CO antelope with 13 points

[JonS]

I've got 13 antelope preference points and am considering hunting a buck this year or could wait awhile.
Where would you go with 13 points or would you wait for a few more.
I love eating them and have enjoyed teaching my daughters to hunt antelope, just realized I've got some points and figure I might do something with them.
Please share any advice or experience you have, I appreciate it.

 

[realunlucky]

You could wait until someone pm you with an offer to combine points I'm sure you'll get one soon
Resident or non-resident? I'd think 13 points would draw a unit with a very chance at b&c quality buck. If your a resident go with muzzleloader and you can draw any unit except unit 1 which looks like it took 16 points to draw last year. For rifle a couple more points opens up options but point creep has to be accounted for.

 

[Carlin59]

CO doesn’t average points like WY so I wouldn’t expect unsolicited joint application offers. I wouldn’t be surprised if you get some unsolicited outfitter offers that has happened a few times on here, particularly for CO antelope.

 

[Floater00]

I must be tired. I saw the headline and thought "holy sh*t, a 13 point antelope??" Lol

 

[cnelk]

Archery, ML or Rifle?

Are you a Resident or NonRes?

 

[JonS]

I could do any of the above, better with a ML or rifle, but I've hunted pigs successfully with a bow, chased elk, but never harvested. I'm comfy out to about 40 yds when in hunting mode with archery gear, but would like to keep it inside 30, not sure that's possible with goats in CO.
I'm a CO resident.
Thanks

 

[cnelk]

Something to consider is in 2019, the CPW is re-opening pronghorn hunting in GMU 10.
Its not been hunted in a few years for pronghorn

Maybe a good possibility

Good luck

 

[5MilesBack]

I'm in the same boat and pronghorn is right up there with deer in regards to not really caring about hunting them. When I can get an OTC archery tag every year, it's hard to plan on an actual points hunt. Not even sure how many points I have, but has to be somewhere around there. I even had a Dec pronghorn meat tag and never went. One of these years I need to dump all these points and just shoot some stuff.

 

[sndmn11]

I'm in the same boat and pronghorn is right up there with deer in regards to not really caring about hunting them. When I can get an OTC archery tag every year, it's hard to plan on an actual points hunt. Not even sure how many points I have, but has to be somewhere around there. I even had a Dec pronghorn meat tag and never went. One of these years I need to dump all these points and just shoot some stuff.

I'm at 8 resident points and without much of a clue on anything pronghorn, so I just keep getting the point and hope that a leftover tag falls into my lap for a learning experience.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

I'm at 16 resident points having just moved back to Colorado and can finally use them, but don't have a clue either. I'm having a hard time justifying burning 16 years of waiting when I can find as big if not bigger pronghorn in WY with such a short wait, or in some cases no waiting at all.

 

[5MilesBack]

Pronghorn don't really excite me, but I would have shot this guy at 35 yards when I was elk hunting if I'd had the right tag. I saw him again in 2014 in the exact same area as this pic was taken. I'm not picky with them, I'd use my points on him if I knew he was going to be there again. Unfortunately he's the only antelope I've seen in this unit.

 

[sndmn11]

Pronghorn don't really excite me, but I would have shot this guy at 35 yards when I was elk hunting if I'd had the right tag. I saw him again in 2014 in the exact same area as this pic was taken. I'm not picky with them, I'd use my points on him if I knew he was going to be there again. Unfortunately he's the only antelope I've seen in this unit.

That is funny, the area I primarily hunt for deer and elk has the random Pronghorn buck that shouldn't be there but is and doesn't have a care in the world.

 

[rckymtnguy]

Where did you see that GMU-10 is re-opening for Antelope?

Something to consider is in 2019, the CPW is re-opening pronghorn hunting in GMU 10.
Its not been hunted in a few years for pronghorn

Maybe a good possibility

Good luck

 

[cnelk]

Where did you see that GMU-10 is re-opening for Antelope?

