Updated Thu Oct 22: the opener weekend now brings 2-4″ of snow above 10,000 ft in the south and central mountains. Details in my comment below.

A quick read based on the data we collate in Glassline.

The forecast

• Wed–Fri: a wet system, rain at hunting elevations. Heaviest in the San Juans (2-4″), moderate in the Central mountains, light everywhere else.
• Fri: cold front west of the Divide, with the week’s strongest wind (gusts 40–60 mph on ridges). The front hits the Front Range early Saturday.
• Opening weekend: cold and mostly clear. Lows in the 20s at 10,000 ft. No snow on the ground anywhere that matters, and nothing coming that will change that.

What it means on the ground

• No snow, so nothing is pushing elk down. The research says pressure moves them more than weather in rifle season until large storms arrive. Roughly a mile from a drivable road inside a big block of timber is where elk have been shown to hold. So plan around roads, not snow.
• Friday is the wind day. Lee slopes and timber are the sheltered ground. Ridgetop glassing in those gusts is going to be miserable and probably not worth it.
• Saturday morning: frost, quiet wet ground, and first sun on east and south faces. Easy walking, good tracking.
• If you’re hunting the San Juans: expect mud on dirt roads by Friday and running creeks after a summer of dry ones.

Roads: some Forest Service roads close for the season on a set date each fall. In the Central mountains, 25 of them (11 road-miles) close Saturday, opening day. Check the dates on your MVUM for the road you’re counting on.

Drought: much better in the southwest and south-central since mid-September after the September rains, better in the northwest and Central, no change in the northern mountains around Grand County, slightly worse on the Front Range.

So: in the south and west, water is less of a draw for elk than it was in September; up north it still is.

Deer: same story, more so. The shrub and pinyon country below 8,000 ft where the deer tags get hunted improved the most in the southwest and south-central, and didn’t improve at all north of I-70.

Sources: NRCS SNOTEL (Oct 19 readings), NWS forecasts and discussions BOU/GJT/PUB (Oct 20), US Drought Monitor (Oct 13), USFS MVUM 2025.

By unit, free, no account: every Colorado unit has a page with its SNOTEL stations, 7-day forecast, roads open on the opener, and CPW harvest numbers. glassline.guide/units

Hi all, I just deployed a website which helps to search through Colorado hunting tags easily. Here is the link: https://coloradotagseer.com

I originally made this for myself, because I was getting frusterated with looking at the reissue list, writing down the tags which match the season, weapon, etc, then comparing to the public land percent to see if I could do a public land hunt, then checking the historical records to see if the tag was worth pursuing, just to inevitably miss it during the reissue each week. I figured other people might have the same problem, so I put a nice UI on it and made it public.

Its currently 100% free to use, has no ads, no sign up, and I tried to make it as user friendly as I could manage.

I attached a recorded demo, but trying it on the website is probably much more fun.

If you get a chance to look at it, please let me know what you think in the comments or PM, whether its something you like, something you hate, or a feature you would like to add. I will try to be extremeley responsive about adding new features, because my goal is to make this as useful as possible for all of you. It is not just a data aggregator, I tried to add genuinly useful new features like locating on the map, and plan to add more. I have put tons of work on this, and have been really passionate about developing it, so if you do get a chance to use it, that is extremely appreciated!

If you want to use the page but have any access issues, please also let me know

Been trying to find good spots to hunt rabbits. I’ve scouted around the southern front range near Buffalo Creek but haven’t seen any or sign of them. Is this the wrong terrain?

What terrain/elevation/national park have people seen rabbits?

I live in Boulder and this is my first season. I’ve been a bit overwhelmed by the massive lists of gear that I see online and I’m not sure what I really need. I’d like to avoid the rabbit hole and just find a store where I can knock everything out in a day. I was thinking Cabela’s Thornton. Does anyone have any recommendations or advice about gear in general?

With several new hunting apps being introduced here recently, as well as all the requests for hunting buddies and/or meetups, it occurred to us mods that real-time communication could be helpful.

So we created a cohunting Discord Server.

Invite link https://discord.gg/F5AsFE79g

Related: Denver is in GMU's 391 and 104 ...

