Private land deer season question.

Non knowledgeable source posting..

So over the holiday table, the topic of hunting came up and one of the guys stated the seasons were a lot longer for private land owners vs Joe blow on public lands and how the money/DNR/blah/etc had ruined hunting here. The subject was changed, but I think he was referring to Guided hunts(?)

I searched through the online specs, but didn’t really see what he referred.. (or I dont know enough about it to translate)

Question for those that know off hand...is rifle deer in now? And do private lands have longer seasons than public? Do the guide type services get more tags than other areas?

even with the online specs, these things are difficult to find answers.

TIA.

* I’ve since found some info on LPP and such that answered some questions, but still don’t see where they are given different season dates?

Short answer is, it depends. Some private land tags run for several months, some only a week. Depends on the area, type of tag, etc. All tags have an associated hunt code, published in the big game regs with associated season start and end dates. If you know the unit number you can look up season dates

'for private land owners' is a little misleading. Some units have private land tags available to hunt from September through January, as an example. They are available, through the draw, to anybody. You just need permission to hunt that property. My daughter drew one of those on a ranch down near Baily.

Edit: Should have looked closer, this example is for elk.

Deer can be broken down as mule/whitetail. Whitetail is highly on private land only with the exception of some places in eastern CO that have public access. Mule deer are much more like elk in the mountains with lots of public access.

Just like elk there are various archery, muzzleloader, and rifle seasons.
Depending on the units and what the populations are the number of tags can vary greatly.

The basic premise is they want a certain number of tags per unit given past successful statistics. This keeps the population in check and the numbers where they want them.
The hard part is units that are almost all private land, that is where you will see long seasons, season choice tags, B/C licenses. The unit may have a lot of animals but due to limited access the common guy won’t put in the effort or won’t be able to get access to private ground. For this same reason you will see guides buying landowners tags and offering them to clients as they have low pressure, easy access and most likely great success rates.

Coming up on 12/1-12/15 is the late rifle deer season. I don’t feel like digging into the regs book, but I think it is mostly if not only on the eastern plains.

As for your question on guided/landowner tags, it varies but mostly mirrors current seasons for public land. Even the guides are getting tags which they buy from landowners or have their clients apply for.

Another example is my friend who lives in the foothills west of ft. Collins. He can get a cow elk tag that lasts several months. Just needs a cow to cruise by on his property when he is home and he is set. Deer on the other hand is specific to the different seasons and he typically has best success in the late rifle season during the rut.

Hope that solves a little bit in this highly complicated process.

Much appreciated. Looks like I have some needed homework before next year as this can open up a lot more opportunities for me to fill a freezer.

Thanks again.

The Ranching For Wildlife program gives the landowner/guide a number of tags (vouchers for tags actually) that are good for all Fall. In exchange, the landowners give public hunters access for the defined season via the drawing for a fraction of the assigned tags.

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Originally Posted by spqrzilla

The Ranching For Wildlife program gives the landowner/guide a number of tags (vouchers for tags actually) that are good for all Fall. In exchange, the landowners give public hunters access for the defined season via the drawing for a fraction of the assigned tags.

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Some landowner voucher deer seasons run the same length as elk for RFW, Sept. through Jan. and can also be specific white tail or either white tail/muley.
The public does not get a fraction- they get the exact same amount of tags the land owner gets. For example in one specific unit there are 11 deer tags in the RFW draw. 1 buck and 10 does. The RFW get 11 deer vouchers, usually either sex but most are used for trophy bucks. To get that one draw buck tag you would need 18 points and for a doe 4-5 points. This particular area sells those either sex vouchers with their hunts. They charge an enormous amount of money plus trophy fees to usually out of state hunters. The majority of the hunters are industry "staff" hunts using new products, tv hunts and big business corporate hunts. From a guide I knew on one of these areas it was not uncommon for a charge of $15-20k for a trophy elk hunt. Before the private party background requirement is was common practice for gun manufacturers' to leave their new hunting rifle they used with the guide as a 'tip' for the hunt. The deer was less expensive by half.

That particular land owner gets 22 elk tags and 11 deer tags. Figure even at very low end hunt rates they are grossing $250k from hunting possibly double that.