Was your biggest buck off a limited entry unit, private land or general season public land

Was your biggest buck off a limited-entry unit, private land, or general season public land unit.

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schoolhousegrizz

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Curious to see what the response is. My biggest buck was off of a limited-entry unit. My second biggest buck which was real close to my first buck was off a general season unit.
 
easy to draw tags, though all in CO are limited in number... not really general. Biggest buck was 2nd choicd tag, 2nd biggest buck took 6 pts to draw. 3rd biggest buck took 1 point to draw. 4th biggest was a second choice tag
 
top 3 bucks were shot on public land. Backpack hunting 5 miles in for biggest buck, and the 2nd and 3rd were 8 miles in. #4 buck was on private land
 
Not sure which is the biggest. I have taken 3 big bucks, two Limited, one OTC. 3 different states. A bunch of 20-24" general bucks along with those 3.
 
Your results will be skewed because most of us never have or will hunt LE units or private for that matter, so we wont be able to answer objectively as would the select few who had the tirade of experience.

Maybe I've over-thought it as to what you're intent with the post was. Lol... not trying to be a d-bag.
 
Not Utah, but a CO November draw unit. Special draw units are special for a reason.

IMG_0143[2863].jpg


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General season public land muzzleloader. Broke 200 inch mark and the 30 inch wide mark.

Took 42 years of hunting to get it done. Probably never do that again, but will enjoy hunting all the same.
 
Gunnihunter said:
Not Utah, but a CO November draw unit. Special draw units are special for a reason.
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Big buck and great looking mount.
Is that your fourth season Gunni buck from 2018? If so he looks a lot bigger on the wall and he did in the killshot Pic.
 
This kind of appears to be a Utah question.
The only bucks I’ve killed on private land were back when I was a kid hunting blacktails in Sonoma county California.
All of my mule deer hunting has always been on public land.
My biggest bucks have come out of Idaho and Nevada.
My top five are all equally about as big. They range from scores of 186 to 218.
One of my biggest Idaho bucks was OTC. The Other two Idaho bucks in the top five were from a controlled unit.
My two highest scoring bucks are from Nevada which is all draws.

I’m still searching for that granddaddy.
 
buckhorn said:
Big buck and great looking mount.
Is that your fourth season Gunni buck from 2018? If so he looks a lot bigger on the wall and he did in the killshot Pic.
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Yes, it was Gunnison 4th season 2018. From everything I’ve read, seems unlikely that it would have happened in 2019. I consider myself very fortunate. I hadn’t hunted deer in 17 years ( I hate eating sage brush deer ), and in no way am I an expert at deer hunting. As far as the field photo, the picture was for us. We knew what we had and did try to make it look any bigger than it was. I think the field photo speaks for itself. Why I made the post is that is that I’m convinced and sold on special area late season hunts. I elk hunt as much as I can; most deer hunters would not and should not wait as long as I did to do what they love to do.
 
Limited entry, unfortunately I don't think I'll ever catch up to the points I need to get back into the limited entry unit I want.
 
All my biggest deer in Colorado have came off 1st choice or second choice tags that required 0 points to draw. I’ve learned over over the years that if you truly want to consistently kill big deer you have to go as often as possible and get to know units and the deer that live there inside an out. Waiting 10 plus years for a tag in a unit you don’t intimately know in hopes it all works is a tough road to take with how things are now days.
 
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Hard to answer. What is considered a LE in different states. Is any draw tag a limited entry? Biggest in NM was a easier to draw hunt on public land.
 
Well...since no other states have CWMU's, I guess I shouldn't have answered. This thread appears to be for Utah hunters only...

I have only taken 1 deer in Utah( LE; Book Cliffs). A 172 3x4. He's quite a ways down the list..
 
I think you need to breakdown limited entry into two categories, one where you need more than 2 points to draw or less than 50% odds of drawing and the opposite. I think that might tell the tale better as there is a big difference between a unit you can draw annually (even if limited entry) and one that takes ten years to draw.

My largest is in a limited entry unit, but on a greater than 50% draw for an early muzzleloader season (the later rifle tags are much harder to draw).
 
I was honestly just curious. I was thinking more big bucks are killed off General season public land units than anywhere else. Yes yes, I know there are thousands of more Hunters than on LE units. I don't think a lot of hunters on this site hunt private ground so those numbers could be skewed a little. Just interesting to see is all. Thanks everyone.
 
I see. I think for the most part, the guys who kill their biggest or several high bucks on general units is because they know the area. They've hunted that same spot two or more years. A lot of guys struggle on LEs because they have never been on the unit before and just don't have enough time to actually get to know it.
 
ridgetops said:
I see. I think for the most part, the guys who kill their biggest or several high bucks on general units is because they know the area. They've hunted that same spot two or more years. A lot of guys struggle on LEs because they have never been on the unit before and just don't have enough time to actually get to know it.
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Pretty much hit the nail on the head.
 
