Not a lot of NR tags out there and I hear it is a rough hunt. Other things I have heard are that the fields and the lower levels of BLM have been good with deer during the same season but that is directly opposite of "high Alpine"
Rough = correct
That's a varsity hunt if not a Doctorate level PHD hunt.....In my humble opinion....doable though with proper planning, conditioning and planning and conditioning.
My question is I understand the late hunts are great and the deer migrate in to rut but it seems in the early season u could find them in the wilderness area up high above timberline? And the deer would migrate north as the season progressed. But it seems I’m missing something here because the early tags are too easy to get if this is the case
Colorado's unit 44 is a big unit with lots of places for those big bucks to hide. It isn't as simple as it sounds to hunt them in the early seasons.
I know the unit a lot better than most. I live in it and hunted it a lot back when it was a OTC unit. I know where big bucks like to hang out at and even then I eat tag soup quite often when I draw a muzzle loader tag.
My question is I understand the late hunts are great and the deer migrate in to rut but it seems in the early season u could find them in the wilderness area up high above timberline? And the deer would migrate north as the season progressed. But it seems I’m missing something here because the early tags are too easy to get if this is the case
Slugz, I like the PHD style comparison. I’ve done some gnarly physical hunts so I’m not as concerned on that part but my thought was to have an outfitter do a drop camp if I was to do this hunt and at least get that part taken care of. As someone else mentioned though, they can be where they want to be which isn’t what I’d expect seeing that it’s early season. My concern is that food will pull them down to private more than the high alpine weather will dictate and I would be up high in the wrong spot or at least in a much more difficult situation.
For what it's worth....I spent 13 days in #44 in 2016. I did a lot of research before I applied for the muzzy deer tag with my 10 pts., and spoke at length with a forum member who used to guide in the unit. He bought out an outfitter in a nearby unit and no longer hunts in #44. He discouraged me from applying for the ER tag and stated that he has seen far more good bucks and had better success during the muzzy season than in the Holy Cross Wilderness (where the ER tag limits you to hunt). I scouted for 6 days and saw quite a few deer on the first day, but it went to a hot & dry period and all activity seemed to cease. Archery hunters I met in the field told me they had lots of encounters with some good bucks the days prior to my arrival, and I spoke to 4 other muzzy hunters who had no luck either. A 200"+ buck was shot in #44 during the 4th season, and that buck had hung out all year at the golf course in Eagle. Listen to JimP, as he likely knows this area better that anyone else you are likely to talk to. Good Luck.
the muzzy tag takes 0 pts for NR and the third rifle takes 21. That to me is quite the difference? That?s why I say I must not understand this unit very well or I?m missing something. I do see it has a small population compared to lots of other units. So I guess w the terrain and deer being spread out early season it makes it very difficult
The brake down for 44 non resident deer goes like this:
1R in the Holy Cross Wilderness 5+ points for 3 tags
2R 6+ for 19 tags
3R 21+ for 5 tags
4R 23+ for 3 tags
ML 0-1+ for 9 tags. You can draw with 0 but if you want to make sure you need at least 1 point, same for residents.
The high country wilderness hunt is a hard hunt, especially for the NR. The altitudes are 10,000'+ and you need to hike into the area which is another drawback for a lot of NR's.
The ML hunt is also a hard hunt. The deer know where to hide and they do it well. Thick cover and deep canyons will test the hunter
4th rifle will also test the hunter. You must find the deer and figure out their patterns. If no snow you are in for a real tough hunt. Even with snow on the ground it can be rough depending on the size of buck you want.
Well, the more and more I read and talk to guys, the less I want to hunt this unit unless I was out there for a week scouting ahead of time because it seems rough and the low success rates are tough to burn the points on.
The brake down for 44 non resident deer goes like this:
1R in the Holy Cross Wilderness 5+ points for 3 tags
2R 6+ for 19 tags
3R 21+ for 5 tags
4R 23+ for 3 tags
ML 0-1+ for 9 tags. You can draw with 0 but if you want to make sure you need at least 1 point, same for residents.
The high country wilderness hunt is a hard hunt, especially for the NR. The altitudes are 10,000'+ and you need to hike into the area which is another drawback for a lot of NR's.
The ML hunt is also a hard hunt. The deer know where to hide and they do it well. Thick cover and deep canyons will test the hunter
4th rifle will also test the hunter. You must find the deer and figure out their patterns. If no snow you are in for a real tough hunt. Even with snow on the ground it can be rough depending on the size of buck you want.
it seems there are lots of NR that go in deep for elk into these wilderness areas. Here’s my take, and I’m not a mule hunter deer so take it w a grain of salt but I saw several several really nice mulies last on a muzzy elk hunt. I felt like I coulda easily killed a couple of them no problem. I liked the fact that they weren’t moving around and u could take your time getting to them. Now I’m not saying that 44 is the unit to do that in but I’m saying I do like the idea of backpack early season mule deer hunt after seeing several last yr in a wilderness area. I also feel u can draw a good quality unit for less pts then third season that maybe u couldn’t draw that same unit in third season. Idk how many pts u have though
I had a 4th season tag in 44 in 2016 and spend basically 2 weeks in the unit. Saw a total of 30 bucks and covered allot of the unit beside talking to other people who were hunting elk. The population in the unit is way down compared to what it use to be so don't be surprised by the number of deer you see. I was fortunate to talk a great buck that scores 209 but it took 22 years as a non-resident to draw that tag.
I had the early rifle tag last year. Spent several days spike camping 5 miles back in, glassing timber edges & high ridges. I never saw a deer. I was not in 44 but in other Holy Cross units. I love the area, but there is just not much game in the remote places you would expect to find it. If you could hunt golf courses & subdivisions you could do great, 'cause that's where the deer are. My CPW contact in the area told me afterwards that he is discouraging people from applying for this hunt.
I didn't wade through all the posts above but thought I would add additional comments. Muledeer prior to rut in Central Colo are generally scattered over miles upon miles of country. There are few pockets of bucks scattered from high alpine to low sage/juniper country. There is a heck of a lot of country without a deer in it...which can be discouraging. Bachelor groups of velvet bucks can be found in similar spots all summer long but once they shed their velvet they pretty much head to the trees where they are even tougher to locate. The first snow of the year often happens around this same time...which often pushes deer below treeline. They often hangout in trees and isolated country where they are nearly impossible to find. The muzzy and early high country rifle hunts generally take place around the time most bucks loose their velvet. This is more or less a transition time when bucks tend to change locations. By the 2nd rifle season bucks are even tougher to find because they've been archery/muzzy deer hunted, plus gobs of OTC elk hunters spook them into trees and isolated hidden pockets.
"IF" there is deep snow the deer generally migrate and are more concentrated. Some years this may not even happen until after the 4th rifle season! The rut starts to pick up during the 3rd and 4th seasons. Depending upon the moon phase, weather, snow, temperatures....this can change dramatically from one year to the next.
This may explain why early hunts are generally a lot easier to draw than late hunts. The bucks are there but it usually takes a lot of time and boot leather to find the few that are scattered across large, steep, and nasty landscapes.
