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Colorado hunting unitsColorado Hunting - Seasons, Licenses & Maps - Game Management Unit Videos
It is important that every hunter know the boundaries of their hunting license area, including private land boundaries. Check out the state maps and unit descriptions in the brochure or online. Scouting your hunting area ahead of the seasons can improve your harvest success. Each year, a limited number of licenses sometimes called quota are allotted to each GMU and called limited licenses.
These licenses are obtained through one of our application and draw processes March and June. Other licenses, called unlimited, are available for sale over-the-counter without first applying in early August and are not restricted by a quota.
In general, for deer, elk and bear hunting, archery season starts in early Sept. Muzzleloader season starts in the middle of archery season, and four rifle seasons follow that. The first rifle season is limited to elk and bear hunting only. The second, third and fourth rifle seasons are for elk, bear and deer hunters, who will be in the field at the same time. The five-year season structure overview is a useful long-range season date planner.
Colorado offers distinct big game seasons for archery, muzzleloader and rifle hunting. Legal requirements for the various hunting methods and transporting them in the field are in the brochures. You need a hunt code to apply for or buy a license. How to read a hunt code and tables where they are listed are in the brochure. Prior to applying, all applicants will first need to purchase or hold a qualifying license , available starting March 1.
For each draw application, you may fill out up to four hunt code choices. The application processing fee applies per species, per draw.
If you draw a license, CPW automatically charges the license fee to your credit card on file in your online account. There will still be leftover limited licenses and over-the-counter OTC unlimited licenses available in early August.
Hunters should check the leftover list for opportunities. Below is a list of some of the available topography maps of Colorado.
Hunters can sketch out specific units on the topography maps. The Colorado Hunting Atlas allows users to view big game concentrations and game management units on top of street maps, USGS topographic maps or high resolution color aerial photography. The Hunter Resource Report allows hunters to create a list of important emergency and contact information, field office locations, campgrounds, CPW sales agents and more. Additional information in The Colorado Fishing Atlas includes :.
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Hunt close to home where you should have the best knowledge of the land. Giver yourself the best chance possible. Hunt every day possible and hunt all day everyday.
If several days in one place turn up nothing as in no fresh sign , try another place. If you find fresh sign, take you time and find the elk. When you find them, do not run them off.
Be very careful, always pay attention to the wind. For the most part, most of the rut will be over. So bull elk will be recovering from the breeding season and trying to put on fat to survive the winter. They may be alone or with buddies. A few will still be chasing cows still in heat. You probably need to just keep doing what you were doing.
Put in the time and the miles. Get off the roads and trails with traffic and find areas that have water and thick cover. As southern college students looking to hunt elk for the first time, your articles have been extremely helpful in determining if that was even a possibility, so thank you.
So in your personal opinion, where would you hunt OTC archery this coming season if you were young and not afraid of getting well off the beaten path. Any additional advice gear, tactics, etc. Thanks in advance! Mathew: First, if you are talking about the season, the OTC and general season bow hunts are over for most states. Good luck and let me know where you decide to hunt and how it went. Dear Sir, Great work here on all your research. I have hunted area 33 since My earlier experience was always a success due to getting to the back and being near them.
So we now just sit high and scope to see the elk and then pursue. Yes, closed roads hurt access, but help elk spread out. I often think it would help my local hunt unit if certain roads were closed to travel and to camping. It would concentrate the campers, but free up thousands of acres for elk to spread out. Instead of all the elk moving to the farthest, most difficult areas to hunt, many would be in easier terrain to access.
Yes, you have a longer hike, but you could start hiking or ride bike on a closed road instead of starting up or down nasty terrain. No doubt most kids will lose interest after a few days.
This is their reality now. I am surprised they are still interested for 4 days. Not just the days you find elk. What a great read. Been there did that, l am a 85 year old retired Elk hunter. It was not easy to hang it up after 45 years 75 percent success rate in multi states. I can no longer hunt by foot, the only way to hunt! Thanks Richard. Time gets us all eventually. I just hope my knees will hold out until I am I hope you are still able to go to elk camp to teach and encourage the next generations.
I am looking to go on a Rifle DIY elk hunt in the next year or so and have been reading and researching the best units and hunting tactics since this will be my first ever. I would also love to know a list of essentials and gear I would need I will more than likely be camping. Thanks in advance. Hi Caegan. It is good to ask questions but what does best mean to you? The easiest? The most rewarding? Or numbers about hunter days in the field and elk harvested hard data? Read more of my posts. Many of the answers you seek are here.
