Looking for some Ideas

tailchaser

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So I keep running into some interesting research roadblocks that I figured maybe the MM groups might help me with. I normally hunt CO 3rd season in a fairly easy to draw unit and we normally do pretty well as we hunt fairly hard (hiking in 1-3 miles in the dark or spike camping depending on weather) that gets us out in front of the road hunting crowds. We travel 5-10 miles a day normally but I prefer to find great glassing points and let my optics do the walking as much as possible. I haven't been to CO in the last few years due to other hunts and I've heard very poor reports in general. The harvest statistics are down even though the tag allotments have doubled. The unit bio has yet to call me back even though I've left 4 messages in the last month. This year I would have to hunt the 2nd season (due to other hunts) which I haven't been on yet, but my concern is the tag numbers are even higher.

My other thought is to hunt Idaho's general season. I narrowed down the hunts to two units in the SE region. One is a fairly easy draw, other is OTC. Harvest statistics are good it seems, but the folks and bio I've talked to don't have a lot of good things to say and keep pointing to recent die offs. However a couple different mags are propping up the population increases and harvest stats have been good. So, not sure who to believe.

So my conundrum is simple, is CO down as much as I'm hearing in the last 3 years? Is Idaho's population in the SE region down also even though I'm hearing very mixed results and the harvest statistics don't really match? I'd rather hear some real world experience than trust magazines selling info. Since the bio's aren't calling me back I'm reaching out here. I'm more than happy to provide unit info privately for discussion. Not asking for hunting spots, I'll do my own scouting and research once I narrow things down. I'm more than happy to reciprocate if I can help also.

Thanks in advance.

tc
 
Not sure which units you are referring to but I can confirm SE Idaho is very very slim pickins. I hunted it in 2017 and 2018. Didn't go last year.
 
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Just hear-say but that entire corner of Wyo and Idaho has had some bad winters over the last few years.
 
I'm not a big deer guy but have a lot of points that I'm sitting on for a while. I attended a CPW meeting in Jan and EVERYONE that spoke, noted how both the elk and deer numbers are struggling right now. Saw an online survey awhile back and it seemed like maybe 90-95% of people said last year was very bad. No idea why they increased the tag numbers as it sure seemed that there was a significant winter die-off that they should have know about and not been so generous?
 
IMO , Colorado has a better chance statistically speaking for a 170+ deer..

Slim pickings everywhere right now. If you don’t have foresight with SE Idaho bucks I would abandoned that option..
 
Idaho and Colorado are managing for oppurtunity. Idaho is way over hunted on controlled hunts plus two bad winter kills. Colorado is going to take out older age class with rut hunts and over harvest.
 
Your timing for hunting the southeast corner of Idaho probably couldn't be any worse. I hunted there in the fall of 2016 and it was an awesome hunt. However before the winter of 2016 and 2017 was over they lost close to 70% or more of their fawns and several yearling bucks. (the ones you would be hunting this year if they had lived) Then they had a late February snow and cold front settle in last winter (2019) that didn't help. I have a friend in Georgetown Id. that I keep in contact with so I know pretty much know first hand what's going on there. After my 2016 hunt it was so good I planned on going back every year. That winter ended those hopes and I've never been back.

Idaho fish and game will tell you it's always possible to kill a nice buck and that's probably true. However when you get a hold of them and talk to a biologist ask them how many % of the fawns they've lost the three winters. Then you can make up your own mind.

I do know they have been out flying units the last week or two so that could be why they haven't returned your call. They are usually good about that.

I suggest calling the Pocatella office.
 
I also agree that deer numbers are down in Idaho and Colorado.
I have friends that live in the Pocatello area and I’m hearing that from them. Hawkbill has a good handle on what’s going on also.
I hunted Colorado last year in the fourth season and had a pretty good hunt. I think if you had six or seven nonresident points you could get a pretty good second season in Colorado. It is hunting and good bucks usually don’t come easy no matter when or where.
 
I can honestly say that I have never seen Unit 22 so bad. I am not sure what is happening, but our 4th season hunt in areas where we see 130 deer total a day with 30-35 being bucks, we were seeing 30 deer a day with only 3-4 bucks. Same areas I have hunted for almost 30 years and have years worth of back data on.

My dad drove all day in unit 22 this last weekend. He covered over 60 miles in the unit and saw only 3 doe. No bucks. It is really weird. The state has increased all tags in the NW corner and last year they slaughtered a ton of little bucks. Unit 22 4th season hunters, only 1 killed a buck above the 180 mark that I know of... On Sunday the last day there were still 6 of us looking for a buck. We hunted all 5 days sun up to sun down and never found a buck over 160.

With the current deer issues and the new season dates, Colorado deer is ruined for at least a decade maybe more... Is it better or worse than Idaho, not sure but this year was far worse than the 08 ever was....
 
Can’t speak for Idaho but western Colorado is in rough shape as far as numbers of mature deer. I spend majority of my time looking on the winter ranges in eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, Mesa, Moffat and Rio Blanco counties and it almost feels like the winter of 08/09 after the deer got slaughtered by the winter of 07/08 in a lot of places.
 
I have backpack hunted SE Idaho (66A and 76) pretty hard the past 4 years straight, and 2019 was so bad I am done with it. I'm able to spend 3-4 months a year up there working remotely from my mom's place in western Wyoming and can invest a lot of time and effort. Hard to comprehend how much things went downhill from 2018 to 2019 but it was night and day.
 
I can't think of a single place that people are saying, "it's great, more deer and big bucks everywhere", so you've got to go with the best you can......best of the worst I suppose.
I would bet that no matter what area any of us ask about, someone is going to state how it's not what it used to be and numbers are down.
From what I saw last year in CO, I'd say numbers were down compared to the previous year. I have no idea why. BUT, I want to hunt somewhere, so I guess if I need to return to that same area, I will, but with lower expectations. I'm not ready to quit hunting just yet.
 
Best thing a guy can do as far as hunting colorado goes is go into it expecting it to be a tough hunt. Because it most likely will but there’s always a chance or striking gold.
 
I can honestly say that I have never seen Unit 22 so bad. I am not sure what is happening, but our 4th season hunt in areas where we see 130 deer total a day with 30-35 being bucks, we were seeing 30 deer a day with only 3-4 bucks. Same areas I have hunted for almost 30 years and have years worth of back data on.

My dad drove all day in unit 22 this last weekend. He covered over 60 miles in the unit and saw only 3 doe. No bucks. It is really weird. The state has increased all tags in the NW corner and last year they slaughtered a ton of little bucks. Unit 22 4th season hunters, only 1 killed a buck above the 180 mark that I know of... On Sunday the last day there were still 6 of us looking for a buck. We hunted all 5 days sun up to sun down and never found a buck over 160.

With the current deer issues and the new season dates, Colorado deer is ruined for at least a decade maybe more... Is it better or worse than Idaho, not sure but this year was far worse than the 08 ever was....

We hunted 22 in the 2017 2nd season. Scouted a couple times and killed a 185 buck at first light opening morning and a 175 buck that evening.

Had 3 friends draw 3rd season tags this year. The best pic. He sent me was a 160. 3.5 yr old 4 point. None of them shot bucks.

Pretty sad what NW CO deer herds are short years later..
 

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