Deer Hunting during OTC Elk Season in CO

[TheInformedHunter]

What has your experience been hunting limited entry rifle deer units that overlap with OTC Elk seasons in CO. Was it a cluster?

 

[cedahm]

Well - all rifle deer units are limited* - and the '1st Rifle' season is elk only, so effectively all deer hunting is during an elk season.

It is generally busier in OTC units as a whole, but depending on that year's weather, the elk hunters are usually in different terrain than the deer hunters (or should be). There are more folks with elk tags than deer tags, so we've found elk hunters to be good sources of info on where they've seen deer.

*there are a handful of OTC whitetail tags, but so minimal as to not really matter in the context of CO deer units

 

[TheInformedHunter]

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about scouting a 3rd season OTC Elk unit that overlaps with 3rd rifle deer season this year before burning 11 deer points next year.

 

[roravetz]

I hunted second season deer rifle last year with an OTC elk rifle season that overlapped. There were A LOT of people camped and out in the woods. Similar to what cedahm mentioned once people found out we weren't hunting elk they didn't hesitate to say where they saw some tracks or deer. It ended up being kind of crazy, the deer we ended up getting were really close to the road and didn't seem to be phased at all by all of the hunting traffic or hunters. I assumed they were used to all of the elk hunters and not getting to harassed and didn't really care.

 

[Dsnow9]

Really depends on the unit, the majority of time the elk hunters and deer hunters are covering different terrain. An area may be packed with deer hunters or elk hunters but not usually both, although the road camping can be overwhelming with both groups usually camping close by and then hunting different areas come sun up.

 

[TOGIE]

it seems to me deer hunters have a lot of success in highly pressured elk units. deer are just so much easier to find in general.

i still try to hunt deer in elk units that are fully limited, i.e. all seasons

i have done a 3rd season deer hunt in an otc unit where i was little dismayed by the insanity of the numbers of elk hunters - still got a deer though

 

[cedahm]

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about scouting a 3rd season OTC Elk unit that overlaps with 3rd rifle deer season this year before burning 11 deer points next year.

If you are looking @ a double-digit-point 3rd season deer unit - and there are only a few of them in that range that overlap with OTC elk units - safe to say you will be one of the few deer hunters. As everyone has noted - prime camping spots might be a little thin and there will likely be a lot of elk hunters, but you should be able to have lots of deer to yourself.

But that is a great plan to get on the ground this year.

 

[johnrr65]

it seems to me deer hunters have a lot of success in highly pressured elk units. deer are just so much easier to find in general.

i still try to hunt deer in elk units that are fully limited, i.e. all seasons

i have done a 3rd season deer hunt in an otc unit where i was little dismayed by the insanity of the numbers of elk hunters - still got a deer though

+1

 

[LCH]

What has your experience been hunting limited entry rifle deer units that overlap with OTC Elk seasons in CO. Was it a cluster?

Yes, but still took good deer, by my standards anyway.