Rut Report, CO 3rd Season

[Hnthrdr]

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

From personal experience, the lions share of bucks I’ve seen at cwd checks and hanging in camps, back of trucks are forkies. Allowing more bucks to get another year or so under there belts should in theory allow for there to be more on the landscape thus causing more bucks to compete for does or move around in that search. Heck most of Co has antler restrictions on bulls, that seems to be working for keeping age structure in the units

 

[Hnthrdr]

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

Heck I’d be okay we adjusting season dates back to what they were, the new Co dates are not sustainable long term

 

[ckleeves]

Less mature bucks on the landscape is the goal of CPW, and they are no doubt accomplishing it. The somewhat good news is there seems to be plenty of young bucks and a few (very few) will manage to slip thru the cracks and become mature bucks.

The doe killing is totally insane and one thing that I just can’t get behind at all.

 

[spacemonkey]

Just got done hunting in a unit along the CO/WY border. From what I understand these deer migrate north to WY. Did a good bit of road hunting and hiking in, saw a total of 3 bucks over 4 day and probably about a dozen does. Two of which were forkies off the road, my hunting partner took one. I took a nice 3x3 after hiking into the area.

All of the bucks we saw were alone and did not look very rutty at all. After talking with @fishslap , Our theory is that most of the deer started migrating North after the big storm during 2nd season. The weather was in the fifties all week, certainly not the hunt we expected but fun nonetheless.

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[christic56]

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!

Friend shot one on Tuesday. No rut smell to it whatsoever.

 

[OneShot]

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…

I don’t feel like antler restrictions will help at all. CPW screwed the deer herd by moving the seasons later and adding tons of buck tags during the rut. Their goal was to kill the mature bucks in the name of CWD.

 

[cnelk]

There used to be antler point restrictions on deer in Colorado - it was a 3pt minimum

 

[Hnthrdr]

I don’t feel like antler restrictions will help at all. CPW screwed the deer herd by moving the seasons later and adding tons of buck tags during the rut. Their goal was to kill the mature bucks in the name of CWD.

I mean maybe we just need to move dates back (earlier in Oct&nov) and leave the does alone… I can guarantee you they will never eradicate ole cwd… even if we kill every last buck there is

 

[OneShot]

I mean maybe we just need to move dates back (earlier in Oct&nov) and leave the does alone… I can guarantee you they will never eradicate ole cwd… even if we kill every last buck there is

I agree. Put the dates back to how they were before.

 

[Muleybucks34]

Saw little rut activity 3rd season hope it picks up for 4th season.

 

[TXCO]

Saw one 3-4 year old buck pushing some does around today in the middle of the afternoon. I only had to wear a tshirt in the warm weather today


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[Oregon]

Last day of season I saw quite a bit of stupid bucks with does. Had one stand around long enough with his does to miss him, then get him. Then when I walked up to him, 2 little 3 points were standing 5' away locking horns.

 

[dusky]

I saw a buck chasing does 1st day of 3rd season in unit 29, and the activity continued all season.

 

[TNKnoxville]

We didn't see any does or bucks during 3rd season in unit 13 near Craig. Last year we saw over 100 deer and I shot a nice 5 year old. The guides said the deer disappeared during 2nd season and doesn't know where they went.

 

[Benetel]

Found some does during 3rd season in unit 29 but the bucks never showed up.