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Colorado Unit 66

I finally decided to burn my CO mule deer points this year (like a lot of others). I'm a non-resident from TN who has made several trips out west primarily bowhunting elk. I'm 51 and in good shape but don't have much experience hunting mule deer. In preparation for finally drawing a good tag, I made 2 trips to marginal archery mule deer areas in NM. Last year I hunted for solo for 8 days in the Pecos Wilderness. I saw a ton of elk and bighorn sheep, but only 1 bachelor group of mule deer. I haven't hunted with anything but a bow in over 10 years but I decided to do a MZ hunt this year. After a lot of research, I applied for and drew a CO Unit 66 tag. I've done a lot of research using my FS maps and Google Earth and have several areas in mind. I'm concerned about the amount of activity in some of the more popular hiking areas like Uncompahgre and Matterhorn Peaks in the western part of the unit, so I have focused on other areas of the unit. I was curious if those who are familiar with this area thought I was heading in the right direction. I was also curious if it would be better to focus on the heads of the basins or lower in the drainages right at timberline during the MZ season. I plan to arrive several days prior to the season to do some scouting. I hoped that I might locate someone who was familiar with the area who was willing to let me pick their brain so I could use my scouting time as efficiently as possible. I can be reached by email at [email protected]. Thanks.

I hunted it last September and my first time to the area. I saw quite a few deer and in most places you'd expect to find them in September. Lake City is the OHV capital of Colorado/the world. The amount of jeeps, razors, trucks, etc was unbelievable. Expect to see very very full roads but once you get off them, I didnt see many people. I wish Id had an OHV to get access to some areas vs my truck. Bring a fly rod too, lots of fishing.

Thanks for the feedback. I ran into the same issues a few years ago when I drew an AZ elk tag. Pretty discouraging when you don't have one and everyone else does!

Fortunately, we found a spot that everyone else was driving by and was able to get a bull on the ground. That being said I'm planning on spending most of my time backpacking in the wilderness areas since I don't have a vehicle that I feel comfortable putting on any rough roads/trails. Thanks again.

I elk hunted 66 back when it was OTC. Always saw good bucks back then. I think it’s a tie though between Lake City and Silverton being the OHV capital of the world! Lol I was in Silverton just this past Saturday on July 31st and couldn’t believe the amount of Razors cruising around.

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