CPW Hunt Planner info - 3rd season

[160andup]

Curious how folks put the hunt planner info to use for later season mule deer hunts. Are the areas reflected as wintering grounds, migration paths, etc. coming into play for your scouting on these hunts? Interested in any opinions folks have on this.

 

[Aerosith]

All of the information from the Colorado hunting atlas is generalized and shows trends, not exact animal movements or locations. It is a good tool to get a starting point, but I would not bet a hunt on the data.

 

[CoMulies]

Given that snow could push deer down by 3rd, I just check what they have as winter range and make sure there’s huntable public land in the elevation band.

Last year there was 6-8” on the ground where I was for 3rd rifle and I was finding bucks around 9.5k ft. That said, different herds do different things. Some don’t move until significant snowfall, others move at certain times regardless of snow.

 

[dusky]

In my area, they are crude guidelines. I seem to find more deer in general at lower elevations during 3rd season and I think it's related to the does. 3rd coincides with rut activity. The does need food. They need to fatten up as much as possible before holding young in their wombs all winter. And the best food in my area, at least, seems to be at lower elevations. Less snow, fewer calories spent digging for food. There's also shitloads of private land for them to hide on at lower elevations, so if that wasn't the case, and if there was ample food higher up, they probably wouldn't mind being up higher. But that hard, crusty snow really bothers them, so almost all the deer in my area during 3rd and 4th were below snowline for that reason. And, there are resident herds in my area that hang around 8k and below year round. I wouldn't think higher than that except for an earlier season buck. But yeah, the hunt planner maps are a decent rough outline imo. Not sure about for the deer migration paths, but for the elk in my area they are pretty good indicators.