CO 4th season hunt recap

[jwatts]

After accumulating deer points on Colorado for quite a while, I decided to cash them in this year. After much research I landed on the type of hunt I wanted. I wanted to get in on a rut hunt. This meant applying for a 4th season tag. I looked into the units that I felt I could draw. I also accounted for the upcoming season structure changes, and how that may affect my draw odds. There were several units that popped up, but I kept coming back to one in particular.

I started hunting out west by doing OTC archery elk in Colorado. On these trips, I would see some pretty good mule deer. I decided to start building points in hops of getting to pursue deer like those one day. At the time that unit had about 70% odds of drawing a mule deer archery tag as a second choice. I tried a few times, and always fell in that 30% that didn’t draw. In my research for units I could draw for 4th season, this unit kept coming up. Factoring in the required points to draw the past few years, the amount of points I had, and a cushion for a suspected increase in applicants this year to get in before the season structure change it seemed that after nearly a dozen years of banking points I’d finally get to burn them. I was right, but barely. I was in the lower tier of points holders that drew. Regardless, I had my 4th season tag.

We were already planning a Colorado family vacation for July 2024. As soon as I got the draw results we started adding days and modifying plans. If I played my cards right I could get a few days of scouting in on vacation. I was familiar with the unit, but mainly in the higher elevations where we elk hunted. I wanted to take some time to scout roads and access in the lower elevation portions of the unit.

We made a trip in July. We drove some BLM and Forest Service roads. I was able to scratch some spots off my list. We took my wife’s 4 Runner on some trails and 2 tracks that she wasn’t very thrilled with. We toured the Great Sand Dunes park, Garden of the Gods, and Mt Princeton (along with the hot springs). We went walleye fishing, we fly fished a few rivers, we hiked a lot. It was a successful trip. Deer areas were noted, fun was had, and I was ready for November.

Something else happened while on vacation too. When the secondary draw came up I saw 2 bull elk tags available. For the fun of it I put my son’s name in the hat. I knew some lower elevation areas that should be accessible that time of the year, and that should hold elk. Well, a few days into our trip he received an email that he drew the tag. Now we had 5 days to get a deer and an elk, or at least try.

 

[jwatts]

Gotta resize some pics real quick and I'll continue

 

[jwatts]

November rolled around and we were ready. We had prepped all summer. We had our guns sighted and ready. Gear was in order. All we were waiting on was go time. Just before season I had a class to attend in New Orleans. Well, my class ended up a day early, giving us a little extra prep time. I made the drive home, and started loading the truck the next day. A buddy of ours from church was going to ride with us. He would be getting home Friday night from another trip. We double checked gear on Thursday, loaded Friday, and waited for him to get there Saturday.



A few of my hunting buddies are on this site. They always make fun of me for my trip departure times. In order to beat traffic in Dallas/Ft Worth, we always leave very early. 2am is pretty normal. Prior to this trip there was a lot of winter weather, and roads had been closed from Dalhart, TX into NM, and on into CO. That had all cleared off, but there was more winter weather in the forecast. We didn’t want to tackle Raton Pass at night in the snow. We decided to stop short of there for the night, then continue our trip the next day. This meant a later departure. We hit the road about 7am.

The trip was uneventful. We made an obligatory stop at a Braum’s for supper. We also took that opportunity to grab a few sandwich supplies for the next day. We made the drive into NM and shut it down for the night.


The next morning we got back on the road. On our first stop to stretch our legs we hit up a grocery store and grabbed a few things we needed for the trip. We headed into the south end of the unit to check things out. I had found a good bachelor group here back this summer.

 

[jwatts]

Scouting Day 1- When we got to the south end of the unit we found a winter wonderland. It was snow as far as the eye could see. Roads on the BLM were impassible. The only spots that didn’t have snow were covered up with antelope. We tried a few more places on that end of the unit with similar results. We managed to run into a few cow and spike elk. No shooters though. We decided to stop at one more spot just off of our route, about halfway through the unit. We started seeing a few deer right at dark and noted the elevation. We proceeded north to our hotel for the night.

 

[F250]

Fun stuff !!!!

 

[BENEDSUM]

Following!

 

[jwatts]

Scouting Day 2- We were out of the hotel and on the road shortly after daybreak. Today we planned to scout the northern end of the unit, come back to town around 3pm to settle into our Air BnB, then get back out to glass the latter portion of the day.

