Post by: shanevg on January 02, 2012, 08:51:55 AM
We had a great trip with all 4 sons and dad hunting together for the first time other. My oldest brother Clint wasn't able to fly down to meet us until Wednesday night of the hunt but we were still all able to tag out except for my dad. A huge snow storm came through the weekend before we got there (we got there Sunday night) which really changed things up a bit. WE couldn't even get to where we were planning to camp and had camp set up in 25 inches of snow. All the spots we were told to hunt were completely snowed in and either inaccessible or mostly void of deer sign. We did find one spot early on where we saw some monster 190-200" bucks but they were always right over the fence on private land. We never caught them on public. That is one difficult part about these units in Colorado, you find these huge ranches (2000-5000 acres or more) in the middle of the National Forest and the deer know exactly where the fence line is!
In the end we got our first deer (a 2 point) on day 4 of the hunt. I have never shot a buck bigger than a spike and I did not want to go home empty handed so I was ready to shoot any buck. A 2 point walked out of the sage at 125 yards so I dropped him. Finally, the next day we found a new spot about 30 miles south of us and almost int he valley bottom. We would catch the deer coming up off the alfalfa fields right at daylight and get them in the public land. We ended up shooting 4 bucks within 300 yards of each other in 24 hours. One 2 point and 3 4 points that were probably all related. All in all it was a great hunt, but not our favorite unit to hunt. The cold temperatures (-10 at night) and high elevation definitely took a toll on my dad and uncle and they were ready to get out of there by the time everything was said and done. Enjoy the video - it is in 1080p if you go watch it on YouTube.
Post by: shanevg on January 02, 2012, 08:52:45 AM
Post by: shanevg on January 02, 2012, 08:53:05 AM
Post by: 400out on January 02, 2012, 09:03:31 AM
Post by: wayner on January 02, 2012, 09:09:20 AM
Post by: C-Money on January 02, 2012, 09:09:50 AM
Post by: NoBark on January 02, 2012, 10:07:20 AM
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on January 02, 2012, 11:29:37 AM
Post by: alecvg on January 02, 2012, 04:58:01 PM
Post by: buck man on January 02, 2012, 05:19:12 PM
Post by: alecvg on January 02, 2012, 07:13:06 PM
Looks like a heck of a hunt. :tup: . Congrats. Did all the snow melt?. Don't see much in pics :dunno:.
The snow did not much, but it pushed most of the deer down to lower elevations, so thats where we ended up hunting, stilll lots in camp and where we had planned to do alot of our hunting.
Post by: turkey slayer on January 03, 2012, 08:06:43 AM
Post by: bullchaser on January 03, 2012, 12:39:06 PM
Post by: Camp David on January 03, 2012, 01:07:12 PM
Post by: shanevg on January 03, 2012, 04:58:30 PM
Nice job how many points did it take you to draw?
I think it took 3 points but we all had 4. Fun hunt just really different country than we were used to. The key was hunting right on the edge of private and being patient waiting for them to cross to public. On one buck we were pretty much in someones back yard when it died.
Post by: sakoshooter on January 03, 2012, 08:43:06 PM
Question: Where's all the snow you mentioned? All the pics make it look like you had nice weather.
Post by: shanevg on January 03, 2012, 08:57:23 PM
Congrats on a pretty successful hunt w/family.
Question: Where's all the snow you mentioned? All the pics make it look like you had nice weather.
Everyone we talked to told us we should be hunting up on top of the plateau and hunt down from there. The top of the plateau had almost 30 inches of snow and we couldn't even drive up to the top. We ended up driving down to the highway and then drive south from our camping spot where we shot 4 of the 5 deer. All of the deer were shot 2000 feet below camp.