Sangre de Cristo Deer Quality

[strousek]

I hunted the Sangre de Cristo range in CO back in 2016 burning 9 PP on the high country early rifle tag. Those mountains chewed me up and spit me out soaking wet. Since that hunt I have completely revolutionized the way I go about high country scouting and hunting. I have nearly cut my pack weight in half since then and changed my mindset with dealing with several days of rain and fog. I am determined to get back into those nasty mountains on a redemption tag and conquer them.

Having looked at the stats the points to draw the early rifle tag have been decreasing slowly since 2016. The resident tags drew out with 7PP in 2019, 6 PP in 2020, 5 PP in 2021, and to my shock 3 this year in 2022. My original plan was to scout for a few years while possibly hunting bear or elk in the mountains and then draw the early rifle tag again and go after a nice deer. Now I am worried that this may be a wasted effort of scouting when I should be focusing my efforts elsewhere.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with the Sangre de Cristo deer herd that can attest to why the large drop in the required PPs? This tag used to be a 190" or bust type hunt so I am curious as to if the overall deer numbers are that low or if the age class of deer has just reduced down to smaller bucks. Shoot me a PM if you have any experience with these deer and any insight possibly for me. Thank you

 

[squirrel]

"conquer them" made me smile. You survive the needles and sangres, After healing up if you are dumb enough you go back!

Sorry I have no secret insider knowledge of the deer hunt there but I think you already know the answer since demand for mature deer is growing exponentially and the point level is decreasing... too much lead poisoning. Seems to be a statewide problem, except for the ones cashing the checks.

 

[Mtnmilsurp]

I think nearly any high country early season mule deer hunt is going to be a daily gut punch if you’re after a big one. Which side of the range (east/west) are you hunting? I imagine the terrain intimidates a lot of folks.

 

[justin davis]

I hunted sheep in there a few years ago. The deer quality was poor. I didn’t see any nice bucks and I scouted and hunted for sheep a lot. Those mtns used to have some giants in them. But like a lot of colorado. The big ones are being killed off quick. I think in the sangres with the impentation of the 4th rifle season. A lot of
Big bucks got killed off.

 

[strousek]

I hunted sheep in there a few years ago. The deer quality was poor. I didn’t see any nice bucks and I scouted and hunted for sheep a lot. Those mtns used to have some giants in them. But like a lot of colorado. The big ones are being killed off quick. I think in the sangres with the impentation of the 4th rifle season. A lot of
Big bucks got killed off.

Well how did the S9 tag go for you? I would be curious to talk to you about which areas you hunted specifically. I will shoot you a PM if that is ok?

 

[strousek]

I think nearly any high country early season mule deer hunt is going to be a daily gut punch if you’re after a big one. Which side of the range (east/west) are you hunting? I imagine the terrain intimidates a lot of folks.

I hunted the west last time. Statistics show that it is more productive however I am open to hunting either side.

 

[Poser]

I can’t help you with the specific Mtn range, but I backpack/glass/scout/explore the high country of the San Juans 40-50 days annually between June and September and my conclusion is that this high country mulie tag is overrated in general. I think the points make it seem desirable, but I’ve found big bucks to be very rare in the high country and very common in town. I imagine the Sangres are no different. I’ve done some high country Mtn biking over there, but that’s the limit of my experience.

 

[ahlgringo]

Been 4 or 5 years since I have been up there in Sept, saw a couple dandy's then, but no current intel. The Elk hunting has taken a dive though for sure. Beautiful area though that will for sure make you earn it.

 

[naneumranch]

We hunted it about 10 years ago and everyday a small plane flew every basin around us. When we got out we asked one of the local taxidermist what was going on. He said they were probably scouting and once they located a good buck would pack in the next day . Most of the buck we saw during that hunt had started to rub out and get hard horned do they were dropping into the timber.


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[TheHammer]

All the big ones I saw this year were in the flats at the base of the mountains. Very few deer sign in either spot I was in.

 

[cuerro viejo]

I’ve essentially hunted both sides. Would not be my pick to chase 180” plus deer. Maybe if you were hunting eastern side private like the Hill.

 

[ckleeves]

All of the high county early rifle hunts have kinda taken a beating the last few years. Imo it’s the increase in tag numbers and long range rifles on the early hunt not to mention everyone has great optics and backpacking gear. Couple that with more bucks getting killed during the rifle seasons with the later season dates and the age class is pretty depressing.

I’m not sure on the sangres, but I know in the San Jauns there are a lot of 150” type bucks getting killed on the ER hunt. The days of 180” or bust are in the review mirror on those tags and guys are seeing that and not dropping stacks of points on them.

CPW needs to rein it in a little on tag numbers on these hunts, you simply can’t kill 30-40 mature bucks out of a somewhat smallish area every year and not expect a serious reduction in quality. Although I guess that’s what they are after right now so mission accomplished.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Pretty familiar with parts of the mountain range, it is 120 miles long so some serious variables, but as far as deer go not a lot of good news from some hard winters years ago I don’t think the deer have every really recovered, add to that the overly generous late season tags and loads of predators, crushing fawns. I wouldn’t spend my points there

 

[robby denning]

some of the point drop might be the 2nd-4th seasons dates being so late the last 3 years that more hunters spending points late than early. Just a thought.

I'd listen most to the guys who live there