The deer feeding operation in the Gunnison Basin is continuing; but Colorado Division of Wildlife managers expect that the program should end by mid April.
As of the end of March, the DOW was feeding about 9,100 deer at 114 sites in the Gunnison area. Earlier in the month the number of deer being fed peaked […]

Kyle Lopez could hardly believe his eyes.
He knew the buck he had just shot was a good one but he had no idea how good.
Then 14, he had been hunting in Pike National Forest along the edge of the Hayman Fire burn area with his father, Steed, of Divide. Time was running out, both on […]

A contract helicopter is used in a Division of Wildlife management study to estimate big game populations.
Deer and elk classification flights are completed in December and January. During this time, biologists and district wildlife managers use helicopters to fly winter ranges and classify, by age and sex, as many deer and elk as possible in […]

Winter losses of elk have not been significant
By Karl Licis
Special to the Hunting Guide
­Projecting an outlook for next fall’s hunting seasons might be as full of pitfalls as predicting the weather.
Fittingly so. The two are inexorably linked, as shown by the progression of western Colorado weather patterns from the opening of last fall’s elk and […]

Winter losses of elk have not been significant
Projecting an outlook for next fall’s hunting seasons might be as full of pitfalls as predicting the weather.
Fittingly so. The two are inexorably linked, as shown by the progression of western Colorado weather patterns from the opening of last fall’s elk and deer seasons to publication of the […]

A tip from a citizen helped the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) solve the case of deer being shot in the Rockrimmon neighborhood in Colorado Springs.
“Based on the information provided by a citizen, we were able to get a confession from a juvenile who admitted shooting deer with a bow and arrow,” said investigating officer […]

As a new natural gas drilling project is set to begin in the Garfield Creek State Wildlife area, officials of the Colorado Division of Wildlife say it is difficult to determine the effects of drilling on wildlife. In one area which has had drilling for about 10 years, the Bosque del Oso Wildlife Area, DOW […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) is continuing to closely monitor winter conditions in northwest Colorado to determine if feeding operations will become necessary for deer, elk, pronghorn and bighorn sheep.

Continuing snowfall has made conditions worse in some areas but biologists aren’t yet calling for a full-scale feeding operation as is occurring in the Gunnison […]

The emergency feeding program by the Colorado Division of Wildlife in the Gunnison Basin is in full operation with feed being distributed to big game animals at more than 60 sites.
The program was started Jan. 13 because of extreme winter conditions in the area. Up to four feet of snow is covering natural food […]

Someone is using a bow and arrows to shoot deer in the Rockrimmon neighborhood in northwest Colorado Springs. In the past two weeks, the Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) has found evidence that at least three deer were shot with arrows in the vicinity of Allegheny and Oak Hills.

“In each case, the deer where […]

Why is the DOW feeding big game animals during the winter?
The Gunnison Basin occasionally experiences extreme winter conditions. The conditions - which affect deer the most - cause food sources to be covered or inaccessible to wildlife. Animals become exhausted while pushing through deep snow and deplete their internal fat stores and energy reserves.
Some winter […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife urges state residents and visitors not to feed deer that are hanging around their yards or property.
“Deer require a very specific diet,” explained Don Masden, a biologist for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. “If they eat the wrong food they’ll just die with a full stomach.”

Deer digest very slowly […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is planning to start emergency feeding operations for big game animals in the Gunnison Basin as soon as possible.
Deer will be targeted primarily because they are most affected by adverse weather conditions. Feed and hay will also be provided to bighorn sheep, pronghorn and elk.

Providing feed to wildlife requires a […]

As it promised last summer, the Colorado Division of Wildlife has worked up a plan to make does more appealing to hunters. As of late October, Ed Dentry reports that 8,884 doe tags remained unsold across a vast tract of northwestern Colorado where the division offered 11,000 doe tags.

There’s nothing wrong with hunting doe deer. […]

The Craig Daily Press is reporting that a hunter sustained a considerable amount of injuries after a deer gored him while hunting hear Hamilton, Colo. — a region about 15 miles southwest of Craig and about 20 miles northeast of Meeker in northwest Colorado.

