Colorado snow reports

[Elkangle]

Leaving for a Colorado unit 18 3rd season muledeer hunt on Wednesday....getting way too many X's on the map and was curious if anyone in the area or close by knows the snow level and how much snow it takes to typically push deer down

Il be there almost two full days before season to scoute but I'm going crazy not knowing where the snow is when looking at maps lol is this the year for snow shoes ??

Thanks for any input !

 

[cnelk]

Supposed to get several inches of snow Sunday/Monday. Then cold. Real cold. Lows below 0.
Opening weekend of 3rd season is forecasted to be lows in the teens, highs in the 30s.
Id bring tires chains. I’ll be hunting a 3rd season buck tag too. I’ll have tire chains.
Good luck

 

[Elkangle]

Yeah we will definitely have 2 sets of chains..and a quad

With such a broad range of elevation and no idea what the snow is like it's tough to narrow things down on a map...like is anything above 8k feet covered in 4 foot of snow ?? A few inches wont do much for pushing deer but maybe the extreme cold will drop them down ??

 

[Vids]

https://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/snow/

Click on the map, then select Snow Depth. There are tons of weather stations in the mountains.

 

[cnelk]

Just hope the wind don’t blow and you should be good.
Im headed up tomorrow to check stuff out before this next storm

 

[Elkangle]

Yeah the snow maps kinda suck but thanks for the link...best I got was 18 inches at 11k feet and 4-8 down lower

Wouldnt think thatd have much affect on the deer but im new to hunting muledeer

 

[ArcherAdam]

Cool. I am leaving Tuesday for the same. Can not wait!

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[squirrel]

Co river has patchy snow in shaded areas going quickly, 9-10K has a few inches tree line has gotten hammered pretty good, pure white. Roads are ugly, road hunters numerous. animals hanging few-none.

 

[Elkangle]

Should be lots left on the hoof then !

Anyone have much thoughts on how deep of snow it takes to affect the deer ?? What about the wind ?? I love the wind for blacktail hunting....but obviously this is a different bird

Thanks

 

[Sleeperls]

Leaving thursday and be in kremmling friday.
Anyone with the same tag want to gtg let me know. Im bringing chains and quad. My tires suck, good tread but not mud snow. Couldnt afford new. Going to have to rely on the quad to get me farther in and walk from there.

Its going to be real interesting. Hopefully they havnt all went to private. And by the sounds of it betyer make friends as its gunna be close qtrs

 

[Elkangle]

Interesting..... il be in the kremmling area Wednesday night for sure but will branch out from there..hopefully its not that close quarters...I've been looking alot higher

 

[Sleeperls]

I hope not either, supposed to warm up later in the week and itll be a sloppy mess in the afternoons. From just my scouting trips the areas i feel i can get to will be busy.

 

[cnelk]

Just got home. Put over 250 miles on today. Saw deer, elk, moose, fox and coyotes.

Saw about 80 elk in a hay meadow down low.

There were six 6pt bulls a couple raghorns and some spikes. The rest cows.

Snow was about 4-6in at 9k, roads melting and shitty.

Saw enough deer sign to look forward to next weekend.

 

[Sleeperls]

Long as i can find a forkie ill be estatic

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

Best snow depth maps I've found.

Model charts for Grand (Snow depth) | NAM CONUS (60 hours)

NAM CONUS (60 hours) - Current model charts of parameter "Snow depth" for map "Grand"

weather.us

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

Weather conditions associated with autumn migration by mule deer in Wyoming

Maintaining ecological integrity necessitates a proactive approach of identifying and acquiring lands to conserve unfragmented landscapes, as well as evaluating existing mitigation strategies to increase connectivity in fragmented landscapes. The increased ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

10" creates the most migration.

Another study showed that 18"+ precludes them from feeding.

 

[ColoradoV]

Central Colorado and north there was 8-12” of snowpack before this storm. This storm will dump 12-18” from last night to wed depending on where it hits.

Looks to be a good year to have a 3rd buck tag!

 

[Elkangle]

Yikes thanks guys !! That seems like alot of snow....definitely will help eliminate some potential areas to look but I'm sure will concentrate hunters...which can also be useful too

 

[Sleeperls]

If not who is buying the booze and telling stories?

 

[Txhunter85]

Leaving thursday and be in kremmling friday.
Anyone with the same tag want to gtg let me know. Im bringing chains and quad. My tires suck, good tread but not mud snow. Couldnt afford new. Going to have to rely on the quad to get me farther in and walk from there.

Its going to be real interesting. Hopefully they havnt all went to private. And by the sounds of it betyer make friends as its gunna be close qtrs

My wife and I were in 15 for the second rifle mule deer, she had a tag. We bumped into a few older age class bucks in the wilderness area about 5 miles back. The snow was pretty heavy/deal just south of steam boat when we left Thursday, up to/past my knees and I’m 6ft7. The crowds were rough but once we got in by about 2-3 miles we had the place to ourselves minus a few other people, but most were in for elk. From what I heard from people while I was up there, young bucks and does had started coming down, the old guys where still up high. We did cut some fresh tracks toward the later part of the hunt. Solo big buck tracks, and they were over 9,000 ft even with 2-3ft of snow