Never turned loose an arrow in either unit but I'd go back to either one, if I could. Didn't draw this year.

I stalked a buck for 4 hours (belly crawled to cover about 200 yards) last year in the dunes and got to 35y but could not get a shot. He just finally wandered off. He was a little bigger than yours. Fantastic buck.

Just a note, Colorado just released their new license rates for next season, and a lot of them increased (for residents). Non-resident fees stayed the same. Preference points for moose, sheep, and goats went from free to $100 per.

Gohunt has an article on it, if you're a member.

I ain't mad about that.

Article I read in the post said that the new law bacislly most licenses are increasing by $8 across the board, some non-Rez will go up $20-50. The sheep/goat/moose point fee is supposed to be $50 for Rez & $100 for non-Rez (was $3, I'm actually OK with this, because points were going to dilute so much at that rate, drawing would be next to Impossible). Non-Rez bear licenses were supposed to go down from $350 to $100.

Also made adustmenrs to park and camping fees.

Ha, that's awesome that you guys are familiar with the area. We plan on going back, so maybe we'll run into you sometime (let me know on here when/if you go back).

I killed my bull to the NW of that valley, back down by the road. My brother's elk came off of the big hill over the valley to the SW of there. We parked on the public road and walked in there (mostly on the road, which helped in the pack out).

It's funny you say that about the landowner. We ran into a guy using a RZR to hunt down the closed road (not just to access his place). He was apparently friends of the landowner. They came by to visit after my elk was on the ground because they heard the shots. They also seemed really surprised to see us back in there and said they never really see anyone. My assessment was that they kind of hunt as they wish back there because no one is ever around.

I also didn't know there was a squatch back there! Will have to be on the lookout.

Yeah, I agree. The pref point increase should help with everyone and their dog buying a point.

I did like that the bear tag went down from $350 to $100. I'll definitely buy one now, whereas $350 was a little steep on top of a $660 elk tag.

I think they should be able to reduce that bear tag in certain areas even more. Their whole goal was to increase the number of bears taken. They were considering combo tags.

But- few people are going to come specifically hunt for bear @ $100vs350. The most likely scenario is someone hunting elk, that runs into a bear in the process. Offer someone with a current elk license a bear tag for $40 or something like that. You'd see way more bears hit the ground. Maybe even consider offeeing a bonus bear tag for residents (in certain GMU's where populations are needing control) for a premium price. Like a bonus Redfish tag in TX.

AgEng06 said:

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I did like that the bear tag went down from $350 to $100. I'll definitely buy one now, whereas $350 was a little steep on top of a $660 elk tag.

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Yeah. No crap! Thanks for nothing Colorado!

I agree. I'd definitely tack one on for anything less than $100 or so (even though we didn't see a bear, despite enough sign to think we were literally in their living room).

They realizes their mistake last year of offering points with no upfront costs. Not only is it going to dilute the system more than we can imagine (most specials point applications doubled or tripled), but they also estimated it cost them $2Million to collect and process basically nothing. They are raising point purchase prices to $7-9 to help offset, I think.

Their increases impact residents more than anyone else- which is VERY surprising.

I'm happy with the changes. There hadn't been an increase in resident prices in like 15 years and now it's tied to the "consumer price index" for Denver, just like the non-resident tags. Even tho I enjoyed the really cheap tags, it seems like a good move in the long run for wildlife.... Although in my friend group messaging there are those griping about the increase haha.

Hopefully this curbs point creep a bit. I'm guessing the cost of points for deer and elk will go up sometime in the next few years as well.

Yeah, makes sense. I also wonder what the numbers were on increased applications since they stopped collecting the fees up front. I imagine that had a huge affect on volume.

Yep- this is paving the way increases to trickle out for years to come. We need to just expect it.

One problem with bear hunting in Colorado is the fact that you have to drag them into town to have a tooth pulled (within 5 days I think).

If you've got limited time, losing elk hunt days for bear tooth extraction is a bad trade

AgEng06 said:

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Yeah, makes sense. I also wonder what the numbers were on increased applications since they stopped collecting the fees up front. I imagine that had a huge affect on volume.

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Moose point apps in our GMU went up close to x8 fold- just this past year. It was already a 12-15 year wait...

Yeah, I have a friend who watches the CPW commission meetings (they're available on YouTube but I'm lazy). And he said it comes up fairly often and even was discussed changing this for deer and elk at the last meeting. However they feared it'd receive too much backlash changing it too soon... So like you said they're slowly raising the bar to where it's the norm.

That is very true. But the VAST majority of non-Rez hunters don't have nearly the problem getting to town that you do. For them, it's just drag it to the Polaris, put it in the truck, and grab a burger in town for dinner.

I wish they would actually go back to requiring the tag fee, up front.

I wish CO would bring back spring bear hunting. A spring bear season would be a ton of fun to plan and look forward to... Damn hippies

All of that said, I'm still jealous of you resident hunters.

