tailchaser
Active Member
- Messages
- 185
So I keep running into some interesting research roadblocks that I figured maybe the MM groups might help me with. I normally hunt CO 3rd season in a fairly easy to draw unit and we normally do pretty well as we hunt fairly hard (hiking in 1-3 miles in the dark or spike camping depending on weather) that gets us out in front of the road hunting crowds. We travel 5-10 miles a day normally but I prefer to find great glassing points and let my optics do the walking as much as possible. I haven't been to CO in the last few years due to other hunts and I've heard very poor reports in general. The harvest statistics are down even though the tag allotments have doubled. The unit bio has yet to call me back even though I've left 4 messages in the last month. This year I would have to hunt the 2nd season (due to other hunts) which I haven't been on yet, but my concern is the tag numbers are even higher.
My other thought is to hunt Idaho's general season. I narrowed down the hunts to two units in the SE region. One is a fairly easy draw, other is OTC. Harvest statistics are good it seems, but the folks and bio I've talked to don't have a lot of good things to say and keep pointing to recent die offs. However a couple different mags are propping up the population increases and harvest stats have been good. So, not sure who to believe.
So my conundrum is simple, is CO down as much as I'm hearing in the last 3 years? Is Idaho's population in the SE region down also even though I'm hearing very mixed results and the harvest statistics don't really match? I'd rather hear some real world experience than trust magazines selling info. Since the bio's aren't calling me back I'm reaching out here. I'm more than happy to provide unit info privately for discussion. Not asking for hunting spots, I'll do my own scouting and research once I narrow things down. I'm more than happy to reciprocate if I can help also.
Thanks in advance.
tc
My other thought is to hunt Idaho's general season. I narrowed down the hunts to two units in the SE region. One is a fairly easy draw, other is OTC. Harvest statistics are good it seems, but the folks and bio I've talked to don't have a lot of good things to say and keep pointing to recent die offs. However a couple different mags are propping up the population increases and harvest stats have been good. So, not sure who to believe.
So my conundrum is simple, is CO down as much as I'm hearing in the last 3 years? Is Idaho's population in the SE region down also even though I'm hearing very mixed results and the harvest statistics don't really match? I'd rather hear some real world experience than trust magazines selling info. Since the bio's aren't calling me back I'm reaching out here. I'm more than happy to provide unit info privately for discussion. Not asking for hunting spots, I'll do my own scouting and research once I narrow things down. I'm more than happy to reciprocate if I can help also.
Thanks in advance.
tc