Colorado 4th Deer-5 Days....

I wanted to see what your opinions are on Colorado 4th deer season being only 5 days long. Do you consider that enough time to find that giant considering it takes place during the rut, or should it be longer? If a storm were to move in the first 2-3 days, your hunt is already half over. A few hunters will manage to find a great buck no matter what season it is, but to spend a ton of pts seems you want a few more days to find that buck! I think the first two seasons seem reasonable, so I would think a 7 day 4th season would be about right. What are your opinions on this?

I think it is fine. Very few tags given, so not much competition. And weather is what you want. Get 2-3 days of snow and you should be right where you want to for killing that big-in coming out of the high country in the next day or 2.

Just like the first rifle (elk only) is only 5 days. Of course weather can be a factor then too, although not as likely.

Also, most people who have cashed in that many points get there 3-4 days before the season opens to scout out what is available.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

We pressure them enough. They're hunted more or less, for 2 &1/2 months. JMO


#livelikezac

5 days obviously isn't much time to dink around. As mentioned above it helps if you can arrive days early to scout. There's a chance the rut may be a little hotter than the 3rd season. One major benefit to the 4th season over the 3rd is elk hunters are limited in OTC elk units. You may find that OTC elk hunters are a major pain in the rear during the 3rd season! There is the chance that snow may have driven deer down sometime during the 2nd or 3rd seasons. That obviously helps in units where deer migrate a long ways to winter ranges. I would say leave the 4th season at 5 days. As mentioned above deer are already pressured for quite a few months so they need a break!

LAST EDITED ON Nov-23-17 AT 08:51AM (MST)[p]5 days is plenty, for anyone who does not have a tag.
Not so much for those who are trying to fill one.

The deer certainly appreciate the shorter season and given our high tech methods of killing them I'd say they don't need more odds stacked against them.

5 days is plenty IMO or just cut out 4th season and let them enjoy there Get your freak on time of year!!!

^^^ This!

I like the five day 4th season. It can be a gamble to draw the tag, especially if the weather is warm, but that's hunting. If someone thinks 5 days is not enough to get it done, hunt 3rd season and have 4 extra days. The best thing about 4th season is not dealing with the million of OTC elk hunters.

I think it should be mandatory 18 inches of snow in the high country.

So it sounds like the 4th season is set up pretty good. Scout early, no elk hunts going at the same time, and a little weather helps a lot! So why the heck does the 2nd and 3rd season have rifle elk hunts at the same time as deer hunts? Seems pretty easy to split the season up? Being from Arizona we have hunts for deer 2-3 times a year, elk 2-3 times a year, antelope twice, turkey twice, coues deer, javelina, bighorn sheep etc and no hunt really overalaps ever? Why can't this be done over there?

I remember back in the 80's when all you had was a 3 days during the 3rd deer season.
Brian


http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]

>I remember back in the 80's
>when all you had was
>a 3 days during the
>3rd deer season.
>Brian
>
>
>http://i44.tinypic.com/es7x8z.jpg[/IMG]

I couldn't imagine, glad they got that figured out!

I have an opinion on this as I hunted 4th season deer the last two years on 13+ point (non-res) unit (2 tags in 16' and 1 tag in 17' and shot one buck in 16'). When you spend that many points, you are hoping if you hunt hard, you will see a number of decent bucks and hopefully one good one.

I feel very strongly that there should not be a full 5-day season overlap between the 4th season deer and 4th season elk hunts. From comments above it sounds like there isn't much elk hunting pressure, that is totally not true in the unit I was in. I was in the same areas at the end of 3rd season scouting and saw more elk hunters during 4th than 3rd both years. I am guessing the 3rd season elk hunters were either higher up or had given up.

Yes, the deer during 4th season are rutting and yes many have moved down with the does near their winter range. You have to hunt the does during 4th and often times the does are down low and close to quad/ATV access points where elk hunters are preparing to drive their ATVs into more remote areas.

The reason I feel there should not be overlap is based on three instances where elk hunters were the primary reason a buck was not harvested.

1. 2016: preparing for a shot at a 180-inch buck just before dark and an elk hunter pulls up and starts yelling at a child. Deer went into thick stuff and did not come back out.

2. 2016: Last day, just spotted a 210+ buck rutting with 3 does and settling in for a shot 30 minutes prior to legal shooting light ending and an elk hunter rides in on quad and starts "teaching" his son how to load the quad on the truck right at prime time and the deer hear them making a racket and go into thicket. They came out at dark after the elk hunter left, but way too dark to shoot.

3. 2017: went back for the 210+ with another family member and had a very difficult hunt only seeing 2 4X4s the entire hunt. Many big deer were already on private and only small bucks on public. Hunted where the 2016 big buck was seen and had 7 elk hunters lined up there with an outfitter hoping for a herd to move that way from private.

2017: last morning, saw a 180+ at just under a mile with 10 does and was moving on it when an elk hunter drove up and stopped to look and the deer went into the thick trees, only the does came back out.

I am not as upset about the 2017 issue as the 2016 issues that were just crazy yelling and carrying on by elk hunters right at prime time.

My suggestions would be either to add two days to the 4th season deer (7-day hunt) to end 2 days after 4th season elk, or just make the 5-day hunt end 2 days later than 4th season elk so there are only 3 days of overlap. My 2 cents.

I bet your friends dont call you quick draw....

>I bet your friends dont call
>you quick draw....


Hahaha you said what I was thinking.....

There is another issue we are missing here... The youth hunters. The ability to use unfilled antlerless tags through out the seasons by youth hunters does effect 4th season. Take GMU 55 in 2017 105 cow tags, 40 either sex elk. 5 deer.
Should have been a very "Low hunter density" hunt. It was not.

I support youth opportunity but the either sex guys that used 2 to 3 points deserved a less crowded season.

I cant help but think the kids would be better served long term to make some choices. Are you a elk hunter or an athlete, extra curricular student? I know several families that hunted a couple 1/2 days second season the same third and then the last week end of 4th... "unsuccessful" The kids I saw were sitting in the back seat playing with their phones. Wouldn't even get out to glass when their dads would. Should we really be rewarding a lack of commitment and lack of effort with the "extended opportunity" ?? I think these kids would have a better chance of success hunting HARD opening week end of their drawn season rather then 4 or 5 half hearted efforts of driving around hoping for some "weather driven" (easy) elk out in the sage brush. From what I saw out there I also worry that this " youth Opportunity" has the potential to OVER harvest cow elk some year when we do get a big snow.
5 days in the later 1/3 of November is a Gov tag to me. I would like to take the 4th season out of the "unsuccessful youth" gig...

>I support youth opportunity but the
>either sex guys that used
>2 to 3 points deserved
>a less crowded season.
>

Imagine how the 4th season Buck guys feel who dropped 15-22 points on a "trophy hunt" that is 5 days long and are overrun with 4th season elk hunters.