Colorado archery vs muzzy

[CMF]

One thing I’d be curious to compare is success rate vs days hunted. My hypothesis is guys put in more time to a 15pt tag then a 5pt and due to effort are more successful not necessarily because it’s a better hunt.


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also, some lower 0 to 2 point units may be people picking up a tag just as an opportunity. I've spent a couple points on a deer tag just to have in pocket while chasing elk.

 

[tracker12]

was hunting 62 this year, as I've done for many years OTC NR.
From my past experiences, I went, set up camp prior to the start of muzzie, even though I'm strictly archery. The past experience being rut timing around the Equinox. Can peak usually end of muzzie season or days after muzzie closes.

This year unusual as bull elk rut seriously started last 4 days of muzzie and peaked 2-3 days after muzzie closed. 2 years ago, it started last day of muzzie.
Last 4 days of archery were dead silent for elk bugling, elk talk. The inclement weather, afternoon-evening thunderstorms, rain squalls and blustery, swirling winds morning>evening for last 5 days didn't help either.

The 8 ML hunters, two camps, near me in the area tagged 5 very nice bulls, two 6x6 and a 5x5, *5x4.
The 5th bull tagged was very odd looking, 4 points on one side and the other side 3, but that antler bent weird to the side.
4 bulls were shot at yardages of 80-110 yards. Bull #5 the hunter claimed his shot was 200 yards!

*The 5x4 was a bull that I called in, 80 yards from my position. Hoping the bull would continue down the ridgeline, to an opening closer for a shot opportunity. However, a szzz-boom rang out, and the 5x4 bull dropped. At the sound of the shot, I nearly jumped outta my boots!
ML Hunter had closed in on my position, not knowing it was a hunter (me). He & partner thought there were 2 bulls calling and thought if they got between them, might get a shot....which they did @100 yards and made it count. Well at least my bugles must have sounded good .


I wore a blaze orange vest during muzzie season this year when out archery hunting, as I was shot at 5 years ago.
After muzzie closed, I called in 4 good bulls, but 3 hung up on me at 90-100 yards. Had it been muzzie season and I was equipped so, those were dead bulls. The 4th bull was 35 yards but no shot due to brush obstruction. The bull just turned and walked slowly off.

Wow you had a great hunt in that Unit. Always heard it was a zoo there during the Muzzy/archery hunt.,

 

[va_to_co]

One thing I’d be curious to compare is success rate vs days hunted. My hypothesis is guys put in more time to a 15pt tag then a 5pt and due to effort are more successful not necessarily because it’s a better hunt.


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I'd like to see this data as well. On an episode of Wired to Hunt recently, Mark was interviewing Dr. Grant Woods (growingdeer.tv) and he mentioned a processor who took tallies of number of deer processed per day during the season, for many years. The point he made was that those numbers show hunter effort, not deer movement. Perhaps hunters are more inclined to be in the field during certain times of year based off of previous information they've gathered, but kills don't directly indicate movement patterns.

 

[Dos Perros]

The point he made was that those numbers show hunter effort, not deer movement.

I don't think you could know which variable is leading because they are mixed. Kansas publishes date of harvest data. You can see little blips during weekends (effort) but the longer trends (movement) show up too. One thing that always contaminates the data is once a hunter kills they are done and not contributing the the data...so the count of active hunters declines as the season progresses.

 

[va_to_co]

One thing that always contaminates the data is once a hunter kills they are done and not contributing the the data...so the count of active hunters declines as the season progresses.

Perhaps (this is totally unnecessary but I'm curious to see the data) they could show it as a % of hunters with active tags vs filled. Sure, in many (generally eastern) states a license grants you multiple tags, but it would still be neat to see. Maybe you could divide into "haven't filled any tags" and "have filled at least one tag" in the case of multiple tags per license...

Would that help with the number decline as the season continues? Just thinking out loud.