Colorado 2nd Rifle weather

[D_Dubya]

Looks like the weather is setting up nicely for my Colorado 2nd rifle deer hunt. Hopefully the snow and cold will get the deer headed towards the winter range and maybe keep them up feeding a little more. I’ll be hunting the whole 9 day season, starting with my brother in law and I, then my Dad and son are coming up for the second half of the season, everyone has buck tags. I can’t wait!!

 

[buckbull]

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Here in the SW part of the state we got snow yesterday morning. The nice thing I like about fresh snow is every track you see you know it's fresh. Makes it a lot easier to see where the animals are and what they are doing. Good luck to everyone.

 

[JimP]

Here in unit 44 we got around 4 inches down here in the valley with quite a bit more up in the hills.

Be prepared for a wet sloppy hunt and roads.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Nice and sunny today, about 48 and almost no wind.

 

[ScottR]

Good luck, I hope it turns out well for you!

 

[Rich M]

Looking forward to a report. Good luck!

 

[D_Dubya]

Cold this morning scouting, 5 degrees at our first glassing spot. The snow is pretty deep up high, deer seem to have cleared out of the real high country in my unit. Deer were moving all day, we saw deer from 10k feet in the aspens and 7 or 8” of snow all the way down to the winter range. Lots of does and forkies down in the sage country. Saw a few decent bucks, nothing great.

Met a younger hunter up here hunting mulies for the first time and on his own, so we showed him some decent 4 points we’d found in the spotter and told him go get one in the morning, hope he succeeds.

All total scouting today we saw about a hundred deer, a few elk, a couple legal bulls, and about 30 bighorn sheep. It really was a great scouting day. We have a plan for opening morning so we’ll march in with the orange army and let the chips fall where they may. Good luck to all.

 

[CrimsonArrow]

Sounds like it’s going to be a fun hunt for you. Good luck

 

[disabled combat vet]

It's supposed to rain Wednesday and Thursday and rain/snow Friday in Pagosa........ I'm probably going down Monday or Tuesday so hopefully the rain doesn't affect the deer that much.

 

[D_Dubya]

Made a 9 mile loop this morning, saw a few decent 4 point Mulies but nothing we were interested in, made it up to 11,200 just to check it out - lots of elk sign but the deer have cleared out up high. We got on one legal bull (my brother in law has a bull tag) but the bull got in the timber before he could set up to shoot.

Headed back to the Jeep and went to glass the low country, lots of deer seen. Found a decent buck in the spotter about a mile away and told my brother in law to take a look, right as he was putting his eye to the spotter we heard a gunshot, he said “I don’t see a deer”. The rest of the deer started running. About 5 minutes later I looked back with the spotter just in time to see what I assume was father and son hugging and high fiving, then we could see them dragging the buck to a flat spot to clean him, it was pretty cool.

I heard back from the young man we had shown some bucks to yesterday evening, he got in there this morning and killed his first mule deer, a pretty decent one too.

Going to hunt the sage country in the morning, see if we can turn something up.

 

[ScottR]

Made a 9 mile loop this morning, saw a few decent 4 point Mulies but nothing we were interested in, made it up to 11,200 just to check it out - lots of elk sign but the deer have cleared out up high. We got on one legal bull (my brother in law has a bull tag) but the bull got in the timber before he could set up to shoot.

Headed back to the Jeep and went to glass the low country, lots of deer seen. Found a decent buck in the spotter about a mile away and told my brother in law to take a look, right as he was putting his eye to the spotter we heard a gunshot, he said “I don’t see a deer”. The rest of the deer started running. About 5 minutes later I looked back with the spotter just in time to see what I assume was father and son hugging and high fiving, then we could see them dragging the buck to a flat spot to clean him, it was pretty cool.

I heard back from the young man we had shown some bucks to yesterday evening, he got in there this morning and killed his first mule deer, a pretty decent one too.

Going to hunt the sage country in the morning, see if we can turn something up.

Cool to read about good sportsmanship! Hope it pans out for you!

