Early rifle hunt in Colorado

DidIDraw

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Had a great time hunting deer in the high country of Colorado.

Deer densities are much lower than the last time I did this hunt and hunter densities were up. Surprising how many hunters are willing to backpack in now. Guess it shows a certain amount of respect for the animals and the sport.

I went in about 3 miles on the opening morning. I saw a dozen or so hunters and one small buck. Some archery hunters had placed their camp right in the pass where I had hoped to hunt. Plan B was to check out some other remote pockets. I hiked for about 2 hours to get to a small canyon that I hoped wouldn't have any pressure, but when I got there a hunter had set up camp right next to the primary glossing spot. Plan C was to hike to a really remote, hanging basin. Took much longer than I expected to get there. It was undisturbed but had a 800 yard, steeeeepppp rock slide leading down to it. Was more risky than I was willing to try since I was alone.

Didn't have a Plan D but noticed that the hunters were already moving out so I decided to hang tight and watch for a day or two.

Next morning I found 3 bucks feeding right where a hunter had his tent the day before. One was a small 4x4 that seemed good enough for the area. But, I missed at 500 yards. There was a strong wind channel down the middle of the canyon that didn't seem bad on the edge where I was but was strong enough in the middle to drift the shot about 2 feet.

Next day I hiked to the jeep to shot my rifle and make sure it hadn't been bumped, it was spot on. Took a ride that afternoon up the road glossing avalanche chutes. In the third chute stood a nice 4x4. I parked behind some pines and moved in to about 300 yards. Nice, big bodied buck with symmetrical antlers. Meat will be great on this deer.
 
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Believe I had the same hunt. Saw you packing your buck out. It was a much tougher hunt than last time I had it also. 2004ish?
I don't remember for sure the year I last hunted there, but it must have been about the same time as you did.
On that trip I saw 21 bucks on the first day. Had intended to spend 4-5 days spike camping and didn't even get the pack of my back before shooting a buck.
 
I didn’t harvest a buck. Hunting wasn’t that great. Hunted three different drainages , only saw 4 bucks total. Nothing over 20”
Beautiful country though. Nice deer, congrats.
 

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