Hey everyone! My name is Remington I’m 30 and I’m in the Fort Collins area and looking to meet some people to go duck hunting with around Fort Collins, Loveland, Windsor, and Wellington. I’ve hunted back in Pennsylvania, but I’m still learning the spots out here in Colorado. I’ve got my own gear and I am working on decoys and would love to find a few hunting buddies to get out with, scout some spots, and enjoy the season. Feel free to reach out! Lately I’ve been getting out early mornings before work.

I hope this doesn't violate any rules. Just wanted to reach out and ask for some good rabbit hunting locations or areas to discover for myself. I'm relatively new to hunting but tried around lake George a couple weeks ago, saw 4 chipmunks in around 12 miles of covering ground. Any tips are appreciated looking to go again in November and December. I know people don't like giving their personal spots and that's understandable

Looking for others that are located in NOCO for waterfowl hunting this year and beyond! I’m still learning as this is my second season but would love to join up with others. I have all of my own gear and such but just looking for people to enjoy the sport with. DM me if interested!

Congratulations! 🎉

Winners:
[u/CasaBonitaDeBlucifer](u/CasaBonitaDeBlucifer): free hunt plan
[u/MichaelThePsycho](u/MichaelThePsycho): free hunt plan
[u/fattastic44](u/fattastic44): free hunt plan
[u/nalevows](u/nalevows): lifetime membership

To claim: DM me, or email [info@filledtag.com](mailto:info@filledtag.com), with your unit, species, season and dates, plus your email. I'll get your plan built. Lifetime membership is tied to your email, so just sign in to the app with it.

For everyone who entered: thank you. As promised, everyone in this thread gets their first paid year free when memberships start. And anyone here can take 25% off a plan with this link, nothing to type:
filledtag.com/?code=COHUNTING

Free Hunting App

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/filledtag-hunt-plans-map/id6821469726

What's new since the first post:
The app is still totally free, offline maps included
Hunt groups: share pins and routes with your buddies on one map

A free draw planner at filledtag.com/apply: put in your points and see where you can actually draw (CO, UT, WY, ID)

The real Android app is almost here, and testers get it first
Thanks again for all the support and testing. This sub is why it exists. Good luck the rest of the season! 🦌

Edit: drawing timeline is closed

Drum roll please...

The FilledTag app is live on the App Store, and it’s a free hunting app. Free to download and use, no ads.

Use it on its own, no plan needed:

• Colorado & Idaho hunting units, land ownership (BLM, forest, state, private) and parcel lines
• Topo and aerial maps, roads and trails
• Drop your own pins, draw routes, record your tracks
• Wind for the next week
• Save maps before you go so it all works with no signal

If you get a FilledTag plan, it drops right into the app: your parking, camp, water and morning and evening seats, with the walks between them, on the same map. (A plan is built for your unit and dates.)

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/filledtag-hunt-plans-map/id6821469726

To celebrate, everybody who comments here gets something:

• 3 commenters picked at random get a free big game hunt plan built for their own tag: any species, any Colorado season, ready in time for 3rd or 4th rifle
• 1 commenter picked at random gets a lifetime membership
• Everyone who comments (all commenters, through Sunday night) gets their first paid year of membership free.

Membership is the map, the app features and plans as we add them. It’s free for everyone this season; your free year counts once it isn’t. The hunters who bought plans first already got lifetime memberships, as a thank-you.

Winners will be drawn at random on Sunday and messaged here. Plan winners will need a Colorado tag for this season; just tell me the unit and dates when I message you. To enter, comment anything at all: your unit, your season, a bad joke. No purchase, no review, nothing else.

Android: this is where I need help. Google won’t let a new developer put an app on the Play Store until 12 people have tested it for 14 days straight. If you’ve got an Android phone:

1. Join the tester group (use the Google account that’s on your phone): https://groups.google.com/g/filledtag-testers
2. As soon as Google approves the test, I’ll send the group the install link. Open it on your phone, tap “Become a tester” and install.
3. Leave it on your phone for two weeks. You don’t have to use it daily, but please share as much feedback as you can. :)

Everyone who sticks it out for two weeks gets their first year paid free too, on top of anything you win above. Nobody in the group can see your email.

If you’re on Android and don’t want to bother, the whole thing already works in Chrome at filledtag.com/map . Save it to your home screen, and it works offline the same way.

Thanks, and good luck this season. Second rifle is a week out.

I want to tan some hides but, once again, I didn’t draw a tag this year. I’d be happy to pay 20 bucks or so (depending on size and quality) for fresh hides. Im willing to drive to pick it up as long as it’s within a few hours or the front range. I can work with it as long as it’s not tattered and/or decomposing. If you bag a dear or elk, throw the hide in your cooler and DM me!