As example, I talked to a young man from the Mid-West that was planning to go to Colorado in June to start scouting. He was surprised to learn that most of the forest service roads and some country roads above 9, feet will not be open until early — mid July because of snow.
Will you be hunting in Aug? October could be warm and dry or you could be in 2 feet of snow. Wet snow or rain is great for sneaking around. Dry leaves and crusted snow are impossible to sneak around. Plus deep snow will restrict daily access to many trail heads. Then that brings up some logistic issues of being in a backcountry camp and get dumped on with snow.
You mention that you will hunt with rifle, but will you be alone or with friends? That changes tactics, logistics and safety considerations.
Hunting tactics? You either spent lots of time walking or spend lots of time glassing or split time with both … Personally, I get bored glassing and I enjoy hunting on the move, so I put in the miles.
I find lots of elk, but that tactic also spooks lots of elk. Best for me may be different than best for you. This year, I was alone and over a half mile from the truck at Sunset with an elk down. I know what I need to do and was prepared. I had everything in the truck by midnight, but I was one tired puppy but not bad for an old man.
Some get lucky and find and harvest an elk the first day. Some get lucky and seal the deal the last minutes of the last day. This year, it took me 22 days 11 days into 3rd season. I finally got my elk this year in an area I had never scouted or hunted before.
I started from scratch 3 days earlier. I found a herd that had at least 80 elk in it. I decided to many eyes, ears and noses to sneak in on them, so I guessed at where they would go at Sundown and I guessed right. Hunting tactics are also different depending on the type of hunt. It is very different hunting bull elk during the rut or cow elk in late winter. Anyway, lots to learn. But there is no substitute for actually hunting. In fact, you will not learn much until you hunt and fail.
Then you are primed for learning. I hope my book helps you and good luck on your hunt. I think we hunt the 3rd rifle season. Do I start my hunt high or low,any tips would be very helpful. Thank so much. John Mullins. Exciting times. First elk hunt in new country. Since you already know which Unit you are hunting, you need to learn the access points and locate terrain you want to hunt. Hunting high or low is a day to day decision that will depend on snow levels and hunting pressure after your hunt starts.
The best advice I can give is get into the best shape possible. If you get headaches above 8, feet, drink more water. Every single person that has not spent time above 8, feet needs to be careful at first. Most of us can adapt, some can not, even young healthy folks.
Are you hunting with other people? You should probably work in pairs until you are more experienced with the country. Hunt from blind? When moving, always be ready to shoot. It gets tiring, but unless I am walking across open country, I never sling my rifle anymore.
If an elk shows up while you have a sandwich in your mouth, you already know the range. I speak from experience. Obviously, young guys should be able to cover more country and find more elk, but if you are out there, you always have a chance.
No elk there. You can rest and play pocket pool and poke the fire when you get back home. Finding elk is a function of luck and effort. In some ways, it is like the old battleship game. The more squares you check out, the more likely you are to find elk. Knowing which squares to look comes from elk hunting experience and from knowing the country.
There is much to learn about elk and elk habitats as well as safety in remote areas. My buddy and I are from Maryland and are taking out first trip out west to Colorado for a 7 day OTC archery Elk hunt this September thinking second week and working out of the woods the day before Muzzleloader starts … or maybe day of and wondering if one gets pushed in deep to us.
I see your chart with the top 25 units with a 3 year average for archery is public and I figure a lot of people will select from that list … would you mind sharing what your 26th and 27th pick would be? Hoping for less pressure. Thanks Shane. Yes, we all want lots of elk and have the whole place to ourselves. Why not pick the last place unit? Somebody killed elk there. High elk harvest and high numbers of hunters goes together they are very highly correlated.
I am working on incorporating the amount of public land in each unit into the comparisons… In general, units with lower elk harvest less than 30 are best left for the locals that know the area. As for your question, the 26th and 27 units ranked by harvest was units and I also ranked all the hunt units by the number of hunters and by total recreation days… Units , , , and had lowest number of hunter recreation days with at least 17 elk harvested….
