Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 2010 Colorado Muley's

Was looking for some opinions and recommendations on Units here in CO for muley bucks in 2010. 3 of my group have 6 preference points and after discussing it want to try and use them up next year. Our current home unit is trashed. The severe winter of 2007/2008 had winterkill well over 40%. Sad part is that the unit had just rebounded from low numbers that took 10 years to see happen. Over that ten years we watched with childlike anticipation waiting to finally have enough points to draw a coveted tag. Only 65 were given out per season. Or less. Long story short it will be a long time before we see that area good again. There are less deer in the unit than elk now. They should be double the elk herds. Anyways. I've compiled a list from the 2009 Stats for minimum preference points needed to draw certain tags. I know nothing is for sure in the draw but many require less points than we currently have and some are exactly the same PP's as we have. I'd like to hear from anyone that has experience in these units which they would recommend and things like access, private land, public land etc, etc,.......

I do not want anyone's Honey Holes!!!!!!! Really want to stress that up front. We know how to hunt mulies and will be more than willing to put in the footwork needed to find them. If you know a Unit but would rather not talk about it, I totally respect that. Just looking for a little guidance so that I may look at the Units more deeply. I would like to possibly combine this hunt with our elk tags. As trying to plan and make two trips in a year is hard. I won't rule out two seperate trips though. Initial stages of planning is where I am. Here is my list:
Unit followed by seasons:
1 MZ, 2nd, 3rd
2 MZ
10 MZ, 3rd
22 4th
42 4th
43 1st Early High Country
44 3rd
61 MZ, 2nd, 3rd
62 4th
63 4th
66 MZ, 2nd, 3rd
67 2nd , 3rd
76 MZ, 2nd
82 4th
99 Late Rifle
103 Late Rifle
122 Late Rifle
139 Late Rifle
201 MZ
301 Ranching For Wildlife, Deakins 1st hunt Dec. 18th-22nd
421 4th
441 Ranching For Wildlife, Big Gulch, 1st hunt Dec. 5th-14th
591 1st, 3rd
851 2nd

Hunt is just for a great time and a possibility at a decent buck. 20" to 30" 4x4's. Just respectable. No buck, no biggie. That's how we hunt. Open to any and all input or suggestions. Thanks again fellas.

I sure can't help. My unit,125 was decimated too.I have doe tag for 3rd season,but probably won't fill it.

Why aren't you looking at 21 or 30 also?

That's a good question. Looks like I just plain missed them while I was going thru and highlighting the draw summary yesterday. I printed off the summary, statistics and recaps for the last two years. Makes for a serious pile of paper to go thru. How is the energy development over there? I've wondered about that since many say its hard to hunt BLM in many places due to that.

The energy development is pretty serious in parts, but there are also wilderness areas that haven't been touched. Those two units, plus 1,2,10 and 201 would be my preference with 2 and 10 in the lead.
By my calculations, they only kill between 6 and 10% of the bucks per year in most of those trophy units. 61 is closer 15%. I have another trophy index that applies the harvest to just the public land deer (buck harvest/(density x public area x sex ratio) that puts 2 and 10 at the top of the state at about 3-5%. Keep in mind that if you're comparing a unit that only kills 5% of the bucks per year to 15%, that may seem like only a 10% difference, but think about it more like killing 3x the number of bucks per sq mile, not just 10% more.
And if hunter pressure matters 66 and 67 are much higher than 2,10. You've got about .75 people per sq. mile of public land vs .1 person per sq. mi public land.
If my brother hurries the heck up, I'll have my website up with stuff like that for sale.

Thanks for the in depth info. The NW units have drawn my attention. Just don't know much about them because I've never hunted them. 66,67 catch my eye as I know quite a few people that hunt there and have an inside track on some big bucks down there. But, there is the fact that more people do indeed hunt there. Kind of funny that you mention the website, as a very close friend of mine is restarting his CO consulting business out of Denver and asked if I'd like to help him out. Great minds think alike! Let me know when you site is up. I hadn't committed to helping him yet, and would be interested in acquiring info for myself and my camp for our 2010 hunt.

Somewhat familiar with a couple of those units. I saw the largest typical buck I have ever seen in 76 a couple of years ago during muzzleloader season. That was before the brutal winter kill. From what I have heard it was hit pretty hard.

Unit 63 last year had some good bucks taken in 2nd rifle season. I'd actually like to try that one soon. Lot's of public and again, this was after the winter kill. It still had good numbers of trophy deer.

