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Gun seasons on SW corner public lands

I hunt public ground in your state every year, for turkey and deer. During archery seasons, the spot I hunt is pretty magical, as the deer and turkeys are getting very little pressure, and I get to hunt in relative solitude. This year I shot my buck on friday evening, so I stuck around for the gun opener to take care of my deer and get camp all packed up. I was shocked at how many people had filled up the campground, and the variety of license plates on the trucks. I spoke to a couple guys from CA, I saw a truck from PA, one from MI, a few from WA. I had been thinking this property would be a good place to take my little boy for his first deer (with a gun), but now I'm not quite so sure. Is this pretty typical on these SW corner state lands? Could EHD outbreaks in other places explain an uptick in people traveling? The campground caretakers I talked to on Sat. seemed to hint that they are not used to seeing folks from so many different places. I would expect a lot of CO guys, just seems odd a guy would drive from east coast or CA. While there's lots of deer out here, the majority of bucks I encounter each year are young age-class deer. Certainly not what you'd expect guys would drive over a 1000 miles to go for.

I hunt near one of the big public lands here in SW NE and it is an absolute train wreck during rifle season. Someone is going to get killed hunting up there someday.

I took my 10 year old this year and it was kinda busy but i tend to focus on smaller parcels of land and roads that have gates. Lots of road hunters as well. Like you, i love the archery season before the masses arrive.

Rich, That's awesome. Nice gun too, I just bought an AR lower and Im going to be building an M4 rifle for my little guy this winter. What caliber is that? I am leaning 6.5 Grendel or 6.8 SPC. I hear ya on the road hunting and I do believe we are going to try next year anyways. I have a good spot thats about as far from roads as you can get on this property, probably close to a mile. I will say, it certainly did not look like many were putting much effort at all to get very far from their trucks.

Rich, That's awesome. Nice gun too, I just bought an AR lower and Im going to be building an M4 rifle for my little guy this winter. What caliber is that? I am leaning 6.5 Grendel or 6.8 SPC. I hear ya on the road hunting and I do believe we are going to try next year anyways. I have a good spot thats about as far from roads as you can get on this property, probably close to a mile. I will say, it certainly did not look like many were putting much effort at all to get very far from their trucks.

Jonathan, it is an M4 chambered in .223 and he is 10 years old and loves shooting this gun. We put it on a BOG tripod and he is deadly out to 100 yards. For $6 you cannot go wrong. Wish Colorado would wisen up for youth hunters.

Have you taken your kid out for turkey yet?

As a matter of fact, my little guy got his first on opening day Youth shotgun. Perfect shot 20 yards!

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