NW Colorado Deer Numbers

[MJE]

Just returned from hunting 2nd season deer in NW Colorado. During my 4 days of hunting, I put on many boot miles and checked out several areas of state and blm land. I knew this past winter was bad and was not expecting to see the deer numbers I normally see in this area. I only saw 6 deer on public land during my hunt. 5 does and one small fork antlered buck that I did even consider taking a shot at. It’s going to take several years for this herd to rebound. It was sad and frustrating to see so few deer and all the carcasses scattered on the landscape. Just thought I’d share my experience.

 

[TheGreek]

I hunted opening day of 2nd rifle in one of the NW units, didn’t see a single deer on public. Very disappointing.

 

[Bigjay73]

I'm dying to elk hunt the NW part of the state. That being said, I hope they cut tags to nothing for the coming years.

 

[TheGreek]

I'm dying to elk hunt the NW part of the state. That being said, I hope they cut tags to nothing for the coming years.

While I did not see a deer opening day, I did see a big six point bull elk with ivory tips standing on a BLM road about 20 min after a truck had gone past. Of course I didn’t have an OTC elk tag in my pocket as I’m still a NR this year and didn’t want to spend the money.

 

[BEvans]

I hunted opening weekend in the northwest units, where we'd normally see hundreds of does, dozens of young bucks, and a few shooters, we only saw a couple dozen does, 5 or 6 forkies, and nothing worth shooting. I did manage to shoot a young 3x4 after trying new areas. Tags neeed to be cut down even further in my opinion.

I talked to 2 of the 3 nonresident deer hunters in unit 2, as of Sunday night, they had seen only a handful of does and not a single buck in their area. They burned 23 points on that tag.

There still seems to be pronghorn everywhere despite the winter kill, and I regret not picking up a bull tag after have 2 legal bulls at 80 yards on blm.

 

[RyGuy]

Wow. Sad to hear these have been some of my favorite units to hunt. Good to hear from real “boots on the ground” folks

 

[Kwmountainman]

Ouch. The winter was brutal.

 

[JT88]

5 does and one small fork antlered buck that I did even consider taking a shot at.

Finally a guy with some standards! In MT, he'd be a goner

 

[Bigjay73]

That forkie is probably a busy guy right about now