GMU 43 GMU 43 — Garfield/Pitkin/Eagle/Gunnison Co.

The headline hunt and a large annual harvest (~485) at general-season success. Elk range from about 7,500 feet to above timberline early, then push into remote roadless country and onto private winter range when snow and hunting pressure build. Hunted on Colorado's general west-slope seasons — an opportunity/general hunt where effort and backcountry access, not preference points, decide it.

• →Hike or pack into the wilderness drainages — Snowmass, Capitol, Avalanche, Conundrum, the upper Frying Pan — and get away from trailhead pressure; the roadless country is where elk hold.
• →Time archery to the September rut when bulls are bugling in the high aspen and timberline basins.
• →In rifle seasons, hunt the timber and travel routes as elk move down and toward private ground ahead of storms — position on the public side of the migration.

Fully limited-draw and a quality hunt in big country, with recent tags filling near 40%. Bucks work the oakbrush and aspen benches, dropping toward lower winter range as the season progresses.

• →Glass the oakbrush-and-aspen mid-elevation benches at first and last light.
• →Later hunts concentrate bucks as they move down off the high country.
• →Cover ground with optics from vantage points — this is spot-and-stalk terrain.

Good black bear numbers in the oakbrush, serviceberry and aspen of the Roaring Fork and Crystal drainages — a solid add-on tag in years with a strong fall food crop.

• →Target Gambel oak and serviceberry slopes when the mast and berries ripen in late summer and early fall.
• →Glass south-facing brush pockets morning and evening for feeding bears.
• →Overlap a bear tag with an archery elk hunt in the same drainages.

The Maroon Bells-Snowmass high country holds genuine Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, hunted on a highly coveted limited-draw sheep tag that can take many years of points to draw.

• →Focus on the alpine cliffs, basins and timberline ridges of the wilderness peaks.
• →This is a fitness-and-glassing hunt at high elevation — scout the specific herds and their summer/fall ranges well in advance.
• →Expect a long preference-point wait; frame it as a once-in-a-lifetime tag.

Mountain goats inhabit the rugged alpine of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass and surrounding peaks, offering a rare and highly limited-draw tag.

• →Glass the highest rock, cliff bands and alpine basins where goats summer and rut.
• →Come in top physical shape — access is on foot into steep, remote wilderness.
• →Scout the specific alpine areas before the hunt; goats are localized.

Moose have established in the Roaring Fork and Frying Pan willow bottoms and high riparian basins, providing a scarce, prized limited-draw opportunity.

• →Hunt the willow-choked creek bottoms and high wet basins where moose feed.
• →Glass early and late along the riparian corridors of the upper drainages.
• →Treat it as a rare draw tag — scout the resident animals ahead of the season.