A little disappointed, Tag Soup!

[taylorce1]

Just got back from a 4th season buck hunt in the high country of Colorado, and wound up eating a tag that took six years to get. It wasn't for lack of seeing deer, I probably saw anywhere from 80-100+ deer a day for the entire five day season. The rut just wasn't on or all the big deer are gone, saw a ton of young bucks and only saw about a handful of 3.5 year old bucks and only three were four point deer.

My daughter hunted the same unit during 3rd season and shot a 3.5 year old 3 point. Nice deer but not one I was willing to burn my tag on. I'll give her credit I couldn't go with her on this hunt and at 17 she did it with the help of two other kids the same age. We only had two adults in 3rd season camp and they were helping a 12 year old punch his cow tag the same day.



The deer above is about the average of what we saw for the last five days when it came to 3.5 year old deer.

Here is a picture of our 3rd season camp set up, we only had the big wall tent for 4th season.



First morning of 4th season and no elk tag in our pocket!



Third day of 4th season and no sheep tag!



4th day and again no elk tag! Probably a 340" bull spotted about 1-1.5 miles away at almost dark, saw him again the next day.



Snapped a pic of the vacant campsite as I was about to head out for the last evening hunt.

 

[taylorce1]

I did take a quick second to shoot these deer with my phone on my drive in to the last evening hunt. They were looking at me about 50 yards down the road from my truck.



While disappointing my buddy and I didn't find shootable bucks, it was a great time being in the mountains again for the first time hunting since I shattered my leg in 2015. I was able to put 8-10 miles a day looking for deer on my bum leg so I'm pretty proud of that.

 

[Sanch]

Hi Taylor,

An extremely enjoyable story. Your kid is destined to become an accomplished hunter. Her buck was a worthy trophy.

I've become accustomed to dining on tag soup. I'm long past done shooting small bucks. I didn't give a small buck a second glace this past season. If fate denies me an opportunity at a mature 4x4 buck, I won't burn powder.

I'm still long odds for a tag in the best trophy mule deer unit in the world. I'm not sure I'll ever accumulate enough bonus points to draw a most prized mule deer tag.

 

[jmr40]

Everybody wants to kill one with a monster rack, but I'd have been thrilled to have just been there. If you don't need the meat there is nothing wrong with waiting on the big one even if you come home empty.

 

[std7mag]

Glad to hear your out & about!
Of the many years hunting, and many deer killed, i've yet to shoot a buck.
And i'm not bothered by that.
Still haven't heard of a recipe for antlers.

 

[taylorce1]

Really the disappointment was the weather. Last day the high was in the low 30's but the days previous it was upper 50's and low 60's. Lows were upper 30's most days as well, just didn't help the rut any.

Of the many years hunting, and many deer killed, i've yet to shoot a buck.

We're draw only state and only allowed one "A list" tag a year. Like I said it took six years to draw a tag in a unit known for some better than average deer. So while ive focused on my Daughters hunts, I haven't had an opportunity to realy hunt for me in the last several years. I was just hoping this would be my year.