We started out low and worked our way up. Places that I swore would hold deer when we scouted this summer were devoid of any signs of life. We kept easing around, increasing elevation with each stop. Sure enough we started bumping into deer the higher we went. We found a small group of does, and sure enough, there was a good buck with them. We moved a few ridges over and spotted some more does. This repeated all day. We’d see a big group of does and there would be a small buck. If there was one or two does, there was a good buck nearby. We pulled stakes and checked into our house.

After getting settled in, we had a little over and hour til dark. We went to one more spot on the north end of the unit. We made out way in, parked, and set up on the edge of some cedars. We were overlooking a bottom with a creek running through it. We spotted a few does here and there across the bottom. Down in the thick brush near the creek I spotted a good 3x3. I wasn’t sure if he was going to be a shooter or not. I never could get a good enough glimpse of him to make that call. We wrapped it up for the night and headed back to the house.

 

[jwatts]

Scouting Day 3- Today we made our way to the middle of the unit. I had elk hunted this portion a lot. I was hoping to find elk sign today. It was more of the same as yesterday. As we hit a certain elevation band we’d find deer. Big doe groups, small bucks. Small doe groups, bigger bucks. We started calling the small bucks cookie cutter bucks. They looked like they came from the same mold. Same body size, same age, basket racked 3x3 or 4x4s. We did run into some elk today but it was all cows. After lunch we decided to check out one more spot to the south. No luck there. We grabbed a cup of coffee and headed back north.

On the way to our evening spot we started seeing deer all over. We found a spot of BLM where there were a lot of does, and made a hike in. With each ridge we gained, the more deer we saw. There were does up and on their feet everywhere. We spotted a big group about a half mile off with what seemed to be a good buck. This may be tomorrow’s spot.

With just a little light left we eased over to the spot where we saw the 3x3 the day before. Sure enough he was still there. I still couldn’t get a good look at him though. I didn’t want to get too close and booger things up. He may be worth a better look tomorrow though. Right at dark it looked like a sporting event had turned out. A string of trucks came down the 2 track. It was all cow elk hunters. We decided then that we’d write this spot off for opening morning knowing we’d likely encounter some traffic.

 

[jwatts]

Opening day- We were up early and at our parking spot well before daylight. We had settled on the BLM spot where we had seen several doe groups the previous day. We were on our perch before daylight. As the sun came up, deer started moving off of the surrounding private low ground onto the ridges and folds of the BLM. A pretty good sized group worked their way up the ridge opposite us. There was a 5x5 pushing does around. He looked decent, but really didn’t get me fired up. We ended up watching them until they got out of view, then moving. All in all we saw 7 doe groups here. All had bucks with them. None of them really got my attention. We made our way to the truck and on to a new spot.

We ended up at the 3x3 spot. It was mid morning and we figured the cow hunters were either gone, or far enough away we wouldn’t bump into anyone. On the ride in we passed a few trucks leaving. We saw a few deer before we got to our spot. Several does, a few cookie cutter bucks. We parked, and started towards the creek bottom. As soon as the bottom came into site we saw 2 orange vests slowly approaching the area we had seen the 3x3. I hope they were successful. We moved on.

We hit a few more spots with mixed results. We ate lunch then got back on the move. There was a spot of BLM near the place we hunted that morning. It was a very steep hill, a small plateau, then a cliff. The bottom of the cliff was private. You could see across the private onto the place we hunted that morning. I wanted to see what was there. We crested the ridge and saw a ton of deer on their feet in the creek bottom on private. One buck immediately caught my eye. He was a big, mature 4x4. This was the first buck we had seen today that made me ready to throw off the safety. We watched them from the ridge as he pushed does all over. They ended up going out of sight across a fence. We headed back to the truck.

We got back to the truck and started down the road. This is when having OnX on my Android Auto in my truck came in handy. At the property line of the BLM I saw that green tint of Forest Service land touching the road. I pulled over and looked. Sure enough, that buck had pushed does off of private and onto public. Time to get back up the hill.

 

[Khunter]

Following!