 

[disabled combat vet]

It's supposed to snow in Pagosa 100 percent chance Thursday and 40 percent chance Friday....... we'll see I guess

 

[D_Dubya]

Snow and cold in the forecast for the last 4 days of the season, hopefully that will get the bucks moving a bit more. Seeing lots of deer, saw one today that was very tempting, just not quite what I’m looking for. Will be back after it in the morning, looks like the morning hike is going to have a lot of “up” from the trailhead.

 

[ScottR]

Snow and cold in the forecast for the last 4 days of the season, hopefully that will get the bucks moving a bit more. Seeing lots of deer, saw one today that was very tempting, just not quite what I’m looking for. Will be back after it in the morning, looks like the morning hike is going to have a lot of “up” from the trailhead.

Good luck, I'm having fun following along on this one.

 

[D_Dubya]

Started the morning at what we thought was a relatively unknown NF access…boy were we wrong! So we marched in dutifully with the orange army. Still saw a few deer, but about 20 minutes daylight I had enough of the pumpkin patch, so I signaled my brother in law to meet me and we decided to head to the other side of the mountain.

Made it around the mountain in record time and started seeing bucks immediately. However, we could also see another division of the orange army advancing from the bottom. Just the same, we turned up a nice buck towards the top. We watched him bed and made a plan to go after him. The only way to sneak in would be from the top, so we topped the 11,000’ ridge and headed his way, only to find we were cliffed out and couldn’t drop down on him without going way around. While we were pondering what to do another hunter came up and turns out he was trying to sneak in on the same buck, and his hunting partners were trying to make a play on him from below. We shrugged our shoulders and wished him good luck.

Went and glassed another area and turned up two herds of elk, just a little to far to make a play on before dark.

going to hunt a different area in the AM, hopefully an area with a little less pressure. Maybe we can get something before the weather hits Wednesday night. My Dad and son are flying in tomorrow evening so that will change my hunting style considerably for the last 4 days of the season, I will be focused on getting them their bucks.

 

[ScottR]

Started the morning at what we thought was a relatively unknown NF access…boy were we wrong! So we marched in dutifully with the orange army. Still saw a few deer, but about 20 minutes daylight I had enough of the pumpkin patch, so I signaled my brother in law to meet me and we decided to head to the other side of the mountain.

Made it around the mountain in record time and started seeing bucks immediately. However, we could also see another division of the orange army advancing from the bottom. Just the same, we turned up a nice buck towards the top. We watched him bed and made a plan to go after him. The only way to sneak in would be from the top, so we topped the 11,000’ ridge and headed his way, only to find we were cliffed out and couldn’t drop down on him without going way around. While we were pondering what to do another hunter came up and turns out he was trying to sneak in on the same buck, and his hunting partners were trying to make a play on him from below. We shrugged our shoulders and wished him good luck.

Went and glassed another area and turned up two herds of elk, just a little to far to make a play on before dark.

going to hunt a different area in the AM, hopefully an area with a little less pressure. Maybe we can get something before the weather hits Wednesday night. My Dad and son are flying in tomorrow evening so that will change my hunting style considerably for the last 4 days of the season, I will be focused on getting them their bucks.

I hope it plays out well for all involved!

 

[D_Dubya]

Switched up areas this morning and hit the motherlode of deer. Plenty of bucks, still nothing quite what I’m looking for, but some nice bucks in there. Little bucks are sniffing the does, bigger boys not interested yet.

Had a herd of elk come through this evening as well, my B-I-L with a bull tag was one ridge over from me, and was on the bull, but the thermals switched before he could get a clear shot and they hit the timber.

My Dad and son made it in tonight; with weather rolling in late tonight, the last 4 days just might be pretty good!

 

[Slugz]

Keep at it!!!! Good luck to all!!

 

[D_Dubya]

We had a well over a foot of snow in the high country, the deer are thick in sage and aspens. Quite a few elk have moved down as well. My Dad went out with my brother in law on Thursday and killed this buck right after it the snow stopped. (Yes he was wearing orange, vest is just out of view after he had put his coat



Between our group we still have three buck tags and a bull tag to punch, two more days to get it done!

heading to my sons unit right now, made a couple stalks with him yesterday, we got on a 3x3 yesterday but he passed, tried to move in on a better 4point but he gave us the slip.