CO units for 3rd Rifle OTC

[Vandy321]

New to CO. Spending my winter and spring and summer camping, scouting, etc.

Found a few areas I'd like to key in on GAIA / Google earth, mainly good looking terrain, very limited road/trail access, and the ability to get away from folks who dont like to hump it.

Any suggestions from folks for units that match that description? Main goal is to hunt some beautiful country, stay away from the crowds (and ATV's/horses, work hard, hike in and spend the week. Coming out with a legal bull would be a plus, but this first year will most likely be spent learning CO elk.

Hope to have a muley tag as well. OTC or leftover is all I can do, have ZERO points in CO, just getting settled here.

 

[cnelk]

The 2019 Regulations are now available. Read, read, read.
You will find out that there is no OTC for 4th seasons and deer tags are all draw - or leftover.

The CPW site has a Big Game Hunt Guide section - https://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/BigGameHuntGuides.aspx

Lots of good info in the Hunting Atlas too - https://ndismaps.nrel.colostate.edu/index.html?app=HuntingAtlas

And of course the Statistics page - https://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/Statistics.aspx


Get familiar with the above and go hunt - Good luck

 

[Vandy321]

I knew it was end of Feb for the release, but hadn't checked in a week or so. Good info and awesome links, makes for good reading on the road, thanks.

 

[vanish]

There are only OTC for 2nd / 3rd, not 4th, but you may be able to enter the leftover draw this year and 4th seasons often go to leftover.

 

[backcountrymuzzy]

Keep in mind 3rd season in CO is typically winter conditions. Make sure to have some backup plans if the trailhead you are planning to hunt out of is inaccessible.

 

[njdoxie]

Hope to have a muley tag as well. OTC or leftover is all I can do, have ZERO points in CO, just getting settled here.

Many people, myself included, hunt CO OTC every year, it’s not chopped liver, don’t stay home just because you don’t have points, unless it’s a big bull or nothing for you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vandy321]

Thanks, yes, solid point on roads. I've actually been looking at the MVUMs and planning to go try to access some trailheads this month. If I can get to them in Feb, odds are good I can in Nov.

I have zero issue with OTC, just saying I dont really have a choice in what or where I hunt this year, other than what CO decides are OTC and maybe what I can snag when the leftovers are open.

I'd be extremely content with a cow if I can get a tag. For a first time hunting CO and DIYing it here, meat in the freezer is the name of the game. Obviously the goals are for a nice shooter bull, but meat is meat and I'll be blessed to just have an opportunity it to squeeze the trigger.