Unit 61

[buckbuster64]

Anybody do any good 2-3or 4 season deer in 61 this year?Did the bad winter afect that area also?.........anybody.thanks....Rick

 

[Co_bucky]

Not sure if the winter affected the unit, but very few deer seen during the 4th season hunt. Spent alot of points my buddy and i, and maybe seen 10 deer a day.

 

[oilcan]

CO_BUCKY don't feel bad your not the only one.I hunted the 4th season in a unit not to far from you and had similiar results.Not sure if it was winter kill but the Full moon no snow and warm temps didn't help.

 

[elkhuntr]

Oilcan, Did you kill a deer?
Elkuntr

 

[Co_bucky]

Weather was not good but for sakes.... this is is supposed to be a great unit to hunt in...... i dropped 15 points in the unit and buddy dropped 12. Even down on the private property didnt see really any good bucks.Talked to locals who have lived and hunted there, they said unit 61 has really been bad for about 4 yrs. Every yr a few people kill nice bucks, but people kill nice bucks in every unit. Over all we had fun, hunted hard, killed a couple of bucks, but not worth 6 points for a 4 season hunt.

 

[buckbuster64]

thanks anyway ,looking to burn some pts next year,just checking it out

 

[oilcan]

Elkhuntr yes i killed a 23" 4x4 with crabby front forks.Passed up a solid 180" the first hour of opening day turned out to be a big mistake,But going by previous years i couldn't end it that qiuck

 

[ridgewalker]

We shot a couple 180 bucks on the 3rd season in 2005..I thought it was a great hunt..it's tough because of how THICK and steep it is, but I like that.. we saw a couple bigger, but couldn't connect...it was warm that year too..saw some good bucks in the pines and aspens but couldn't get shots..shot ours in the middle elevations..oakbrush headin into PJ's..
Hunted 62 3rd this year..it was awful..hiked high and low and hardly saw deer..ended up shooting a heavy 24ich buck, but it was the only mature buck i saw..only saw 6-8 bucks in all..something bad goin on over there..must have been some winterkill that we weren't informed about..

 

[buckbuster64]

Thanks ridgeWalker,sounds like you had a great time even though it was warm & dry that year in 61.When you were hunting this year in 62 did you see any signs of winter kill.such as(bones)ect?They would be where you find drops horns,prob lower elvation thanks.....Rick

 

[elkhuntr]

Oilcan, Where did you end up hunting? You can PM me if that would be better. It was a strange year.
Thanks,Elkhuntr

 

[ridgewalker]

Didn't find any dead deer, but we only hunted that low for one day and didn't see a deer..found a couple of good sheds though..talked to several people that have hunted either deer or elk in that unit for 20+ years and they said it was by far the worst year they've seen...even in warm years they said they normally see a lot more animals than they did this year.

 

[buckbuster64]

Thanks Ridgewalker,looking to maybe burn some pts their next year.In the past that unit has been top notch.I think the weather had a lot to do with the hunt in 08.

 

[Magnummatt]

buckbuster
was looking to burn a few points too.Don't sound good though.Not sure what to do now.

 

[buckbuster64]

Magnummatt,if ridgewalker didn't find any bodys in the low lands then i think it will be ok on the Uncompahgre.Now i did hear from others in some areas 80% kill?????????????????????

 

[300MIKE]

I was not in 61 this year but was close by in a 3rd season hunt. One thing that gets me is everyone talks about winterkill. I heard the same from the guys that have lived and hunted the area forever, this was the worst year ever. Talked to the F&G guy for a while and he had the same opinion, worst he's ever seen. I just dont buy off on the winter kill theory. I saw very few winterkill bones and I spent ALOT of time in there. The winter kill we did see was a little above the winter range and like I said it was minimal.On the other hand I too can say the animals seemed to have vanished. We looked high and low with not much seen. I think the weather was the big part, period. Anyway thats just my opinion.

Mike

 

[buckbuster64]

Well (300Mike)the way i see it,if you didn.t see that much sign then the bad winter didn't kill them,at least where you were.In the past their was a realy bad winter sometime back in the 80's we were hunting that next year near Rifle their were bones everwhere,prob 3-4 to a acre down low in the sage& Juniper.Not everwhere,but in clumps.I figure it's where they tried to feed them.I'm telling you it was bad,took about 4-years to come back.So if their was a bad winter kill you would have seen it............thanks Mike....................Rick

 

[BigPig]

How could 61 have a real bad winter kill? It's not that high to begin with and plenty of country for the deer to get down low. This isn't the Gunnison Basin.

I'm thinking of dumping a few points on 61 archery deer next year. I'm not liking these reports, but am also trying to look at it from the standpoint of fewer bucks killed this year means more for next.

 

[buckbuster64]

Yea you got a point!thanks for yhe input guys

 

[Califelkslayer]

Hunted deer 3rd season in 07 and elk archery this year. Hunted almost exclusively in the oak brush this year. I saw 9 total bucks in 15 days of huntin, every single one from the rig. Saw about 2 dozen does too. I felt the deer were higher cause the 3 times I was in the aspens, I saw most of the deer. Just FYI.

2 of the bucks were shooters.

 

[buckbuster64]

Hey (Califelkslayer)Did you hunt both years in the jack oaks,or just this year,because most of deer would be in the aspen range that eary& as warm as it was they had no reason to move down???????? (also big unit)Anyway man thanks for your input any &all helps