Crunching numbers is a fun thing to do in the off season, but in reality, elk can be found in every unit in Western Colorado. Being from Maryland, you will have to rely on scouting with Google Earth. Spend more time learning how to access your unit and getting into shape than crunching numbers. You have to show up with good cardio…. Learn what you can about elk behavior. Think about areas you can access if elk are high good bet during archery , but I also know areas where elk can be found in the PJ you know what that is if you read my book during the archery hunt.
Find watering areas to hunt over since it is usually dry in the fall. Look for small permanent streams and for small stock ponds that have been created for wildlife and cattle.
Look for heavy timbered areas on the north slopes. I helped a group of vets get set up to hunt elk last year. I suggest hunt units and showed them areas to camp and hunt, but they did everything on their own.
No elk last year, but they had close encounters and stories to tell. Thank you for your tips, very helpful. There are 4 of us going. What do you think of pack in camp hunts? This is the only time I can hunt out west; been saving money a long time for this hunt. Just trying to get all the help I can get. Again thanks for your time and help. There is good and bad in every strategy. Lots of effort goes into packing a long way into an area. It could be what takes you close to elk and it usually gets you away from most other people.
But as example for another strategy, I never set up elk camp this year. I intended to set up camp after the 1st weekend crowd left. But I could not find elk in any of my normal honey holes. We had some big fires last Summer that moved elk around, but it also seemed to put them into very large groups.
So instead of lots of small bands of elk in groups of 8 or 10, the elk were in big herds more like you normally see in Winter. Anyway I hunted different places each day. If I found fresh sign, I might go back again the next day. I usually went back home at the end of every day and went over my maps and old notes and looked at google earth to decide where to go next day.
We also had an early snow, then a long dry spell, so I hunted high when the snow was soft and quiet and I hunted low when the snow was frozen and crunchy. I moved back up in elevation as the snow melted. I finally found a big herd with at least 80 elk and guessed correctly where they would come out of the trees before dark. If you commit a lot of time and energy into a deep camp, you could get bogged down in snow and you have given up the option to move around or change from high elevation to low and back.
At the time what unit is most successful? What tips do you have for going on such a short hunt? Would love to hear your feedback! Hi Hannah: The management of Unit 74 has changed over the past 20 years. Elk populations have decreased from about 7, to about 5, because of elk conflicts with ranching interests.
Unit 74 also has lots of hunters and many of those are non-residents because it is the closest unit to many states in Colorado statement in DAU E In , bulls and 70 antlerless elk were harvested by 2, hunters who hunted a total of 12, days all hunts; all weapons. For all rifle seasons, bulls and 43 antlerless elk were harvested by 1, hunters who hunted a total of 5, days, which ranks 36th out of units with at least 10 elk harvested.
Since you sent the comment to me and not your father or grandfather, I have to assume they have their reasons to continue to hunt unit 74 despite no elk harvest the past 7 years.
After 20 years of hunting the area, that will be hard to replace. I have a question for you. You mention planning to hunt the 1st rifle season due to school assume school schedule.
But 1st rifle seasons are Limited Licenses that have to be drawn. Do you have a Limited License? Or do you mean the first OTC rifle season, which is really the 2nd Rifle season? You also mention wanting to hunt Northern Colorado and you have seen the rankings I posted for the OTC rifle hunts for both raw numbers and hunter success.
Units 4, 5, 12, 13 and 22 are Northern units that rank high for both elk harvest and for hunter success for the 2nd OTC rifle season. But so much of elk hunting is about logistics.
I always ask why drive past areas I know have elk, just to find more elk. So I usually hunt close to home where I know the country. It makes sense if you are going to school in Northern Colorado.
Yes, these short hunts are challenging, which means you have to do all your scouting before the hunt starts. I do not do much pre-season scouting anymore because I know my local units well. I also do less scouting so there is less chance of disturbing animals in my honey holes before the hunt starts.
I am also busy taking people fishing in the Fall. Hello, We have been hunting 2nd rifle in the same area for 12 years or so. Plus a bright full moon for several days did not help too much either. We saw one bull along the road on a trailer, and heard of 4 elk killed by a local hunting party we know well, very deep in a canyon, which pretty much needed the support of horses to get the meat out.
We will be back again in , but hope for better success. We had some big fires this Summer in our areas. It ruined a trout stream, but elk will benefit in the long term, but may suffer in the short term. What I noticed was instead of many small bands of elk during the rifle and ML seasons, elk were in very large groups usually only seen in Winter. When I finally got my cow elk, it was in a herd of at least 80 animals in an area of my unit I had never hunted before.