 

[jwatts]

I stopped the truck, grabbed my binos and gun, and headed up the hill. My intent was to get up there and try to relocate the deer. If they were huntable I would motion to the guys in the truck to come on up. Well, that didn’t go as planned. I finally got there and couldn’t turn them up. My path up put me midway of the ridge. The path I took put me on a private/public line up the hill. Once on the ridge I was clear of the private and could traverse the ridge. I would walk, glass the creek bottom, walk, glass. I kept turning up does. I planned to glass as much of it as I could, double back, and follow the ridge back to the line and drop down to the truck.



As I rounded a corner on the ridge something caught my eye in the bottom. It was a doe bedded alone. Based on what we’d been seeing I knew to stop and look a little harder. As soon as my binos came up I saw him. There was a buck standing over that doe, just inside the brush of the creek. He looked like a horse standing there. He had a huge body, big head, and a rack beyond his ears. I couldn’t tell how many points he had and I didn’t care. When I started setting goals for the hunt I wanted a big, old, buck that was representative of the unit. My son has an old advertisement print of a mule deer framed in his room. This buck was just that, he was what you envision in your mind when you think of a mule deer.





I eased back, found a rock to sit on, and started planning. I had to find a way to get down to that buck. Then it hit me. How far is he? I’m on a rock face 200ft above him, maybe he’s closer than he looks. I ranged him. 250yds. That can’t be right. I range the doe, 240, I range a rock, 265. Man, this is doable. I get a good rest, adjust my bipod, and settle in. He’s facing me and still as a statue. I watched him about 30 minutes when he turned 180 degrees and started to walk out of my life. With no good shot I let him go. I got off the gun and just watched.

Then it happened. He turned and stepped out of the creek, broadside to me. The gun was ready. I got back on the stock and steadied up. I got my breathing under control, slid the safety off, and squeezed the trigger. I am shooting suppressed. At the break of the trigger I heard the crack of the sonic boom and the thud of the bullet hit. He staggered, stumbled, took a few steps, then turned to go back into the creek. I racked another round, steadied, and squeezed again. As the trigger broke for the second time the buck dropped out of the sight picture. He was dead before the bullet hit and I shot over his back as he hit the ground.

Now the fun was gonna start. I had this buck down and had to find a route to him. I saw a saddle where the rock face gave way to a hill for a little ways. I crossed the ridge and started towards the truck. I had to grab my pack, and grab the other guys. On the way down, my buddy was headed up. I had been gone over an hour and they were getting worried. I told him to turn around, go empty his pack, and get ready for a packout. My son was down the hill at the truck and heard me. He started getting prepped as we made our way down. We emptied our packs of everything except a jacket, some water, and what we needed to skin and pack the deer and headed back up the hill.



The hill was pretty steep where we were parked, but not awful. We grabbed our trekking poles and worked our way through the snow and up the hill. Once on top, we tried to locate a way down. We found the saddle I marked, and it was about the only way down. We eased our way into the bottom and towards the creek. Based on the pin I dropped on OnX from the rock face where I shot, we were able to walk right up on the deer. Man, this thing had a big body. I admired him for a minute then we got to skinning.



We made quick work of him and got him into our packs, and headed back to the truck. As we crested the hill and started dropping to the truck the light was fading. It was dark by the time we got to the truck. We got our packs unloaded into the cooler and headed home for a hot meal.

 

[BENEDSUM]

Dream buck man, congrats!

 

[jwatts]

Hunting day 2- Today was a zero day. We slept in. I had spoken with a few taxidermists before the trip. We had landed on one in Canon City. That worked out great, as my son loves that town. We got breakfast and some coffee and headed that way. There’s a rock shop there my son enjoys so we hit that up. We grabbed lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant there, then we headed to the taxidermist.


Once at the taxidermist I picked out the form I wanted. The taxidermist commented on how big this deer’s head was, and how old he was. As he skinned the head we examined tooth wear. He asked me to age it. I told him based on what our whitetails look like I would call him 6 plus. He agreed, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if he was as old as 8.


After the taxidermist we made our way back to our rental. We saw some bighorns by the side of the road on the way back. We got back and deboned all of the meat. We got a warm meal. We got everything rearranged in our packs and geared for the elk hunt that starts tomorrow

 

[SoArhunter]

Nice buck, Congrats

 

[jwatts]

Hunting day 3, Elk- Today we planned to go to a spot where I have elk hunted several times before. The road was gated a little further down than normal, which added .75mi to our walk. We got to the gate before daylight and started the walk in. Our plan was to follow a trail in a little over a mile, cross a meadow, and work higher in elevation to another meadow. From there we would side hill for a ways, follow a ridge out, then drop back towards the truck if there was no sign. If we ran into sign we had everything with us for an all day hunt.

