Rut Report, CO 3rd Season

[Hnthrdr]

So you shot a nice buck rite in front of a guy that just shot a fork? Hahaha perfect

It was funny, they gentleman I met was 71 years old and had hiked about a mile back into this basin, my hats off to the guy! We talked for a min and he joked about me packing his buck out I replied that I thought he was going to help me back a buck later, then we parted and it all went down about 20 min later, I could see him cutting up his deer where I was cutting up mine, I’d like to think he was smiling.

Biggest thing I thought, was here is this guy wearing blue jeans and a flannel, and here I am decked in tech gear with a carbon fiber everything rifle, and he is still getting it done, I’m not much for shooting forkies these days, but nothing but admiration for the guy

 

[Oregon]

Yep weather is lining up to be no fun for deer or elk hunting…

57 degrees and beautiful right now. Awesome mid Nov weather at 8600'. Ugh.

 

[Hnthrdr]

57 degrees and beautiful right now. Awesome mid Nov weather at 8600'. Ugh.

Perfect weather for just about anything, except when you are hunting deer and elk, good thing for the deer hunters is the rut is kicking off

 

[Oregon]

Perfect weather for just about anything, except when you are hunting deer and elk, good thing for the deer hunters is the rut is kicking off

Just got out off hill. Weather was 57 degrees til 420pm. Dropped to 44 when sun went down. Seen a bachelor group of bucks (5) 1/4 mile from 13 does. No rut here. Unit 68.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Just got out off hill. Weather was 57 degrees til 420pm. Dropped to 44 when sun went down. Seen a bachelor group of bucks (5) 1/4 mile from 13 does. No rut here. Unit 68.

I have a friend helping out in 68 right now I’ll have to check in with him and see how his group is doing, good luck there are some days left

 

[ReddingArcher]

How’s the rutting activity for everyone on a 3rd season tag?

We are in unit 3/301 right now and blown away by how little rut activity we are seeing. Talked to some locals this morning who said they’ve never seen the rut not be started by now, but even on their private ground they’re not seeing much. We saw a 2x3 checking a doe yesterday, but with as many does as we are seeing, we can’t believe we aren’t seeing bucks rutting them. Just curious what everyone else is seeing?

As a side note, anybody on unit 3 looking for elk, I got you covered, because holy crap are they thicker than flies in here this year!

We hunted 3/301 a couple years ago during 3rd season. Not much rut activity until the last 2-3 days of the season. Those last couple days we watched bucks breed does multiple times. Have a short video of 2 solid bucks fighting. Hopefully the last couple days for you are like that.

 

[nobody]

We hunted 3/301 a couple years ago during 3rd season. Not much rut activity until the last 2-3 days of the season. Those last couple days we watched bucks breed does multiple times. Have a short video of 2 solid bucks fighting. Hopefully the last couple days for you are like that.

I posted this on last year’s hunt, but thanks for the follow up haha. Somebody else necro’d my thread A few weeks ago and pulled it to the top. Hunt turned out ok, but never really turned up super hot on the rut action.

 

[ReddingArcher]

I posted this on last year’s hunt, but thanks for the follow up haha. Somebody else necro’d my thread A few weeks ago and pulled it to the top. Hunt turned out ok, but never really turned up super hot on the rut action.

Ah gotcha haha, I guess I better start looking at post dates.

 

[nobody]

Ah gotcha haha, I guess I better start looking at post dates.

No worries, it happens

 

[ColoradoV]

Seen a whole lot of rutting action the past few days. Or the bucks that are still alive are rutting no doubt... Some guys are getting great bucks = these later seasons sure help! If you are not seeing them move as no doubt they are rutting hard!!

Also it is getting obvious there are less deer on the landscape but that's the stated goal of CPW!! Or you can't have years of the highest harvests levels this century and have the same number of mature animals on the landscape...

From what I see harvest might break records again or I have said it a lot = you can't kill that what is not there.. With that said do no doubt the deer that are alive are rutting right now.

Harvest numbers below are from the Gunny basin. Don't have the time to put up the eagle and other Colorado river drainages but it is the same.






