3rd season vs 4th season

I am trying to decide which season I want to hunt next year. I have 13 non-resident points, so I have a lot of options available. My question is which season to concentrate on. I have never hunted the 4th season hunt. I see advantages to both. a longer 3rd season, first shot at bucks, the biggest negative I see with 3rd season is the number of hunters. 4th season gives a little better chance of weather and rut, but with only 2 days between 3rd and 4th season, is there a big difference. Let me know your opinions. Thank you.

Its honestly a toss up from year to year. Weather can be a big factor obviously as can moon phases. Third is often the option taken by those whom dont have the points to draw 4th. But having 9 days over 5 can have its advantages. Especially if you dont know the unit well.

Coloradoboy

Rut happens same time every year, with that said weather can be a major player in daylight activity.
This year those couple days between 3rd/4th was the difference. The storm came through, temps dropped and bucks were moving more. During 3rd, they were in cool places and were there all day. They do move mid day to re-position but it is not a long period.
Its a gamble either way.

Its stressful having that many points isn't it...
Good luck
Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

very stressful!!! Every year I have tried to burn my points, something else always came up. For example, my wife drawing a buffalo tag in utah that started the same day. Now I have so many points, I really want a good hunt. My brothers have hunted 3 times in the same time period and killed great bucks each time. I hope to kill one as big as the 3 they have. Sure wish I knew what to do.

not intending to hijack your thread but interested in a Utah Bison hunt and am curious about you/your wife's experience.
PM response is fine thank you

I think it comes down to if you know the unit well or not.

The advantage of 4th is that it is closer to the peak breeding time than 3rd, so most all bucks will be with does. During early in the 3rd, the bigger bucks might not yet be with the does. The 2nd advantage is that the later dates give you a better chance at weather helping either bring bucks down (concentrating the deer) or get them moving more during the day. The 3rd advantage is the number of hunters, probably only 10% of the amount hunting during 3rd.

The cons of 4th are you only have five days, so if you don't know the unit well then you could be in big trouble as it will likely take a few days to the whole season to learn it. It is hard to scout it as there are only 2 days between 3rd and 4th. You might want to scout it right now or the year before you hunt it. The last disadvantage is that the 5 vs. 9 day hunts, there might be a better chance to get a few prime hunting weather days during 3rd than 4th just because there are twice as many hunting days. This is unit specific, but it is possible that most of the deer might have moved through public onto private by the time 4th season rolls around and then you could be in trouble. The last advantage to 3rd is if you get an early snow, they could be concentrated down lower and you get to hunt them before 4th starts.

I am guessing your brothers killed their bucks during 3rd season, could you draw a 4th in the same unit and use their intel to give you an advantage? If they killed them in 2nd in a better unit, perhaps you could draw 3rd season there?

Where you are sitting, you could either hunt one of the more premier units during 3rd season or 2nd or a 4th season hunt that is easier to draw during 3rd season. Tough decision because the 4th season tag you can draw might have got blasted with hunters during 2nd and 3rd versus a harder to draw 3rd season tag that didn't receive as much pressure. Either way there are no freebies to shooting a big mule deer, have to hunt smart and hard.

Thanks for everyone's reply so far. I am currently considering unit 70 4th season. I do know some people who have hunted this unit before that would give me some info, however, I have never stepped foot on this unit. I really like the idea of fewer hunters. The other units I am mainly considering are 55 3rd or 61 3rd. I have never been on either unit. My brother did kill a good buck on 61 3rd, but I do not know anyone who has hunted 55. I have been researching for a few years now, and want to continue researching until I have to put in. This year, I was able to pick my son up a unit 40 3rd season tag of the returned list. Had a great hunt, but did not shoot one. We passed 10 mature bucks, but really wanted something bigger. Having said that, this was one of my favorite hunts due to the fact I got to spend time with my 2 boys, hunted hard, and saw mature bucks daily. I know 13 points guarantees nothing, just trying to put myself in the best situation possible.

I am not sure when or how they decide, but keep an eye on new 4th season tags...perhaps a 40 4th will pop up, might not have enough points to draw it though. Quite a few posts on 70 4th, sounded okay, but not great because of the weather. Might want to think about 55 or 61 3rd, 55 3rd has a pretty limited number of tags.

I have aways been a 3rd season guy my self. I see more positives in 4 extra days over the hunting pressure. Plus tags are normally easily drawn

Lots of pluses and minuses to both hunts. 13 points is a hell of a lot of points, ide be having a tough time deciding as well. But, the extra 4 days of the third season is worth more to me than hunting 4th season with much less pressure 9coming from a guy who never has hunted 4th season). 5 days is SO little time, especially if you don't know a unit. But you can always get away from people in the 3rd, if your willing to...

Coyoteslayer...
It was good to run into you and your sons.
The buck I shot that Friday night was a lot bigger than I thought.
We never really found the cows even where you guys had seen them. Still a good hunt.
Saw an ass kicker on Sunday right where we sat and talked but my tag was already filled.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-01-16 AT 05:14PM (MST)[p]Wish I would have walked over and looked at the buck. It was good to talk to you on the hunt. We had a great hunt, just didn't see one we really wanted to shoot. Probably should have hunted that area you were in a little harder. Hoping to hunt Colorado every couple of years from now on. Don't ever want to get to 13 points again. I wasted a lot of opportunity by not hunting 3 or 4 times during this time period.

We did not see the cows again either, and we walked the entire area one night.

I hunted 4th season a few weeks ago in an area that only took a few points to draw. It was mainly private, but I hunted the borders and ended up with a 202" buck.

I'd take the later dates and smaller crowds any day, but that's just me.

Grizzly

Glad the southern utes let you get your buck