Decisions, decisions...

[Bugleseeker]

So my dad, brother, and I each have 13 preference points for mule deer in colorado. I've been doing some online research and chatting with friends there. Haven't called the game managers yet, but will try them next week. We are trying to decide between Unit 30, 3rd season and Unit 61, 2nd season. Does anybody have any thoughts about deciding between these options?

 

[Winchester]

You are comparing apples to oranges.
Unit 61, 2nd season is a borderline Blue-Chip Unit which you could get with 13 points as a Resident (nonresident takes 24 points).
Unit 30, 3rd season is an OTC hunt and doesn't require any points.

Unit 61 is by far the better hunt of the two.

Shoot me a PM if you'd like to discuss.

 

[JimP]

Also, if you have 13 points going into the draw as a group I would look into units that only require 11 or 12 points for better odds to draw.

 

[Bugleseeker]

Ok thank you for responding. If you are correct, I'm completely not understanding the Colorado draw results.

I'm hoping you can open and read these draw results from CO in the attachments and see what you think.

As I read it, for 2023 in Unit 30 for season 3, I would have needed at least 11 preference points to draw 3 non-resident tags (55 total tags; 15 total NR tags: 4 NR tags were drawn with minimum 11 points, and 8 tags between 11 and 13 points, the rest were higher points).

Unit 61/S2: I also would have needed 11 preference points to draw 3 NR tags. (NR's got 25 of 90 tags, and 15 NR's got tags with as low as 9 points; 19 tags given for between 9-13 points, and the rest were higher)

What am I missing?

 

[Winchester]

My mistake, I thought you were asking about ELK hunting, which is what unit 61 is known for.

 

[Bugleseeker]

My mistake, I thought you were asking about ELK hunting, which is what unit 61 is known for.

Whew! That was a close one. I've spent many, many hours on this and kind of panicked that I wasted all my time in ignorance!

I do have a couple elk points, but won't be spending them this year. This is pretty much a once-in-a lifetime dream MD hunt for the three of us to go together.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

You should give Garvey Bros Outfitting a call. They hunt in 61 and in the past have answered some questions I had about elk hunting in 61. They hunt deer too.

 

[JimP]

When I had my unit 61 muzzle loader elk tag I didn't see a single deer up high.

I think that they were all down low next to the fields.

 

[Winchester]

Now that I realize you're considering the units for Deer hunting (my fault, sorry) here are a couple of thoughts:
The units really aren't very different when it comes to trophy potential and they both have plenty of public land with steep, thick canyons.

Unit 30, 3rd season: Green-Chip Unit. Slightly higher success rates than unit 61 over the last few years, but not by much. Some of the bigger bucks migrate into unit 30 so this is somewhat weather dependant. Most of the deer will be in the Northern portions bordering unit 21, and there are plenty of steep, thick canyons. This is an OTC unit for elk so there will be increased hunting pressure from elk hunters in the field.

Unit 61, 2nd season: Green-Chip Unit. There are big bucks here but the deer population has been decling for a few years. Very steep, thick terrain at the top (East side) of the unit. Big bucks can be difficult to locate during 2nd season since they will still be in the high steep stuff (they move lower during later seasons). This is a draw unit for Elk so less overall hunters in the field.

 

[Winchester]

Whew! That was a close one. I've spent many, many hours on this and kind of panicked that I wasted all my time in ignorance!

Very sorry!!
Unit 61 is very well known for elk so I misread your question ...

 

[JimP]

One thing about unit 30, it is very popular with the weekend ATV and side by side folks that live in the Grand Junction area or others that will drive to it. Most of the unit is what you might consider foothills with the higher areas on its boarder.

There are good bucks in the unit that hang out the draws and farmers fields in Fruita and North Grand Junction.