CO Advice

bigsky2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
233
I have 11 points in Colorado for deer. It doesn't look like I am gaining any ground for better tags than what I can draw now so I am set on using my points this year. 11 points kind of puts a person in no man's land so I will probably have to draw a unit that requires less than 11 points. I have been using goHunt to help me narrow down the units I can draw. Here are my options:

190+ potential:
2nd rifle - 21, 44, 55, 66, 67
3rd rifle - 54

180+ potential:
3rd rifle - 22, 25, 26, 30, 35, 36, 40, 52, 54, 65, 68, 70, 71, 74, 75, 76, 77, 351, 444, 521, 681, 711, 751
4th rifle - 25, 26, 65, 71, 74, 75, 77, 444, 711, 751

If anyone has hunted in or has any info on any of these units I would really appreciate it. Any info I can get helps, feel free to PM me.
 
Joined
Dec 27, 2012
Messages
4,807
Location
Colorado
I've been in 75/751 from May to now. Send me a pm with your number and I'll answer your questions the best I can.
 

Frito

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 28, 2016
Messages
263
Location
Colorado
Good chance at success in 70, but I would look elsewhere with those points. I'm not a horn hunter though.
 
Joined
Sep 5, 2012
Messages
682
Location
Gypsum, CO
Just my 2 cents but ur 190 potential in 44 2nd is a far shot. 180 potential in 25,35,36,444 is also a big estimate those units have always suffered and it's a needle in a haystack. That's just my 02 cents on the units I have hunted and guided in. It is possible to take a buck out of any of those units in the 180+ class but 11 points I wouldn't use. I draw a 44 buck every other year as a resident archery just FYI and used to get a 44 2nd every 3 years for 2nd rifle. I think the creep has jumped up a touch but its potential has fallen as well as 36(brother currently guides there) and 444 has a lot of private with hard access to the public. Just trying help you narrow down your units a little bit


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MesaHorseCo.

WKR
Rokslide Sponsor
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
401
Location
Colorado
most units in the state will have 180 potential. For very few if any points at all. Just remember when you spend em, that the amount of points a hunt takes can have jack shit to do with the quality of said hunt.
 
Joined
Feb 20, 2014
Messages
1,043
Location
Southwest Colorado
most units in the state will have 180 potential. For very few if any points at all. Just remember when you spend em, that the amount of points a hunt takes can have jack shit to do with the quality of said hunt.

Yeah I think thats the nice thing about Colorado is there are deer in almost every unit and they can all get pretty big. I dont plan on ever getting to more than 2 resident points.
 

svivian

WKR
Joined
Mar 16, 2016
Messages
2,833
Location
Colorado
most units in the state will have 180 potential. For very few if any points at all. Just remember when you spend em, that the amount of points a hunt takes can have jack shit to do with the quality of said hunt.

^this. Just have to pick a unit and put in the work with feet on the ground if you can.
 
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bigsky2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
233
I realize most all units in CO have 180 bucks, but I am sure there are better odds of finding them in some units than others. We have screwed up by accruing 11 points. This doesn't really give us any advantage of having 7 or 8 points from what I can see. I didn't even realize we had that many points until I looked this year. We were just building points without actually applying. We live in MT so we hunt mule deer every year so we thought we would just build up points to be able to hunt a really good unit. After looking at the statistics I can see we aren't gaining anything by building points. I know having first hand experience in a unit is invaluable but I still think we would have an advantage over someone from out east that has never hunted mule deer before. A lot of those units I listed earlier can be drawn with much fewer points than what we have so I will list some that would best match the points we have. If anyone can give me some info on any of the following that would be awesome!

Early Rifle - 25, 26, 44, 36, 444, 65
2nd Rifle - 21, 44, 55, 66, 67
3rd Rifle - 22, 30, 54
 

JustHunt

FNG
Joined
Dec 24, 2015
Messages
92
That's a lot of points. I have never held that many deer points, and so I wouldn't want to give you a "shoot from the hip answer". That's a lot of points, you want to spend them wisely. The only advice I can give you, and not feel bad about it, is that you should burn them on a 3rd or 4th season hunt. It takes years to learn where deer are during early rifle or 2nd rifle. Just because it took a lot of points wont mean its easy. 3rd or 4th season can make things a little easier on you if its your first time in the country. But its not a gimme either. 2014 3rd season was warm, and 2016 was extremely warm as well.

As far as units, I just don't know what to tell you. A lot of the 3rd season units you listed in your first post are 1 point or 0 point units, and were even 2nd CHOICE units not long ago!!!

Do yourself a favor, and really look at the regs when they come out. You may see some 4th seasons open up (where there may not have been a 4th season in 2016) in some of the units you posted that may go slightly un-noticed and you may grab a tag for less points than required, OR there may be more 3rd season tags issued in a particular unit than were issued in 2016, making the draw odds better in 2017.

Just thinking out loud, personally, ide want to try 55, 66 or 67 one day. I'de even want to try it during 2nd season. But I haven't been waiting 11 years either...
 
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bigsky2

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 31, 2016
Messages
233
The hunts that match our points the best are 3rd season in unit 30, and 4th season in 71/711. Does anyone have any knowledge of these units?
 

ColoradoV

WKR
Joined
Nov 10, 2013
Messages
509
My advice would be to watch this snowpack real close and where it is piling up the most. I headed up to Crested Butte and while I enjoyed the 40" of new snow the past few days brought as it made for great skiing the snowpack around Gunnison is the highest it has been this decade. The Gunnison basin was 130% of snowpack before this storm and will be somewhere close to 200% by the time these storms are done next week.

Sage in much of the winter grounds is going completely under and will no doubt make for a harder winter than any of these deer have seen since they have been alive. Snow is already half way up to completely covering the barb wire on most of the winter grounds.

Deer are tough but this is getting to be a lot of snow with a lot of winter yet to go..

Yea at this point winter kill in certain parts of the state will become a issue this year in Colorado and it is fair to say at this point that this is the most snow in the first week of Janurary since the winter of 07 - 08...
 

LJ Buck

WKR
Joined
Oct 7, 2013
Messages
863
Hunt the eastern CO. If interested in guided (pretty much a trespass fee). Your points will be rewarded. I can point you in that direction if interested. Pm me.
 

Bar

Banned
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
1,623
Location
Colorado
You've had 11 years to think about this hunt and you still don't know where to hunt?
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
15,527
Location
Colorado Springs
You've had 11 years to think about this hunt and you still don't know where to hunt?

The deer dynamics change frequently in CO. He also said they were "applying for points" all these years, not "thinking about this hunt". I can totally get that. I used 13 points this year and then turned the tag back in. I still don't know where I want to use them. For me elk decisions are easy, deer not so much.
 

Bar

Banned
Joined
Feb 8, 2014
Messages
1,623
Location
Colorado
Just because you're saving points doesn't mean you can't be researching where to use them.

I've hunted the same unit for deer since the 50's. I've never seen a reason to change. Success rate is 60% and tags can be had for 0-1 point. Trophy's can be had if that's your thing.
 
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