bow hunt the rifle season?
Mule Deer
Contributors to this thread:
My Dad and I have 11 mule deer points in Colorado. I had been planning on a bowhunt and I know my Dad is happy to go on any hunt, but I'm sure given the choice, he'd choose to go with rifle and have better chances taking a nice buck. We actually have enough points for a good rifle tag at this point (and it might be a couple more years before we can go), so I was starting to think maybe we should do a rifle hunt instead. I'd like him to take a nice buck and that option would allow him to rifle hunt and I could still bowhunt.
I have limited mule deer experience. Any thoughts on this idea? How difficult will it be to bowhunt the rifle season compared to the early archery season?
Depending on unit it could be different but my first 6 or so mule deer were shot with a rifle within bow range on the eastern planes of colorado so I think it could be done
As Fubar mentioned a lot depends upon what unit and what time of year. If it's a early high alpine muley rifle or Eastern Plains hunt it may not matter. If it's a late season rifle hunt in an OTC elk unit in Western Colo it likely will be a zoo on public land. If it is a rifle season in 2 or 201 where all deer and elk tags are limited to few hunters it would may be possible.
You may also want to research if there are a bunch of rifle cow and/or doe tags before or during your season..or any other seasons (pheasant, grouse, bear, etc) that may affect how wild the muley bucks will be.
Another consideration is how picky do both of you want to be? Mostly monster muley bucks generally take a lot of time to find and harvest....especially with bow! This is especially true if you are hunting a new area you've never stepped foot into! I would suggest hunting with your dad 1 year and pick a quality bow hunt during the following year so you do your 11 years of waiting justice!
jims has some great advice. No problem with picking a rifle tag and then hunting with a bow, but make sure you are picking something where there won't be a bunch of ridiculous traffic from OTC rifle hunters or something like that.
Do your research, pick a quality unit/hunt, and make sure there aren't any other factors that will affect deer behavior and you will be fine.
Thanks guys. These are some good things to consider. I know when I elk hunted Colorado, I was surprised how many bird hunters and ATV users there were.
i would bow hunt, scout for your dad, then film his rifle hunt.