Need help down on my luck

[Jakekies]

Im 19 and from California, been hunting blacktail deer and quail since I was 10. Recently my dad has been wanting to make up for lost time and take me mule deer hunting like he used to with my now deceased grandpa. We’ve now hunted out of Afton WY, where we got the worst luck possible. got to the unit and I guess brush management decided it was a good idea to move a heard of thousands of sheep through the unit during the middle of rifle season. We saw 2 does and about 3 thousand sheep and probably 5 cowboys hooting and hollering all across the mountain side. Ended up talking to some locals and I guess no one had any luck either. This year we hunted out of rifle colorado and we saw plenty of bucks and does… all on the lower private property. The only guys we saw bucks with in their camps had side by sides and four wheelers which we did not have. Our final day we decided to make a last ditch effort and hiked 4 miles in about 2 feet of snow to glass the absolute most perfect valley off the side of a cliff. Again no luck. I’m on here now asking for help, I’m not looking for trophy mule deer just want to see something mature, hell it would be nice to just glass up some does for once. When you drive 16 hours and hike in the snow it gets pretty frustrating not seeing anything, and believe me we weren’t just sitting in the truck road hunting. So does anyone have any suggestions for some units to apply for? Maybe some OTC archery tags that we can hunt while we wait to get drawn for some decent rifle units? We were thinking about maybe wikiup arizona or enterprise utah? My grandpa was pretty big on archery and hunted those two areas with his old hoyt compound bow during the rambo era lol. He always told stories of seeing bucks there, anyone been there recently? Anyways drop anything that you think might help it’s greatly appreciated.

 

[JPblind]

Get your a$$ in the military and get based out west. Using the money to pay for some hunts and see new places. Sorry no help otherwise.

 

[Jakekies]

Get your a$$ in the military and get based out west. Using the money to pay for some hunts and see new places. Sorry no help otherwise.

Lol considered the marines like my uncle but idk if it’s such a good idea to be serving under biden. Heard Camp Pendleton has some decent black tail bucks..

 

[coloradoman]

There has not been 2 feet of snow anywhere near Rifle this year

 

[Jakekies]

I mean I was there and the snow was up to my knees so?

 

[JPblind]

Lol considered the marines like my uncle but idk if it’s such a good idea to be serving under biden. Heard Camp Pendleton has some decent black tail bucks..

You can have access to a lot of hunting on bases. Alaska bases in Anchorage or Fairbanks are a wetdream for hunters (being 95% of service members are city boys just guessing and not interested in hunting)

 

[Jakekies]

There has not been 2 feet of snow anywhere near Rifle this year

Besides why even comment something like this just to judge haha. We weren’t sitting in our cozy side by side road hunting and I wouldn’t lie about how much snow there was.

 

[coloradoman]

Tell me where you were then?
There hasn’t been 2 feet of snow anywhere remotely close to Rifle this year

 

[Jakekies]

Main elk creek on top of the cliffs, bunch of snow in the meadow that we hiked through. Im not saying there was a snow storm that left two feet of snow everywhere just where we hiked through about a mile and a half was knee high. Do you know how they hunt those deer in rifle anyway. Saw some bucks on the private next to the blm and also the golf course.

 

[Jakekies]

There has not been 2 feet of snow anywhere near Rifle this year

Tell me where you were then?
There hasn’t been 2 feet of snow anywhere remotely close to Rifle this year

Tried to hike up to culter mesa as well and roads were way too muddy for a truck everyone had their four wheelers.

 

[CFMuley]

I don’t think there’s a deer unit in the West that I couldn’t glass something up with enough time. Spend some more time behind the glass, and you’ll be surprised what you can turn up.

 

[Cahunter805]

Like stated above glassing is a key skill that takes time to develop an effective method.
What binoculars are you using?
Do you have a tripod?

 

[Jakekies]

Like stated above glassing is a key skill that takes time to develop an effective method.
What binoculars are you using?
Do you have a tripod?

Vortex diamond back 12x50 and vortex 20-60 spotting scope with tripod. Usually use my pack to steady my binos.

 

[Cahunter805]

Vortex diamond back 12x50 and vortex 20-60 spotting scope with tripod. Usually use my pack to steady my binos.

Get yourself a bino adapter and use the tripod to support your binos/glass with.
Also develop a system to glass/pick apart the area you are glassing. Grid out the area and then start over. Move a bit to get a different angle and then glass again.

 

[Cooper]

Besides why even comment something like this just to judge haha. We weren’t sitting in our cozy side by side road hunting and I wouldn’t lie about how much snow there was.

You dang snow liar?

 

[Cooper]

Vortex diamond back 12x50 and vortex 20-60 spotting scope with tripod. Usually use my pack to steady my binos.

