Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting CO land status and access

Hello Colorado hunters, this weekend I'm heading to south CO for scouting trip. I'm planning to get OTC license for my 13yrs son and we are scouting for hunting trip. I have tried to understand access and land status in CO based to maps but I stll wanted to confirm.
1. can my son hunt State Wildlife Area SWA?
2. can my son hunt National Forest
3. in case SWA/NF are in the middle of private land can we use County Roads for accessing through private land?

Thanks
matthunter

Yes you can hunt SWA and NF.You do need habitat Stamp along with your license. In fact you need a Habitat Stamp on SWA land even if you are not hunting. You son does not need one until he is 18.
As long as it is a county owned road ,you can access the public land ,even if it is land locked by private land. However, make sure that road is a county road or NF forest road. The road must border the public land. Make darn sure you know exactly where the boundary is.

Enjoy your trip and have fun! What part of the state are you hunting?

saddlesore is correct and I will add 1 more point. In Colorado its your responsiblity to know where private land is, even if its not marked with signs or fences.

Enjoy!

Thanks! At least in my maps the roads are marked as CR-<number>, so I guess those are safe. I sure don't want to violate private land!
We are scouting units 85 and 851 for OTC elk, also trying some fishing with my son. I just bought 5 days fishing licenses...

matthunter

Nice unit(s). You'll have a good chance in there.

Bring some light rods/tackle, there may be some good brookie fishing.

One other thing to keep in mind is that in CO, the landowner does not have to post his property boundary and it's your responsibility to know if you're on public or private land.

Also, you can be on public land and run into fences for grazing leases, and the fences don't necessarily mean the land behind the fence is private. Forest service or BLM maps can help with public/private land boundaries; the USGS quads don't have that information.

Thanks for all info! I will make sure to get all needed info before going afield. I hope to be back in a week with our own Elk Honey Hole in a pocket:)

Go buy a 2G chip for your Garmin GPS from HuntingGPSmaps.com for the state of Colorado. You will need a Garmin with an "e" in it. I have one for the State of Montana and it is accurate within 2 feet. You will need to check how accurate the GPS is with the digital maps. Find a section of public land with a county road that runs along the section line. At either corner look for a brass cap, once the cap or a survey marker is found place the GPS on the marker and noted the variance. Do not enter public lands at the boundary but a 100 yards in and turn the bread crum trail on. If anyone says anything you have a record of where you have tresspassed.

The Montana maps and GPS's are very accurate, be positive where you are at and do not take any $hit from anyone one.

May I suggest North Lake right off CO 12 it is artificial flies and lures only but it is full of fish (rainbows, cutts, cutbows, brookies and splake) a lot of fun.