Yep Gunny basin has not seen harvest levels this high since pre 2008 winter kill is something to think about... Or we are doubling and tripling the number of bucks killed and its not only starting to show but completely changing the mule deer landscape in Co...

 

[Hnthrdr]

Just got out off hill. Weather was 57 degrees til 420pm. Dropped to 44 when sun went down. Seen a bachelor group of bucks (5) 1/4 mile from 13 does. No rut here. Unit 68.

Friend got back from 68 today, said it was like hunting on the beach. Told me the rut was not really kicking off and they had seen 1, 170ish buck… and this guy is a mule deer hunting machine, he knows his stuff…

 

[Hnthrdr]

Seen a whole lot of rutting action the past few days. Or the bucks that are still alive are rutting no doubt... Some guys are getting great bucks = these later seasons sure help! If you are not seeing them move as no doubt they are rutting hard!!

Also it is getting obvious there are less deer on the landscape but that's the stated goal of CPW!! Or you can't have years of the highest harvests levels this century and have the same number of mature animals on the landscape...

From what I see harvest might break records again or I have said it a lot = you can't kill that what is not there.. With that said do no doubt the deer that are alive are rutting right now.

Harvest numbers below are from the Gunny basin. Don't have the time to put up the eagle and other Colorado river drainages but it is the same.

View attachment 627448


View attachment 627449

Yep Gunny basin has not seen harvest levels this high since pre 2008 winter kill is something to think about... Or we are doubling and tripling the number of bucks killed and its not only starting to show but completely changing the mule deer landscape in Co...

Personal opinion… we need to really cool it with doe tags and implement antler restrictions in a lot of units and Co could easily be top dog for Muleys in quality and quantity of bucks…

 

[trophyhill]

I caught a fleeting glimpse of a big buck with a half dozen does or more yesterday and watched a forkie sniffing a does but and lip curling this morning. We'll see what tomorrow will bring

 

[Oregon]

Friend got back from 68 today, said it was like hunting on the beach. Told me the rut was not really kicking off and they had seen 1, 170ish buck… and this guy is a mule deer hunting machine, he knows his stuff…

Rut kicked in today. We collectively seen 5 giants today. I saw 2 today that were so far up a does ass it was funny. Too far. Buddy who tagged out earlier dropped me off for my evening hunt, drove around and found 2 great ones 100 yards from road. Stared at them for 15 minutes. After he picked me up, driving out, we literally had to honk horn to get a 160" out of road. Damn. 2 days left. I'm officially revived.

 

[kscowboy01]

After passing on this guy throughout the season, I’m convinced that he was the best I was going to turn up with the my particular tag and the weather conditions. Solid buck but won’t score well. I’m happy though.

I’m planning to sunbathe and take advantage of this weather the remainder of the season.

 

[il_cop]

Newb here... Just got back to Denver after 6 days in CO15. As others have said- very warm (I hunted in a t-shirt at 9k on Monday afternoon). We saw a ton of young bucks, some acting rutty. Didn't see any mature bucks with does on winter range yet. Older bucks were still in their summer range, felt like mid October behavior.

 

[link]

Friend got back from 68 today, said it was like hunting on the beach. Told me the rut was not really kicking off and they had seen 1, 170ish buck… and this guy is a mule deer hunting machine, he knows his stuff…

How did your friend do?

 

[Hnthrdr]

How did your friend do?

He was just helping on the hunt, as of Tuesday evening no bucks shot

 

[Juan_ID]

Personal opinion… we need to really cool it with doe tags and implement antler restrictions in a lot of units and Co could easily be top dog for Muleys in quality and quantity of bucks…

Just out of curiosity what do you think an antler point restriction is going to do in regards of buck quality and quantity?

 

[intunegp]

Here's a good, short, and sweet read on antler point restrictions:

https://fwp.mt.gov/binaries/content/assets/fwp/commission/2021/aug-20/wildlife/1g---mdwg-fact-sheet-06-aprs.pdf

Most western states and provinces have concluded that sustainable improvements in buck:doe ratios and the number of mature bucks can only be realized by reducing harvest through 1) a limited-quota license system that decreases overall total buck harvest while allowing some level of doe harvest, or 2) setting a very short hunting season in early fall when more mature bucks are less vulnerable.