How are the deer doing in the gunnison basin
- Thread starter brian.320
- Start date
ColoradoV
Very Active Member
- Oct 4, 2011
- 821
- 940
This winter is a normal winter and unless we get a big storm or 2 in the spring should stay that way but we still have 2 full months of winter left.
2 of the past 4 years have the winters have been very hard (18) extreme (16).. These winters are starting to show in the age class as in 2016 fawn recruitment was very low or less than 10% slightly higher or like 13% in 2018 and it is becoming very evident in the age class of bucks. While I have moved on from hunting the gunny basin I still spend 8-10 days in the summer scouting and last year was the worst year I have seen since 2009...
With that said I would burn my points as soon as I can as the dynamics of the Gunny basin and the way the deer end up in the sage flats is such that it will be a slaughter with the later rifle dates.. Most folk feel that by the 4th season in 2021 there will not be many upper age class bucks left and guys will be lucky to see a 140 - 150" type buck. Sure a couple bucks will make it but they will be few and far between.
Or right now 2020 it is as good as it will get in the next decade - so I would hunt ASAP or have a plan to wait out the 20's and hope the 30's are better... Not sure if that is what you wanted but if you are looking at 551 - I would hunt it and dont worry as you know next year will be as good as it gets for the next 10 years as sad as that is.
V
2 of the past 4 years have the winters have been very hard (18) extreme (16).. These winters are starting to show in the age class as in 2016 fawn recruitment was very low or less than 10% slightly higher or like 13% in 2018 and it is becoming very evident in the age class of bucks. While I have moved on from hunting the gunny basin I still spend 8-10 days in the summer scouting and last year was the worst year I have seen since 2009...
With that said I would burn my points as soon as I can as the dynamics of the Gunny basin and the way the deer end up in the sage flats is such that it will be a slaughter with the later rifle dates.. Most folk feel that by the 4th season in 2021 there will not be many upper age class bucks left and guys will be lucky to see a 140 - 150" type buck. Sure a couple bucks will make it but they will be few and far between.
Or right now 2020 it is as good as it will get in the next decade - so I would hunt ASAP or have a plan to wait out the 20's and hope the 30's are better... Not sure if that is what you wanted but if you are looking at 551 - I would hunt it and dont worry as you know next year will be as good as it gets for the next 10 years as sad as that is.
V
