Colorado 43 Archery

[warrior]

I have put in for a unit 43 archery mule deer tag. Fingers crossed I draw. This will be my first back-country hunt (not solo). I have done map studies and narrowed it down to an area that looks promising (google earth) and (hunt atlas). My llamas and I will be headed up there several times in late July early August to glass it over. I will have two OTC elk tags as well and plan to spend 12 days in there early Sept. I am looking for ANY advice on the area, words of cation, tips/tactics, back country advice. Thank you.

Warrior
USMC Veteran
A man who travels into the woods is lost to the world, yet he find himself

 

[RICMIC]

Welcome to the forum warrior, and Semper Fi. I have hunted #43 three times, and have covered a fair bit of the north side of the unit. I think that you have a good plan, and with your llamas can cover a lot of country with enough gear to last a while. If you have the time during your scouting trips, you can set up a base camp and branch out from there to look over a lot of country. You may find some cattle, and if so, try to give yourself some space from them as I never seem to see any deer or elk around when they are present. If you're young, try and act like you're old. It's a marathon, and not a sprint; focus on staying healthy and enjoying yourself, and you will have a successful trip whether you shoot something or not.

 

[Slugz]

Welcome to the forum warrior, and Semper Fi. I have hunted #43 three times, and have covered a fair bit of the north side of the unit. I think that you have a good plan, and with your llamas can cover a lot of country with enough gear to last a while. If you have the time during your scouting trips, you can set up a base camp and branch out from there to look over a lot of country. You may find some cattle, and if so, try to give yourself some space from them as I never seem to see any deer or elk around when they are present. If you're young, try and act like you're old. It's a marathon, and not a sprint; focus on staying healthy and enjoying yourself, and you will have a successful trip whether you shoot something or not.

Just for perspective. My primary GMU has cattle in it, fair amount. I'm in it Aug 15th til Sept 30th. The elk don't care at least where I'm at. I've seen 5-6 cows get into the bovine conga line and head to water with them while 1000' above them on a ridge another herd of elk was feeding with a few bulls in the group pushing them around in pre rut activity. Don't know if it is because forage is plenty the past 3-4 years or not.

 

[ILbowhunter17]

I have hunted that unit steep and a lot of hunters

 

[Slugz]

Ensure to come up with a plan to deviate from concerning hunting both mule and elk at the same time roughly. In my primary GMU I hunt elk archery from the opener till about middle of muzzleloader season then switch to muleys as they seem to be coming down from altitude and are roughly within a few thousand feet of the elk. Do not try and hunt both as it usually ends up chasing butts up and down ridges. That's just one GMU and one perspective though. Could be different in 43 but your glassing trips should be able to determine that.

 

[BOHNTR]

It's NOTHING like it used to be.......it has never really rebounded since the 07/08 winter kill where over 70% of their deer herd died. There is not a lot of deer in this unit above timberline anymore.......but small sporadic bachelor herds can be found with good scouting. You'll see a few if you're mobile and can get away from other hunters (which you will see in this unit). WAY too much publicity killed this unit, IMO.