Bulldog0156
Well-known member
Guys,
Since 2017 has officially started, I have to finally crack down and figure out which hunt code to apply for this coming fall in Colorado for deer. I will be coming from Montana and two friends will be coming from Michigan. They've been to Colorado before (not deer hunting), I have not. We have put in for points the past two years to give us a few options thinking that we would probably want to do a 3rd season hunt. I have crunched some numbers and figured out what areas we can likely expect to draw. Most of the districts I am looking at are west of the divide to stay away from the front range as much as possible. There may be one or two 3rd season hunts on the list that are east of the divide. Based on my research it seems like:
The units towards the NW corner of the state have probably the highest deer densities and quite a bit of public land.
The units in the SW part of the state have some decent deer numbers and are quite open, making the deer more visible, but they also appear to have limited public land or difficult access, congregating hunters.
The middle units seem to be a mix of the two and maybe are more influenced by migrations.
Just looking for opinions or experiences from folks on their thoughts on where they might look given 2 NR points in CO during 3rd season. We are pretty set on 3rd season, but I would be curious if anyone has thoughts on a 2nd season Unit 54 hunt. Based on the terrain, history, and buck/doe ratios I feel like that unit could have the ability to produce a smoker buck for someone willing to work for it. That's the only unit I've looked at for a second season hunt.
Some things we should realistically think about:
Some of the hunt codes we're looking at applying for:
DM003O3R
DM004O3R
DM031O3R
DM035O3R
DM043O3R
DM052O3R: around 50% odds to draw with 2 points
DM059O3R
DM069O3R
DM077O3R
DM079O3R
DM080O3R
DM082O3R
The list ended up being a little longer than I planned, and I think it's about half of the hunt codes on the list of units we could draw, but these seem to be the "better units" on the list according to the criteria I've looked at. I'd love to hear from some folks that have drawn these hunts before! PM's welcome if you don't want to publish your thoughts for the world to see.
Since 2017 has officially started, I have to finally crack down and figure out which hunt code to apply for this coming fall in Colorado for deer. I will be coming from Montana and two friends will be coming from Michigan. They've been to Colorado before (not deer hunting), I have not. We have put in for points the past two years to give us a few options thinking that we would probably want to do a 3rd season hunt. I have crunched some numbers and figured out what areas we can likely expect to draw. Most of the districts I am looking at are west of the divide to stay away from the front range as much as possible. There may be one or two 3rd season hunts on the list that are east of the divide. Based on my research it seems like:
The units towards the NW corner of the state have probably the highest deer densities and quite a bit of public land.
The units in the SW part of the state have some decent deer numbers and are quite open, making the deer more visible, but they also appear to have limited public land or difficult access, congregating hunters.
The middle units seem to be a mix of the two and maybe are more influenced by migrations.
Just looking for opinions or experiences from folks on their thoughts on where they might look given 2 NR points in CO during 3rd season. We are pretty set on 3rd season, but I would be curious if anyone has thoughts on a 2nd season Unit 54 hunt. Based on the terrain, history, and buck/doe ratios I feel like that unit could have the ability to produce a smoker buck for someone willing to work for it. That's the only unit I've looked at for a second season hunt.
Some things we should realistically think about:
- Two of us are early 30's and the other is late 50's but keeps in good shape.That being said, we probably don't want to hunt at 10,000 feet. I can prepare for it pretty well but my friends will not be able to prepare for those types of elevations.
- I think my friends would probably prefer a unit where deer sightings are plentiful over a unit that kicks out big bucks but has low deer density. I would be OK with quality over quantity, but really just want to have an enjoyable hunt.
- Units with high percentages of accessible public land would probably be preferable. I will be buying the OnX Colorado map this summer.
- I've never hunted a place where the deer migrate for the winter as strongly as they seem to do in CO. This presents a unique challenge for me because I've never really had to think about it before.
- We will be setting up my wall tent as base camp and doing day hunts from there.
Some of the hunt codes we're looking at applying for:
DM003O3R
DM004O3R
DM031O3R
DM035O3R
DM043O3R
DM052O3R: around 50% odds to draw with 2 points
DM059O3R
DM069O3R
DM077O3R
DM079O3R
DM080O3R
DM082O3R
The list ended up being a little longer than I planned, and I think it's about half of the hunt codes on the list of units we could draw, but these seem to be the "better units" on the list according to the criteria I've looked at. I'd love to hear from some folks that have drawn these hunts before! PM's welcome if you don't want to publish your thoughts for the world to see.
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