I wish... There are more and more idiots and yuppies that move to Denver/Boulder ever day. Also seems like there are even those in the "hunting community" here that would even oppose it due to baiting and cubs concerns.

But yeah, be nice if those opposing it had to front the money for population control and missed revenue from tags.

My problem with all of this is that, I started Western Hunting ar 34 years old, and I'm way too far behind the game to have a shot at a premium unit. Places that are currently drawing 14-18 points, will likely be 25 by the time I get in the game. So, I have to plan at 35 to hunt a moose or mountian goat at almost 60.... come on, that's crazy. Plus, as soon as my kids are old enough, all my $ will go to getting them points because I don't want them in the same boat I am in. But it will be 30+ by the time they are old enough.

Or, I just stick that same wad of cash in my bank account, I earn the interest on it, and I can go on a big hunt every 5-7 years as I please. I really think more and more people will chose this route in the long run, as costs and poor creep continue to get worse.

Heck- I can go hunt a world class red stag in New Zeland for less than what many people are paying to hunt trophy elk in CO, NM, and AZ...

somehow I missed this discussion/news on the CO tag prices. Bummed about the price increase on pref points (rubs me the wrong way to price people out of using a public resource) but the $100 bear tag is great! I have never bought a bear tag because I have never cared enough about shooting one to spend the money, but I see bear on every elk hunt (maybe not when I lived in CO, but I did see at least one per year while elk or deer hunting). I will definitely get a bear tag for my next hunt and dare say I will probably fill it!

It wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor, and it ain't over now.

Cause when the goin gets tough...

Head west young man

Headed to Alpine... Arizona. That's about as much as I know right now.

That's a better plan than I got

cupofjoe04 said:

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My problem with all of this is that, I started Western Hunting ar 34 years old, and I'm way too far behind the game to have a shot at a premium unit. Places that are currently drawing 14-18 points, will likely be 25 by the time I get in the game. So, I have to plan at 35 to hunt a moose or mountian goat at almost 60.... come on, that's crazy. Plus, as soon as my kids are old enough, all my $ will go to getting them points because I don't want them in the same boat I am in. But it will be 30+ by the time they are old enough.

Or, I just stick that same wad of cash in my bank account, I earn the interest on it, and I can go on a big hunt every 5-7 years as I please. I really think more and more people will chose this route in the long run, as costs and poor creep continue to get worse.

Heck- I can go hunt a world class red stag in New Zeland for less than what many people are paying to hunt trophy elk in CO, NM, and AZ...

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When it comes to sheep, goat and moose, there is a chance as soon as you hit 3 points. I've known kids to draw on their first year at 3, and I've known guys that have 20 weighted points and have not drawn. It is more like a lottery.

That said, some sheep tags are pretty easy to draw. Most ewe tags and several of the archery tags. Non residents can pull a cow moose on a second choice. I think that is bs, when a resident has to burn points for the same tag.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm currently in a tipi at 4500 ft on public land (BLM) just a few miles west of Duncan, AZ.

I saw a damn nice Muley buck 2 days ago about 800 yards from where I sit, er recline.
I stalked him (tailed him more or less at the end) as he fed down a little finger ridge. He was alone and looked bred down and only interested in stuffing his belly. I hustled when I got about 200 yards from him as I saw he was about to roll over that ridge.

Anyone who has hunted desert muleys already knows the rest of the story. When I peaked over that ridge at the last spot I saw him, he was nowhere to be found.

Today, I spotted a group of 6 deer from about a mile off. I scurried around the cows that were in between us, so as not to spook em and start a stampede. One high headed black baldy spotted me from about 300 yards off so I gave them an even wider berth. After about 45 minutes of hiking I was within 300 yards of the herd... 13 of them all told. Only 2 yearling forkies and another young ratchet head in this group.

I watched them feed up and almost over a saddle and began hiking past them as they were now on my left flank. I saw all 13 herd up real tight right as a pack of coyotes sounded off behind and to my left. I actually glassed up the 3 dogs, who were locked in on the herd. I don't think much ever came of this little scuffle.

So here I am. Got tomorrow and maybe half of Wednesday to make something happen. The rut is obviously over but I'm hoping I can get back on the tall 4 pt.

What a country.

Just got back from 8 days in AZ. Great trip, but only 1 of our group of 4 punched. Will add more later.

Hell yeah! Can't wait to hear the story. And good luck out there LEJ. Hopefully it'll work out. Pretty jealous of those still out there after it.

This thread is the gift that keeps on giving the whole year

Good news - I've been on the tall 4pt since 7.30.

Bad news - he's got 13 other deer with him, including a young 3pt.

Apparently the rut ain't over just yet. He's def got one favorite doe he's hanging close to and nosing around a bit.

They were allbedded down in the wide ass open til the young buck decided to pick a fight with tall 4. It ain't goin well for him.

Well, I've been tailing them all day. The little buck keeps cutting a few does out and herding them away. The big buck rounds them all up... rinse repeat. We're prob half. A mile from where we started. all bedded down now with little buck on outside. Gonna Break out the decoy at some point and just go for it.