Damn that shit is fun, fried em up when I got home and just had a great experience overall. 5 doves from my Uncles farm over by Jackson Lake/Orchard. This was on Sunday, very very happy! Got to use my Dads Marlin Model 90 over under 12 gauge that his dad passed down to him, almost 65-70 year old shotgun and she still gets the job done!

9,100 feet, near Fraser.

A couple of weeks ago I showed up here with a hunt planner I'd built and asked you to tell me what was wrong with it. You did. One of you checked a plan against ground he's hunted for five seasons. One of you caught a bug this morning that was turning grouse hunters away from units along I-25, and it was fixed by lunch. That's why this thing is any good.

So I want to give back to this sub first, and keep doing it.

Really cool things are coming soon. I can't say what yet, but it's the biggest thing I've built, and it's going to be free. There are a lot of freebies on the way, and this community hears about every one of them before anyone else does.

What's already here, with no catch:
- Small game plans are free. Dusky grouse, cottontail, squirrel, ptarmigan and more.
- The hunting map is free. Units, land ownership, open forest roads, slope.
- For this sub: 25% off any big game plan through this link. https://www.filledtag.com/?code=COHUNTING&utm_source=reddit&utm_content=post-thanks

And one more thing. Second rifle opens the 24th. If you were already thinking about a plan for it, this would be a good week to get one. People who come in early, and tell me how it went on the ground, are going to be looked after in a way the ones who wait won't be… I'll leave it at that for now.

It still promises no elk. It promises a legal, exact place to start.

Thank you for making it better. Tell me what's wrong with it and I'll keep fixing it the same day.

Did a little hiking at Golden Gate Canyon a few weeks ago and saw tons of squirrels all over the trails. Went back today and over about 10 miles of hiking, I saw 1 squirrel run by too fast for me to even pull the gun up. I was in creek beds and good tree cover most of the time. Do the squirrels here know when the season starts or something? Anyone have recommendations for squirrel hunting within an hour of Golden?

It’s my second season trying to hunt dusky/blue grouse in the front range. I work too much and haven’t been able to drive out to better ground (priority for next season for sure.) I’m in the front range near ward.

I’ve read all the posts about where to find them and I’ve done a decent job finding a few and getting a sense of their overall range and habitat here.

I was hoping someone might be willing to comment on the altitude they saw or harvested grouse at this week?

A combo of being newer to this plus weird weather year has me wondering if they’re going up higher earlier because of lack of water and therefore earlier death of food source and lack of berries compared to previous years?

I’ve been in the 9k range this week and didn’t manage to flush or find any. last week I was able to flush 2 around that altitude.

Any tips on how to determine when they move up would be super helpful, that will help me zero in on where I should try to find access.

additionally, I’m curious if anyone else uses a 28 gauge and what their preferred choke is?

Ive been using an IC and it seems a little too tight of a pattern to me, as the grouse I flush seem like 15-25 yards max sometimes even closer (don’t have a dog.) Not sure if I should drop to skeet or a wider choke even? hard call.

thanks in advance to those willing to help.

I’m 28 and live in Colorado Springs. I’m really into upland bird hunting, but I also hunt turkey, deer, elk, and other small game.
Looking to meet some other hunters in the area who’d be interested in getting out together, scouting new spots, bagging some game.
I’m also getting my dogs into bird hunting, so it’d be great to connect with anyone who enjoys hunting with dogs.

Do many people hunt prairie chicken in Eastern Colorado this time of year ? Trying to get my dogs out on some birds before pheasant comes in. Also if you do hunt this early do you encounter any rattlesnakes?

Disclosure: I'm one of the two guys who built this. Mod gave the OK to post.

Some of you may have seen my post in r/elkhunting last month. Same deal here: I'll tell you what it does and doesn't do, and you judge. Lots of guys used it during archery season last month, myself included, and we've made a ton of improvements based on the feedback.

