How was your Colorado hunt his year?

oldpops

I just got home from our first mule deer hunt in units 11 and 211 in Colorado. Our party of three connected on two small bucks and a doe for the freezer. The weather was unseasonably warm and the big bucks were hard to find. I missed a 25 incher on the next to the last day but other than that the hunting was prety slow. What was your experience and what GMUs did you hunt?

Pops

skb2706 · Member Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 269

Big game hunting in CO

Took my son out for the opener of antelope hunting. We both got excellent bucks on the second day. First day weather was rough, windy and hot. Day 2 was more seasonal with clouds, cooler temps and a slight wind.

On Nov 2 we (he hunted, I guided) went on his first elk hunt. On day one we found a large herd but were in the wrong place to get a good shot. Day 2 we fixed that problem and he filled his license at 6:30 am....big cow. The weather was ridiculously hot, 58 degrees while we were skinning her. It was so warm we saw groups of motorcycle riders, a bicycler and several day hikers in shorts. Not common in Nov. in CO.

The late plains deer season starts on Dec. 1 so I have to generate freezer space in a hurry. We both have licenses (actually landowner vouchers).

Antelope was Area 122
Elk was Area 84
Deer is which ever voucher comes thru (we pool them for the family)

oldpops

Congratulations to your son. Hunting Colorado was a new experience for me and I was surprised that most of the local people I talked to would only draw doe or cow tags for winter freezer meat. Opening morning I heard at least 30 to 40 shots before 9:00am and it wasnâ€™t until later that day I realized that most of the shots were people harvesting animals for the freezer. A local told me that season two got eight inches of snow and the hunting was really good. We saw evidence of that at some of the deserted camps, but the combination of not knowing the area and the weather, or lack of weather, made the hunt difficult. Even though the hunting was tough we plan on returning next year to chase a big one.

Pops

skb2706 · Member Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 269

Co has a huge overabundance of cow elk. It is far easier to draw a license for a cow than a bull...thus the 'meat hunts'. With deer it depends on where you apply but typically does and bucks are equally difficult to draw.

Others may argue but my personal experiences have shown that the difficulty in hunting and successfully harvesting bucks/bulls vs. does/cows shows the ladies to be much more attentive and alert. I would argue that a doe antelope may be the most difficult to get in range of as all the rest...combined.

Coyote_Hunter_

Took 2 cow elk and a forkhorn mulie. Very good year! Hunting buddy got a doe.

You can read about it here:

2007 Elk Hunt

oldpops

Coyote_Hunter_ wrote:

Took 2 cow elk and a forkhorn mulie. Very good year! Hunting buddy got a doe.

You can read about it here:

2007 Elk Hunt

Nice blog Coyote_hunter. It looks like you had good weather for your hunt. I had to break out the suntan lotion in season 3. Since you are sharing blogs with us, you are welcome to check mine out here.

Pops

English Mike

We hunted 2nd Rifle Season in GMU751 & the weather certainly was unseasonable - temperatures in the mid 60's at 9,000' & barely freezing at night.
Our hunt coincided with the full moon period as well & consequently elk sightings were few, as were the sounds of gunshots from other hunters.
Our party of six took two cows; one at 42yds & the other at 723yds. The only elk I saw had its head down in the oak brush at 375yds - when it lifted its head it was a bull & me with a cow tag Sad

Plenty of mule deer to be seen in the North of the unit, so I'm thinking of getting deer AND elk tags for 2008.

WileyWapiti

Colorado GMU # 4 1st rifle- Either Sex Elk Tag - Saw plenty of spikes (4 point rule in effect) - got skunked

Colorado GMU # 3 2nd Rifle - It had horns & they branched, that is pretty much all I will say - my son & daughter bothe hunted with me, so that made up for the rest of the hunt!

oldpops

My son is my favorite hunting buddy too, but couldn't make it to Colorado this year because he is getting married in two weeks. I really missed having him to share the experience. I don't like being negative but next year may be difficult for him also because they plan on starting a family soon. Having grand kids is more important than hunting ( as long as he isn't due on the opening day). Hopefully we will have better weather next year.

Pops

Coyote_Hunter_

Nice blog Coyote_hunter. It looks like you had good weather for your hunt. I had to break out the suntan lotion in season 3. Since you are sharing blogs with us, you are welcome to check mine out here.

Pops[/quote]

Great blog content and design-wise but the dark background is a little hard to read for with my eyes. Very nice, though!

oldpops

Thanks for the tip on the dark background Coyote_hunter. I had cataract surgery last year and it didn't take me long to forget how hard it use to be to read with a black background. I have 20-20 eye sight now and contrast and glare doesn’t bother me at all. I can spot deer bedded in the shadows that even my son can’s see. What a miracle.

Pops