at lower elevations.

I've spent the last 4 years chasing elk, and of course have seen a few mulies during those hunts, but I have very little experience targeting mule deer in Colorado.

 

[Runningwater]

If the weather is fair, all other things considered when I'm chasing goats or elk I tend to see them primarily hanging out at and right under tree line - but that's more typically late September. It also may just be because they are easier to spot up there........

Good luck!

 

[Runningwater]

just read your post again - the lower sagey pinion/juniper areas are often good bets as well........

 

[FYT]

I pulled a tag on the leftover list for mule deer in a pair of units that range from 12K all the way down to 6K feet in elevation. The units contain everything from alpine meadows with scattered aspen/fir to timbered slopes, to aspen parklands, to sage flats to pinyon/juniper down to high desert ravines and draws along a major river.

I also plan to grab a Bear tag just because.

I'm pretty sure the answer is "anywhere" but if you were hunting an area like this in late October, where would you personally start looking and why?

One of my concerns is getting stuck up high in deep snow. I'm really not interested in dealing with that and I expect a lot of elk hunters up high as well. So I'm leaning toward focusing on the areas below 9K feet but have no idea how productive that would be.

Thanks in advance.

Are you keeping the specific unit to yourself? No worries if so, just curious. I saw some nice leftover deer tags on there- I wish I could have traded mine for one of them haha.

I've been scouting a decent amount this summer in a unit that sounds similar (that's why I wonder if you picked up a tag in my unit, I know they were on the list) and even in July I've been seeing bucks and does anywhere from 7000-9000.

I'm sure many of the bigger bucks are up higher but I've seen some shooters.

What I keep wondering about is if the bucks I'm seeing now will head up higher once archery hunters are in the woods and then once they hear shots flying at Elk in the 1st season. Do bucks move up and down like that? Or are they more strictly on a high to low migration pattern over the course of the late-summer and fall?

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I would say high to low migration normally but if there is a ton of pressure I think their patterns could change. Survival first. Last year I was seeing some really nice bucks on low ranchlands at about 6500, so when I nabbed a leftover for second season I hunted the closest public land to those ranches and ate tag soup. I had my chances at forkies but with an elk hunt in my near future I passed. Wishing now that I had hunted the 8-10k areas. I saw a couple hundred does and a handful of forkies. Those monsters on the low private land obviously knew a thing or two. . .

 

[Newtosavage]

Are you keeping the specific unit to yourself? No worries if so, just curious. I saw some nice leftover deer tags on there- I wish I could have traded mine for one of them haha.

I've been scouting a decent amount this summer in a unit that sounds similar (that's why I wonder if you picked up a tag in my unit, I know they were on the list) and even in July I've been seeing bucks and does anywhere from 7000-9000.

I'm sure many of the bigger bucks are up higher but I've seen some shooters.

What I keep wondering about is if the bucks I'm seeing now will head up higher once archery hunters are in the woods and then once they hear shots flying at Elk in the 1st season. Do bucks move up and down like that? Or are they more strictly on a high to low migration pattern over the course of the late-summer and fall?

Not keeping the unit to myself, but rather asking general guideline questions because I wanted to avoid being accused of asking for honey holes in a specific unit.

Just really looking for help with some general guidelines of where a person should begin looking during 2nd rifle.

I'm not after a monster buck. I would like to come home with something though. I'm certainly not above shooting a forky in the P-J on the last few days!

Any thoughts on the additional bear tag? Same area as the mule deer, or should I target certain areas with the hopes of seeing both? I have literally zero experience hunting bear and the only one I've ever seen was running across a clearing 2 miles away at about 10K feet, 3 seasons ago.

 

[Newtosavage]

I would say high to low migration normally but if there is a ton of pressure I think their patterns could change. Survival first. Last year I was seeing some really nice bucks on low ranchlands at about 6500, so when I nabbed a leftover for second season I hunted the closest public land to those ranches and ate tag soup. I had my chances at forkies but with an elk hunt in my near future I passed. Wishing now that I had hunted the 8-10k areas. I saw a couple hundred does and a handful of forkies. Those monsters on the low private land obviously knew a thing or two. . .

Last year during 1st rifle, I was elk hunting with a buddy near some private alfalfa fields, on BLM. Dry sagebrush flats and ravines. Elk were passing through the BLM at night, and we hoped to catch a few passing through in the early morning. It nearly worked and we came awfully close to tagging out in the first hour.

Over the next few days, I kept seeing a herd of mule deer, including two very nice bucks (for me) and wondered where they would be come 2nd rifle season - whether they would stay in those dry hills near the farm fields, or whether they would scatter.

I didn't get to draw that tag this year, so I guess I won't know the answer to that.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I think in the case of the nice bucks I was seeing on the lower elevation Ranches, they were non-migratory and likely never left the safety of the alfalfa fields and private land. In hindsight, I should have known better and gone higher during 2nd rifle.

 

[Marble]

I've been 2nd season CO since 2002. My .02...

I've killed all my bucks above 10k, most closer to or above 11. This is also the general area I hunt. Meaning it's pretty high elevation in general.

If there is something ike last year where there is a big early snow, the deer take off for the lower elevations. Sometimes after the big storm we dont see a deer again because they migrate.

Now last year it warmed up and some deer either hung out or returned after it warmed up. We killed one decent 4x4 at 11,500 and I had another really heavy horned 4x4 give me the slip at 11,400. When he took off, he went up into a small valley at 11,600.

So I always try and hunt them in their summer pattern, above 10k, normally between 11,300 and 11,600.

If they migrate to lower elevations I'll just kill a meat buck because I'm concentrating on Elk too. Its difficult finding the bigger bucks in timber etc.

 

[MJL814]

Newtosavage I pulled this same tag. I have the same questions. Getting snowed in is my biggest concern


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[justinspicher]

I have been hunting the same area the past three years, about to start my fourth season of hunting there. No season has been the same in regards to any animal and when they go or if they stay. What I do know is that where ever I find any animals in one month, they have moved somewhere else by the next month.

 

[Marble]

I hope no snow falls until tuesday of 2nd season. I'll have my buck by then and then can go kill a bull in timber by following them through snow.

 

[Newtosavage]

Right now, my plan is to start low and work higher until I find a deer I want or just deer period. If I find them down low, then so be it. But if I gotta go higher I will. I just don't take chances with the weather.

Spent some time today mapping out glassing spots using GE and OnX, and I'm getting excited. There are a few knobs out there that look up into some big drainages.

Found an area of BLM in those units that looks almost inaccessible without either permission through private or a 2-mile hike over pretty rough terrain. Weather permitting, that might be a good place to spike out for a few days to get away from the crowds. And there will be crowds. LOL I'm mentally preparing for an ocean of orange...

 

[prm]

I seem to see more deer where aspens and sage come together.

 

[Newtosavage]

I seem to see more deer where aspens and sage come together.

That a nice zone to hunt and camp in alright. Also where I saw the largest moose of my life about 3 years ago, much to my surprise! He stood in the road and looked down on me in my 4wd pickup. LOL

 

[TwoTikkas]

My daughter drew the same hunt I had last fall. We saw more,and better quality bucks in tall sage as opposed to the short stuff. No clue why,but that's where we will be starting this year.

 

[Newtosavage]

My daughter drew the same hunt I had last fall. We saw more,and better quality bucks in tall sage as opposed to the short stuff. No clue why,but that's where we will be starting this year.

I'm a little unclear what you mean. Tall sage vs. short sage? As in, higher elevation sage?