NR Archers need advice for Mule Deer

3darcher2 · Sep 11, 2007

Here?s the scoop. A friend and I would like to make a trip to the west from PA to bowhunt mulies. We?re really not all that caught up in giant bucks, although a chance at a P&Y buck would be nice. We would like to go somewhere that can meet this trifecta.

First, it has to be public/unguided. 5 kids = no $$$ for guides, and we wouldn't want to go with any pro guides anyway.

Second, it has to have somewhat easy tags to get. Either OTC or like almost a sure thing draw.

Third, we would probably have to fly, so we can't cart a thousand pounds of crap along with us.

Oh yeah, it's more than a trifecta, fourthly, we need somewhere that we can find deer on our own without scouting a week or a month in advance. Just show up and get after it.

We could either day hunt from a motel or we could camp, maybe ship UPS some stuff somewhere before we leave. We?re both in pretty good shape and can handle the hunting. I have been on one western archery hunt before in 1999 when I had the dumb luck to draw an AZ bull tag with only 2 points and got a nice bull on a totally DIY hunt, but that time my partner and I drove out. We actually hunted mulies up on the Kaibab for a couple days after tagging out and I got drawn on a 3X3 but could not get a shot. My partner on this trip future hasn't even been west period.

We basically just want to have a fun hunt and a good chance at a shot opportunity and a respectable buck. I know guys that have gone to CO and camped for 7 days and seen 5 deer in a week (again, mid 90s). We don't want that.

Looking for suggestions/advice from anywhere at this point. We don't want your honey hole, but a nudge the right direction. Is what I described even realistic? Can you fly somewhere and hunt out of a bag on your own, can we find a place where there would be a campground reasonably close to hunting, can you really day hunt out of a motel without running into a zillion other guys?

We would not be coming until 2009. I would think we would want a hunt in the timber as opposed to desert. There is so much info on the net, but for this it is somewhat hard to decipher. From all that I had been looking at, it looked like there were some areas in UT that might fit the bill, but last night I see that since my prior knowledge of CO might need updated because I read a lot of good things about there last night. Really, about any state is fair game at this point. If you get on a plane, it really doesn't matter much if it flies for 3 hours or 3 and a half, so distance really isn't a factor.

Thanks for any help in advance.

AZ_ZAC · Sep 11, 2007

in 05 I went with a bunch of guys from Arizona and we hunted mulies in the Grand Junction Area of Colorado. Dont remember the unit no.This was a rifle hunt but one of the guys went back for archery, both times a lot of deer were seen, its timber like you wanted, and we also harvested some bucks, and saw some good bucks. Lot of folks from back east there too. Hope this helps.
-Z

3darcher2 · Sep 12, 2007

I think this is going to be a 2 year learning process. I just found the Microsoft Maps with the 3-D view, very cool. Certainly doesn't help with the scouting, but can give you a nice feel for the land prior to getting there.

Although right now ID and CO are certainly still in the mix, I think UT is going to be the state. If I can decipher the General-LE-PLE-CWMU stuff. That will probably take the first year!

zekers · Sep 12, 2007

I've never hunted in Utah, so can't say how good or bad, but Colorado is what your looking for I believe. You have two years to do your research, which is more than enough time. P/Y bucks are not hard to come by in most areas of Co. You'll have 1 pref point by then. I would prefer to camp out, but a motel in Montrose, Gunnison, Craig, Kremmling, or any other small town would put you within easy driving distance of very good deer. Start by researching the game units that take 0-1 p.p's, Google Earth the areas to look for the terrain you are looking for, search different forums for info on your narrowed down list, look for accomodations, airports, car rentals in the vicinity, narrow down list again, call bio's and forest managers in area or two you are looking, then book your room. Good luck in your search.

fatrooster · Sep 12, 2007

I have never hunted it but if I was traveling to a Western state from the East I would choose Colorado 1st. I live in Nevada and would choose it second. Read any Western magazine and Colorado always comes up first as having the best oppurtunities of drawing a tag and having great units with chances of getting a 170 or 180 class buck. Call Eastmans magazine and try to get some back issues of Western hunting state by state forecasts. Or even become a member of Carter's Application Service. Subscribtion is $100.00 and they can answer every question you will have about what states and areas to put in for and what kind of oppurtunities you will have in each state. I feel that for an Easterner who is going West(I am from Florida and used to go hunt Wyoming blindly) thier service is invaluable. I am a member but have never used thier service but feel that thier magazine that they put out is so full of information for the nonresident hunter that it alone is worth the subscribtion.
Also, start living on this website. The people here are so full of information and helpful hints and are willing to share what they know. I can't tell you how much I've learned off of this site.
Lastly, I mentioned Nevada. Nevada has several areas that are almost a sure thing when it comes to drawing an archery tag but if you do not draw then there is always some archery tags left over for the second draw. Nonresidents and residents are then put in the same exact draw with the same chance of drawing. Usually there are still some tags left over after the second draw which means that everybody who put in for the second draw got thier tag. Nevada is doing a great job of managing thier mule deer and you have a fantastic chance of taking a Pope and Young mule deer. So why do I rate Colorado as #1? Colorado is like Nevada in deer quality but on a much, much larger scale. I hope this helps you out with your questions. Be careful, you just might get hooked on Western hunting. fatrooster.

3darcher2 · Sep 13, 2007

To those that replied, thank you. I think we better start taking a look at CO. It's not that far from where I was looking at in UT too, down by Manti La Sal near Monticello.

NV sounds interesting too for us, particularly with the early start date. I realize there certainly won't be the numbers of deer (or hunters), but hey, we're only after 2.

Fatrooster, for sure your last sentence is true. I have killed a lot of whitetails and been fortunate enough to have some friends in the Midwest that have I have been able to stay with and hunt some nice bucks, but nothing ever came close to our elk hunt. Simply put, that was the most fun thing I have ever done, period. Lack of time and $$$ has kept me away for a while, but as the kids get a little bigger, hopefully I can get back out west on some sort of regular basis.

One thing I do have a hard time remembering is just how things work out there with large expanses of desert, etc. Even though the states are huge compared to PA, there is nowhere near the per sq mile carrying capacity. When I see people complain that 85,000 tags is too many in UT and we have 1,000,000 hunters here in a state half the size, I gotta remind myself of that. There are about 350,000 archery hunters in PA with 44,000 sq miles. It's just a different scenario altogether.

BigPig · Sep 13, 2007

Co is your state. Any unit has P&Y bucks. Go to the CO DOW's website and download their proclamation. Then go to www.huntodds.com and find hunts that take little or no points to draw. Fly into Denver, Eagle, Steamboat Springs/Hayden, Grand Junction, etc and rent a truck. 4x4's are usually available. There are plenty of small towns with motels that cater to hunters and there should be one near where you want to hunt. It will take some hiking but if you are in good shape it should be doable. In an easy to draw unit I wouldn't go expecting to see big bucks under every tree, but they are there if you hunt hard enough. The first year may be more of a learning experience, which is usually true your first year no matter where you go.

If you drive out, bring backpack gear and pick an above timberline hunt. Lots of good bucks if you are physically in good enough condition to get up to them.