Yeti GOBOX Collection

Late Rifle or September Archery

Cody_Frankum

Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2016
Messages
42
Location
Gunnison, CO
I am going to burn my points this year, and I'm stuck on two different hunts. I've been saving my points for a while and when I started I had my mind made up on a quality archery elk hunt chasing elk in the alpine and bugling in bulls, but I spent a fair amount of time last year glassing bulls up during the 3rd rifle season of Colorado and had a ball doing it. I'm torn because I will only be able to use these points once and I won't have this many again. And I've never killed a bull with a rifle and it intrigues me lol

If you had to choose, would you do a 4th season hunt with a rifle or a archery hunt with a bow? It comes down to hunting rut crazed better than average bulls or glassing and finding "The One" bull that would hopefully be a top end potentially bull of a lifetime.

Either is good with me I'm just racking it around and having fun with the decision.

Anyways I figured guys on here would have an opinion and it's an interesting topic.
 
What units are you looking at? I think that has a lot to do with it.

I think generally most rifle hunts have higher success rates than archery. It's about you and what your looking for though.
 
I dare say that a skilled archer who knows his chit has a better chance of killing a mature bull during the peak of the rut with archery gear than a rifleman during post-rut. Am I wrong?
 
I don't think so, just because so many things can happen during the archery season, in my opinion a lot of things can happen when you are trying to get a bull to work within 60-70 yards and a clear shot rather than trying to get to 400 yards. I will agree that finding a bull is probably easier just because it is haha The rut just does amazing things, but being able to look at many bulls they are more concentrated although maybe in tough country can usually find them. Obviously I haven't had the experience of hunting with a rifle but I have found bulls and could have hunted them but I have only had archery tags for bulls haha.





I dare say that a skilled archer who knows his chit has a better chance of killing a mature bull during the peak of the rut with archery gear than a rifleman during post-rut. Am I wrong?
 
I dare say that a skilled archer who knows his chit has a better chance of killing a mature bull during the peak of the rut with archery gear than a rifleman during post-rut. Am I wrong?

I agree, there's always the exception to the rule, and the occasional guy who really knows what he is doing, but talking general statistics here, more rifle tags get filled than archery.

That's why I asked the unit. If the OP provided a little bit more info I think others could help him. How many points, where you looking to hunt, etc. Obviously I wouldn't recommend an OTC rifle hunt over a unit 61 archery tag.
 
I'm always leery about putting units up because most folks don't like that haha. I'm debating between 76 archery and 61 rifle. Burning 9 resident points, not a ton but as a resident it allows me to draw some good units and I know both these units enough to know the quality to expect.
 
I'm always leery about putting units up because most folks don't like that haha. I'm debating between 76 archery and 61 rifle. Burning 9 resident points, not a ton but as a resident it allows me to draw some good units and I know both these units enough to know the quality to expect.

There both good units, personally, I would hunt 61 and use a rifle. Have you spent much time in 76?
 
Yeah I've been down in 76, had many buddies with tags down there and I know the bulls that can come out of that unit. I've hunted turkeys in 61 and have seen some of the country and know that there are big bulls down there
 
I agree, there's always the exception to the rule, and the occasional guy who really knows what he is doing, but talking general statistics here, more rifle tags get filled than archery.

That's why I asked the unit. If the OP provided a little bit more info I think others could help him. How many points, where you looking to hunt, etc. Obviously I wouldn't recommend an OTC rifle hunt over a unit 61 archery tag.

Really hard to say as most Archery tags are either sex while rifle are bull only, and the weather is way nicer in Aug/Sept and archery tags are OTC so you probably pull in more novice and fair weather hunters, while a first season rifle tag could take 10 years to draw so that hunter is probably going to put in more effort, etc. but here are the 2016 stats for average success rates in CO by season.

Archery 11%
Muzzle 21%
First 25%
Second 13%
Third 10%
Fourth 13%
 
Both of these hunts are draw hunts and have better than average success rates regardless of the season.

But that’s not what matters to me, hunting hard and persistent usually pans out, I’m trying to figure out what kind of experience I’m wanting to have, bugles or Long glassing sessions.

My original hold up on 4th season was the 5 day season, but I figured that I would probably just go up for the last weekend of third, spend 3-4 days glassing and finding bulls that I would be interested in and hunt the season as it comes in

I really have no desire to keep building points anymore I want to burn em haha


Really hard to say as most Archery tags are either sex while rifle are bull only, and the weather is way nicer in Aug/Sept and archery tags are OTC so you probably pull in more novice and fair weather hunters, while a first season rifle tag could take 10 years to draw so that hunter is probably going to put in more effort, etc. but here are the 2016 stats for average success rates in CO by season.

Archery 11%
Muzzle 21%
First 25%
Second 13%
Third 10%
Fourth 13%
 
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
110,805
Messages
1,935,062
Members
34,883
Latest member
clamwc
Back
Top