Colorado did it to me again

Denied me a dad gum deer tag.

This draw game sucks.



Maybe next year....

Better luck next year. I have picked up OTC anterless tags in Montana in years past to hunt the mountains after there were left over tags from the draw.

I drew my 2nd choice, a season choice tag for whitetails in units 101 and 102. Good tag for me since I have access to a good piece of private land in unit 102.

I haven't heard about my deer draw yet, but got the "denied" email for Elk yesterday evening.

Better luck next time

Maybe Wyoming will have something in the leftover draw for you. Leftovers come out in late June.

I like Wyoming a lot but the areas I am familiar with don’t hold a lot of mule deer, mainly antelope. There are some bit scattered among the draws

I sorta felt I was gonna strike out so I booked a trip to Arizona.

Really want to get a Rocky Mountain mule deer

How many choices did you do?

I did get an OTC 2nd season bull tag. Pretty excited for that. Unit 74 is rough but thats how I like things.

FYI part of(74/75) is on fire right now.

To add insult to injury my buddy drew the deer tag with no preference points

Why I asked if you used all your choices. CO is pretty predictable, gohunt membership is priceless

For which season? Where I hunt, I commonly meet guys that had 0-2 pp and drew 2nd season, 3rd seems to take 3-6 and 4th I heard now takes over 8 pp, usually more.

I drew a 3rd rifle season deer tag with 2 points. The odds took a little bit of a hit this year with the changes to the application process. Luckily it seemed like many (not all) of the new applicants applied for bonus points only. Still waiting on the antelope draw in CO and WY and the Antlerless draw in Utah.

You are still young. You will probably live long enough to get drawn. Me on the other hand don't have enough years left to worry about points and getting drawn. I went when the Deer license was $45 and they threw in the Bear tag for free. And you bought it over the counter for any place in Colorado. Kinda makes me glad I am old and got to do the things I did.

I got a tag for elk in Unit 61, 3rd rifle.

Wow, that tag could land you a nice bull if the weather is normal

I just put in for the two units I’m familiar with.

What's normal weather? My first elk hunting trip.

Not hot or warm, more snow up top the better it is. With that said elk live at all elevations from alfalfa on the river to mid BLM country to high NF. I was in that unit three or four years ago. I saw bulls from the canyon bottom down on the river by gateway to 11k.

It’s a big bull unit. Hell of a tag. I turned down a LO tag opportunity and have regretted ever sense.

What BOBO said, I lived in 62 and if the snow and cold gets knee deep, they will move down to the lower private lands. There are large drainage basins around 61 and they will migrate and hide in those thick drainage's after being chased for 2 seasons. Many move East towards Ridgway, even become a problem in the housing and golf course area, Some move towards Montrose north, and many also move towards Nucla.

Also depends on what the oak shimmery does, if it is a good year, they will feed in those thick pockets early am and earlier in the late afternoon (acorns and often mountain rye/oat under the shimmery), few older bulls will/may still be with cows, but I'd bet most group up with buddies by then in the thick stuff, wont usually be to far tho. Sitting over a thick gorge within your shooting range can produce a darn good bull if they are in there. Find a good used trail and set up as far off as you can with wind in mind and wait them out, they will travel a long way down to feed if the tempos are comfortable mid level and will retreat to elevation often at sunrise.

I spoke with a few biologist over the years as to why 61 produces bigger than average bulls and from what they tell me, was that the minerals in 61 are conducive to antler growth, plus the mix of private and guvment lands allow them to age.