Big Game Hunting Outlook for 2005

Colorado hunters will enjoy a surplus of elk, rebounding pronghorn populations and some of the the best deer hunting the state has offered in years.

ELK  

Despite two record elk harvests in three years – 61,174 in 2002 and 63,336 in 2004 – Colorado still has more elk than any other state or Canadian province. That is why it is the last state in the union still selling over-the-counter elk licenses and issuing more cow elk tags every year in hopes of more record harvests.  

This year the state Wildlife Commission added 4,376 cow and either sex licenses to the 148,246 issued last year, raising the total to 151,622 for the 2005 hunting seasons. But the number of limited licenses for the taking of antlered elk – bull tags which had to be applied for by draw – was reduced by about 5 percent, reflecting hunter success in trimming some herds to manageable proportions.  

Even so, after all late season hunting ended in January 2005, the post-hunt elk population was estimated at 275,000, considerably over the Division of Wildlife’s (DOW) objective of 189,000. An additional 50,000 or more spring calves would have Colorado entering the 2005 hunting season with more than 325,000 elk, about a third more than biologists believe the range can support.

Bruce Watkins, who has replaced the now-retired John Ellenberger as the DOW’s big game coordinator, notes that this winter was not as mild as the winters in preceding years.  

“We had some winter mortality – in the Gunnison Basin and Middle Park in particular – but nothing unusually high. I’d say it was a typical winter and our elk are in excellent shape.”  

He is particularly pleased with a bull-cow ratio of 23 per 100. This breaks down to 13 yearlings or spikes, six two-year-olds with up to four antler points and four adult bulls of five points or better per 100 cows.  

“When you have that kind of ratio, you’re getting a carryover of mature bulls and increased hunter satisfaction. It shows that our four-point antler restriction has been very successful in producing more branch-antlered bulls for hunters to harvest.”  

Two new game management units have been added in the San Luis Valley this year, raising the total to 180. Bowhunters can buy unlimited either-sex or cow elk licenses valid in 142 of these units and private land portions of seven others for the entire archery season, which runs Aug. 27 through Sept. 25. Muzzleloaders can hunt those same units in a shorter season running Sept. 10-18. But their licenses are for bulls or cows only, no either-sex, and they are no longer sold over the counter. Because a cap has been set on the number of muzzleloader licenses issued in Colorado, they are now limited to a drawing.  

Also new this year: over-the-counter bull licenses are no longer valid in the fourth rifle season which, like the first, is now limited to a drawing: the first rifle season, for elk only (no deer), runs Oct. 15-19; the fourth, open to both deer and elk hunting, runs Nov. 16-20; over-the-counter bull licenses can only be used in the nine-day second rifle season, Oct. 22-30, or the seven-day third season, Nov. 5-11.

These licenses are good in 93 GMUs and, while overall hunter success on bulls in those units averaged just 19 percent in last year’s second season and 21 percent in the third, 24 GMUs enjoyed hunter success rates of 30 to 100 percent. The best second-season units for holders of OTC licenses were 11, 12, 13, 16, 64, 70, 140, 142, 211, 751 and 851. The best third-season units were 3, 5, 11, 12, 13, 42, 60, 65, 72, 75, 131, 140, 141, 301, 411, 441, 691 and 851.  

Holders of bull licenses, or those who drew only cow tags, can improve their odds of putting meat in the freezer by buying an additional leftover license. More than 62,000 leftover bull and cow tags are to be sold beginning Aug. 9. Extra cow tags are available in 87 GMUs and they are not season-specific, meaning a hunter can go after a bull or cow in one season and hunt an additional cow in another unit and/or season. A third elk can even be had if one acquires an auction or raffle license, a special game damage or population control license or buys an over-the-counter plains elk license good in 52 GMUs.  

The state’s game managers rely on hunters to keep elk numbers in harmony with the range. But no matter how successful the hunters are Mother Nature need to do her part.  

“Our hunters have been killing more of them, but still not enough,” said Watkins. “Colorado will set record harvests for quite a few years, given the right weather conditions. And we certainly have enough elk to allow a continuation of over-the-counter bull licenses for the forseeable future.”

DEER

If this year is anything like last year, it will be another year of big bucks. Watkins, who grew up in Colorado, says the state is enjoying “the best deer hunting I’ve ever seen.” He credits six years of draw hunting helped by a succession of mild winters. His forecast for this year:  “excellent.”

Although there are twice as many deer as elk in Colorado, the state’s mule deer herds have been below objectives set by the DOW for more than 20 years. Two disastrous winter kills, chronic wasting disease (CWD), predation by coyotes and mountain lions, the loss of habitat to human development and several years of drought all contributed to a steady decline in the mule deer population, which did not begin rebounding until 1999.

