Colorado 41 and 421

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lucky_draw

Active Member
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Alright this will be my first time hunting in Colorado I drew the 3rd rifle season. What can be said about this hunt and the time of year? I'll take all of the advice that I can get.

Thanks
 
I would love to harvest something like that, but I don't think I could hit one even if I ever saw something that massive!!
 
Most of the deer tend to be lower than higher. I hardly ever see deer up top. Lots of deer around Colbran and Vega but lots of private too. The last weekend will be way better than the first weekend of the hunt.
 
>Most of the deer tend to
>be lower than higher.
>I hardly ever see deer
>up top. Lots of
>deer around Colbran and Vega
>but lots of private too.
> The last weekend will
>be way better than the
>first weekend of the hunt.
>

Hunted southeast of Colbran 421 third season about 8 years ago and never saw a single buck
 
Just got my tag in the mail yesterday and its got me all excited again!!
Is this hunt weather dependent? Are the deer number good in this area? Or will we go days without seeing any deer?
 
Here is a buck from 41 and 421 a couple years ago. Sent you a PM.
279img0014.jpg
 
Hey if anyone else has some photos that they would like to share I would sure like to see whats been harvested out of this area. Are the landowners willing to let you hunt their land?
 
>Hold out for a 300" buck!
>


Hahahha i wonder how many guys are going to be up there this year chasing that bucks off spring.

Coloradoboy
 




My Wife's Orchard Buck



There are good bucks in the orchards of East Orchard Mesa, you need to have gone to High School with the owners to hunt them though. All of mine are BLM bucks.
 
Grand Mesa Slopes, in 41, out to 400 yards. Most of the low area is Pinyon/Juniper. Snowy weather is a big help in unit 41. Otherwise it can be very slow unless you know of the honey holes. Even then it can be slow in hot dry conditions.
 
We drew the third season rifle hunt. Does it usually snow by then? Or does it just depend on the year? At about what elevation should we consider hunting?
 
The answer to all of those questions is it depends totally on the weather. Hot and dry the deer could be anywhere from 5000' to 10,000'. Snowy and they will be lower.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jun-17-15 AT 09:39PM (MST)[p]Most years 3rd season will have little snow. But the mud is tire-coating clay @ lower elevations. Consider FR 101 S off Land's End, out to Coal Creek Basin; Whitewater Basin N of Land's End; and BLM E of Palisade up past Rapid Creek Water Plant, on over to Chalk Mtn. Also east of and below Indian Pt, which is S of Kannah Creek. Good luck.
 
Well we were able to tag out on a nice bull elk in Utah now its time to focus on this hunt. Any word on the unit? Has anyone tagged out on some mature bucks? Just wondering what to look forward to.
 
I have a cow tag for the 1st rifle season up there, but we'll be hunting pretty high. Will let you know how the deer situation looks when we return. Took a quick scouting trip the middle of August and jumped a little fork horn, but that was it.
 
I have a few more questions for you guys. Would it be beneficial to have quads on this hunt? I also got an email the other day saying the I could purchase an Elk tag for this unit. Just wondering if that would be a good idea or not? I am not concerned with filling the freezer seeings how it is already full. I would only be interested in harvesting a mature bull. Whats your thoughts?
 
As someone already stated the roads can get really bad in a big hurry, an atv may just save some wear and tear on vehicles. I have hunted the unit a lot for deer and have picked up the a few bull tags over the years as well. I have gotten several bulls but if you are only interested in a mature animal I personally would save the $600. Hope this helps and good luck
 
ABOVETIMBERLINE thanks for the reply. Yes that helps make my decision for the elk tag. If you don't mind I would like to hear more about your deer hunts. You can PM if you would like.
 
I hunted 42/421 all of first season anywhere from 8.5k-10.5k feet. We were looking for elk (didn't see a single one), so we spent most of our time at the higher elevation. That being said, we did see a few deer each day with the majority of them around 9k. Saw one decent 4x4, but the rest were either fork horns or does. It was really hot (75 degrees) and no weather to speak of. There was much more deer sign than elk sign, not sure why there weren't any elk around or where they were. I can only speak to the area I hunted, but there weren't a ton of roads around (which was intentional) and put around 60 miles on the boots.

Good luck, let us know how you do!
 
Wooduckman thanks for the reply. Bummer to hear about your elk hunt. That helped me make my decision on buying an elk tag though. Well I guess if we don't get any weather we will head for the high country.
 
I went out looking at deer this weekend here in my hometown and the deer are starting to show some rut action!! Whats it looking like in Colorado?
 
Wet in 41 Snowline is about 10,000'. I wish it were colder. I checked my honey holes this weekend and only found small basket bucks. Weather should change that.
 
I was out in the hills today and saw some bucks chasing does and running off other bucks. I hope the same is going on in Colorado. Has anyone been in this unit lately? If so whats the rut status?
 
Lucky, Aren't you supposed to be out hunting 3rd season? I hunted Whitewater Basin this morning. I was mainly interested in a cow elk but they outwitted me in the thick brush. I saw no deer but it's not a great deer location. Weather is warm again after a tiny amount of snow on Thursday night and early Friday.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-31-15 AT 10:39PM (MST)[p]l_d I've been out in the field the past few days and the rut status is great, roads are in amazing shape. The western slope has not received much precip lately so ruts in the road should be of no concern, however as Bean pointed out it sounds like a cold front is moving in by midweek and that may produce some ruts with all of the third season traffic. My advice would be to carry chains and a shovel.
 
BeanMan yes I should be but had some things come up and only going to be able to hunt for five days. We will be there Monday afternoon. Hope we can get it done in that short of time.
 
Here is my post hunt report. Its was a hunt for sure. I must say that all of the private land was a shock to the system. Lucky for me I got the Onx hunt app on my phone. It is absolutely necessary in Colorado. We did get some weather which was good but at the same time made it difficult to access areas. I can see know why you need chains for your truck. That mud is nasty!! We had a good hunt and a great time being away from work but with that being said we never saw a shooter buck on PUBLIC land. I hope to continue to learn the area and be able to harvest a buck in the future. Thanks for all of your input and help especially those that sent me PMs and gave me specific info. Thanks again everyone.
 

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