The short version: Glassline builds a hunt plan for a Colorado unit in minutes instead of the ~40 hours it takes by hand - habitat score, hunt areas worth considering, camp options with drive times, and a playbook of terrain-based plays with the logistics calculated (access, hike times, packout math). 20+ inputs personalize it to your fitness, weapon, tactics, party, and dates, so two people with the same tag get different plans. You refine everything; it's a draft set of options, not a step-by-step guide. Lots more information, screenshots, etc. available at https://glassline.guide

New since last month, and the part I'd actually point rifle hunters at this week:

The glassing explorer is free — set up an account, no payment details. Pick any Colorado unit, tap a glassing spot, and see its viewshed - what ground you can glass from there, with timber accounted for. Take it a step further with the Stand here feature and it brings up a first-person view with simulated glass. Glassing spots are already marked on the mountain and off the road, and you can add your own anywhere. If you do nothing else, kick the tires on that - it's cool: https://glassline.guide/signup

Terrain layers for picking apart a unit: a LiDAR relief basemap plus slope angle, aspect, landform, and vegetation type — the stuff you'd normally squint at across three different tools — also free. On the phone, maps and layers download for offline use where there's no signal (offline maps is a paid feature). Paid members also get a sun & shade layer (web) to see what the sun hits during the day and a terrain filter with presets like gentle north-facing timber and off-the-road benches.

Hunt mode, for when you're actually out there: make a plan for the next morning and the wake alarm works backward from first light at your first stop — wake up, drive time, hike time, first light — so the math is done the night before and your alarm is set with one tap. Route and estimate new drives and hikes offline. If you have an elk down, mark it and it estimates the packout - distance, hours, trips - and routes the way out for you, with a meat care clock. All of this works offline (again, offline is a paid feature).

Fair chase matters a lot to us. Our app has no live animal locations, no sighting reports, no movement predictions. And no maps of hunters: no shared spots, no community pins, no trending areas, ever. Full stance: https://glassline.guide/fair-chase . The app doesn't find elk for you - it helps you walk into the field with confidence.

Where to get it: full web app at https://app.glassline.guide, Android on the Play Store, iPhone through our public TestFlight beta (you'll see a link after signup - App Store approval pending).

Membership is $39.99/yr for the first 500 founding members, locked as long as your subscription stays active; $59.99 after. The free tier is real, though — viewshed & stand here, an actual hunt plan with the top scored hunt areas and plays, lots of free map layers, hunt mode on the phone — so you can try and judge for yourself.

Ask me anything. Rifle season's close, so I'll be answering fast this week.

Hi everyone! I am writing an editorial article for my college English class on Amendment 83. We need to conduct our own research for our papers, so I have made a Google Forms survey with some brief questions about the initiative. If you have the time, I would greatly appreciate your responses! The link is posted below. Thank you so much in advance!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeOdSRvh7Rd2URL8zuMIcVJkisEHNhfMRZcL2z05YzROKGZcA/viewform?usp=header

This is the area I’m looking at trying this month for my first ever elk hunt. I’ve read it can be crowded so is there any surrounding areas maybe close to but outside the wilderness area that it worth looking at as well?

I’ve been putting in for this tag since 2020. Went pronghorn hunting once in a leftover tag season in 2022 and gained a healthy respect for just how hard it is to close the distance on this guys, when it’s so easy to find them. He’s not a monster but excited to get him on the table and try my first pronghorn.

Thank you all for the feedback on the elk and deer plans. Some of you went through every pin and told me what was right and what was off on ground you know, and that's exactly what I needed. One of you caught a water source the plan should have used, and I'm fixing it because of that.

Same deal again, this time for small game: the first 75 small game plans are free.

Grouse, ducks, doves, rabbits, squirrels, pheasant, quail and the rest of Colorado's small game. Pick your species, your unit and the day you're hunting. You get the patches of the right habitat for that date on public land in your unit, each with a legal place to park and the walk in from the truck, plus the season rules and bag limits.

It takes about a minute, and there's no card and no catch. All I ask is that you tell me afterwards what matched the ground and what didn't.

https://www.filledtag.com/?utm_source=reddit&utm_content=cohunting-smallgame#signup

What it won't do: it doesn't know where birds are today and it can't promise you a limit. It's public land only, so no private or Walk-In Access parcels.

Happy to answer questions here.

Hello there fellow hunters, I recently moved to COS area and want to get into hunting. I’ve done a hunter safety class and recently got my first hunting rifle and shotgun. I have a doe hunting tag for the 2nd rifle season. I also have a small game and waterfowl license.
Since this is my first time ever, I’m hoping to perhaps find someone who’d be willing to mentor. Please feel free to DM me if you’d be willing. Thank you in advance.