South Slope, Bonanza/Vernal - General Deer

[AceJiggy19]

How's it going folks! Just stumbled upon these forums. I'm from Denver, and my dad is hunting the western slope of Colorado for his buck tag this year, so I decided to burn my Utah point, and draw the unit next door. Being from Denver, and having a baby, I haven't (and probably didn't) have a chance to scout this area, as it is 5+ hours away from home.

I've been looking at GoHunt, and OnX, and see that there's plenty of public land, but the unit is so vast, and it seems to vary a lot topographically, as well. I am not looking for honey holes, just want to knock down a meat buck and come home. Any advice? Even general directions of the unit - like the northern part, or the southern part, etc. I've been hunting deer in Colorado for 20+ years, so I am good with hiking around looking for animals, glassing from the road, etc, so I am comfortable with any advice.

Any advice helps, I appreciate it!

 

[jebuwh]

PM'd

 

[Pucky Freak]

Welcome to HT x2

 

[mariano742]

hey i’m in pretty much the same boat as acejiggy only scouting is harder being a 50% of the time single dad in maine. i’m putting in for the vernal ML tag. amy general ideas for how to approach this hunt would be much appreciated. i am raking my 10 year old fishing in colorado and to the dinosaur ntl park this summer so we ought to get in a half days scouting but any help is much appreciated.

 

[mariano742]

PM'd

hey i saw you pmd the original poster. i live super far from vernal but i was forced to cancel my scouting trip i was going to make with my son in august. any pointers for general areas to hike away from a road and find a better than 2 point the local wildlife personnel say is the average buck shot here? i’d really appreciate it. i live in maine

 

[AceJiggy19]

We were successful, but came away with just a forky buck. Talked to the warden the night before, and he said good luck finding anything over a fork, or 3x3. The unit is managed this way, so most bucks don't grow any bigger. The unit is large, so there's plenty of room to hunt - and plenty of landscapes, as well - the south portion of the unit is open desert land, not many trees, but large landscapes of canyons, coulees, etc. We saw a lot of antelope out there, but no deer. The northern portion is pretty mountainous, up above Vernal. Northwest portion is high elevation forests, with large open basins. We saw a herd of deer there, but they were miles off the road, and it was late in the day. We ended up successful up above Vernal, but it was basically a roadhunt. No one seems to be hiking around, and at dusk, it's a complete shit show of trucks driving the roads back and forth looking for bucks.

To be honest - I wouldn't waste your time with a scouting trip. The game warden mentioned one larger buck that he'd heard of, and it was on the south end in the desert area, but hanging out near some oil pads, and would be tough to get a safe shot off on. The majority of the deer are hanging out in/above Vernal, and with the web of roads available, shouldn't need to hike much.

 

[mariano742]

thanks a lot Ace. i really appreciate it. i’m excited to hunt new country and i’ll probably hike a good bit just bc i love it. yeah i talked to a warden and heard very similar stuff. not expect to see a big one but expect to see plenty of deer