Are you hunting deer or elk?

Bow or gun?

Those units had the crap knocked out of them by the DOW. CWD spread and the DOW decided it would be best to thin the herd to keep the CWD from spreading. Didn't work. Deer herds haven't rebounded well and left a bunch of hungery lions. Very few shooters anymore. Unit 19 is all pretty much private; getting permission to hunt would be tighter than winning the lottery. That's it in a nutshell.

Thats not entirely true, we hunted up there last fall and although we didn't get anything we saw deer everyday and a couple nice bucks just couldn't pull them in. My advice is to hunt where the people aren't and do some major scouting because the deer seemed to be moving through the same areas every morning. another tip is to try and go deep in the woods because anything within a half mile of the road gets hunted hard. If your hunting Elk I hope you have a 3rd or forth season tag because they move down from the Upper Cherokee Unit when it starts to get cold out. Hopefully the weather will come in a little earlier than last year because it will help them move down earlier. Like the guy said, the area was hit hard but the DOW and Jackson, the game warden in that area can be a pain but there are some nice deer, ya just got to find them.

Knowing that not everything you read or hear is true, I thought i'd shed some light on my previous post. Pulled this little tidbit out of the Rocky Mtn Game & Fish article about the 2008 Mule deer forcast in Colorado.

"Between the years of 2000 and 2005, the state intentionally lowered deer numbers in an effort to reduce CWD, but saw little change. Currentlky we are trying to rebuild herds, but it's going to be a process. This segm,ent was directed at units 7, 8, 9, 19, and 191.
"Even with the 29 / 100 buck-to-doe ration in the northeast, we are not in a good deer situation.

I guess it's more true than not.

I know that the DOW did that. I'm not disagreeing with that but I've hunted that area quite a bit and the populations are starting to come back. I've seen nice deer up there and I watched my buddy shoot a 5X5 so i'd say that it's coming back, wouldn't you?

I lived on that area for quite awhile and one of best friends has hunted it for the last 15 years.

Is there animals still YES

Are there trophies some but few

Did the DOW knock the crap out of it YEP!!

Is it making a come back it certainly is better today than 4 years ago.

The Fact is DOW screwed up big time with their experment they almost destriyed the area and they still are giving out ridiculous amounts of tags for all seasons.

What has kept the animals alive and well is the majority of Private land that locks up access or just gives the animals refuge.
I am not saying that all animals in the unit were wiped out but the deer were slaughtered for years.

It is making quite the comeback compared to years past although it is NO quality unit and has a ways to go to recoup the deer numbers it once carried.

Late in the Year after the seasons are down I can usually go into the unit and see a few decent bull elk and good bucks on wintering areas in the unit so there are a few good ones that escape the hunters and surive to pass on their genes.

Now in unit 9 for example 100% private I know of few bulls in the 280-310 range that have been killed every year by clients of an outfitter in the unit.

I heard that the outfitter is not a good guy? What are your impressions?

I guess it would depend on the outfitter you are referring to?

There is one particular outfitter in Colorado not unit specific, I would never hunt with.

you summed that up perfectly!!!!! thats dead on description on the units