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Landowner vouchers offer way to hunt trophy mule deer and elk units in western Colorado without waiting to draw a tag |
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Some of the finest elk, mule deer and pronghorn hunting in the west takes place in western Colorado's limited-permit wildlife management units. In these areas both resident and non-resident tags are limited by the state. Even though these units are predominantly public land, conservative wildlife management allows bucks and bulls to get old enough to grow bragging-size headgear. If you want to hunt these areas, you have two choices: 1) Acquire enough preference points that you can draw a tag in the yearly computer permit lottery, or 2) Buy a transferable landowner permit from a rancher who has drawn one.
Hunts.Net customers Burke Sorensen, left, Gabe Chadwick, right, and Gabe's father Dave, center, pose with the results of their self-guided 2004 Colorado deer hunt. You might remember seeing those permits for sale on hunts.net. Scoring 168 and 173, these are the biggest bucks Burke and Gave have taken in 16-year big game hunting careers. Dave said they probably should have been more selective because he saw two "monster deer" -- non-typicals well over 30 inches wide.
You can accumulate only one preference point per year per big game species, and you must send the state the full permit price each year to get those points. The better units require hunters to accumulate five to 14 deer preference points, 12 to 20 elk preference points, and five to 10 antelope preference points. Once you get enough preference points, you're guaranteed to draw one of these highly coveted permits. A percentage of the permits are allocated to landowners, and they also accumulate preference points when they don't draw. Eventually they, too, get enough preference points that they are sure to draw permits. The difference is that landowner permits are actually transferable vouchers, and so some landowners sell their permits to outfitters or non-resident hunters. What this means is that if you don't want to wait many years to hunt one of these quality units, you can buy a landowner permit. Or maybe you're accumulating preference points to hunt a specific unit but in the meantime want to hunt a different unit. We are not allowed to buy and sell landowner permits in Colorado. If you want landowner vouchers in Colorado, let us know what you're willing to pay, and we can let you know if something in your price range becomes available. We charge a finder's fee per tag. Some of the high-dollar deer areas, such as the Gunnison Basin, were hit hard by the winter of 2007/'08, so we advise hunters to stay away this year. If you want one of these permits, call us to discuss your specific trophy goals, and we'll let you know what might be available this fall. You can select which units and which seasons you want to hunt. Typically the early elk hunts, the late deer hunts and the muzzleloader hunts are most desirable and, hence, most costly. Some units hold big animals but are more difficult to hunt than other units, so those permits are generally less expensive. These permits do not include any guide or map services. If you want a guide, we can probably line one up. Typically good mule deer and elk guides charge $3,500 to $5,000. If you want a set of detailed maps showing where to hunt in a unit, the cost is $800, and you can split that among members of your hunting party. |
Price: Landowner permits range from about $1,000 to $9,000 for deer and roughly the same for elk, depending on the quality of the unit, season and weapon.
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