We made our way to the big meadow just as the sun was breaking the horizon. We looked toward the ridge we intended to end our loop on, and there were antlers breaking the skyline. We were caught in the middle of the meadow. We hunkered down and watched a really good 6x6 and a raghorn cross the ridge and slowly make their way towards the timber where we were ultimately headed. As soon as they hit a saddle and were out of sight we made a quick move.

We made it to the aspens at the bottom of the meadow just as they cleared the saddle. I ranged, and it was just too far. He was going to have to shoot from a standing position from a tripod at 500 yards, and it’s just something my son was not comfortable with. I don’t blame him. We watched them ease into the timber. After they had been out of sight for a while, we made our way to the spot where they entered the timber.

Once in the timber we found their tracks and were in pursuit. We found several fresh sets of tracks. We found some fresh beds from other elk. We followed their tracks for a while. They went straight, they started to meander like they intended to bed, then straightened again. When we got to the point where we were going to drop into a new drainage we pulled off. The sun as up and the thermals were starting to pull uphill. Realistically a packout 3 miles from the truck in almost knee deep snow for half that distance just wasn’t feasible today. We backed out and checked a few other spots.


The afternoon found us near that same meadow. We set up within shooting distance of the first place we spotted the elk. There were a ton of tracks leaving the timber headed down to the BLM where they came from. We intended to try to catch them moving back low to feed for the evening. All we saw was a few bigger mulie bucks. Not a complete waste of time anyway. We ended the day with just over 13 miles hiked.

 

[jwatts]

Hunting day 4- This morning we got up even earlier. We made out way back within shooting range of the last spot we saw the bulls. Of all the elk places we had scouted or hunted, this one still showed the most promise. We were settled in as the sun was coming up. I knew the pace of this hunt was starting to wear on my son. He could barely stay awake as we watched the ridge. We finally called it off for the morning once the sun was up and the thermals started to swap.

There was one more spot we knew of that had good enough roads to allow us to get to the same elevation and similar terrain to where we were seeing these bulls. We made a drive over there. Surprisingly we were able to drive to over 11k feet. We were back into elk sign almost immediately. However the snow really slowed us down. After some hiking with little promising sign found we decided to go a little lower to a spot we saw cows earlier in the week. Hopefully there would be a raghorn hanging out with them.
We made it to our vantage point earlier enough to set up spotters and get the binos out. We were scanning a few different areas when 2 elk appeared about 1500 yards off. I was really hoping it was a few bulls. We grabbed a spotter and moved towards them to get a better look. It took a while to get there, but we got to about 600 yards before they came back into view. Sure enough, 2 cows. At least we saw some elk.

 

[jwatts]

Hunting day 5- This was the last day of season. We made a plan to get above where we saw the elk the afternoon before. We plotted a course and set out before daylight. Our intent was to get withing view of a2 saddles the elk were using to drop into a more secluded basin. We got there and watched both of them. Nothing materialized. We were hopeful for this spot, but we didn’t end up seeing anything.

We had to be out of our rental and on the road the next morning. Based off of the sign we were seeing, we decided to call the hunt off at lunch. We had to get laundry done and we had a lot of cleaning and packing ahead of us. We got back to the truck in time to grab a sandwich for lunch and call it a day.
Once back at the house we got laundry done. We started getting our gear separated and packed for the trip home. We cleaned out the refrigerator and ate all of our leftovers from the week.

 

[jwatts]

We got up at 5am and hit the road. There were deer everywhere on the way out. There were several times we had to stop and let a buck get out of the road while he dogged a doe down the centerline. We hit Amarillo in time for a celebratory lunch at the Big Texan. We caught a little traffic in Dallas, but that’s typical. We ended up rolling into the house at 130am the following day.

It was a great trip. I really enjoyed seeing mule deer rutting. If I had to do it again in 4th season I would put my son in for a cow tag. Regardless he had a ball. Our buddy that went with us had never hunted out west and is ready a return trip himself.

 

[jwatts]

Dream buck man, congrats!

Thanks

 

[jwatts]

Nice buck, Congrats

Appreciate it