Just got home from my first western and mule deer hunt in Colorado. My mom and I were hunting together along with another buddy who didnt have a tag but was tagging along to glass and help pack meat since my Mom really couldn't do much. We ended up going 2 for 2 on mule deer and even managed to pick up an elk along the way also. I'll post photos and a quick day by day breakdown below.
First DIY Western Hunt to Colorado Unit 3/301 - Success!
- Thread starter nhn2a
- Start date
Day 0 was our scouting day. I had done a ton of e-scouting and talked to several hunt talkers on here for advice and had decided we were going to start our trip at Pole Gulch STL in Unit 3. We spent the morning there but didn't see nearly the activity we expected to see and only saw some small bucks. We decided to try a different area and jumped over to the Godiva Rim to scout there. We walked several miles up and down the rim and never saw a single deer. On our way out I was able to glass up a group of Elk. We watched them for about an hour and 2 bulls finally stepped out. Our Mule Deer Hunt turned into an Elk Hunt fairly quickly. We watched the Elk until dark and then rushed to town to pick up an OTC Bull Tag.
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Day 1 was opening day. We decided to head back out to Godiva Rim after the Elk knowing our best chance was to be sitting on them at day break before other hunters bumped them out of there. Overnight, it had dropped in temperature and snowed a couple inches so we had a nice white blanket to make it easier to glass. We got there about 2 hrs before sunrise and at first light were able to spot the Elk about 1400 yrds away. We could see the Elk but also several other hunters in the area that were moving in but clearly didn't have a clue about the Elk there. I stayed up on the rim and kept watch on them while my Mom and buddy dropped off the rim and crossed several canyons to close the distance. The Elk and my hunting group eventually dropped out of sight and after an hour long wait, I heard a shot ring out in the Canyon. I got the radio call that my Mom had just shot her first Elk. I then got the fun task of crossing the canyon to find them and then to pack out the Elk. It took us the rest of the morning into early afternoon to pack out the Elk and get it to the processor. Although we were all tired, we decided to run back up to Pole Gulch STL and look for more deer. We were just driving in when we spotted a spike peaking his head over a hilltop off in the distance. We decided to hike around the valley and see if he was alone. We circled the hill and were pleased to see his big brother standing with him. He was a 4x4 when I shot him but he fell and tumbled down hill. Somewhere along the way falling he broke off one of his forks and after searching for over an hour we could never find it. However day 1 ended on a huge high note after my Mom harvesting her first Elk and me my first Mule Deer.
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After day 1 and all of its excitement, days 2 and 3 were surprisingly slow. We scoured Pole Gulch and Godiva Rim. Winds were up to 20-30mph and we only saw a few does bedded down and never did see 1 deer at Godiva Rim. We had stayed away from Maybell STL as it seemed to have a lot of pressure but finally decided to try it our on the afternoon of day 3. We saw a ton of does and one buck briefly before it disappeared into the hills. Otherwise both day 2 and 3 ended slowly.
Day 4 we decided to go back to Maybell but to go deep into the walk in only area. We walked in about 2 miles to get right up to the boarder of public and private. We were there at sunrise and immediately glassed up dozens of does in every direction. We finally spotted two bucks about a 1000 yrds away on private but they were quickly moving towards public. We dropped off the back side of a ridge and closed the distance. We had to crawl the last several hundred yards on hands and knees and even had to low crawl up to the hill top but we were finally one hilltop over from the bucks as they jumped the fence and came onto public land. Finally the larger of the two turned broadside and mom harvested her first mule deer.
cmbbulldog
Active member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2017
- Messages
- 117
Sounds like fun, congrats!
Kiwi
Well-known member
Great hunt! Congrats.
Hatchie Dawg
Well-known member
Great hunt
HD
HD
JohnCushman
Well-known member
Excellent!
7mm08mo
Well-known member
Awesome good for you guys on a great hunt,congratulations.
HighDesertSage
Well-known member
Congrats! I'm glad it worked out for you!
Great results for your any western hunt, even more so for your first western hunt. Congrats to all.
jvanderlinde
Member
Wonderful hunt, I'm headed in that location for 3rd season deer on Thursday and hopefully the bucks are starting to migrate in and rut with this colder weather.
Skeeter 20I
New member
I love it when a plan comes together!
duckhunt
Well-known member
Awsome hunt
