My wife drew a Unit 66 2nd season deer tag. Will be in the unit at the end of August to see what we can see on summer range and again in late October for a last look before season starts. If anyone has experience in the unit, I would love to talk with you. Direct messages welcome.
Colorado GMU 66
- Thread starter Cotten
- Start date
And by experience in the unit, I mean having hunted, hiked, or camped there at all. Ideas on access points, road conditions, etc are all super helpful in making the most of our scouting trips. I'm also curious if there are ptarmigan in the unit, as my GSP loves hunting the alpine, though he has yet to point a ptarmigan for me.
ridn9high
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2017
- Messages
- 152
Fun unit! Shouldn’t be a problem notching a tag!
It’s a big unit but a small world I guess, @Cotten and I bumped into each other on a highway pulloff, which was a pretty amazing coincidence! Good meeting you sir!
My son and I spent a couple days in the wilderness and saw many elk but few deer. Fair number of moose too. We camped at 12,600 and Thursday night thunderstorm damn near blew us off the mountain.
We concluded the deer were in the timber rather than above it. If anyone had any observations or advice prior to muzzleloader season I’d be appreciative. My son is in for cow elk and deer that season. Thanks!
My son and I spent a couple days in the wilderness and saw many elk but few deer. Fair number of moose too. We camped at 12,600 and Thursday night thunderstorm damn near blew us off the mountain.
We concluded the deer were in the timber rather than above it. If anyone had any observations or advice prior to muzzleloader season I’d be appreciative. My son is in for cow elk and deer that season. Thanks!
GrantK
Well-known member
my experience with deer in that area is to go as high as possible, there are not bucks in every basin but if you do find one up above treeline it will probably be big... I see the most deer in the basins with lots of willows and buckbrush, also, if you are seeing lots of elk you are probably a little low.
GrantK
Well-known member
I should clarify, high for Muzzy season since a couple of seasons have been discussed... if you can find the same deer in second rifle that you located in the summer you are doing better than I can, I'd be concentrating on learning the low country roads and glassing points, the bucks should be showing up in the sage sometime around second season with the dates this year.
Hey that’s great feedback. We thought we were pretty high 11 up to 12.5 but I guess the deer density is just lower than we expected in the area, and we didn’t cover enough ground back there and look in enough basins. Thank you.
Hey @gburk and @Cotten - I've got a 2nd season deer tag in 66. It'll be my first time in CO, so I'm a bit lost. I was going to start my focus just south of 149 around the Indian Creek area depending on the weather. I'll be solo, so send me a PM if you want to trade spots and keep each other updated.
@gburk it was good meeting you as well. Crazy that the first pulloff I stopped at, I ran into you. I didn't see many deer either. Spent a lot of my scouting trip driving roads and trying to identify good glassing points for later in the year. It's a big unit with a ton of beautiful country. Might try for archery elk in the unit someday.
