Hunters Insight

Be honest… have you ever hunted one of the top 5 most hunted mule deer DAUs in Colorado?? Let’s hear your unit and how you did it. Was it crowded?

This is what a Colorado public land muley looks like even in high-pressure units.

🦌 Colorado Mule Deer Reality Check: How Many Deer vs How Many Hunters

Here’s the real numbers for the units we get a lot of requests for.

**Units 7, 8, 9, 19 & 191 (DAU D-04 – Poudre / Red Feather)**
• Size: ~1,789 square miles
• Deer population: ~12,320
• Hunters last season: ~4,944
→ **About 6.9 deer per square mile**
→ **About 2.8 hunters per square mile**
→ **1 hunter for every 2.5 deer**

**Units 11, 12, 13, 22, 23 & 24 (part of DAU D-07 – White River)**
• Size: ~4,120 square miles
• Deer population: ~18,610
• Hunters last season: ~3,320
→ **About 4.5 deer per square mile**
→ **About 0.8 hunters per square mile**
→ **1 hunter for every 5.6 deer**

**Units 70, 71 & 711 (DAU D-24 – Groundhog)**
• Deer population: ~18,300–21,000
• Hunters last season: ~4,900
→ Still one of the higher hunter numbers, but spread over solid Southwest country

Quick takeaway:
The Front Range units (7-9, 19, 191) have the highest hunter density and the most competition per deer.

White River country has more total deer and way more room to spread out.

Groundhog sits in the middle good numbers of both deer and hunters.

There are so many animals to be found in every unit. We get out and track down the bigger ones and report back to you. 

(Data from CPW 2023–2024 post-hunt population estimates and harvest reports)

🔥 Hunters Insight just got a pricing and product refresh 🌲 We are refreshing our packages with additions and descriptions.

Here’s what’s new:

📸 36×24 Canvas Prints – $499
Real photos of animals we’ve captured in the Colorado wilderness. Big, high-quality canvas pieces that look incredible on the wall.

📞 1-Hour Scout Consultation – $369
Sit down with us for a full hour of unit planning, water sources, camp location ideas, and real spots we’ve hiked or where our clients have been successful. Plus detailed mapping, written report, and prioritized locations based on current scouting data from our network of former guides. We will tell you where the animals are and how to be successful in that unit. You’ll also become a client so you can ask questions anytime during the season.

🥾 Outdoor In-Person Package -$696
Join us on the mountain (groups of 9 max). We’ll take you to an actual kill spot from last year, walk the ground, talk habitat, feeding areas, and exactly what made the hunt successful. Real places. Real experience. Full day on the mountain. After the hike, we will relax at a camp spot, eat ribeye steaks and have drinks. 

🦌 📚 📍 Field Scout Package - $1969
Our scouts are former outfitter guides who know the units inside and out. We go into the wilderness and locate the herds for the current year. We track their movements, figure out what they’re doing and why, and map the migration routes they’re using based on that season’s conditions (including drought impacts).
We specifically search for the big trophy animals in the unit. Once we locate the animals you’re targeting, we track them and report their locations back to you days before your hunt starts, so you know exactly where to start on opening day. This includes PICTURES of the target animals, trail cams,and camera footage from scouts. Also included is detailed Hunt plan along with multiple phone calls to set you up for success before the season. we will update you all season long on where we’re seeing the target species. 
All Hunt plans are customized to the hunter, as up-to-date as possible. Our guides/scouts will literally hand you the scouting report as they’re coming off of the trail and your going in to hunt.
All of the data is gathered in the field. After the scouting hike is complete, we put the information together and deliver it to you at the trailhead so it’s ready and actionable for your hunt. Over a 90% success rate.

These are built from boots-on-the-ground scouting by RJ and our network of former guides who know their units inside and out.

What do you think about the new changes? What packages are you most excited for?

I found another big elk today! I found that little guy yesterday chillin in the grass. I knew there was more around. This definitely is a honey hole. Lots of elk activity and lots of food around. There were a couple other Bulls that were off though the tree. This was the big daddy of the group. 

Have you ever noticed how the different sides of the mountain develop at different times during the season? It’s almost like the grass and forbs are growing at different times a different elevations, and the Elk know precisely where their food is growing or going to be growing as they get bigger and more into season. 

These animals know exactly where the freshest native grasses are growing. Maybe we’re not tracking the animals so much as we are following how their food sources grow…. 🤔 

On today’s hike- hot, hot, hot heat.. we expected rain and got none.. Check out how this Elk is so hidden in the long grass. Must feel nice on these hot days.

I’m sweating out here hiking around. These animals are patterning quite different this year due to the drought and intense heat.

Is this an Elk or a Deer?….

I thought this big high country mule deer tonight was an Elk at first when I saw him through the trees. I was at 10800 feet and he was bedded high above me at treeline trying to beat the heat today. He was seeking water because he was going down to the river below in a hurry. I gave him a MeRRPppp and he looked back at it.. 👀

We keep expecting moisture every day, but the storms seem to run out of juice.  it’s so hot here here Y’all!!

these animals are staying in the dark green timber and coming out at sunset to get water.