I've taken quite a few 30"+ bucks and all have come from public land. I've only had one limited entry tag and came up empty ( ramrods don't make very accurate projectiles). This is my largest @ 37". Like Ridgetop said, know your area. Hunt hard and sometimes you get lucky
Wes
2017 deer.jpg
 
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Wes said:
I've taken quite a few 30"+ bucks and all have come from public land. I've only had one limited entry tag and came up empty ( ramrods don't make very accurate projectiles). This is my largest @ 37". Like Ridgetop said, know your area. Hunt hard and sometimes you get lucky
Wes
View attachment 2992
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Yep, luck has everything to do with it. At least according to the ole Militia crew that is.
Even though my buddies and I have killed three 200"+ and three 190"+ bucks and a few 27"+ wide , 170 -180" bucks mixed in there. It's all luck and very little skill. lol
Have you got your buck back from dan yet?
 
I’ve never had a LE or CWMU deer tag. All GS. Which is the case with most hunters I’d assume. Specifically Utah residents. Your poll data will be heavily weighted to the general side based off tag availability.

a interesting poll to see data on would be how many members have killed 3+ bucks over 150,160,170,180,190,200+ On general units. It’s not the first big deer that counts, it’s the second and third. Lots of people have dumb luck once. Most guys can’t do it 3 or more times without skill.
 
thanks hornkiller!
Deerkiller: starting in 2017 i have killed bucks of 191", 218" and last year 160." 2017 tag took 6 points, 2018 was a second choice tag. 2019 buck took 1 pt. all deer tags are "limited" in this state.
figuring out how to play the tag game is a skill. all three of these bucks taken on backpacking hunts. 8 miles in, 5 miles in, 8 miles in, respectively
 
My best buck came off a limited entry unit. I’ve killed one 208 incher on a general tag in Utah, all other 200’s have come from LE.
The only state that I hunt that has General season tags is Utah. Others are LE. In the last 18 years I’ve put the majority of my time to work in CO and WY.
Never have hunted private land.
 
Since every deer tag in Colorado is through the draw, I guess you would say mine was Limited Entry. None of mine are high point value units though.
 
Looks like I'm the Lone Ranger here, mine have been off of private lands. Not near the size of some of you all's trophies though. I've been lucky in getting access for whitetails and muleys on private and have taken advantage of that over the last several years.
Might get a chance at one of those big muleys on the west side this year if the spouse gets a moose tag.
 
AaronS said:
Enlighten me, what is a "Type B" tag? I feel like I know the Colorado draw/tag system pretty well but have never heard of this.
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There are type A, B, and C tags. You can have one type A and a type B allowing you to shoot two deer in the same year. Usually the type B and C tags are doe or cow tags but a few units have buck and bull tags listed as type B. They are usually private land only tags though.
 
deerkiller said:
I’ve never had a LE or CWMU deer tag. All GS. Which is the case with most hunters I’d assume. Specifically Utah residents. Your poll data will be heavily weighted to the general side based off tag availability.

a interesting poll to see data on would be how many members have killed 3+ bucks over 150,160,170,180,190,200+ On general units. It’s not the first big deer that counts, it’s the second and third. Lots of people have dumb luck once. Most guys can’t do it 3 or more times without skill.
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I would rather be lucky than good all day long, but put yourself in the right area and know the right area!!
 
My biggest buck came on an OTC tag in Idaho. My 2nd and 3rd biggest came out of a unit that I've drawn 5 times out 5 times applying.

I've only had 3 "difficult to draw" tags aka LE tags. I ended up with tag soup on one of them after passing on dozens of bucks without finding one I was happy with.

On another LE tag I killed a buck I was very happy with and the biggest I saw out of 200+ bucks during scouting/hunting. It didn't break 180" though, that area just doesn't have the genetics to grow very many giant bucks. I still had a week to hunt and in hindsight, I should have held out but I was mentally burned out after looking over so many bucks.

On the other premium tag I passed on numerous bucks the first 6 days of the hunt, including a handful that I wouldn't have hesitated to shoot on an OTC tag. I ended up killing an old troll 30"+ buck that didn't score well on the 2nd to the last day of the hunt.


Growing giant antlers requires 2 things.

#1 Age
#2 Genetics/habitat

LE tags can increase the number of older bucks you look over on a hunt. LE hunts don't solve the problem with genetics/habitat. Certain areas never have and never will produce many giant antlers even if the hunting is restricted enough to allow for many bucks to reach 5+ years of age. Some places will continue to produce giant bucks but aren't managed for many old bucks (OTC Idaho). Some places have genetics and management that allow numerous giant bucks. AZ strip, Henery's and Paunsaguant in Utah, numerous units in Colorado, etc) If managed differently we would see numerous giant bucks coming out of some areas of Idaho or Western Wyoming.
 
Does anyone know where Mike Wright took this buck that was posted in MM 2014 Bib Buck Photos Contest? Or his User Name so I can send him a PM

IMG_0086[2711].PNG
 
My top 5 bucks are all off general tags. I think knowledge of an area over time equals better success. But doesn’t matter how good of a hunter you are if the age/genetics are not available. Public vs private is the biggest difference of all. I hunt all public but know a few guys that have access to big private ranches. These guys would struggle to get any buck on public but they kill some nice deer on those private ranches.
 
Out of the 8 bucks I’ve killed north of 185, two came from good(7-12) point units in Colorado during 3rd season. The rest were from; Idaho(1), utah(1) and Wyoming(4) general units. Regardless, all were taken On public ground. I’ve killed 200 inch deer in all but Idaho.
 

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