I use a pair of 12x50’s, I think they are dang good all around bino. I think if you were to study up on glassing techniques you’ll be surprised at little things you’ll see that end up being a deer

 

[Cornhusker]

Patience is a virtue in hunting and usually not achieved at 19. I wasn't a very good hunter at 19 and am still learning at 62. Read from guys who know on here and other sites and it will become easier in the future. Skills to consistently find and take big deer take years to develop I learn something from guys on here virtually every time I log in.

 

[eelgrass]

Since you're from CA have you been hunting mule deer here? There is some good hunting if you have a few points. Blacktails are fun but there is a difference in how they are hunted.

 

[travishunter3006]

Disappointment and failure drive success. You are missing the basics of hunting. We aren't there with you so we don't know where you're going or what you're doing. You need to go farther, hunt longer. Spend more days in the field. Glass longer. Scout harder (or go scouting if you aren't doing that). We can't hold your hand on the internet and walk you into animals. Even if I saw a deer on your unit, that doesn't mean it will be there tomorrow. You have just got to do more.

 

[schoolhousegrizz]

If you are in an area with plenty of fresh sign, stop hiking. Don't go farther, don't go higher, don't try and do more, sit down and glass. After that glass some more. They will show up. Like John Wooden said, "Never mistake activity for achievement."

 

[Rie bread]

Since you're from CA have you been hunting mule deer here? There is some good hunting if you have a few points. Blacktails are fun but there is a difference in how they are hunted.

i’ll second this. deer from the land of fruit and nuts are…well… different

 

[DeerHunter53]

You know how California is like Granola cereal?

You take out the fruits and nuts and all you have left is the flakes......

Like Eel said there are bucks here that you can hunt and get sharper at your skills before you go out of state and spend a lot of money to learn how to hunt..

 

[Soj51hopeful]

I would suggest not bouncing around all over the west looking for a magic unit. It takes time to get to know a place and how the animals use it. Go back to Wyoming or Colorado, take the info you’ve gained from already being there and improve on it.

 

[mtnrunner260]

Gohunt has several free articles on glassing gear, techniques, strategies etc.
I would bet if you sat that vantage point without skylining yourself the first and last hour of light you will find deer.
Good luck and keep after it!

 

[elks96]

Down on your luck and I might just be kicking you while you are down... But the truth is this... You stated all the buck you saw were down lower on the private. So the question is why did you decide to try and hunt at 9500 feet in the snow when all the deer you were seeing were around 5,500 feet.

Secondly, I have hunted 33 for years and never once needed an atv or 4 wheeler. In fact a fellow teacher from Rifle hunted 33 in a 2 wheel drive Toyota Camry. The key is not focusing on where you cant get but making the very best of where you can. I get the hatred for ATVs, I am sick and tired of seeing them drive all over the place and create new roads, drive off trail, chase animals etc. That is crap, but I fully support and applaud all of them who keep to the legal trails and legal access points etc. The point is regardless of your situation you need to find the very best hunting for your abilities. So if you did not have an adequate vehicle to access higher, then why not try to access the lower? If I cont have the ability to back pack into the wilderness it seems silly to try and hunt it. I have shot deer in 33 that were 200 yards off the golf course on BLM, and I have shot them 4 miles in off the road at 9500 feet. The key however was using my maps and determining where the deer are located.

33 is one of the easiest units in Colorado to draw. They give out a ton of tags and until a few years ago residents could hunt it on a second choice tag. In terms of trophy potential, it is extremely low on the list. There are some great bucks, but even hunting it off and on for over 30 years, living in the unit my entire life, I have only ever seen 1 trophy buck during the season on public. The overwhelming majority of bucks killed are 2.5 years old.

You have to decide... Chase the points or hunt more. For me hunting more often is the ticket. Unit 33 was always my back up until point creep hits. Find areas you can hunt frequently and learn the lay out. What the animals do and more importantly not what the animals are doing but what hunters are doing.

Pick 2 places (WY and CO) hunt them as much as you can. Learn the animals, learn the roads, learn the access etc.

Just curious when you attempted to hunt Coulter mesa which direction to you try? Again there is some incredible hunting in 33 where a person can park a car...

 

[JakeH]

Down on your luck and I might just be kicking you while you are down... But the truth is this... You stated all the buck you saw were down lower on the private. So the question is why did you decide to try and hunt at 9500 feet in the snow when all the deer you were seeing were around 5,500 feet.