I feel this creates an oversaturation of hunters. Hi Kevin, you could try moving, but what makes you think that another unit will have fewer hunters or that will result in success? Units 77 and 78 are in the top 20 for the numbers of elk harvested… But not in the top 20 for hunter success.
There are lots of hunters in these units see Table in post for 2nd Rifle , but much less than other units. But first, what does hunting and scouting mean to you? Also, one of the most valuable assets for elk hunting is personal knowledge of an area. Do more research if you wish and look at the data. Raw numbers of hunters and elk populations and elk harvested give us a snap shot, but if we also took into account the available habitat it would be more meaningful….
I have been working on better ways to compare units and have some data collected on the size of the units and the amount of public land in each unit. You have been hunting for 4 years. Would you say you are an average elk hunter based on knowledge and effort?
In other words, the average hunter will get an elk every 7. Because they know more about elk than you do. They know more about the landscape and habitat than you do and they work harder than you do. Not picking on you, just stating the most likely probabilities for an average elk hunter…. So go ahead and drive past elk to go find more elk in a new place… or learn more and work harder in an area you already know well.
Moving to get Mule Deer tag or cow tag is a good reason. I prefer to hunt when I can take mule deer or any sex elk. Good luck and let me know how you do this year. I have basically narrowed my units down to 4, 16, and Unit 4 I have some intel from somebody that has taken several bulls from there but unit 42 and 16 looks better as far as having sanctuaries in them where a good bull would be hiding out.
I was hoping you could shed some light into these units and maybe some good tips. Anything helps! That is good enough reason. I assume by sanctuaries, you have identified some hard to get to areas in GMUs 42 and 16? Look for flat benches in steep terrain. Heaviest tree cover in the Southern Rockies will be on North facing slopes.
Two of the units you are interested in ranked highly both in top 5 units for Colorado for elk harvest during 2nd OTC rifle season, but unit 16 ranks low; 47th, with an average of 93 bull elk harvested by hunters over the last 3 years — Both GMUs 4 and 42 also rank in the top 20 for hunter success and GMU 16 ranks 47th for success not a typo, pure coincidence that it ranks 47th for both harvest and success..
That makes me think the smallest unit has even less elk habitat. As of now, you know more about GMU 4 because of your personal intel. Personal knowledge of a unit is the most important thing. Im looking for any advice possible. Ive hunted quite a few years without a lot of success. So getting far from roads and trails is difficult for us. Looking for any thoughts and recommendations you may have. My main goal anymore is the hunting experience with family and the obvious….
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide for me and my family. Hi Jeremy. Two people can not be as sneaky as one, 3 people can not be as sneaky as two and until they learn how, kids can not be a sneaky as hunting veterans.
But two or more people can work together and 2 or more pairs of eyes and ears can see and hear more than a solo hunter.
It changes my hunt when my wife goes with me, but the last four or five years I have killed more elk with here than without her even though I hunted many more days alone. In fact, until this year she had been teasing me about needing me to go along to get an elk. We mostly hunt together, but sometimes I might climb a hill to get in position and then have her push around from the bottom to see if we can push an elk out.
Outdoor safety should be a primary concern for all hunters, but you obviously have spacial concerns and I am sure you are managing that as best you can.
It is obvious that hunting as a family and spending time together in the outdoors is more important than putting an elk in the freezer, but those two or three goals are not mutually exclusive. Not all elk are killed a mile from the road. I have found elk many times within yards of a road. So, do what you can do. Hunt as many hours as you can. Hunt from before light to dark. But the main thing is to always be ready. I have several stories about being caught with a sandwich in my mouth and my gun on the ground.
Success at elk hunting is a combination of skill, luck and effort. We can all learn more. We can always put in more effort time and distance and many talk about working smarter, but I am still trying to decide what that means. I think smarter is just another term for experience.
Most decisions in the field are dependent on wind, habitat and terrain, which set up infinite possibilities. Goal 1 should be a fun, safe day outside, goal 2 should be finding elk or fresh sign. Goal 3 should be getting an opportunity to take a shot and finally, you will eventually find an elk that wants to get in the back of your truck.
But to be most valuable, we need to omit public land that is not elk habitat. What we really want to know is how many acres of elk habitat during our particular hunting season are available per hunter. Colorado publishes the amount and percentages of public land for each Herd Management Plan DAU , but do not separate the percentage by individual hunt units.
