I had never been to CO but heard good stuff about a unit and decided to go. My almost 80 yo dad wanted to go and a buddy from NY.
The weather turned cold while we were there - dropped from 70 to 17 during the day. Windy enough for dad to stay in tent with heater going. Got 2-4 inches of white stuff mid-week.
The public land was pretty busy. I had areas was told to hunt and went, seeing folks at almost every turn. Definitely seeing multiple tire tracks, letting us know we weren't first most places.
Day 2 we saw 3 bighorn rams. Seen 7 MD does one evening, buddy saw 3 WT does and a half rack WT buck. Day or two later we saw 8 or so does and a 2x2 buck on a small piece of public.
Day or so later we had a conversation with a fellow about how to hunt area and he gives us permission to hunt a winter wheat field. Took 2 days to figure out which field that was. That was real nice of him and his advice made a big diff in what we were seeing. Tough to travel and be productive first time around - this was nothing like a 2017 antelope trip to WY where we saw 200+ mule deer and WT everywhere. I think we may have seen 75 total between the 2 of us hunting, dad saw 20 or so from camp while it was nice out.
Saw couple more deer on a diff small piece of public. Passed a small 2x2. Saw some bucks on adjacent property. We ended up having permission on the adjacent property.
Day 6 - first sit on adjacent field had 20 deer at 600 yds, then a truck scared em closer and closer. The only buck I had noticed came to 215 yards and took a high shoulder shot from 243, then started peg legging towards fence line - hit him again and he went down. The 25-inch wide rack is real nice but the body impressed me the most - never shot a deer even close to that big before. Hadn't even fantasized about one this big.
Hunted couple more days to try and get buddy a buck - he had 2 opps at a nice 3x3 - safety on and miss, then had a miss and jammed gun on 2x2 last day. That 3x3 was real pretty - had seemingly flattened antlers - almost looked like caribou shovels. Pic is a 2x2 that walked by truck while I was watching buddy miss 3x3.
So - we had an amazing excellent adventure. Saw new territory, hunted new species, met some very nice folks. It was a great trip.
I also gained a lot of respect for mule deer. WY was crawling where we were and CO wasn't where we were. Had also already embraced the idea of either shoot a 2x2 or go home empty-handed but had dad yammering for one of us to shoot something - was important for him that someone get something. Glad we did.
The weather turned cold while we were there - dropped from 70 to 17 during the day. Windy enough for dad to stay in tent with heater going. Got 2-4 inches of white stuff mid-week.
The public land was pretty busy. I had areas was told to hunt and went, seeing folks at almost every turn. Definitely seeing multiple tire tracks, letting us know we weren't first most places.
Day 2 we saw 3 bighorn rams. Seen 7 MD does one evening, buddy saw 3 WT does and a half rack WT buck. Day or two later we saw 8 or so does and a 2x2 buck on a small piece of public.
Day or so later we had a conversation with a fellow about how to hunt area and he gives us permission to hunt a winter wheat field. Took 2 days to figure out which field that was. That was real nice of him and his advice made a big diff in what we were seeing. Tough to travel and be productive first time around - this was nothing like a 2017 antelope trip to WY where we saw 200+ mule deer and WT everywhere. I think we may have seen 75 total between the 2 of us hunting, dad saw 20 or so from camp while it was nice out.
Saw couple more deer on a diff small piece of public. Passed a small 2x2. Saw some bucks on adjacent property. We ended up having permission on the adjacent property.
Day 6 - first sit on adjacent field had 20 deer at 600 yds, then a truck scared em closer and closer. The only buck I had noticed came to 215 yards and took a high shoulder shot from 243, then started peg legging towards fence line - hit him again and he went down. The 25-inch wide rack is real nice but the body impressed me the most - never shot a deer even close to that big before. Hadn't even fantasized about one this big.
Hunted couple more days to try and get buddy a buck - he had 2 opps at a nice 3x3 - safety on and miss, then had a miss and jammed gun on 2x2 last day. That 3x3 was real pretty - had seemingly flattened antlers - almost looked like caribou shovels. Pic is a 2x2 that walked by truck while I was watching buddy miss 3x3.
So - we had an amazing excellent adventure. Saw new territory, hunted new species, met some very nice folks. It was a great trip.
I also gained a lot of respect for mule deer. WY was crawling where we were and CO wasn't where we were. Had also already embraced the idea of either shoot a 2x2 or go home empty-handed but had dad yammering for one of us to shoot something - was important for him that someone get something. Glad we did.
