crownroyal
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I am just excited about drawing my first Colorado hunt.. Just wanted to hear if anyone has done any good on this hunt. Lets hear some stories and advice on this hunt and better yet some pictures.
Unit 35 3rd Season Colorado
- Thread starter crownroyal
- Start date
cmbbulldog
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Pray for snow. Most of the deer are on private, especially if its warm.
Hey crown,
I had this draw a decade ago. There were plenty of deer on the public land back then, and I gather the population is doing better now. I hunted the Bull Gulch Wilderness Area, Castle Peak Wilderness Area and the area east of Pisgah Mtn. Saw bucks in all 3 areas, the best ones near Pisgah. There are tons of other hunters the first couple days of the season, and then it tails off a bit in terms of hunting pressure. Good luck on your hunt! Feel free to PM me if you want more info.
bcmulie
I had this draw a decade ago. There were plenty of deer on the public land back then, and I gather the population is doing better now. I hunted the Bull Gulch Wilderness Area, Castle Peak Wilderness Area and the area east of Pisgah Mtn. Saw bucks in all 3 areas, the best ones near Pisgah. There are tons of other hunters the first couple days of the season, and then it tails off a bit in terms of hunting pressure. Good luck on your hunt! Feel free to PM me if you want more info.
bcmulie
crownroyal
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I am gonna go hunt it hard no matter what but I have heard it is really good with snow.. What kind of access did you have?? Fourwheelers or did you hike in?? I prefer to hike and be along ways from the truck but is it better to be more mobile in this hunt?? Check alot of different areas from the truck and hope the rut has kicked in?
tenaciousC
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- 22
Good luck and have fun is all I can say. It can be a fun hunt. Maybe I'll see you there! Feel free to pm if you want...
>I am gonna go hunt it
>hard no matter what but
>I have heard it is
>really good with snow.. What
>kind of access did you
>have?? Fourwheelers or did you
>hike in?? I prefer to
>hike and be along ways
>from the truck but is
>it better to be more
>mobile in this hunt?? Check
>alot of different areas from
>the truck and hope the
>rut has kicked in?
I hiked and used a 4x4, no ATVs. ATVs would have been handy, though, as the road leading to the Bull Gulch trail head is pretty rough, and I was hitting a number of different areas. Bull Gulch you could definitely backpack in, although I day-hunted it. Wasn't any snow when I was there. There is road access to the area east of Peavine, but also enough space there to do some hiking. I hiked in there in the dark and set up on vantage points to glass - lots of open sagebrush there. Bull Gulch is thicker cover, and rougher terrain. If you head up into Capital, you can get into thick timber and aspen stands. Opening morning the trail into capital was a highway filled with hunters! If I was to hunt it again, I would hit different areas each day until I figured out where the concentrations of deer were and then focus on that area.
>hard no matter what but
>I have heard it is
>really good with snow.. What
>kind of access did you
>have?? Fourwheelers or did you
>hike in?? I prefer to
>hike and be along ways
>from the truck but is
>it better to be more
>mobile in this hunt?? Check
>alot of different areas from
>the truck and hope the
>rut has kicked in?
I hiked and used a 4x4, no ATVs. ATVs would have been handy, though, as the road leading to the Bull Gulch trail head is pretty rough, and I was hitting a number of different areas. Bull Gulch you could definitely backpack in, although I day-hunted it. Wasn't any snow when I was there. There is road access to the area east of Peavine, but also enough space there to do some hiking. I hiked in there in the dark and set up on vantage points to glass - lots of open sagebrush there. Bull Gulch is thicker cover, and rougher terrain. If you head up into Capital, you can get into thick timber and aspen stands. Opening morning the trail into capital was a highway filled with hunters! If I was to hunt it again, I would hit different areas each day until I figured out where the concentrations of deer were and then focus on that area.
