what are the legal requirement to hunt in colorado

LJ Bonham is a semi-subsistence hunter, hunting magazine editor, and firearms enthusiast who lives in the Rocky Mountains.

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Legend has it there are three seasons in Colorado: football, skiing, and elk. Colorado has spectacular, challenging terrain and arable big game animals. The Centennial State is home to mule deer, elk, moose, black carry, pronghorn, big horn sheep, and mountain goats. Which is the best burglarize and cartridge for hunting in this amazing land?

Regulations, Regulations, Regulations

Colorado has minimum caliber, bullet weight, and bullet energy regulations. Big game requires at least a .24 caliber cartridge which generates at least 1000 ft-lbs energy at 100 yards. Minimum bullet weight requirements are 70 grains for antelope, acquit, and deer; and 85 grains for elk and moose. These are the legal minimums, but many experts recommend at least 1200 ft-lbs bear on energy for deer sized animals and 1500 ft-lbs for larger critters.

2 Distinct Worlds In One Land

Colorado is divided well-nigh in half between the eastern plains and the Rocky Mountains. Each area has challenges for hunters and each is all-time suited to certain guns.

The "Flats"

Colorado's population is concentrated along the Forepart Range in an urban belt which runs from the Wyoming line southward to Pueblo. The primary game bachelor outside the Denver-metro complex is pronghorn antelope, although mule deer and some elk are found in rural counties where they eke out a living forth the major water courses which are lined with cottonwood copse and brush.

The eastern plains brainstorm at the Bijou bowl just due east of Denver where they are rolling and interspersed with creeks. As they approach western Kansas and Nebraska, the plains plow flat with petty to break upwards the horizon.

This area demands flat shooting cartridges. Shots are oftentimes taken beyond four hundred yards. Nigh hunters rely on accurate bolt-action rifles, although hunting deer from a tree stand adjacent to a creek lends itself to lever-actions, pumps-actions, or semi-automatics. The exception to bolt-deportment is Browning'due south BAR semi-auto. The BAR's bolt locks up securely to the butt like a bolt-activity which makes it as accurate.

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Best Plains Cartridges

Neither deer nor antelope crave powerful magnums for a clean impale, even at longer ranges, although magnums will extend constructive range further. Here are some recommended non-magnum cartridges for these animals.

• .243 Winchester
• .25-06 Remington
• .260 Remington
• 6.5x55mm Swedish
• vi.5 Creedmoor
• .270 Winchester
• .280 Remington
• .308 Winchester
• .thirty-06 Springfield
• 8mm Mauser (loaded to European specs)

For tree stand work on deer endeavour these:

• .308 Winchester
• .xxx-xxx Winchester
• .348 Winchester
• .45-70 Authorities

If a hunter wants to reach out a flake farther, the small bore magnums are good choices.

• .257 Weatherby
• .270 Weatherby
• All the .30 caliber magnums
• All the short magnums up to .300 WSM

L-R: 9.3x62mm, .30-06, 8mm Mauser, 6.5x55mm, .308. All Adept Colorado Calibers

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The Alpine Country

Colorado's western one-half is dominated by the mighty Rocky Mountains. Colorado has the highest average terrain of any country and its mountains are synonymous with one thing: elk. While mule deer, moose, big horns, mountain goat, and black bear also telephone call the loftier state home, it is the Prince of Stags which draws hunters from around the earth.

Tough Customers

Elk are notorious bullet sponges, able to shrug off even solid hits as though nada had happened. These animals see heavy hunting pressure which makes them paranoid and often semi-nocturnal. They seem to have a built-in four hundred yard buffer zone around them and seldom let anyone to approach closer, although hunters skilled at elk calling can improve their odds.

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A Unique Landscape

The mountains also conspire against hunters. They have footling under growth unlike places such as Montana and Idaho. North facing slopes are dominated past ponderosa pine mixed with aspen groves. In that location is significant space between trees, which makes good sight lines for hunters, but the elk can also see a long way too. South facing slopes, depending on elevation, are dotted with isolated pine clusters set amid a sage castor sea, with aspen along water courses. Once again, swell for spot and stalk hunting tactics, but the elk are wise to this.

