Region W mule deer

garretd · Jul 15, 2016

OK, So I drew the tag this year and have not hunted Region W before. Looking for a 150-170 deer and I know of a few spots to not bother looking, but was wondering what input you all have to stay away from all of the roads and road hunters. I'm not afraid to walk.

Will I run into more lope hunters than deer?

TIA

elks96 · Jul 15, 2016

Region W is super easy to draw for a reason. It will be a pumpkin patch come opening morning! There are a few big bucks in the region but they are very few and far between! A 170 class buck would be well above average and a 150ish is still a really good buck for the region! There are some big bucks, but filming them usually means looking across the fence past the no trespassing sign! There are roads everywhere and come season opener you will see a pumpkin patch and a continuous dust cloud on all roads! There are very few places to get away from the roads and atvs. Best bet is to look for a little chunk of state surrounded by private. Then hike in and hope something moves off the private. Again there is a reason why it is one of the easiest NR tags to draw! The further west you get the fewer deer you tend to see and the easier it is to access with atvs! In the west end people will drive everywhere into every nook and cranny! It is much better hunting in the east towards the Forrest.

elks96 · Jul 15, 2016

I honestly do not know of any places to walk and get away in the unit besides a few small state chunks! In some areas there are no established roads, but the damn ATVs will run the creek bottoms or ridge tops regardless!

garretd · Jul 15, 2016

LAST EDITED ON Jul-16-16 AT 05:27AM (MST)[p]It is not illegal to take a 4 wheeler off the roads? If so, that is why I will have a video camera with me

I guess I will have to wait and see what I find and cross my fingers.

elks96 · Jul 16, 2016

HAHA. Legal vs. Illegal. Sadly in the 2 units open in W north of Baggs you are talking about an area 80 miles wide by approximately 35 miles north to south. There is one guy out ofBagg full time and maybe 2 to 3 other guys patrolling the entire area and only 1 guy from Rawlins BLM office. They usually have a couple check points on the highway to check deer, but in all my years I have never seen an officer in the field between Antelope Hunts, Deer Hunts, Elk Hunts and 30+ days on the winter range a year coyote hunting. That is over 2,800 square miles of units in just the main 2 and at best 4 to 5 law enforcement. That is around 560 square miles per officer. odds of anyone getting caught are pretty slim. Even with a video camera you will have to have something very telling to figure out who it was... A guy with an orange hat on a green 4 wheeler is not much help.

Hate to be negative but it is hard to find many places with out roads and places to walkin more than 3/4 to 1 mile.

mmwb · Jul 16, 2016

Under the circumstances described above, consider hunting the end of the hunt. The last few days will have much less pressure--especially if week days. Also look for small patches of cover that would conceal a buck, but that you wouldn't think would harbor one. The few that are growing to any size either have learned to stay to low pressure private lands or how to become invisible in heavily hunted public.

TOPGUN · Jul 16, 2016

Very good tips mmwb!

elks96 · Jul 16, 2016

>Under the circumstances described above, consider
>hunting the end of the
>hunt. The last few days
>will have much less pressure--especially
>if week days. Also look
>for small patches of cover
>that would conceal a buck,
>but that you wouldn't think
>would harbor one. The few
>that are growing to any
>size either have learned to
>stay to low pressure private
>lands or how to become
>invisible in heavily hunted public.
>

Also look for places that most simply fly past. This has worked well for both the deer and elk. I know many people who have decent luck sitting one spot for a couple days just waiting for all the activity to push the right one past. As far as cover there can be some really thick crap and some of the better bucks will lay in it all day and no one can get them but everyone once and a while they will get bumped up by a bear, coyote, or a person fighting the thick. Like I said the best hunting I have had was finding some state sections with no vehicle access going in before day break and waiting to see was crosses past.

Also never forget that cover can be very minimal and still conceal an animal.

garretd · Jul 17, 2016

>Under the circumstances described above, consider
>hunting the end of the
>hunt. The last few days
>will have much less pressure--especially
>if week days. Also look
>for small patches of cover
>that would conceal a buck,
>but that you wouldn't think
>would harbor one. The few
>that are growing to any
>size either have learned to
>stay to low pressure private
>lands or how to become
>invisible in heavily hunted public.
>

I will be there all 10 days. The sad part is 1 unit is 4 days, 1 unit is 5 days and the other is 10 days. Looking forward to mixing it up a bit. I already have some info and know where I'll be starting. It's interesting to say the least, I have some people telling me it's all orange so get ready to not see anything other than people and I have others saying they hardly ran into anyone while hunting this region. It will be an adventure for sure to see how it turns out. Either way at least I won't be working.

Whiterock · Jul 17, 2016

I would only plan on hunting the last few days of season. Roads and trails everywhere.Access is easy. Lots of deer but no 150 class did I see,but I am sure there are some there just going by the numbers I saw.Good luck !

elks96 · Jul 17, 2016

Yeah I remember when the units were all open the same amount of time! The 4 day unit has been pretty over huntedM still some deer there but with the unlimited road access and the mass amounts of ATVs and a lack of any real cover the number of deer have went down greatly! They were discussing cutting the season back even more days in the 2 shorter season units! Even thought that 2 day would be enough just becuase there are tons of people hunting it.

garretd · Jul 17, 2016

>Yeah I remember when the units
>were all open the same
>amount of time! The 4
>day unit has been pretty
>over huntedM still some deer
>there but with the unlimited
>road access and the mass
>amounts of ATVs and a
>lack of any real cover
>the number of deer have
>went down greatly! They were
>discussing cutting the season back
>even more days in the
>2 shorter season units! Even
>thought that 2 day would
>be enough just becuase there
>are tons of people hunting
>it.
Really what needs to happen is they need to stop the Region W tags and make those unit limited draw, but you know that will never happen because of the money they make.