CO Deer Advice

[BKC]

I went to college in Gunnison, for one year, in the late 70's. I remember going back for the spring semester, about this time of year, and seeing elk after elk, standing on the side of the highway. The only open grass was the 2' wide strip of grass next to the asphalt that the plows had cleared. That was a tough year, there have been other bad years, and this one is shaping up to be another bad one. Usually the deer have a much tougher time than the elk. I remember the national guard use to drop feed for the game. Do they still do that? And who pays for that?

 

[JimP]

This year just may be one of those years. In 30 years of living here this is the first time that I have heard of a number of ski resorts closing because of too much snow, with more snow to come.

From what I have heard the Gunnison basin has been hit real hard.

 

[toddh]

It looks real bad from the news I read.

 

[azarmbruster]

Bigsky2, I totally get what your saying. It is hard for an out of stater to pick a unit and just hunt it and learn it and hope and try to find the best bucks in the unit regularly. It does have its advantages and my be the best strategy out there for the DIY guy to consistently take great bucks. If it is at all possible to do it is the way to go. The fact of the matter is though a lot can change in these units on a 3 to 4 year basis over the course of 10, 15 or 20 years. I do believe units have and go through trends. Some are on upswings and some are headed down hill and some in a quick hurry. Anything like change in tag quotas, harsh winter kill, increased popularity of a unit for any reason, or the division trying some crazy study in the unit you want to hunt can have a drastic affect on the quality of the hunt and "trophy potential" a unit can produce. I have fallen victim to "getting comfortable in a unit" and hunted it for a few years after some negative factors really damaged the quality of the unit and the trophy potential. Having lived and hunted in CO for the last couple decades I fully agree with the rest of the guys that every unit in CO is capable of producing B&C caliber bucks but the question is does the unit have one if any B&C bucks or possibly 5 to 10. That is a big difference when it comes to your chances of finding one of them. Same thing goes for a unit with the odds of seeing a 170 buck everyday or maybe one the whole hunt. I have spent time in every unit west of I-25 and many east of it. All that being said the units you have listed under 2nd season and units 40 and 54 are in my opinion your best options. 2nd season is a tough time of year to hunt deer and big bucks especially but I believe those units hold more of the caliber of deer you are looking for then the others. Time of year to hunt is a whole other topic in itself. I hunted 54 last year in both archery and 3rd season feel free to pm me on any of those units in particular as you narrow your search down.

 

[Slugz]

Azarmbruster brings up a good point that is overlooked alot. Units chnage every 3-5 years trending one way or another. I've seen it in my primary elk GMU. 5 years ago I would only see a doe or two. Now I'm seeing shooter bucks with one or two once in a lifetime bucks every year. I attribute this to the above average forage production the past few years.

 

[mallardsx2]

I have decided after reading all of this that all units are created equal but some units are more equal than others. lol

Lots of solid advice in this thread for sure!