35 is a OTC elk unit so be prepared for an army of hunters and large camps set up along the main roads. Go into the hunt expecting to see orange just about anywhere in the unit...and do your best to hike into more remote locations. It's somewhat frustrating hiking into secluded spots in the dark and still running into orange! I hate to paint a dismal picture but if you go into the hunt knowing what I just told you,,,you won't get caught off guard by the reality of what the unit is like!
crownroyal
Active Member
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Would it be better to not hunt in unit 35 because of the OTC Elk hunt going on there and focus more on 36,361,045??? Or does that elk hunt run into those units as well??
P
pilgrimptr
Guest
bulls gulch should be hunted high by the private(was the Castle creek ranch) or low by the river, lots of cedar down there that makes for a tough hunt but the bigger bucks seem to prefer that type of country...some overlooked country is also by the river that is between state bridge and the river road bridge to the west...there is also a private ranch between Wolcott and State bridge (was the Piney Valley ranch) that houses a lot of deer east of Castle peak, sometimes these animals will head into the public ground to the west...there is another private ranch (was the Eagle ranch) to the south of Castle peak that houses a lot of animals that will venture out towards the southeast part of the peak...don't let the other hunters depress you, they will typically be gone by the 4th or 5th day of the season, I've seen 170-180 bucks taken from this unit, have a 196 on my wall that I found on the unit and know of book deer that have been taken from there also...good luck!!!
crownroyal
Active Member
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Thanks for the replies guys. I am really looking forward to it even though its still a long ways off. Always fun to start the planning and the dreaming early though.. So again thanks
wyohighcountry
Member
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I'm curious also how it went. I put in for this tag.
crownroyal
Active Member
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Hey guys
Founder you already know how I did we share a friend that went with me and he gave you a full report while we were driving home. Word
Hunt was good. I dont ever have a bad hunt. I would say what I saw was fair amount of deer. We had the weather that everyone said I needed but with the hunt dates being a little early the bigger bucks just didnt have their dumb brains in gear yet..
I saw 2 mature bucks on public ground one was a big 3x4 I missed and another guy killed right after (awesome guy) and the last day of the hunt I killed what I would say is a 4yr old 3x3 big frame.
I would hunt this unit every year but dont go into it thinking your gonna roll out there and smoke a nice 4x4 cause you prob wont its a tough hunt and you gotta be up early and first up the mtn cause there is alot of people. The potential is there for big deer but there sure is alot of private. As far a burning points on it I wouldnt if you have more than a 2-3 save em for a better unit. just my 2cents make sure your have either a 4 wheeler or horses or your gonna be hating it.
Founder you already know how I did we share a friend that went with me and he gave you a full report while we were driving home. Word
Hunt was good. I dont ever have a bad hunt. I would say what I saw was fair amount of deer. We had the weather that everyone said I needed but with the hunt dates being a little early the bigger bucks just didnt have their dumb brains in gear yet..
I saw 2 mature bucks on public ground one was a big 3x4 I missed and another guy killed right after (awesome guy) and the last day of the hunt I killed what I would say is a 4yr old 3x3 big frame.
I would hunt this unit every year but dont go into it thinking your gonna roll out there and smoke a nice 4x4 cause you prob wont its a tough hunt and you gotta be up early and first up the mtn cause there is alot of people. The potential is there for big deer but there sure is alot of private. As far a burning points on it I wouldnt if you have more than a 2-3 save em for a better unit. just my 2cents make sure your have either a 4 wheeler or horses or your gonna be hating it.
crownroyal
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Ummm Guess I'm an idiot can't quite figure out the picture thing
crownroyal
Active Member
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LAST EDITED ON Feb-24-16 AT 03:45PM (MST)[p]
crownroyal
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crownroyal
Active Member
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I hunted both sides Access into 36 was kinda tough but 35 was no walk in the park. Ya earn it for sure
Downrange
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Thanks crown for the report. I have 3 pts and still not sure what I'm going to do yet. Hunted 62 twice and it's getting tough to find a mature deer anymore here. I'm looking into 62, 35, 68 and 60 right now. Poring over maps and google earth trying to make a decision.
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