3rd season unit 43 hunt

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ALMuleyMan

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First time poster, first time muley hunter. Any info on Colorado unit 43 will be greatly appreciated. Friend is an outfitter in unit 43 and we will be hunting 3rd rifle season. Am looking forward to a true wilderness hunt. I am from Alabama and have dreamed of hunting mule deer and elk for a long time. What are realistic expectations for a good buck? What about the terrain and climate? Thanks for the help.
 
I don't know about the specifics of 43, but I've hunted the 3rd rifle season in that same vicinity. With all of the licenses issued, there will be plenty of hunters in every nook and cranny. Hunt hard and have fun. It's got good habitat and big bucks are taken every year. That late in the year, you may not have to get "way back" in the wilderness. If there's much early snow, the deer wil be lower.

Good hunting and have a memorable adventure.
 
IF you get lots of early snow, you might be hunting in someones back yard...if you can get permission. Pray for rain not snow, so you can hunt the upper reaches. Good luck and I hope your outfitter has a plan B!
 
""we will be hunting 3rd rifle season. Am looking forward to a true wilderness hunt.""

You can't have a "Wilderness" hunt during the 3rd season in 43. The hunt occurs in mid-November and most (if not all) the deer will have migrated out of the high country and down to the lower/mid ranges. Most of the low country is private and quiet a bit of the mid ranges are hard to access behind private lands. The public areas get hammered. I don't know what kind of friend you are talking about, but I can't imagine much of a wilderness hunt on public lands, unless of course he has some private ground to hunt.

People need to remember how 43 was just a unit, until a certain Voucher Vendor hyped it to sell his tag vouchers. It has a lot of private ground, which you can't get on, and the deer know it.
 
From the info I have gotten, we will be hunting the Redstone, Huntsman's Ridge and south Thompson quadrangles. More specific areas are Hayes Creek, Spring Creek, Dexter Park and Huntsman's Ridge. Outfitter said we would be hunting at 10,000 feet. Coming from Alabama, any area with roads more than 5 miles apart is considered wilderness. Again, this is my first trip. If I like it as much as I hope, I will be back for a diy hunt. Thanks for the info.








"LOVE TO HUNT,HUNT TO LIVE"
 
LAST EDITED ON Feb-23-06 AT 08:23PM (MST)[p]i hunted 3rd season unit 43 last year. it was a great hunt. lots of hunters. we hunted thompson creek area and also up around redstone. i wouldn't plan on anything in the wilderness areas as all the deer were around 9000 feet and lower. the snow level even reached 7000 feet on opening day. we did see 150" bucks almost every day. my friend shot a 150" 4x4 on opening day. i held out and shot one the same size on the last day. we did see bigger but just no shot oppurtunities. we hunted in the sagebrush flats and cedars mixed with oakbrusk. lots of people were shooting 2 points. but all-in-all it was a great hunt, i wouldn't expect any monsters but it was a fun hunt. good luck.

brandon
 
I can only say Good Luck you'll need it!
Was there last year, if the land owner voucher rules don't change you will be surrounded by orange! I hunted all the areas your talking about unless you have private access I'd pick a new unit!According to DNR 05 was the first year this unit has ever sold out!05 started with snow ended up with record highs so our group headed up Mt. Sopras, deerless! even the locals had to say, some elk but the deer have all migrated down.
Reality the deer are all around town in the hay feilds where they know they're safe.We stayed in Carbondale and out of 60 rigs at our hotel I saw only four dead bucks the best maybe 150 class! We did kill 2 out of us four hunters but definately not what we drive to Colorado for!
Sincerely Good Luck!
gilabulls.
 
OTC dink Bull tags bring alot of hunters in plus there is anywheres from 600 to 800 cow tags available.... not much room for deer hunters! ha

No doubt, posting the areas and location of your Guided hunt, you now will have a few more guys as company up there!

Ya got to be on the mountain to get a buck so Go For It and Good Luck.
 
There are no areas for the 2nd/3rd seasons which have roads 5 miles apart. Thompson Gets hammered. The areas you describe have lots of hunters in them. As was pointed out, there are many elk hunters there at the same time creating lots of competition and lower success rates. Most of the animals are on private lands and most of the hunters are on the minimal amount of public lands.

Just wanted to give you the real story on this unit, as last year it was made to sound like the Paunsagaunt. Mature bucks behind every tree and lots of public lands. Neither is true. There will be some decent deer killed there, just like every unit, but this unit is much harder to hunt than most people expect.
 

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