Right here in the CPW website - https://cpw.state.co.us/Documents/Commission/2019/January/Rulemaking-Notice-Jan-2019.pdf

 

[Jimss]

If you take a look at the B&C books there actually aren't many booner pronghorn listings from Colo. Historically the NW corner of Colo had the largest chunk of Colo listings but that area has never rebounded from historic drought around 15 years ago plus multiple severe winterkill years. That's possibly why unit 10 was shut down many years ago? If you take a drive in unit 2 and 201 there are a fraction of antelope on BLM than there were 10 to 15 years ago. There are more antelope within a 5 mile radius of Craig where antelope had water on private land to make it through several drought years.

The same is true with the Walden units. Unfortunately the Walden area got hammered by winterkill 2 years ago and it's pretty tough finding antelope. There are a few other scattered Colo counties with a few B&C listings (SE and S Central Colo) but few and far between.

I currently have 15 pref pts and am waiting things out for antelope to recover in a couple of the units that I have my eye on. Even though 10 is opening back up I'm not sure if it's worth burning a pile of pts? With that said, Colo is a great state to antelope hunt....lots of public land, but it may not be worth burning or waiting 10+ years for a tag?

 

[Trial153]

South central and south east Co have some decent goats however from what I seen your better goats will be holed up in units that have lots of private. The funny thing is that most of these are OTC as getting the tag isnt the issue it's getting the access that's the issue.
I will be hunting south central Co for goats this August. Realisticly the area I will in a 75 inch goat is doable and you might see better but i would think long and hard passing a 75 looking for 80 plus in co.

Just my idea. Forget the number of points you acquired and cash them in. There really isnt much of a difference in say the top 15-20 units for lope in co. Go hunt.

 

[cnelk]

People always equate the more PPs it takes the bigger the antler/horn size is.

This isnt always the truth.

Its about drawing a LIMITED ENTRY unit, which means there are LESS HUNTERS, which means a BETTER QUALITY hunt.

Too many people prioritize antlers/horns size over the hunt itself.


A few years ago, I drew a Colorado deer unit with 7 PPs that only took 2-3 PPs.
It was the most memorable deer hunt Ive had.
And I shot fork horn buck

 

[Trial153]

I dont see how limited entry generally woudlnt equate to an older age class of animal. We arent talking about a mutually exclusive event.
In general the more limited the hunt you can expect an older age class of animals, and while that doenst always equate to a" trophy size" animal it does equate to a mature animal being present at the least.
Less hunters older animals ...Seems like a win win for a quality hunt

 

[Jimss]

All the stars have to align to produce a B&C buck. I've spent a lifetime hunting trophy antelope in Wyoming. Depending upon the year, in the best quality pronghorn units Wyo has to offer there may be 1 buck in 500 that are B&C. There may not be 500 bucks in some Colo units!

Age is just a small portion of the qualities that produce booner bucks. In fact, Grimmet has conducted summaries of B&C bucks and found that pronghorn can reach B&C minimums at 3 1/2 years of age. Elk and deer may take 7 to 12 years to make B&C! Genetics, moisture, water availability, mild winters, age, nutrition, predators, etc are all factors that produce whoppers. Colo may have older age bucks in the limited units but there is definitely something missing....possibly genetics?

Just because a unit has limited tags doesn't necessarily mean it has older age class bucks. If you use NW Colo and North Park as examples...both of these areas produced a small number of B&C bucks 10 to 30 years ago. With drought plus winterkill in those herds every couple years the bucks never age.....even if there are only a small number of tags issued! There are only a fraction of antelope now than there were 15 years ago. Back to back to back years with poor habitat, severe winters, lack of water, predators, etc have all lead to the decline in antelope numbers, likely younger bucks, and fewer B&C bucks in that corner of Colo.

 

[swampokie]

Unit 81. 75 bucks fairly common 80 is possible. I would give it a look.