Hunted 103 last year on private land late season with my daughter. We hunted hard for 5 days and did not see any where near the numbers of bucks we normally see. I am giving up on that one, but she is going to try it one more time.

Of the 3, 63 is my choice. Good luck.

Here is an e-mail I sent to CO DOW and thier response concerning deer herds in CO and the 2007 -2008 winter kill.. The 1st is thier response.My e-mailis at thebottom

Vince,

Your e-mail was forwarded to me. You are correct that estimated posthunt deer numbers on the west slope were down substantially in 2008 compared to 2007. There was no attempt to "spin" the deer numbers. The fact is we needed to collect population data after the 2008 hunting season to fully understand the impact of the 2007-2008 winter. The data collected at the beginning of the 2007 winter did not reflect the toll that the 07-08 winter took on west slope deer populations. We explained this repeatedly when asked to give assessments of the impact of the 07-08 winter prior to posthunt data collection in 2008. Prior to that, the best information we had came from several hundred radio-collared deer that we were monitoring in the White River, Uncompahgre Plateau, Middle Park, and San Juans. Doe survival in all these areas was fairly average in 07-08. As expected, winter fawn survival was below average so we knew some increased mortality was occurring. However, we weren't monitoring buck survival with radio-collars so that was an unknown. Even with the lower buck harvest in 2008 we observed somewhat lower overall buck/doe ratios during 2008 posthunt classification flights indicating that buck survival during the 07-08 winter was lower than doe survival. The combined effects of lower fawn and buck survival in 07-08 and lower posthunt fawn/doe ratios in 2008 are what pushed many west slope deer populations down.

Doe licenses are available in Unit 25 in 2009. The number of 2009 licenses was reduced by almost 60% compared to 2008. These licenses are list B because they are undersubscribed. There was internal discussion whether to eliminate these licenses for 2009 but it was decided based on deteriorated winter range conditions some doe harvest was still justifiable. Although it is likely that barring another bad winter increased recruitment will result in some population rebound in DAU D-43(Units 25, 26, 34), it is likely that the population objective in D-43 will be reduced in the future.

The fact is that even with the 07-08 winter mortality there were still plenty of deer in relation to the number of hunters. The lower success during the 2008 season was more a function of the mild conditions rather than too few deer. The statewide average posthunt buck/doe ratio in 2008 was 29 bucks/100 does compared to the previous 5 year average of 31-32 bucks/100 does. In fact, the 2008 ratio of posthunt mature bucks to does was the highest we have ever observed. This is because more bucks made it through the hunting season.


Bruce Watkins
Big Game Coordinator
Colorado Division of Wildlife
2300 S. Townsend Ave
Montrose, CO 81401
970-252-6025
bruce.watkinsstate.co.us


I would like an honest answer,with no political spin on it.
Last hunting season, many hunters were claiming a significant deer winter kill in many areas. I e-mailed this same address and got the same std answer as I did at DOW Wildlife Commission meetings, Hunter Advisory group
meetings and there is still a few paragraphs on the DOW website with the same info.The claim by DOW was that the lower kill was directly attributed to the warm weather and game animals being widely distributed and there was no data to substantiate a more than normal winter kill in the 2007-2008 winter,except for a few localized areas.Fast forward now to the recently published post hunt deer herd counts though out the state. Deer herds are down 12-40 % in almost all but a few areas, with the average being 15-20%.That is not normal winter kill.So if the DOW is still sticking to their story.WHERE DID ALL THE DEER GO?I hunt area 25, observed deer were few during hunting season Where I saw 100 or so in 2007,I saw 3 does and 3 fawns during 2008 and the deer count was reflects that. Yet the 2009 Big Game Brochure shows that it is still a 2 deer area.Please don't tell me that in early 2008 the DOW published data that
certain herd were down in count and feeding programs lessoned that count and there were reduction in licenses. Last year,Area 25 still was a 2 deerarea.I am finding it harder and harder to believe what the CO DOW is giving out as data.Is there anyone there who truly knows what is going on?

I hunt a ranch in 41 because it always has bucks and gets some really big deer coming through if the weather cooperates. In 2008's third season I didn't see one buck on that ranch, and the outfitters who hunt the area were really scratching to find something for their clients.

I am not sure how plenty of deer for the hunters squares with what I observed.

Anyway, I didn't draw this year so I am looking at 2010 as well.

jim