- Banned
- #1
Newtosavage
WKR
This year, I figured I'd try to grab a leftover tag off the CO list for muleys, as I've had pretty good luck doing that in the past. Well, like most folks I was disappointed as I watched my top 8 tags all get snagged before my little green man stopped walking. Deliberating what to do, I saw that unit 140 had a little bit of public land and had some tags left for 3rd rifle. Knowing nothing about the unit other than what I see from I-25 when I drove over Raton pass, I went ahead and grabbed one of the 40 or so tags left while they were still available, and figured I'd sort out later whether I'd use it or return it for a refund.
In my research I discovered that one of the SWA's was draw only and the draw deadline had passed (I guess they didn't want to include leftover tag holders in that draw?). The other adjacent SWA was archery only, even during the 3rd rifle season. I was fine with that since I've bowhunted most of my life, so I figured if nothing else I'd take my chances with the bowhunting crowd, or just return my license for a refund.
THEN, I saw that the new Fisher's peak state park (19k ac.) had an open drawing for ONE mule deer hunter and that you had to have a unit 140 tag in your possession to draw. So, despite having some of the worst luck drawing of anyone I know, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try since it was free. So I put in for the state park draw, entirely expecting to get an email in a few weeks telling me I wasn't drawn.
Sure enough, I got that email and thanked the park manager for letting me know I wasn't drawn so quickly. By then I had decided I wasn't interested in fighting a crowd of bowhunters, so a few days later I filled out my refund form and dropped the form and my unit 140 tag in the mail to CPW. I didn't give it a second thought until four days later, I got another email from the park manager saying they weren't able to contact the first person who was drawn, so they re-drew and my name came up!!! I was like, holy crap - I just mailed my tag back for a refund!!! So you can imagine the mad scramble that ensued. I was able to contact a customer service rep with CPW and told him of my predicament. He was great, and he worked very quickly to find my returned tag. He notified me they would mail it back to me, and I told the park manager I was good to go. My tag arrived back to me a few days ago, and I got an email from the park manager with information about the hunt.
The up side is that I'll be only one of 4 hunters (the other three will be hunting elk) on the 19,000 acre area, and I'll be the first mule deer rifle hunter allowed on the place since it was a private ranch (the Crazy French ranch). The down side is that they won't allow camping on site, and that all of us hunters will be starting every day at the same parking spot. No ATV's/UTV's allowed (not that I would bring one anyway), so that's both a plus and a minus since unless the other hunters have horses, we'll all be walking in together. For me, this will take most of the area out of play as I don't plan to hike more than a few miles uphill every morning to begin hunting. They also require that we are out of the hunt area "shortly after sunset" each day.
My questions are these - 1) where would be the best place to camp near exit 2 on I-25? The only place I see is the state park to the northwest of there and I think they charge like $28/night just for a site without water. That doesn't sound too appealing. 2) I'm not a trophy hunter, but this could very well be the best opportunity I'll ever have to take a mature mule deer buck, and I'll admit I wouldn't mind having ONE good set of antlers to hang over my fireplace someday. What would you expect quality-wise in that area and what would you think is reasonable to hold out for? Again, I doubt I'll be able to get very far from the parking area on foot each day, so I may just have to take what I can get, and I'm totally okay with that too. 3) any other advice would be welcome. As I said, I'll be the very first rifle mule deer hunter ever allowed on this new state park, so I consider it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I want to make the most of it.
Thanks!
In my research I discovered that one of the SWA's was draw only and the draw deadline had passed (I guess they didn't want to include leftover tag holders in that draw?). The other adjacent SWA was archery only, even during the 3rd rifle season. I was fine with that since I've bowhunted most of my life, so I figured if nothing else I'd take my chances with the bowhunting crowd, or just return my license for a refund.
THEN, I saw that the new Fisher's peak state park (19k ac.) had an open drawing for ONE mule deer hunter and that you had to have a unit 140 tag in your possession to draw. So, despite having some of the worst luck drawing of anyone I know, I figured it wouldn't hurt to try since it was free. So I put in for the state park draw, entirely expecting to get an email in a few weeks telling me I wasn't drawn.
Sure enough, I got that email and thanked the park manager for letting me know I wasn't drawn so quickly. By then I had decided I wasn't interested in fighting a crowd of bowhunters, so a few days later I filled out my refund form and dropped the form and my unit 140 tag in the mail to CPW. I didn't give it a second thought until four days later, I got another email from the park manager saying they weren't able to contact the first person who was drawn, so they re-drew and my name came up!!! I was like, holy crap - I just mailed my tag back for a refund!!! So you can imagine the mad scramble that ensued. I was able to contact a customer service rep with CPW and told him of my predicament. He was great, and he worked very quickly to find my returned tag. He notified me they would mail it back to me, and I told the park manager I was good to go. My tag arrived back to me a few days ago, and I got an email from the park manager with information about the hunt.
The up side is that I'll be only one of 4 hunters (the other three will be hunting elk) on the 19,000 acre area, and I'll be the first mule deer rifle hunter allowed on the place since it was a private ranch (the Crazy French ranch). The down side is that they won't allow camping on site, and that all of us hunters will be starting every day at the same parking spot. No ATV's/UTV's allowed (not that I would bring one anyway), so that's both a plus and a minus since unless the other hunters have horses, we'll all be walking in together. For me, this will take most of the area out of play as I don't plan to hike more than a few miles uphill every morning to begin hunting. They also require that we are out of the hunt area "shortly after sunset" each day.
My questions are these - 1) where would be the best place to camp near exit 2 on I-25? The only place I see is the state park to the northwest of there and I think they charge like $28/night just for a site without water. That doesn't sound too appealing. 2) I'm not a trophy hunter, but this could very well be the best opportunity I'll ever have to take a mature mule deer buck, and I'll admit I wouldn't mind having ONE good set of antlers to hang over my fireplace someday. What would you expect quality-wise in that area and what would you think is reasonable to hold out for? Again, I doubt I'll be able to get very far from the parking area on foot each day, so I may just have to take what I can get, and I'm totally okay with that too. 3) any other advice would be welcome. As I said, I'll be the very first rifle mule deer hunter ever allowed on this new state park, so I consider it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I want to make the most of it.
Thanks!
