Contributors to this thread:
I'm looking to burn my 7 points this year as I'm starting to get in that gray area of having "too many" and/or in no man's land. I hear some good things about 21, 30, 61, 76 then the next thing I'm told is they are no good anymore, over run, hikers, etc. Same with 54 and 55, some good reports and then some bad. This will be a solo DIY hunt and I'm 1,000 miles away so can't really scout. I'd be fine paying a small trespass fee for private land if anyone has a lead on that as well. Thoughts?
All of our units here cycle with respect to population and mature bucks. Lots of variables. You should do some research on the CPW interactive website and narrow it down to a few units you can draw. Them call the CPW and USFS biologists for the units.
The area I hunted this year was a second-choice unit because it has sucked for many years. The deer numbers have really rebounded and there were deer (and mature bucks) everywhere. With a couple bad winters it could suck again.
Keep in mind that the success stats can be way off from actual success. Sometimes it seems like they just pull numbers out of the hat.
You have enough points to pull a number of different options - especially for archery.
21 seems to have slipped a bit in trophy quality. 61 still seems to be producing well. The Gunnison units are still rebounding, but there are still good bucks in there to be had. The Eagle County units are always kicking out big deer.
Some of the best bucks come from units that are not necessarily that hard to draw and even can be drawn on second choice for archery. Might be a good option to try for a second choice archery tag if you are looking to draw an early rifle hunt for the following year.
What kind of hunt are you looking for? Bow, rifle, stand hunting, spot and stalk, high, low, early, late, etc?
If you are talking Archery 21/30 is the same tag. And it definitely isn't what it was 5+ years ago. In my experience 61 has been tough to find good deer.
I would look at a High Country hunt in archery season.
IMO-Don't worry about hikers. Unless it is a complete zoo with obnoxious tourists that throw rocks at every animal, hikers are a non-factor. Deer don't like to be shot at and sneaked up on. Tons of hikers have pictures of gigantic deer, that hunters never see. In some cases I would argue big animals actually seek out the camper and hiker heavy areas because no one is sneaking up on them.
I don't know anything about 21, 30, or 61, but if you can't get away from people in 76, 54 or 55, you aren't working even close to hard enough. I have seen a lot of deer in 54 and 55, but I have never seen anything huge.
I'm in the same boat as you. Thinking maybe I'll just hold out for an early season muzzleloader hunt in the future just to mix it up. I started building points before I found good deer opportunities with general tags in UT and ID.
+1 Andy on the hikers. I killed a very nice buck only a hundred yards from a popular trailhead parking lot. I acted like a hiker casually strolling along, pulled up my bow, and shot him..
Thanks for the added info guys. I am planning for archery, early, high country, spot and stalk..........or any way I can get my tag on one. :)
Lots of great opps for deer in CO. The thing is, as with many species and states, information is FAR more valuable than points. I'd trade some quality intel in a Opt unit for going blind in a 10+ pt unit. So the good news is there's tons of good deer huntn. The bad news is, your pts won't necessarily put you there.
Of the ones you listed and in order I would look into 74, 76, 10, 2, 61, 21/30, 44, 40, 86, 82, 66, 67, 65..
74 is still IMO the best high country hunt and I know of a couple of straight hogs that came out of 76 the past couple of years.. Dont overlook the units surrounding 74/76 as they also hold big deer. The kind that make you look twice. Had a friend get a 190" buck out of 86 this yr HCR and said he was amazed at the the amount of 180 type bucks or hunted one every day until he killed..
I will echo the sentiment that the Gunnison basin has not returned. Spent 9 days hunting and double that scouting a gunny unit this year and was disappointed in what I found and both a friend and I ate tag soup. I helped a friend on a 4th season rifle hunt for 2 days and did not find a shooter... My friend and I hunted hard and both have taken big bucks but could not find a buck to stalk most days. But then again we were going for 185+ or bust.
Have fun and IMO the most value for your points if you are looking at that route will be 74 or 76. 44 if you want to hunt the eagle genetics and 10 or 2 if you want a lower elevation hunt. 66 if you like the gunny basin. Big bucks will be killed in 61 as they are every year.. 21/30 have produced amazing archery hunts for friends I know who harvested great bucks there but I have never been there in archery. In the end I would not over look 82 or 86 and think about every unit between 74 and 76..
Also if you are looking the very easiest way to a big buck in CO is the eastern plains and a guide may want to look there.
Have fun pick one you like and hunt hard - good luck.
Jahvada, Thank you for all of that. You kind of reinforced my point of frustration. I have a fairly reliable source recommend the Gunnison basin, you don't recommend it. I think what it boils down to is there are good deer in every unit. Some guys don't find them and write that area/unit off. Others find a little honey hole and conclude there must be bucks like that throughout the area/unit, therefore recommending it. This can happen in an OTC unit or a 17PP unit. So yeh, pick a unit and giver heck.....and hope you made the right choice!
Our 2015 Unit 55 results. Tough week of constant rain.
Nice bucks crested! Gun or bow? Congrats!
I hunted 74 a lot, fun unit. 76 had some toads, when I was in there elk hunting. Lots of good units around that need way less points for archery.
Dont listen to people that say the Gunnison has not returned. It will not return. They were way over goal going into that bad winter and will not get back there. There are some great bucks in those units today, just not as many.
I hunted 67 this fall on a muzzy tag in 67 and took a 185" buck at 50 yds. Could have easily arrowed him if I was bow hunting. Saw some good bucks in the unit.
The thing is you will hear of great bucks in any unit along the divide and many other units. There is a reason people say if you want a good CO deer unit just take a map and throw a dart.
