New in town...

TexasTurnedColorado · Dec 8, 2007

I recently transferred to Colorado State University from Texas Tech, where I went to school for two years. I transferred to CSU to graduate from their wildlife biology program, which should happen sometime in the next six years or so(grad school). I am now a resident, and can afford to put in for a muley tag. Problem is, I have very little idea where to go. I have been hunting for years and can find my way around the mountains. I've knocked down some nice White-tails but I want a big muley. I was an extra pair of eyes for my uncle this year in unit 34. Tons of hunters and not many deer. Its also quite a drive. I have a few questions...I would REALLY appreciate some insight guys...thanks!

Where, in the north central part of the state, can I get AWAY from everybody else...far, far, far away from roads and ATV trails, and see decent numbers of deer?

I was also curious about the area northwest of Granby...on the northern border of unit 18. Is that area private or public? Is there a resourse readily available that shows land ownership?

Also, is anything decent ever shot in the Poudre area??

Once again, I would really appreciate any feedback!

TexasTurnedColorado

Rem308 · Dec 8, 2007

Several years ago I hired a packer to pack us into GMU 18 Troublesome Basin area,saw a few elk,but never saw a deer. The DOW told me it was a good deer area,and it may be,but for me nothing and I would not go back.
I may hunt the border of RMNP this year for elk ,that is the north side of the park,during muzzleloader season.

zekers · Dec 8, 2007

Colorado in not the place anymore to get far, far, away from anything. You can stack the odds in your favor though. First off, take up archery hunting. That will cut the amount of people in the woods dramatically. Start putting in for preference points for your first choice and then a good draw unit for your second. There are lots of deer through out north central Colorado. It sounds like you don't want to drive far. Remember, close to CSU is also close to a million hunters along the front range. Start staring at Google Earth, finding wilderness areas and roadless areas that will take some work to get into. BLM maps and national forest maps will show you the private land, mostly along roads and river bottoms. I would look elsewhere before I hunted the Poudre. You have plenty of time to line up a great muley hunt before next year, good luck.

HiMtnHntr · Dec 9, 2007

LAST EDITED ON Dec-09-07 AT 07:58AM (MST)[p]Finding big deer on public land in the area you are asking about is often very difficult, and can even be difficult to find deer, period. The area north of you has excellent genetics, and does produce deer about as big as a guy could want, but the public land areas (the only areas you can hunt unless you know someone or have a few thousand dollars to spare or are a very good talker) are very overhunted. For some reason the DOW continues to manage multiple units the same way, even though the herd characteristics are drastically different from area to area, with their own unique circumstances. In addition, they give out over 2000 buck tags for these units over the rifle seasons. This is absolutely ridiculous to me but I am weird and like to kill big bucks. But, I am not a biologist... Though there is a lot of public land available, much of the huntable country is big timber country that doesn't hold a whole lot of deer. A big darn fire would do wonders for some of this area in my opinion. Years of fire suppression has created vast tracts of "unhealthy" country. This is just my opinion, I am not a forester. The truth is that most of the great deer country in the area is inhabited by people and some of the biggest deer can be found laying on a nice bed of kentucky bluegrass, drinking out of a landscaped fountain.... Huntable areas that can hold deer consistently are not a secret and therefore hunters trip over themselves to shoot the first forky they see, not because they don't know any better, but because they are forced to if they want to kill a deer. As zekers says, you put yourself at an advantage if you take up archery, and I'll add that you put yourself at more of an advantage if you put on a backpack for a few days. Saving your points, too, will put you at an avantage as you'll have a good hunt to go on in a few years. Having said all this, there are ways to find nice bucks in these areas, but you typically only get out of it what you put in, and getting a nice deer consitently on public land there takes work. If you desire any more specific info, send me a PM.