Colorado Public Land Types: Where You Can Hunt
National forest, BLM, State Wildlife Areas and State Trust Land each have different hunting rules in Colorado. What each one is and what to check first.
"Public land" on a Colorado map is at least four kinds of land with four sets of rules. A license that is valid in your unit does not make every public acre in it open to you on your dates. This is the part of a first hunt that most often goes wrong, and it is the easiest to get right before you leave home.
The four kinds, side by side
| Land | Who runs it | Open to hunting by default? | What to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| National forest and grassland | U.S. Forest Service | Generally yes, under state seasons | Which roads are open to vehicles, local closure orders |
| BLM land | Bureau of Land Management | Generally yes, under state seasons | Whether there is a legal way in, local closures |
| State Wildlife Area (SWA) | Colorado Parks and Wildlife | Depends on the property | That property's own rules, dates and access requirement |
| State Trust Land (STL) | State Land Board | No, unless CPW leases it | Whether it is on CPW's list, and the dates it is open |
Private land is the fifth kind and the simplest: you need the landowner's permission to enter, even to recover an animal, and in Colorado it does not have to be posted or fenced. [1]
National forest and BLM
These two make up most of the huntable ground in the western half of the state. In 30 of the 185 units they are at least three-quarters of the unit; on much of the eastern plains they are close to nothing. You can see the share for every unit in the public land by unit table.
Hunting on both follows the state's seasons and license rules. What the federal agency controls is how you travel and camp:
- Roads. On a national forest, a road is open to your truck only if the forest's Motor Vehicle Use Map shows it as open, for your kind of vehicle, on that date. [2] See how to read a motor vehicle use map.
- Closures. A forest or BLM field office can close an area by order, for fire, logging, wildlife or road damage. These are posted on the office's own pages.
- Getting in. Owning the land is not the same as being able to reach it. A public section surrounded by private land, with no public road or trail to it, is public ground you may have no legal way to stand on.
State Wildlife Areas
A State Wildlife Area is land CPW owns or manages for wildlife. Colorado lists 312 of them in the layer we read, about a million acres. Each has its own page of rules, and the differences are large:
- Some are not open to hunting at all. CPW's own pages list no hunting opportunities on 52 of them. Many are fishing access points.
- Many need more than a license to enter. The usual requirement, as CPW prints it, is a valid hunting or fishing license or an SWA pass for everyone 16 or older. [3]
- Many restrict what may be hunted, and when. A common pattern on the plains is a property kept for deer hunters on the opening weekend of a deer season. On those days, a rabbit or bird hunter with a valid license cannot hunt it.
- Rules that name a season move every year. "Opening weekend of the regular plains rifle deer season" is a different pair of dates each fall, so last year's memory is not good enough.
Every property's rules, as CPW prints them, are on its own page in the CPW property rules index. Search by name, county or unit.
State Trust Land
State Trust Land belongs to the State Land Board, which leases it to earn money for schools. It is not public land in the everyday sense. Most of it is closed to you.
The exception is the land CPW leases for public hunting and fishing. In the layer we read there are 409 such parcels, about 960,000 acres. Three things set them apart:
- They are seasonal. Most open only for part of the year. The most common rule in CPW's regulations is "Public access is prohibited from March 1 through August 14", and the next most common is "Open for public access from September 1 through May 31". [4] Each parcel has its own dates.
- You need a license to set foot on one. As CPW prints it: everyone age 16 years or older must have a valid hunting or fishing license to access a state trust land. [3]
- A trust parcel that is not on CPW's list is closed. Map apps often shade all state trust land one colour. The colour does not tell you which parcels are leased.
What to check, in order
- Is my license valid in this unit? Your hunt code decides this. Open your unit from the Colorado unit pages.
- Whose land is the spot on? Forest, BLM, SWA, STL or private.
- If it is an SWA or STL, what do its own rules say for my species and my dates? Read the property's page.
- Can I legally get there? A public road or trail that reaches it, open to my vehicle on that date.
- Is there a closure order? Check the forest or BLM office page the week you leave.
What this does not cover
- National parks and most national monuments are closed to hunting. National wildlife refuges, state parks, county open space and city land each have their own rules.
- Colorado's walk-in program opens some private land to small game and bird hunters. It has its own atlas and dates and is not covered here.
- Tribal land is governed by the tribe, not by CPW.
- The counts above come from CPW's property layer and property pages as read in October 2026. CPW adds, drops and changes properties.
FilledTag builds one exact plan for your tag: parking, camp, morning and evening sits, and routes, with every pin checked against public land ownership and road rules, and any CPW property's rules checked against your species and dates. Custom plans are available at https://www.filledtag.com/plans.html.
Sources
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 2026 Colorado Big Game Hunting brochure, Illegal Activities and the most common violations (page 15). https://cpw.state.co.us/big-game-brochure
- USDA Forest Service, White River National Forest, frequently asked questions, Motor Vehicle Use Map. https://www.fs.usda.gov/r02/whiteriver/about-area/faqs
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife, individual State Wildlife Area and State Trust Land pages, access requirements as printed, read October 8, 2026. Each is linked from https://www.filledtag.com/tools/cpw-property-rules/
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife regulations, chapter W-9, Wildlife Properties (2 CCR 406-9), dated July 16, 2026. https://cpw.state.co.us/sites/default/files/dam/hnbhqzkhjb/chapter-w-9--wildlife-properties.pdf
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