444 14th season worth it?

tcinkgm · Apr 2, 2016

I live in AZ with enough points to draw a fourth season deer tag and just found out the girlfriend has a cousin near Carbondale. I've been chasing a southern unit and in a pool of too many to plan to get to hunt for another several years so I was thinking maybe I would try killing two birds with one stone so to speak. I deer hunt, she visits, everybody is happy.
My question is about feasibility of having a good hunt. It looks like there is a lot of public land, but are the deer there during the late season or do they drop mostly onto private?. Is it super steep nasty stuff my friend will struggle with? We can day hike but multi day pack trips aren't in the cards. Don't need to kill book deer but would like to have a reasonable chance at mature deer. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

COLOelkman · Apr 4, 2016

I've never hunted it late and I only know a couple areas where deer might be that late. I'm not familiar with a lot of the unit as I usually hunt higher up and early seasons. I do know there is a a lot of private in some of the low areas I'm familiar with on the South side of the unit from Basalt to Ruedi Reservoir. Sorry I can't help more but if you apply, let me know and I can tell you a couple areas but as I said, no experience for me in any late seasons in 444.