Best High Country Rifle Deer Unit

[muleyslayer52]

I need to start thinking of cashing in my points soon. I can only hunt September time frame so I was looking at a wilderness deer hunt.

What would you say is the best high country rifle deer unit in the state??

 

[muleyslayer52]

Nobody??? Nobody wants to give up a Unit #??? I do all the work just what Unit is the best or a good one.

 

[fullthrottle]

Aren't you the one that was chasing that slug and wouldn't even say what state you were hunting? Now you want guys to give you unit suggestions. Just saying. By the way I'm glad you kept your lips sealed I respect that, rather than just spewing info all over the www. Most of the high country units have very good potential.

 

[MrDoe]

How many points do you have Keenan?

 

[muleyslayer52]

>Aren't you the one that was
>chasing that slug and wouldn't
>even say what state you
>were hunting? Now you want
>guys to give you unit
>suggestions. Just saying. By the
>way I'm glad you kept
>your lips sealed I respect
>that, rather than just spewing
>info all over the www.
>Most of the high country
>units have very good potential.
>
I already said it is a badlands mule deer.

 

[muleyslayer52]

>How many points do you have
>Keenan?


I have 8 right now. Not enough points but would like to start planning

 

[jims]

Just about every high alpine unit in the state has potential for good bucks. Almost all of those high alpine areas have super low deer densities so it usually takes a lot of time and boot leather to find the few pockets of bucks available. If you take a look at tag numbers compared to what they were 10 to 15 years ago there are a fraction of the tags issued....which is a sign that there are likely even fewer deer in the high alpine country. If you've spent much time in Colo's alpine zone you will likely find that it is about 80% different than G & H in Wyo where there are fair to good densities of deer in the high alpine country. On a positive note, there have been some fairly mild winters followed by decent spring moisture which has helped deer numbers slowly but surely rebound. It sounds like you have experience with monster muley bucks and you probably are aware that it generally takes 5 to 7 years to produce true giant bucks. Keep your fingers crossed there is another decent winter/spring on the winter range!

 

[MrDoe]

Sent you an email,

Kevin

 

[2f350s]

Muleyslayer52, I get plenty of game and don't mind sharing...

GMU 86 off the top of my head; I'll tell ya there are nice deer in the mountains just outside of Westcliff CO. Seen them many times fishing the high altitude lakes in those mountains.

2f350s: Spend the money on additional licenses and HUNT more!

 

[SedaliaJay]

I'm not convinced the lower tag numbers are indicative of lower numbers of deer. I spend a lot of time in some of the areas that offer early high country muley hunts and I see a lot of good bucks in most of them. I think the number of early tags is more indicative of CPW managing them as trophy hunts now.

My experience is that the larger bucks tend to be very condensed above timberline early and while it's physically demanding to hunt them, it's an easy hunt from the perspective of seeing deer. Too many tags in this season would destroy the trophy potential in several of these units.

As mentioned above 86 is a decent unit, but I've seen great bucks while bowhunting elk in 56, 74, 46 & 48.

The early high country hunts that take the fewer points typically just take more leg work to get in where the deer are, but the bucks are there.

 

[SedaliaJay]

Wow, what a difference 5 years makes. I might like to retract some of this. Now I can't help but think numbers are way down. The difference in the number of bucks I'm seeing above timberline between 2015 and now is frightening. Of course, as soon as I'm finally able to draw!