• Elk hunting is highly regulated in Coloradoelk image by Brett Bouwer from Fotolia.com
  
  Colorado's mountainous and forested terrain is home to the country's largest elk population, estimated to have been 292,000 in 2009, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Every fall, during the highly-regulated hunting season, archers and rifleman from around the world travel to the state in hopes of tracking down one of the antlered beasts. But before setting off into the wilderness, Colorado requires prospective hunters to undergo training, get a license and become familiar with a long list of rules and prohibitions enforced by state wildlife officials.
  
  

Training and Licensing

• Hunters born in 1949 or later must complete a state-approved hunter or bowhunter education course before applying for an elk hunting license. Each license allows hunting in one of the state's 185 designated hunting areas, called Game Management Units, or GMUs. Elk hunting licenses are also specific to elk gender, possession of antlers, time period and hunting method--hand-held bows, muzzleloading rifles, or centerfire rifles. Elk hunting seasons occur in October and November. The deadline for elk-hunting applications is April 1. The state conducts a drawing for some licenses, with preference given to applicants who were unsuccessful in prior years. The draw is usually held in June. Some elk-hunting licenses are available over-the-counter, or without a draw.
  
  

Guides

• Dozens of guides and outfitters offer expert-led hunting trips in Colorado. The guides must be registered, bonded and insured in Colorado. They also need permits to operate on public land and must register with the Office of Outfitter Registration.
  
  

Hunting Methods

• State rules require hunting rifles for elk to be at least .24 caliber and bullets to be expanding and weigh at least 85 grains. Muzzleloading rifles--permissible only in a designated period--must be at least .50 caliber and use bullets that weigh at least 210 grains. There are also minimum standards for held-held bows, shotguns, handguns and crossbows. Automatic rifles are prohibited. Hunting is limited to 1/2 hour before sunrise and 1/2 hour after sunset.
  
  

Prohibitions

• Colorado prohibits the following while hunting elk: carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun in a vehicle; using aircraft to hunt; being under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances; using artificial light, dogs, bait, poison, drugs, or explosives as an aid or to harass animals; failing to attempt to track and kill an animal that you have wounded; abandoning killed big game; not wearing 500 square feet of solid daylight fluorescent orange in an above-the-waist garment and hunting on private land without the landowner's consent.
  
  

After Harvest

• Hunters must attach a carcass tag to a killed elk. Tags must stay on until the meat is processed and consumed. It is illegal to transport or have the carcass of an elk, or other big game, without evidence of the animal's sex naturally attached. Such evidence includes the head or sex organs. Shipped carcasses or processed meat must be accompanied by a hunting license, a photocopy of the license, a donation certificate or a carcass tag.