Colorado Hunting

Mule deer, elk, whitetail, grouse

For big game, you need a phd to figure the rules out there,atleast I felt that way after glancing through them.

We slammed the ducks and would kill the occasional goose (they're loaded with geese but we never went after them exclusively). Also rabbits and coyotes all over. For ducks, when only the running water was open, we had some of the best hunts of my life on rivers and creeks.

Man if I can get a job once I graduate in December I'm headed to CO too. (Fingers crossed)

LINK

Start here. I finally got one. A Remington 700 .270 w/ a Vortex 3-9x40 at Academy for around $600.

For an all-around caliber you will get as many different opinions as you like...I think you will do fine with a .300 win mag or a .30-06 or even a .308. Just find something that you like and shoot well. Your first rifle will not be your last.

I second Vortex optics. If you are military you can get a hellacious discount (40%) off vortex. Get a quality set of binos and the best GPS you can afford too.

I would personally not rush into hunting, as it is a whole lot different than what you are used to in the south.

I would start off looking around southeastern Colorado (Lamar, CO area) to find some places to hunt waterfowl and pheasant, as you can do that with your shotgun.

if you find that you want to hunt big game, I would look to get a pronghorn tag in some of the Colorado areas south of Cheyenne, WY, as you can be pretty successful doing that without a guide and a reasonable rifle.

after you mess with all of that for a few years, you may want to graduate to hunting the mountains....you can get in trouble really fast in the mountains and basically need horses and that kind of stuff to do that.

Congratulations, adamsmarcus! You should have a lot of good hunting to look forward to. In addition to the waterfowl, big game and varmint hunting already mentioned, don't forget prairie dog hunting. I've been on two semi-guided pd hunts in extreme SE CO the past 2 years. Call up the Chamber of Commerce in SE CO (there are prolly pd's in other parts of the state as well) to find a willing rancher and head out w/ a 223 rifle for some good fun.

I like both the tikka and Remington, I haven't shot any of the newer 700s though. for a sight I was looking at the Burris Fullfield II 3-9x40 mm. My uncle was recommending some scopes, however, his budget is too much for me. He's telling me Swarovski...far too expensive.

I'm trying to keep the scope under $500