Secondly, I have hunted 33 for years and never once needed an atv or 4 wheeler. In fact a fellow teacher from Rifle hunted 33 in a 2 wheel drive Toyota Camry. The key is not focusing on where you cant get but making the very best of where you can. I get the hatred for ATVs, I am sick and tired of seeing them drive all over the place and create new roads, drive off trail, chase animals etc. That is crap, but I fully support and applaud all of them who keep to the legal trails and legal access points etc. The point is regardless of your situation you need to find the very best hunting for your abilities. So if you did not have an adequate vehicle to access higher, then why not try to access the lower? If I cont have the ability to back pack into the wilderness it seems silly to try and hunt it. I have shot deer in 33 that were 200 yards off the golf course on BLM, and I have shot them 4 miles in off the road at 9500 feet. The key however was using my maps and determining where the deer are located.

Lol took the words out of my mouth, I never hunted 33 but I guarantee I could have found deer to hunt without hiking my guts out.

Sometimes you got to hunt smarter not harder. Or better yet hunt smart and hard.

 

[coloradoman]

Down on your luck and I might just be kicking you while you are down... But the truth is this... You stated all the buck you saw were down lower on the private. So the question is why did you decide to try and hunt at 9500 feet in the snow when all the deer you were seeing were around 5,500 feet.

Secondly, I have hunted 33 for years and never once needed an atv or 4 wheeler. In fact a fellow teacher from Rifle hunted 33 in a 2 wheel drive Toyota Camry. The key is not focusing on where you cant get but making the very best of where you can. I get the hatred for ATVs, I am sick and tired of seeing them drive all over the place and create new roads, drive off trail, chase animals etc. That is crap, but I fully support and applaud all of them who keep to the legal trails and legal access points etc. The point is regardless of your situation you need to find the very best hunting for your abilities. So if you did not have an adequate vehicle to access higher, then why not try to access the lower? If I cont have the ability to back pack into the wilderness it seems silly to try and hunt it. I have shot deer in 33 that were 200 yards off the golf course on BLM, and I have shot them 4 miles in off the road at 9500 feet. The key however was using my maps and determining where the deer are located.

33 is one of the easiest units in Colorado to draw. They give out a ton of tags and until a few years ago residents could hunt it on a second choice tag. In terms of trophy potential, it is extremely low on the list. There are some great bucks, but even hunting it off and on for over 30 years, living in the unit my entire life, I have only ever seen 1 trophy buck during the season on public. The overwhelming majority of bucks killed are 2.5 years old.

You have to decide... Chase the points or hunt more. For me hunting more often is the ticket. Unit 33 was always my back up until point creep hits. Find areas you can hunt frequently and learn the lay out. What the animals do and more importantly not what the animals are doing but what hunters are doing.

Pick 2 places (WY and CO) hunt them as much as you can. Learn the animals, learn the roads, learn the access etc.

Just curious when you attempted to hunt Coulter mesa which direction to you try? Again there is some incredible hunting in 33 where a person can park a car...

Exactly
Plus coulter Mesa is a good access road That is pretty well graveled
Hell I shot a 160” deer in high school and we drove up in a 65 galaxy and threw it in the trunk!!!

 

[DidIDraw]

When I hunt a new area, especially during Oct/Nov, I first try to find the elevation where the deer seem to be. A basin that is full of deer in early Oct may not have a single deer by Halloween.
Find roads that cover the various elevations in the unit and look for deer, fresh sign, etc. Once that right elevation is found, pull out a topo map and find the spots with fewer roads at that elevation and give it a go.
Another thing that you might try, if you aren't already, is to hunt throughout the day. Deer that were nocturnal during mid Oct start to move around a bit more late Oct and early Nov. It is not uncommon to find them out in the middle of the day.
One of the things that keeps me coming back to hunting is the anticipation of finding what you're looking for. This year I had a general season tag and could hardly find a doe for the first 5 days of the hunt, then it was like a switch was flipped and I was seeing 70-80 deer a day.
If you really enjoy seeing animals, archery and muzzleloader hunts that are a bit early in the year usually give a lot more opportunity to see deer.
Keep trying, you will learn something new every time you go out.
Of the two spots you mentioned, I would be more inclined to try Enterprise to find a deer.

 

[elks96]

Exactly
Plus coulter Mesa is a good access road That is pretty well graveled
Hell I shot a 160” deer in high school and we drove up in a 65 galaxy and threw it in the trunk!!!

To be fair, the roads up have been in crap shape for a bit. The road from the west Rifle Creek up over big mountain is closed. The road up past the guest ranch on the cliffs is tore up a bunch and turns into a disaster. Little box is narrow but rocky enough it is not bad in terms of mud. The best way up is Bufford Road to the top then take the FS road back to the west along the unit border. That still get messy but not as bad.

Bet you wish you still had that 65 galaxy...