New Deer Season Added for Gunnison Basin

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) will add a rifle season for deer in the Gunnison Basin for the 2006 hunting season.
     
The season is set for the third week in November (11/09-11/15), and will run concurrently with the fourth regular rifle elk season. The new season will be added in Game Management Units 54, 55, 551, 66 and 67. These units are nationally renowned for mule deer hunting. The DOW estimates that the population of deer in the basin is about 25,000.
     
“The deer population in these units is large,” said Scott Wait, senior terrestrial biologist for the DOW’s southwest region. “We will be issuing a limited number of licenses. The new season hunt will have essentially no effect on the size of the deer population in the Gunnison Basin.”
     
The total number of licenses available in all five GMU’s will probably not exceed 100. The exact number of licenses to be issued will not be determined until May 2006. Biologists will evaluate 2005 harvest data, conduct aerial surveys counts and conduct biological analyses before setting license numbers for each unit.
     
The new season will make more licenses available in these high-demand units and provide a quality hunting opportunity for participants. These licenses will likely require a high number of preference points as demand to hunt in the fourth season is expected to be high. The new season, however, will likely reduce preference point requirements necessary for drawing second- and third-season buck licenses.
     
“The new season will give a limited number of people an increased opportunity to hunt in game management units where licenses are becoming highly sought after for deer,” said J Wenum, area wildlife manager for Gunnison. “We have been evaluating these units closely and there is a great deal of public interest. Our hope through this hunt is to help spread preference point and hunting pressure and provide more opportunity for deer hunters.”
     
During the 2005 season there were 2,605 licenses available in these game management units, an increase of 472 licenses from the previous year. Success rates during the 2005 season appeared to be very good. Exact harvest numbers will not be known until March. 
     
“These numbers show that we are managing the deer herd very conservatively, and we are managing the herd to meet game management objectives,” Wait said.

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