Tree line in Colorado is approximately 11,000 feet above sea level. During the early season, or if the autumn snows come up late, elk stay high on the tundra capped peaks and ridges and tin spot hunters far away at which fourth dimension they run downwardly into the opposite drainage never to be seen again.

Typical 400 Yard Shot Across A Gully In The Loftier State

All-time Cartridges For The Loftier Country

Bolt-action rifles rule in the high country, and elk hunting favors difficult hit, flat shooting magnum cartridges such as these:

• .257 Weatherby
• 7mm Remington Magnum
• .28 Nosler
• 7mm Weatherby
• .300 Winchester Magnum
• .300 Weatherby
• .thirty Nosler
• .300 Remington Ultra-Mag
• .300-378 Weatherby
• .338 Winchester Magnum
• .340 Weatherby
• .375 H&H Magnum (loaded with low drag bullets)

For early on season elk hunts in a higher place tree line, a light weight rifle chambered in a short magnum quotient, such as .300 WSM, is recommended. For moose or blackness bear, the elk guns will do just fine, only you can these to the list, too.

• .444 Marlin
• .450 Marlin
• .45-70 Authorities

Fifty-R: .338 Win Mag, .300 Win Mag, .375 H&H. All Great Elk Cartridges

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Big Horn Sheep and Mountain Goat

Colorado'south other iconic animals are the Rocky Mountain big horn sheep and the mountain goat. They are elusive and alive upward high almost year round. If you lot want one, yous'll have to climb, climb, and climb. Then sit in the snowfall and wind for hours while you lot drinking glass twelve to fourteen thou-foot loftier ridges and peaks a mile, or more, away. If you spot them, you're lucky indeed to shut the distance below 500 yards. This is a special chase which requires special equipment.

Here, the light-weight mountain rifle is king. About such guns are congenital on short actions to proceed their length and heft to an absolute minimum. Into this specialist burglarize, you lot'll want to put a circular with a laser-similar trajectory which packs a solid wallop 500, or more, yards downrange. Both sheep and goats are tougher than they await. They volition kick and thrash until they fall off a 2000 foot driblet if they are non anchored with a good, decisive shot. These are the best bets for cartridges.

• .260 Remington
• vi.5 Creedmoor
• 7mm-08 Remington
• .270 WSM
• .300 WSM/.300 Remington SAUM

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Colorado high country sheep hunting: weather that can kill and steep mountains. Oh, and don't bring your full-size truck, this is Jeep country.

Lesser Line

Colorado has no known grizzly bears and a express moose population. Different Alaska, Montana, Idaho, or Wyoming, Colorado hunters demand non conduct a burglarize powerful enough to stop a charge from either animal. If a hunter is pursuing deer and elk, only take the elk gun, it will get the job done on mulies every bit well.

If a hunter is limited to simply one gun, the best overall choice for hunting anywhere in Colorado is a bolt-action chambered in a 30 caliber magnum. Information technology will shoot flat enough for the plains and hitting hard enough for the high country.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the writer's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Questions & Answers

Question: Where does the 7mm WSM fit in for all effectually caliber?

Answer: Same place as 7mm Rem. Mag. A good pick for anywhere and anything in Colorado.

Question: Can I chase pronghorn with an SKS?

Answer: Sure. Use a good bullet such as PPU's soft-point, Nosler Ballistic Tip, Hornady SST, or Sierra Game King and hit 'em in the vitals at a reasonable range.

Question: Is a Marlin .357 Rifle legal in Colorado?

Answer: I suggest you lot consult the Colorado hunting regulations as minimum caliber and free energy rules for big game hunting alter from time to time as engineering science advances.

Question: How much orangish article of clothing do you need when you hunt in Colorado?

Answer: Consult the latest Colorado hunting regulations equally these requirements can change.

© 2017 LJ Bonham

Cubefarmer on January 22, 2018:

300 Winchester magnum

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Source: https://skyaboveus.com/hunting-shooting/Best-Rifle-and-Caliber-for-Hunting-in-Colorado

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