Second season Colorado reports

[hunthikecamp]

I’m not seeing any mature bucks with the does yet. Found tracks & beds of some mature bucks near where the does are hanging out after the storm but that’s the closest I’ve gotten to finding anything larger than a forky on public.

I know theres a million and 1 factors that affect this answer but just curious, what kind of snow depths are you seeing deer in still? I'm heading back up this weekend, gonna go as high as I can but going in somewhat blind as far as what to expect with the snow.

The deer I saw last weekend were grazing on what looked like little more than dead grass, I was surprised. But seems like it wouldn't take much snow to cover that up and force them to move/change.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Little to no snow stuck around in a lot of the state, look higher than you think

 

[hunthikecamp]

Little to no snow stuck around in a lot of the state, look higher than you think

Exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you! Just topped off the gas tank, rolling in and planning on spiking out as close to 11k as I can get tonight.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you! Just topped off the gas tank, rolling in and planning on spiking out as close to 11k as I can get tonight.

Good luck! Let us know how you do!

 

[hunthikecamp]

Got out of the truck at the TH at 10k to about a foot of snow. I don't know much about what the big old crusty bucks do but I had a feeling the does (and hopefully smaller bucks) weren't sticking around in that so I made a last minute decision and went to plan b, dropped down to about 9k, still snow, but a lot less and the south facing slopes were pretty much burned off. Ran into this guy and another buck of similar size hanging around about 15 does. Maybe he's a 'smaller' buck, hanging with the does early, haha, but he's a damn fine buck and I'm stoked I pulled it off! (Excuse the shitty bino harness self photography)

 

[Hnthrdr]

Got out of the truck at the TH at 10k to about a foot of snow. I don't know much about what the big old crusty bucks do but I had a feeling the does (and hopefully smaller bucks) weren't sticking around in that so I made a last minute decision and went to plan b, dropped down to about 9k, still snow, but a lot less and the south facing slopes were pretty much burned off. Ran into this guy and another buck of similar size hanging around about 15 does. Maybe he's a 'smaller' buck, hanging with the does early, haha, but he's a damn fine buck and I'm stoked I pulled it off! (Excuse the shitty bino harness self photography)

Good for you man, sounds like you made the right call

 

[DeerCatcherUT/CO]

The unit I was in last weekend didn't see or hear of a buck below 11k, but go above 11k and there were bucks around. Still didn't seem interested in does from what I saw. I'm really hoping this weather this week fires them up, heading back up this weekend.

Meanwhile, this guy was in my neighborhood on the front range herding does around people's yards (and the road) , so hopefully that's a good sign

Roxborough?

 

[hunthikecamp]

Roxborough?

Lol, yep

 

[Treeratslayer]

Rookie question here. So if it has snowed at 10 and they’re down at 9ish, will they stay there? Or if it melts will they move back up some?


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[DeerCatcherUT/CO]

Lol, yep

I think I live very close to you haha

 

[Poser]

Rookie question here. So if it has snowed at 10 and they’re down at 9ish, will they stay there? Or if it melts will they move back up some?


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Deer generally will not return to higher elevation once they get snowed out. Elk, however, will.
*There are always exceptions.

 

[Studs1991]

Are you guys seeing mature bucks? Any rutting action? What general part of the state are you in? Would love to hear how it's going out there, thanks!

I hunted south central Colorado for second season. 6 total days in the field and I'd like to give a detailed summary of my experience:
- The first area I hunted was predominantly an elk area. First glassing session I saw 4 elk and no deer. I hunted this area the next few days, but realized it had a lot of road hunters and a lack of deer.
- Second area I hunted I was familiar with, as I hunted it last year for 1st rifle elk. Again, I saw cow elk on my way to my morning glassing spot and never turned up any deer. I did hear other people shooting, but was unsure if parties were hunting deer or elk. A few days later, I ran into a family hunting cow elk who had some success, but weren't seeing any deer in their typical areas... I continued to hunt other spots I was familiar with but couldn't seem to turn much up.
- My strategy then switched to just driving roads until I could locate any deer. I did find a nice 4x4 with a group of does (on private land). He did not seem to be rutting, but this was the only buck I saw with any does the entire trip....
- I had finally located where the deer liked to be in this cluster of units, but it was always doe groups with no bucks while hunting on public land. Some days I would see 10-20 deer and saw zero rutting activity. The one buck I glassed up on public land daylighted with 10 minutes of shooting light remaining and ultimately got spooked. As I was driving out from my hunting spot the last night, I located a third and final buck of the trip walking down the road. My assumption is that throughout second season in this area, a majority of the bucks were nocturnal and you would have to get lucky catching them at twilight.
Overall, my observation was that the elk are doing much better than the deer in the higher country of this area. I had to move lower to the oak brush country to locate deer. I would hunt this area again, but I am always shocked at the amount of good habitat that seems un-occupied by game in giant swaths of this country.
I will leave with one last comment about reported harvest success: last year, most units in this cluster had approximately a 50% harvest rate. I find it hard to believe 50% of people even saw a deer in some of these units. This is my opinion, but I am under the impression that reported harvest success is inflated and shouldn't be used a reliable gauge for herd health.

 

[sram9102]

I spent 2 days scouting and then 7 days hunting elk in what I would say is a deer unit. The only really big bucks I saw were on private. Saw a few decent 4 pts on public, but nothing that I would have shot with the number of pts the unit takes. The elk were mostly above 10k. Had a weird run in with a small bull on Halloween, he's probably dead out there somewhere but we couldn't find any blood anywhere. I saw mostly small 4 pts and smaller bucks taken in a unit that took 10+ pts for NRs to draw the deer tag.

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[jcaud]

Started my hunt around 10-11k feet and saw a few deer, but was bumping elbows with a a lot of elk hunters. Couple guys in our group had dropped down to some lower elevation so we followed them down there.

Ended up tagging a mid 150s buck in some timber at around 7400’. Not the biggest, but absolutely got me excited for my first mountain muley hunt in a low point unit.

Saw a ton of does but were either with fawns or alone, no bucks with them. Found that buck with a small group of bucks. Seems like we were on a resident deer herd, but they really only seemed to get pressure from road hunters. Didn’t seem to be a lot of guys willing to walk more than about 100 yards from the road, so most of my hunts weren’t super pressured.