Colorado Alpine Buck Hunting

[BuckRut]

Pretty much made my mind up I am heading for CO for an alpine archery deer hunt next year. Anyone have any advice or pointers? I also have a ton of questions for anyone with experience and time to chat so PM me if you think you can help out too. I'll put my biggest questions out here for the masses. How alpine does it have to be to get in on deer (no trees on half the mountain or are areas where just the peaks are above treeline good too)? For CO should I just expect hiking trails to see almost as much traffic as the roads?

 

[DeerCatcherUT/CO]

Deer live at literally every elevation in Colorado. Pick a unit and go hunt. If you hunt smart you’ll find deer. Not many animals can survive in solid rock cliffs above timberline besides goats, birds, and rodents

 

[cmeadors13]

Best advice i have is get in shape. It takes a long time to get the legs and lungs ready for a Colorado alpine hunt. Pack light and stay mobile and when your there enjoy the beauty of the mountains. Good luck!

 

[westrnwild]

Google Earth is your friend and enemy. Things that look possible on Google aren't likely in real life. One thing I see a lot of broken souls every year. Usually first time guys to Colorado learn our Mtns are big and high. And hunting isn't easy.

Oh...and if they bed in the morning in a spot that's gonna get sun soon...there gonna move most likely. So plan that before you stalk

 

[BuckRut]

Thanks for the advice guys. The physical demands of this hunt are definitely what makes next year appealing for it as well. Coming of a long season with a bighorn tag here in Montana has my legs in great mountain shape and I should be able to have them better by next fall.

 

[Poser]

While i regularly see bucks out above treeline during the summer months, it seems that the opening of hunting season coincides with them dropping down into the trees. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a Buck, mature or otherwise, out in the open tundra after Labor Day.

To answer your question: yea, the trails will be packed. Sept is a great month, often the most enjoyable month by most people’s standards, to recreate in CO. Mtn bikes galore, off leash dogs, horses, backpackers, Thru hikers, dirt bikes, SxSs, Toyota, jeeps, leaf peepers, overlanders, overzealous elk hunters wearing gaiters when it hasn’t rained in a week and it’s a 90 degree bluebird day, flat bills, free range cattle, domestic sheep, trail runners, Bluetooth speakers, mushroom pickers, fisherman, bear hunters.

 

[southLA]

overzealous elk hunters wearing gaiters when it hasn’t rained in a week

Hey hey hey now...

 

[westrnwild]

While i regularly see bucks out above treeline during the summer months, it seems that the opening of hunting season coincides with them dropping down into the trees. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a Buck, mature or otherwise, out in the open tundra after Labor Day.

To answer your question: yea, the trails will be packed. Sept is a great month, often the most enjoyable month by most people’s standards, to recreate in CO. Mtn bikes galore, off leash dogs, horses, backpackers, Thru hikers, dirt bikes, SxSs, Toyota, jeeps, leaf peepers, overlanders, overzealous elk hunters wearing gaiters when it hasn’t rained in a week and it’s a 90 degree bluebird day, flat bills, free range cattle, domestic sheep, trail runners, Bluetooth speakers, mushroom pickers, fisherman, bear hunters.

To help you with this. If there is a famous 14er near where you plan to hunt. You can guarantee you will see everything mentioned above. In Duplicates most likely.

 

[snowymtnwolf]

If possible, Come early and scout. Some decent podcasts on archery early season Mule deer stalks In Colorado high country.

Don’t always expect trail access either. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing because that would limit pressure on bucks from through hikers.

Good luck.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jayhawk]

What poser said is spot on. Right down to the ridiculous, but true, stereotypes.

Don't let that dissuade you though. Had an old timer tell me the greatest day he ever had hunting was when the local ROTC unit showed up for field ops, and pushed the deer all over the place. "There were deer running everywhere!"

Weather impacts their range a lot. Keep an eye on what it's doing in the high country and start from there.

 

[drra]

In my experience, once you are more than a mile from where vehicles are permitted you rarely run into others (haven't hunted in CO yet, but I suspect that is the same out there). The further from the road you go (and up) the less you need to worry about others.

 

[Poser]

In my experience, once you are more than a mile from where vehicles are permitted you rarely run into others (haven't hunted in CO yet, but I suspect that is the same out there). The further from the road you go (and up) the less you need to worry about others.

Pfft. This experience won’t apply to CO, not even close. CO a is one of the “fittest” states in the country. People hike, bike, run, backpack, Thru hike, fast pack, dog walk, hunt, fish, climb etc deep in the backcountry. There are people that do 20-40 mile high country runs every weekend in the summer. Mtn bikers routinely cover 60+ miles a day, 100+ if there is a race going on. Fast packers May cover 20 miles and bag 4 peaks with a 2:30 am start time. I’ve seen fly fisherman 12 miles in with a line in the water at first light (which means they hiked 12 miles in the dark).

 

[zrodwyo]

Not in Colorado. This year I ran into joggers heading into a remote basin some 6 miles from a trail head. nowhere near a14er and it was a circus. I even ran into people aimlessly wandering through the woods.