I have published acres per elk hunter on statewide levels in my DIY Elk Hunting Guide and total hunting acres for each state here. Colorado has 23,, acres open to public hunting and 35,, acres of elk habitat with about 21,, acres of elk habitat on public land. Obviously all of that land is not open to the OTC archery or 2nd or 3rd rifle seasons. The OTC units for both the 2nd and 3rd rifle seasons have a total of 29,, acres with 16,, public acres. In , there were 52, total elk hunters , total recreation days during the 2nd rifle season OTC and 46, hunters , total recreation days during the 3rd rifle season OTC and 47, elk hunters 1,, recreation days during all archery seasons.
Recreation days are more important than the number of total hunters because most hunters do not hunt every day. In fact if we take the total number of hunters for the nine day hunt season for both the 2nd and 3rd rifle season, we find that if every hunter was in the field each of the 9 days, that would add up to , and , rec.
Compare those numbers with the total recreation days reported for the hunt season and the reported numbers are only So except for opening day, the average hunt day only has half of the hunters in the field. Obviously as hunters fill their tags, they stop hunting and they also take elk home with them. Back to the question of how many acres per hunter. So, for OTC Archery there were 40, hunters with , rec. I am awaiting the draw results for muzzleloader season in 12 23 Will be my first time to these units.
I have hunted a couple seasons NW of Fort Collins but want to move to area with higher number of elk. Planning on hiking in to avoid crowds, trying to learn the the topography of where to start. Any advice would be appreciated. Myself and two friends have been hunting Elk during the second and 3rd seasons on public land in Area 12,23, and 23 for the past several years.
Have had considerable success. Altogether there are four separate rifle seasons, with the first and fourth being draw-only tags. Click below to view Colorado game management units in more detail through an interactive map.
Over 2,, parcels mapped by the onX team, this layer helps you know who the property owners are in Colorado. Tap any parcel to learn more info about the owner and acreage. Tap any public land parcel to learn more. Please hunt responsibly, obey all signage and have a safe legal hunt. Research rules on these private lands before recreating.
All hunters are expected to know the rules of the program. Access Initiatives. Elite Membership. Pick Your State. Become an onX Member for the best outdoor adventure apps with tools to get you there and back safely. Open App. Start Free Trial Open Map. Overview Known For Colorado is known for its big game animals, especially trophy-class mule deer and elk.
Archery and Muzzleloader Add-On Bear licenses are available in unlimited numbers. Sandhill Crane. Hunt dates vary by license type and hunt location. See hunt tables and maps for details, pages 7—11 in sheep and goat regulation pdf. Some licenses are valid only for specific dates. Dark Goose. Light Goose. GMUs 2, 3, 11, 13, 18 except east of Colo. Quail Game Type. Turkey Game Type.
Upland Bird. Statewide except GMUs 44, 45, 53, 54, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, , and The most accurate draw odds, harvest data, and application trends for hunters.
Toprut is designed to help hunters research, plan, and apply for hunts and tags every year. View draw odds for 11 western states. Explore comprehensive information on elk, deer, antelope, moose, sheep, mountain goat, and bison. Research using advanced filtering based on residency, species, weapon, and preference points.
View success rates, harvest data, and applicant numbers to monitor trends. Learn More. Includes 3 Sublayers. Includes 9 Sublayers. Antelope — Archery Bucks Only over-the-counter.
Aug 15, Aug 31, Antelope — Archery Either Sex over-the-counter. Sep 1, Sep 20, Antelope — Muzzleloader. Sep 21, Sep 29, Antelope — Rifle Limited Draw. Oct 1, Oct 9, At this time no individual GMU maps are available for purchase. Below is a list of some of the available topography maps of Colorado.
Hunters can sketch out specific units on the topography maps. The Colorado Hunting Atlas allows users to view big game concentrations and game management units on top of street maps, USGS topographic maps or high resolution color aerial photography. The Hunter Resource Report allows hunters to create a list of important emergency and contact information, field office locations, campgrounds, CPW sales agents and more. Additional information in The Colorado Fishing Atlas includes :.
COTREX intends to serve as the connection between people, trails, and technology by coordinating the efforts of federal, state, county, and local agencies to create a comprehensive and authoritative repository of recreational trails for public use. Turn on and view various wildlife species range in an interactive web map.
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