That’s when the DOW stopped selling over-the-counter deer licenses and limited them to a draw, which reduced the number of hunters and allowed more mature bucks to survive. The result: a 46 percent hunter success rate in 2004, the highest in 26 years, with 91,646 hunters bagging 41,743  deer. More important to trophy hunters, they killed more bucks in 2004 than in the previous six years and the number of mature bucks with four points or better increased dramatically.

Attesting to their quality, a deer license auctioned by the Colorado Mule Deer Association for this coming season went for $115,000 – the highest price obtained for a deer tag in any western state except Arizona.

This year’s post-hunt deer population was estimated at 600,900, still 30,000 or so below the statewide objective but a substantial rebound from the 1997 low of 526,000.

“Our deer wintered well,” said Watkins, explaining that even though above-average snowfalls buried the mountains above 8,000 feet, causing some elk winterkill in 2004-2005, little snow fell below 8,000 feet, leaving deer winter range open for most of the winter.

On the Western Slope, which harbors 80 percent of Colorado’s mostly mule deer population, numbers have increased, there is good fawn survival – over 80 percent on the Uncompahgre Plateau, for example – and buck-doe ratios are a high 31-33 per 100. “When you start getting ratios like that you’re going to see a lot of older bucks, meaning better trophies,” said Watkins. “This is not just in a few units but pretty much everywhere west of the Divide.”

The biggest increase in deer numbers has been in the northwest region around Meeker and Craig.

“Half the deer in the state are in the northwest,” said Watkins. “We’re at objective, just where we want to be, in a lot of our units up there.”

The deer situation is equally good east of the Divide, particularly in the northeast region. Though it has the highest prevalence of CWD, it also has a higher buck doe ratio, 44-100, than the Western Slope.  The only area of concern is in the southeast, west of I-25 and in the San Luis Valley Watkins said the deer there “suffered major declines in the 1990s, we don’t really know why, and they haven’t recovered. They are still struggling with low fawn-doe ratios and for some reason the fawns aren’t surviving.”  

Simultaneous with this decline, that particular area has seen a tremendous increase in elk numbers. But Watkins said it is still “very difficult to tell how much the two species are competiting with each other for habitat. In some areas deer and elk thrive together. In others the elk seem to come out ahead.”  

Since all deer licenses are now limited by drawing, those who drew already know where and when they’ll be hunting. Those who didn’t draw can still apply for leftovers, which will go on sale together with leftover elk licenses Aug. 9. There may not be any leftovers in highly desirable districts but hunters planning for next year should know that there were at least 16 GMUs where hunter success ranged from 70 to 100 percent last year – well above the statewide average of 46 percent.  

The top units were 3, 10, 301, 21, 53, 54, 55, 63, 66, 141, 144, 145, 211, 301, 512 and 551. Most of these units are west of the Divide, though three eastern units near the New Mexico border – 141, 144 and 145 – also have high success rates.  

Although only 20 percent of the state’s deer live east of the Divide, they include both mule deer and whitetails. The DOW does not yet count them separately – or issue separate hunting licenses for the two species in the regular rifle seasons -- though Watkins envisions that one day it will. As an experiment, the DOW now issues permits for special late season whitetail-only hunts in units 93, 98 and 101 in the eastern plains, and these may ultimately be expanded to other areas.  

Whitetail hunters in those three units had a 38 percent success rate. While the statewide success rate of 46 percent was for both species of deer and all manner of take, rifle hunters did better than that with a 51 percent average in 2004. The breakdown shows they were most successful in the early and late seasons with a 65 percent success rate in both, in the plains season with 55 percent, and in the third combined deer and elk rifle season with 55 percent. Those who hunted in the second rifle season scored 47 percent and in the fourth season 40 percent.  

By contrast, bow hunters only filled 19 percent of their deer tags, and muzzleloaders 31 percent.    

PRONGHORNS  

Colorado’s prolonged drought, now over, has been hardest on pronghorns.  

“They’re the ones that really took it in the shorts,” said Watkins. “The good news is that the last bad year was 2003. In 2004 we saw higher fawn-doe ratios and this year we saw good fawn production and survival. There are a few places like near Delta where the herds are still struggling but numbers are increasing on the eastern plains and in the northwest.”  

Statewide, the pronghorn population is estimated at 60,000, not far below the DOW’s objective of 63,200. This is reflected in more pronghorn licenses issued this year – 8,912 compared to 8,124 in 2004. And the pronghorns around Craig and Meeker are back to where they were before the drought. That’s because that region has more sage and other shrubs for them to eat, making them less reliant on grass like those on the eastern plains.  

The biggest herd in the state, about 16,000 animals, is in northwestern GMUs 3, 301, 13, 4, 5, 441, 214 and 14. But not all of them are among 18 GMUs where hunter success ranges from 80 to 100 percent, compared to a statewide average of 64 percent. These top units are 2, 3, 5, 12, 13, 62, 81, 90, 92, 141, 142, 147, 201, 211, 301, 411, 581 and 691. Be warned, however, that some of them required nine or 10 preference points.                                                                             

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