Colorado Deer Curious

[Sagesniffer]

I’m curious about Colorado mule deer hunting.
I’d like to hear about your 2019 Colorado Mule Deer experience. The four rifle seasons are over, so how did it go? No need to post pics or tell the unit number. I’m interested in what you thought of the deer herd as you hunted and the overall Colorado deer hunting experience.
Did you see mature bucks?
Did you see more or less deer than in the past?
Did you feel crowded?
Do you think it was worth the money and time?
Do you think the CPW could offer a better product?
Any other thoughts on Colorado deer?

 

[TOGIE]

for 40 bucks i couldn't be happier with what my state offers for mule deer hunting

this year i felt a little crowded. i didn't expect to see as many elk hunters where i went; a place with not a lot of public land so that became difficult. luckily saw a couple of forkies in the first ten minutes of 3rd season, so we got that done and got out of there. given the amount of public land where we went and the number of elk hunters most game was off the public around there by end of the first day. that was my risk, i didn't expect as many people to be in this area as there were; i got lucky being the first and only person on my chunk of public opening morning, that had already changed by midday and i don't think many more deer were gonna wander through that area for the rest of the season.

point being, i took the risk of going to a spot with very little public land where i've seen droves of deer before. I miscalculated what kind of crowding there would be and still came home with a filled tag without having to try too hard at all.

i'm gonna hunt mule deer every year in colorado and i don't see why i wouldn't fill my tag every year. the only reason i may save some points for a 4th season tag is to enjoy fewer people in the woods from time to time

i think this can generally hold true for the non resident as well

 

[LCH]

*Disclaimer, my observations are based only on a handful of hunts in a handful of areas. I know Colorado is a very diverse state.*

After the last few years hunting Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana for mule deer, I have seen the most hunters, overall fewest number of deer, but also biggest bucks in Colorado.

 

[chuckchili]

I had a good experience, glad I did it and harvested a nice buck. It was money well spent and I can’t wait to go back to the same area. It was for 2nd season I was in a central/western unit that’s within an hour of Denver. I can only draw this tag every other year as you need at least a point to get it. Same story as usual- near the roads there was plenty of hunters but a mile or three into the back country I was by myself. I think I hunted a total of 4 half-days and saw 15+ deer with 1 or 2 mature bucks every day.

 

[Blackcats06]

4th season in an easier to draw 4th season. Lots and Lots of does. 9 bucks in 8 days there with the biggest being a small 3 point. No rutting action. Very disappointed in the hunt. I was hoping for rutting action just to look at a lot of bucks even if they were not big. That did not happen. It was not crowded with deer hunters but elk hunters where every where. It was not the hunt i had hoped but for the price i would do it again. I wish they would break out their hunts. Week 1 is deer, week 2 is elk, etc. I don't like that all hunts are going on at the same time. Shorten seasons (although ive seen the bitching about losing 2 days for 3rd season) so there is only one species open at a time.

 

[TOGIE]

the 4th season reports i've heard this year were generally bad for deer and elk

i've been to areas during 4th in the past where i it got annoying how many bucks i saw - of course i was cow hunting though

there's a lot of deer in this state, quite a lot in fact, and the opportunity to find them is abundant. i have heard other third season reports from co workers in other units this year that were fantastic, deer everywhere.

the landscape is dynamic and weather patterns differ by year and location, thereby so will deer movement and apparent numbers.

by and large, i'm very very happy to be a colorado resident for the mule deer hunting

 

[nrpate05]

I only had a day to hunt so I took the first little forky I saw. Saw another guy who shot a mature 4x5 in the same area. Really nice deer. This was on a tag I picked up on the leftover list for 2nd season. I think management of deer in Colorado is pretty good compared to the western states. Lots of opportunity and it seems like every unit west of I-25 could kick out a monster. I think I'm going to shift my focus more towards mule deer and less toward elk in the future.

 

[cmbbulldog]

They need to cut tag numbers, I would be willing to pay much more as a resident to offset the cost. Most places I went was tougher than in years past.

 

[EasternWA8989]

Unit 444 Was Cali 2.0 with hikers and dog walkers on every inch of public. Total nightmare

 

[timmy]

Colorado>Montana