Let me pump you up!
 

Gents,

With the tremendous rainfall and snow runoff this year, Colorado's lush vegetation is beyond belief! Our food supply for wildlife is just crazy. Antler growth on both the deer and elk is enormous. You couldn't have picked a better year to come to Colorado! Let me paint the picture....good hunting!

Thats great to hear. I've been heading out every other year. But my partner talked me into heading back this year instead, becasue of a new spot we got access too. This is also great news for the herds themselves. Thanks for the info.

Good news! What kind of winter did you have? Was it a mild winter? A tough winter? Just a middle-of-the-road sort of winter? I'm going elk hunting in Colorado's first rifle season.

I just got back last night from South Central Colorado and we saw a ton of nice growing deer that will be shooters by fall when I can use my tag. There will be a whole bunch of 160+ class and up deer to choose from. I didn't see anything quite as big as the pic above but close. Lots of growing between now and hardhorn time.

Curious where you were in Colorado. Wife and I were just down in Leadville fly fishing last two weekends.

Spent some time in North Park and its unbelievable how much water there is there.

Winter was generally mild in the winter but early spring all the mtns got pounded by deep snow. When I was in Vail at the end of April our bartender said they had the best snow for skiing right after the ski season ended in April.

The nice thing...most of the deer and elk survived the heavy Spring snows. They were still at lower elevations and most of the snow occurred high. It's hard to believe how much deep snow is still in the high country today. Usually by July 4th most of the snow is gone. That's not the case this year. Believe it or not, I'm still seeing tons of deer at lower than normal elevations (below 9000 feet). The elk are moving up though. I was at 13,500 feet glassing last weekend. I was seeing heaps of elk in bowls around 12,700. Antler growth is just amazing!

I hunt for cow elk, and so antler growth doesn't mean much to me. I'm glad to see they have a lot to eat though. The mountains are beautiful right now.

We were in area 083 which is on the eastern rim about 40 miles east of Alamosa and not too far from LaVeta. Still some snow up on Blanca and we had a storm blow up over the weekend and it dumped a trace of snow up on the mountain above 14000 feet. Luckily we were staying at 9100 feet so all we got was some rain and temps in the 40's. Saw a whole bunch of elk from the Trinchera herd but in a no hunting area and it was all cows and calves and numbered around 150 head.

I live in the San Luis Valley and I don't know of any of this lush vegetation, rain, and heavy snow. The winter was way below average for snow fall. It's just now started to rain in southern Colorado and we are dry as a bone. But the animals did have a very mild winter and without having to replenish body fat lost in the winter I'd have to agree the racks should look pretty good this season. Good hunting.

I know what you mean about the valley being dry. We stay at a cabin east of the edge up in the mountains and it is way greener than just a few miles into the valley. We took a ride to Cuchera on Monday and it looked almost as green as around here in Vermont. We visited Zapata Falls over by the dunes and the sign at the parking area said parts of the valley get less than 8" of rain each year. My first trip to south central Colorado was a surprise when I saw the semi desert conditions. Even though it is dry the elk and deer hunting is pretty good.