According to the report, when the man approached the animal, it “jumped […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife reports that the state’s deer herd continues to grow. The DOW is reporting more than 600,000 deer in the state — that’s about 70,000 more deer than the agency counted 10 years ago. And a lot more of those deer are bucks, according to a recent report by Ed Dentry […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is asking hunters for help this season with a research project focusing on mule deer in selected areas of southwest Colorado. Hunters who participate will be entered into a drawing and could win a Weatherby .270 rifle that is being donated by the Mule Deer Foundation.
Big game managers in Gunnison, […]

Deer and elk are thriving throughout southwest Colorado thanks to availability of good habitat, limited license programs and favorable weather conditions. So, big game rifle hunters can look forward to another excellent season this fall.
In the big game units of the southwest region of Colorado, about 25 percent of hunters usually harvest an elk; and […]

Elk, deer quality and quantity expected to be high
By Karl Licis
Anticipation, planning, preparation and a bit of daydreaming often are as much of a big-game hunt as the actual pursuit of deer and elk. With hopes running high as ever, Colorado hunters appear to have a reasonable chance of fulfilling their expectations in the 2007 […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) will be holding a series of three public meetings to discuss changes to deer hunting seasons in southeast Colorado. Specifically, the DOW wants input about whether to offer “whitetail only” deer licenses for the area.
Meeting dates and times are:

La Junta: Sept. 25, 6 p.m. at […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) wants to hear from people who hunt deer in Game Management Units (GMUs) 49, 57, 58, 59, 581, 591 511, and 512.
Public meetings are planned Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at the DOW office in Salida at 7405 Highway 50; and Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. at […]

Areas impacted include GMUs 22 and 32




Working with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, EnCana and Shell have agreed to keep several large privately-owned parcels open for public hunting in the Piceance Creek area in Rio Blanco County near Meeker. The area impacted is mostly around hunting unit 22 and stretches south into unit 32.

The two […]

Colorado Division of Wildlife officials will hold a deer management planning meeting, at 6:30 p.m., Aug. 13, at Memorial Hall in Hotchkiss.
At the meeting DOW big game specialists will talk about plans for managing the deer in game management units 411, 52, 521, 53 and 63. The public is also invited to give comments.
DOW staff […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) will hold public meetings in Sterling, Fort Morgan and Greeley to gather input on deer herd management in the South Platte River Data Analysis Unit, which comprises Game Management Units (GMUs) 91, 92, 94, 96, and 951.
The Division is seeking public input to establish population and herd composition (buck/doe […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) is opening 87,500 acres of private land in the southeast portion of the state for the public to hunt pronghorn and deer through the Big Game Access Pilot Program (BGAP). The program begins with the opening of the archery pronghorn season on August 15.
This is the first year […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) will hold a series of meetings to gather public comments about deer management in the Pikes Peak Region for Game Management Units 511, 512, 59 and 591. Items that will be discussed include herd population objectives, buck to doe ratios, and how hunting license numbers are set. The […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) has announced a new pilot program for the 2007 Big Game hunting season. The new program will be known as the Big Game Access Program (BGAP).
This pilot will focus on deer and pronghorn hunting in southeast Colorado during the regular seasons on private lands. The following […]

By Karl Licis
If hunting seasons were judged in the manner of fine wines, Colorado’s vintage for 2006 might be considered good, not great.
Though hunting success is relative, based on one’s individual experiences and perceptions, preliminary indications suggest elk and deer hunters in the state collectively enjoyed a fairly good but not extraordinary season last year […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) will hold a public meeting in Fort Morgan to gather input on deer herd management in DAU D-5, which is comprised of Game Management Units 87, 88, 89, 90 and 95. The meeting will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday, March 29 in the Founders […]

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is seeking information about a buck deer that was illegally killed off of Weld County Road 18, east of Keenesburg, on the weekend of November 18 and 19, 2006. Investigating officers are following several leads in the case and are seeking assistance from the public.
“Concerned citizens are truly […]

By Gary Martinez
The question arises about how a person can have good elk and deer hunting on a relatively small parcel of private land. Conventional thinking is that you need a large tract of private land or border a large tract of public land in order to have good elk hunting.

My experience is that […]

With plenty of big bucks
[Download Top Colorado Deer Units Chart In PDF For Fall Hunting 2005 By Clicking Here]
By Holger Jensen
After 20 years of ups and downs, the mule deer picture is bright indeed. Although numbers are still down in some parts of Colorado, deer herds are rebounding, fawn survival and buck-doe ratios are rising […]

Tips on sleeper units
By Holger Jensen
Elk hunting in Colorado is a complicated business. There are multiple seasons, some too short for a really serious trophy hunt; multiple game management units, some with ill-defined borders that cannot be crossed with a unit-specific draw license, and multiple hunt codes, up to a dozen or more for some […]

By Holger Jensen
If this year is anything like last year, 2005 will be another year of big bucks. Although deer numbers are still down in some parts of Colorado, the state’s deer herds are stable or rebounding and the number and quality of mature bucks has increased dramatically. While post-hunt figures are still being compiled […]

By Holger Jensen
Elk hunting, as anyone who has ever pursued the wily ungulates knows, is highly weather-dependent. If it’s too hot and dry in the early seasons, the elk stay high, hiding out in black timber on north slopes where they can hear an approaching hunter long before he can spot them. Later seasons may […]