People recreation like a mofo in Colorado. It’s a different world. I killed a bull without too much effort but will not return. Too chaotic.

 

[TradArcher]

Pfft. This experience won’t apply to CO, not even close. CO a is one of the “fittest” states in the country. People hike, bike, run, backpack, Thru hike, fast pack, dog walk, hunt, fish, climb etc deep in the backcountry. There are people that do 20-40 mile high country runs every weekend in the summer. Mtn bikers routinely cover 60+ miles a day, 100+ if there is a race going on. Fast packers May cover 20 miles and bag 4 peaks with a 2:30 am start time. I’ve seen fly fisherman 12 miles in with a line in the water at first light (which means they hiked 12 miles in the dark).

This is correct.

I look for park by the side of road where I can pull off - no trailhead and not near any trails that people can easily find online. Then just hike into the woods a fair bit (fair bit varies with location - can be a mile....can be 10)...then start hunting if you haven't come across anyone. None of the hike in is on trail and freqeuntly involves quite a climb up and over a ridge or two to find the undisturbed. There will be a ton of blowdown to go over along the way, I mean constant tree hopping blowdown. But parking at a trailhead? Nope. Midweek later in the archery season...maybe.

Coloradans are very fit and very outdoorsy, expect them everywhere.

 

[Hnthrdr]

While i regularly see bucks out above treeline during the summer months, it seems that the opening of hunting season coincides with them dropping down into the trees. I’m not sure if I’ve seen a Buck, mature or otherwise, out in the open tundra after Labor Day.

To answer your question: yea, the trails will be packed. Sept is a great month, often the most enjoyable month by most people’s standards, to recreate in CO. Mtn bikes galore, off leash dogs, horses, backpackers, Thru hikers, dirt bikes, SxSs, Toyota, jeeps, leaf peepers, overlanders, overzealous elk hunters wearing gaiters when it hasn’t rained in a week and it’s a 90 degree bluebird day, flat bills, free range cattle, domestic sheep, trail runners, Bluetooth speakers, mushroom pickers, fisherman, bear hunters.

Go easy on the gaiters haha sometimes they are just for keeping rocks and sticks out of your boots… but spot on with the assessment of how busy it gets, saw more vehicles at at trailhead by my place in Sept than I did during all of summer combined

 

[westrnwild]

Pfft. This experience won’t apply to CO, not even close. CO a is one of the “fittest” states in the country. People hike, bike, run, backpack, Thru hike, fast pack, dog walk, hunt, fish, climb etc deep in the backcountry. There are people that do 20-40 mile high country runs every weekend in the summer. Mtn bikers routinely cover 60+ miles a day, 100+ if there is a race going on. Fast packers May cover 20 miles and bag 4 peaks with a 2:30 am start time. I’ve seen fly fisherman 12 miles in with a line in the water at first light (which means they hiked 12 miles in the dark).

This is so true. I am not what I would call super Colorado fit but I get by. I have friends that run ultras and do all that but our normal is definitely taxing for people from other states, especially non western states. I took my dog for a walk on the mountain behind my house a few weeks ago and had a NR hunter come up to me. He was shocked at all the foot traffic and MTN biking traffic. He said he had seen 3 MTN bikers 2 trail runners a few hikers and now me walking my dog. He didn't expect to see any one. I laughed and said your not that far in. This is people's morning workouts. Bottom line...you'll never out hike people in Colorado. They will be everywhere. Gotta learn to use it or ignore it

 

[Hnthrdr]

So now that we established that Co is full of us nature loving folks… to sort of get back to OP’s idea of hunting big velvety bucks in the alpine tundra… well with the later archery dates and later muzzy dates it can be very hit or miss. Personal and anecdotal from friends is many, many bucks are hitting treeline just a few days after the archery season kicks off. Now that can be real tough hunting when they make it to the trees that time of year. Best advice is do some research. 1. Pick a unit or a few units that you will realistically draw that also include said alpine drainages. 2. Talk with biologists/ wardens/ who ever will talk with you to see if that alpine holds deer ( some really pretty alpine basins don’t hold any deer or very very few) or come out and scout. 3. Post up your story about how it went best of luck dude.

 

[Molon Labe]

To help you with this. If there is a famous 14er near where you plan to hunt. You can guarantee you will see everything mentioned above. In Duplicates most likely.

I bivied out just below a “famous” 14er in CO during a sheep hunt glassing. Couple hikers couldn’t understand why I wouldn’t walk the extra half mile to check off a 14er. I couldn’t understand why they wanted to hike up there for seemingly no reason. We hit a stalemate and parted ways haha!
They were excited to tell me they saw sheep off the backside when they came back down…really big white “sheep” right off the trail…thanks! Hahahaha

 

[BuckRut]

"Wilderness". Benefit or detriment to the number of recreational activity?

 

[Poser]

"Wilderness". Benefit or detriment to the number of recreational activity?

I’d say, all things being equal, it’s neither. Only real advantage to wilderness is not Mtn bikes on the trails, and that’s largely an aesthetic than an impact.