Back from MT and CO

[jjhunter]

Well, I am finally back after 16 days.  We battled some pretty tough conditions in both states.  Unusually warm weather had the deer moving in the early am and just before dark.  We put a lot of miles on and saw more 150 - 165" bucks than I care to mention.  The first four days in MT we saw wide bucks, heavy bucks, tall bucks - but nothing that had it all.  The ranch owner had been seeing a huge buck all year and we decided it was him or nothing!  Finally saw him just before dark on day five (last day).  The biggest mule deer that I have ever seen in the field!  32-34" wide and tall, tall, tall.  A 195" gross typical all day long - probably net book.  Just too dark to shoot - I could have shot, but it was after legal shooting light......he won this year! 

CO was more of the same - 78 degrees the first day.  We did not see a deer until day five!  We hiked our butts off and spent hours and hours behind the glasses.  Day six found us on a great lookout and from there, I saw my first 180" buck.  A gorgeous, but young, 28" buck.  We also ran into Dennis Winch up there (Desert Shadow Co-founder; Mule deer authority for Hunting Illustrated; Shot the 40" typical featured in King's Magnificent Seven).  Really cool guy!  We hunted together on the last day and did some old fashioned deer drives (Utah Style) with a hunting legend.   We saw five bucks between 170-185" the last day, but couldn't seal the deal.  I ate two great tags this year, but would not shoot a buck under 180" and stuck to my guns, even if it meant going home empty handed.   

Overall, it was a great two weeks and I made some great memories.........who gets to hunt with Dennis Winch?  It was so awesome!

[Craig]

Sounds like a great trip. You stuck to your standards and still had a good time.

[X-Force]

Sounds like an awesome time. To bad you couldnt connect.

[Hornseeker]

Wow... thats a heck of a buck for MT! Congrats on just seeing him!

Sounds like a good trip!

Ernie

[1bowhunter1]

Sorry I missed that trip!!   Sounds like a dream.

[jjhunter]

That was a great buck ANYWHERE!  My brother spotted him in really low light.  I threw my Swaro 10x50's up and saw what appeared to be a HUGE buck.  I switched to the spotter and saw main beams that shot straight out 6-7" outside the ears on each side.  A huge boxy buck - the stuff dreams are made of.   We didn't say much for a few minutes, but I was dying to know what my brother thought he was.  He always underestimates bucks (on purpose) and was reluctant to give me a width estimate.  I was thinking 34" in my head and when he said 32", I knew I was pretty close.   

The bad thing about MT this year was that we did not see one deer in the 175-185 class.  We just saw a lot of nice 22-28" four points from 150 - 165 and one monster buck.  I guess one monster is all you can ask for?

[Hornseeker]

What part of the state were you guys in JJ?

[Sagedawg]

 I was wondering how you made out. Sounds like you had a good time, way to look at it is there is always next year.



   Sage

[jjhunter]

Hornseeker,  we were between Miles City and Broadus.  I am positive that this is the same buck I saw last year the night before season.  He was a 28" wide 185" buck last year and standing three hundred yards from where we saw him last year.

Sage, I am not done, yet!  I have Sonora in January and still have my WA archery deer tag.  I just need a few days to rest up!

[WDFW-SUX]

How was Colorado other than the weather? could you see the effects of the winter kill where you were?

[jjhunter]

How was Colorado other than the weather? could you see the effects of the winter kill where you were?

We were hunting a low deer denisty area in the SW corner of the state.  There was not much (if any) winter kill talking to the local game wardens.  We got some snow on the 5th day and by day seven, we were seeing a lot of deer including some good bucks.

Two of my buddies have 4th season tags and they said hundreds of deer have come out of the high country in the last two days.  They saw a 30" 3x4 laying right off the road today.  For some reason, there was zero rut activity during the 3rd season- almost like everything is a week or so later this year?  I will be back next year - Colorado is the spot to be for mule deer!  I may only do two mule deer hunts next year and buy a better landowner tag and really focus on knocking down a CO giant!  The thing about self-guided public land hunts is that no matter how good the tag, nothing is guaranteed.   We wouldn't have it any other way!

[WDFW-SUX]

I think im going to do a third season tag up by eagle next year.  Won't take ton of points but still have a good chance at nice buck and Colorado is as beautiful as they come.  I looked at some of the 3/4 season tags for the gunnison this year but was too scared to pull the trigger with all of the winter stuff.

[jjhunter]

I think that was a good decision.  I have not heard a lot of successful stories coming out of the Gunnison Basin.  They got hit pretty hard last winter.  I got stopped at a BIG game check station and picked the brains of the 30 or so Game Wardens and BLM bubba's that were there.   I heard a lot of good thing about unit 70 - one game warden was really big on 70 so I had him mark up my map for next year.  That is the same advice I got from Alan Pennington and Adam Bronson (Huntin Fool).   

[cascademountainhunter]

i also just got back from huntin montana..... best place to hunt in my opinion.

[WDFW-SUX]

I think picking one good unit and sticking with it in Colorado could really pay off.  Seems like 180 bucks come from just about every unit in the state and there are plenty of tags that can be drawn with 1-3 points. I've heard that eastern CO can be really good too.