Gunnison 2nd season deer

Judging from the posts on the trophies unlimited taxidermy insta page it’s been a slaughter of small to mediocre deer so far with a couple decent ones.
 
I had to eat my brave talk a little bit. Was staying in a little seek outside tent up in the snow chasing an elusive cow elk with my 13 year old. Managed to burn a big hole in my western mountaineering bag on the stove and ended up at a motel in Gunnison. I walked out in the morning and a guy was coming out carrying an extremely nice 4 point rack.
 
The_Coloradoboy said:
Lot of guys killing dinks.. a handful of good bucks hitting the dirt but majority of the big bucks are hung up and ghostly. Third could bring them down but it’s been awful warm and dry here as of late. Mid 50s to low 60s in Gunnison as of late.
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Not looking good for getting any weather for the 3rd season.
 
Not really. Chance of snow Wednesday from what I’ve seen and than nice all the way into the opener. Was pulling basecamp out today at 10k in a tshirt. Majority of the snow has melted except for the stuff in the high basins.
 
We have been in Gunny for 2 weeks elk hunting (scouting the first week). We are still seeing does up high and no bucks chasing or checking them out. We will be here for 2 more weeks with a 3rd season deer tags. I hope it start to turn soon as we have not seeing any rut activity but like I said we had been focused on elk. That is about to change.
 
I'll post about my hunt soon. At least in my unit, cmbbulldog is spot on. 2nd season was a hard hard hunt for me until it wasn't. 3rd is gonna be borderline window shopping even w the less than ideal conditions.
 
How is everyone doing? Warm and dry in 55. Get about 20 mins in evening to see bucks in the aspen areas. No real big bucks down low in the Sage yet. Tons of does with very smal deer pushing them so far.
 
Bucks are looking in 54. Seeing a fair number of 150 to 170 type deer. They are definitely looking, just got to stay patient and keep checking the does.
 
71241B7A-64EC-474D-B91F-D1A111A07415.jpeg
 
Nice work! Haven't found anything close to that in 67. Seeing lots of does in a lot of different places and checking them regularly. Nothing but young bucks.... biggest seen was ~160 the day before season, nothing over 140 since. The bucks that we are seeing are in rut mode. 3 days left.
 
I just got back from 2 weeks of third season in 66, saw a lot of Deer, saw a big migration out of the high country. Bucks are ready for the rut staging in timber pockets through out the unit. It looked like the rut was going to kick in but stalled, 6 degrees coldest morning, highs in the mid Forties, full moon. The Bucks were staging with Does, saw some sniffing but did not see one doe in Estrus. The biggest Buck spotted was 180 class, a beautiful Buck 26 inches but I let him go several times. The forth season hunters should have a great hunt with a lot of rutting activities
 
hawkbill said:
I just got back from 2 weeks of third season in 66, saw a lot of Deer, saw a big migration out of the high country. Bucks are ready for the rut staging in timber pockets through out the unit. It looked like the rut was going to kick in but stalled, 6 degrees coldest morning, highs in the mid Forties, full moon. The Bucks were staging with Does, saw some sniffing but did not see one doe in Estrus. The biggest Buck spotted was 180 class, a beautiful Buck 26 inches but I let him go several times. The forth season hunters should have a great hunt with a lot of rutting activities
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Sounds a lot like what I thought of this unit during the second season except for seeing a 180” buck and passing on it. I would not have done that on my hunt. I did not see much migration during my hunt but the bucks were staging in the thick timber. From what I was seeing on the last day of my hunt I would have thought the third season would have been a slam dunk. Now the third season guy are think that about the fourth season. Weird rut in Colorado compared to what I’m used to in northern Utah. First of November and it is game on here. Almost Thanksgiving and buck are still staging off does, crazy. Still a fun hunt but it was not what I was expecting for the hype and points it took to draw. It will be a different plan for me in Colorado moving forward. Have fun.
 
I was in the Unit two days after the second season closed. There were Deer everywhere. I must have seen over a thousand Deer in two days. I am 63 years old, I have not seen a Deer migration like that since I was a young boy growing up in Colorado. I saw a lot of Deer crossing out of 67 into 66. I was talking to a friend, hunter and business owner in Gunnison, he said a 185“ Buck is top end for the unit now days. I saw one Buck that I thought was over 5 years old, he just didn’t have the head gear. It will be interesting to see what Fourth season will bring. I did see a picture of a Buck that went 209” taken out of 54. Good luck
 
When I was in 55 in the morning I set up before daylight to watch different drainages. I’d usually see 25 does in different group sizes and two or three little bucks tagging along at a distance.Didn’t appear to be serious breeding activity.Can someone give me information on when most mule deer does are bred.
I‘m from Ohio and not a mule deer hunter. The whitetail rut is pretty defined in Ohio. Most does are bred early to mid November.
Also why are so many western hunters against shooting does. If deer in Gunnison are killed by winter and slaughtered by cars wouldn’t harvesting more does actually be good for the health of the whole herd.
 
mrc said:
When I was in 55 in the morning I set up before daylight to watch different drainages. I’d usually see 25 does in different group sizes and two or three little bucks tagging along at a distance.Didn’t appear to be serious breeding activity.Can someone give me information on when most mule deer does are bred.
I‘m from Ohio and not a mule deer hunter. The whitetail rut is pretty defined in Ohio. Most does are bred early to mid November.
Also why are so many western hunters against shooting does. If deer in Gunnison are killed by winter and slaughtered by cars wouldn’t harvesting more does actually be good for the health of the whole herd.
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I think the anti doe hunters vary by location. Mule deer as a whole seem to be suffering out west, from lost habit and migration corridors to Cwd to predators ( of the 4 legged variety) being really hard on them. We definitely don’t enjoy the numbers of Mulie’s that whitetail guys have in the mid-west. In units with healthy deer herds I don’t think most hunters take issue with it.
 

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