CO Resident Bear Unit 10 Rifle - BE010o1R - no statistics?

[COEngineer]

A friend of mine is applying for a muzzleloader elk tag in GMU 10. I don't have the points, so I thought I would look at getting a bear tag that is valid at the same time. I found that the rifle bear season (not concurrent with rifle elk or deer, which are OTC with caps) is Sept 2 -30.

First, it seems weird that it overlaps almost the entire archery season.

Second, I cannot find any bear harvest statistics for unit 10, for any season.

Anyone have any explanation for any of this?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[oswald2581]

I looked at the all estimated harvest reports posted by CPW and didn't see anything for Unit 10. There are some years that units 1,2,3,4 and 201 are not on there and some years they are. My honest guess is they don't post anything if there was not any bears harvested, although I know nothing about the unit, I find that hard to believe.

 

[COEngineer]

I would think that is only possible if no tags were sold for that unit and/or no one who hunted that unit filled out a harvest survey (online or by phone). Maybe I will give the CPW hunt planners a call after the application deadline has passed.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

All bear limited first rifle are in sept, by oct a lot of the mast (primarily oak brush) and berries are gone.

Honestly I don't think there are many bears in that country... have you been out to the area it's dry high plateau and sage.

The CO hunt atlas doesn't show summer or fall concentrations in the area and unit 2 which is immediately adjacent and has similar terrain appears only sporadically on the harvest stats, Unit 2 has maybe 1 or 2 bears harvested every couple of years going back to 2006. I would bet that all those bears are coming out of the Zenobia peak area.

Given that a unit like 53, which is half the size, has 600 limited tags, and you can get a second concurrent with caps tag and that unit 10 has 5 tags I would assume that at times there are zero resident bears in unit 10 and that occasionally one ventures into the area from an adjacent unit.

Probably doesn't help it's a 10-20+ point unit for both elk and deer meaning the few hunters who are out there are not wasting there time with bears.

My bro's bull from a few years ago... amazing area, I wouldn't waste my time with a bear and just focus on a once-in-a-lifetime elk hunt in some beautiful terrain.

 

[SFC B]

I just checked the stats and I was the ONLY one to harvest a bear in all of 26 during the rifle season. Surprised me as we always see sign.

 

[COEngineer]

wllm1313, neither of us has ever been there, and yes, we will be focusing on his elk tag. Thanks for the info!