Wild animals with fangs and claws aren’t the only critters people need to respect when they live, work or recreate in wildlife habitat.
In the last month, two Coloradans have been hospitalized after being gored by mule deer bucks. In each case, the panicked bucks had been confronted by pet dogs, triggering a “fight or flight” […]

By Holger Jensen
Colorado deer hunters must resign themselves to the fact that draw hunting is here to stay. Gone are the good old days when you could buy an over-the-counter buck license and hunt anywhere you pleased. Now all buck and doe tags are limited to an annual drawing, confined to specific game management units […]

Archery season opened on Aug. 30, 2003, and two days later, Meeker, Colo., archer Kathie Mense successfully filled her buck tag. Mense practices and is also successful in the archery contests she competes in throughout the year.
“The country where I hunted was mainly sagebrush, making it a difficult place to spot and stalk,” Mense said. […]

With Colorado elk populations at near record numbers and deer herds stable or rebounding in most areas, the 2003 Colorado archery hunt promised to be as good as it gets.
“If you’re an archery elk hunter, Colorado is unbeatable,” said Jim Goodyear, northeast assistant regional manager for the Division of Wildlife (DOW). “No other state […]

Homeowners have discovered items missing from their yards. Tomato cages, hammocks, electric cable, child swings, soccer nets and balls of twine have disappeared without a trace. These are not items that thieves usually target. As several homeowners have discovered, it may be a member of the local deer or elk herd.

Bucks and bulls often rub […]

Unseasonably mild weather through much of Colorado’s big game hunting season has hindered harvest, and therefor lowering the number of animals submitted for CWD testing.
Unseasonably warm, dry weather over much of Colorado this fall has substantially reduced the big-game harvest and the number of animals submitted for testing for chronic wasting disease.

By the end of […]

In 2002, the Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) teamed with federal and state natural resource agencies, conservation groups and landowners to fund over $935,000 of mule deer-related projects, enhancing nearly 7,400 acres of critical mule deer habitat in Colorado.
A portion of the funding came from the sale of a special statewide deer tag offered by the […]

The season types and dates for 2004 are as follows:
Bear
There will be a limited rifle bear season with licenses issued by DAU/GMU. Deer and elk hunters will also be able to purchase an unlimited bear license and hunt bear during their archery, muzzle-loading or regular rifle deer or elk season in the same units […]

As the third big game season came to an end, harvest rates for elk across the state were good, but not quite as high as division biologists would have liked to have seen.
Deer hunters found good numbers of mature buck and good success in most areas.

John Ellenberger, state big game manager for the division, believed […]

Nestled in the mountains of northwest Colorado is a hunter’s paradise known as Buffalo Horn Ranch.
Trophy elk and deer.
Upland birds.
World class facilities.

Buffalo Horn has it all.
The ranch is a full-service, working summer guest ranch and hunting lodge. The ranch features one-on-one guided elk and deer hunts as well as backcountry drop camps hunts, upland game […]

Hunters weren’t as successful in 2001 compared with 2000. Warm weather kept animals scattered and a feeble economy and uncertainty from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks kept many sportspeople home.
Unseasonably mild weather and low hunter participation due to the economic recession led to a weak Colorado elk harvest in the 2001 season. Hunters harvested […]

A few years ago, Kathie Mense received a bow tied up in a bow for Christmas. She has been passionate about archery ever since.
Mense has become one of the best archers in the region, both on the competition circuit and as a hunter.
For Mense, archery is an adventure that involves an endless effort to […]

By Todd Morris
My father, an avid bowhunter, taught me that if you can give the animal you are hunting an equal chance the end result will be something you will cherish for the rest of your life whether you harvest the animal or not. I owe him a big “thank you” for all […]

Nonresident Fee Increase: License fees have increased for non-resident deer, elk, antelope and moose licenses. See sections on each species for new fees.
Unlimited Either-Sex Deer: Unlimited either-sex deer licenses are available in unit 9.
Unlimited Either-Sex Elk: Over-the-counter, either-sex elk licenses are available in northeast plains for specific units.

Chronic Wasting Disease: All deer and elk […]

Hunting is a sport that has been passed down for many generations. Many people think hunting is only about killing an animal but there is so much more to it. The hunt is about sharing a common goal with everyone in the camp, young, old, male or female. It is about sharing knowledge and passing […]

For the rifle combined deer and elk season, all reports received indicate the third big game season went well. The first snowfall of the year has arrived on the back roads and throughout the high country. Chains are required in many areas, but the hunting conditions have been superb. Below are the reports the Division […]

Poudre and Laramie River Areas
General reports show the second season hunting pressure was heavier than the first season this year, but less than last year’s hunting season. Overall harvest numbers seem to be down. Weather has been unseasonably warm and dry with only a few scattered rain and snow showers in the higher elevations. […]