Sample plan · Colorado · GMU 214 · Saturday, October 10, 2026
Dusky grouse: 6 covers to walk in GMU 214
Each cover below is a patch of the right habitat for dusky grouse at this time of year, on public land, with a legal place to park and the walk from the truck. Tap any coordinate to copy it.
October and November: Dusky grouse move UP for winter. By mid to late October most are in conifer on high ridges, eating needles, and they stay put.
Covers to walk
| # | Cover | Park | Walk | Habitat | Elevation | Land |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.08 mi | 62 acres | 9,780 to 10,360 ft | National Forest | ||
| 2 | 0.16 mi | 62 acres | 9,260 to 9,650 ft | National Forest | ||
| 3 | 0.97 mi | 62 acres | 9,520 to 10,110 ft | National Forest | ||
| 4 | 1.20 mi | 62 acres | 9,330 to 10,060 ft | National Forest | ||
| 5 | 0.94 mi | 62 acres | 9,300 to 10,000 ft | National Forest | ||
| 6 | 1.35 mi | 62 acres | 9,220 to 9,870 ft | National Forest |
Listed best first. The unit holds about 13,254 acres of this habitat; about 11,652 acres are within 2 miles of legal parking. A research-based estimate from land cover and elevation, not a sighting.
How to hunt it
- Walk the habitat around this pin.
- Walk edges where feeding cover meets timber, meadow rims, aspen-to-conifer lines, ridge saddles, berry slopes with timber below. Old logging roads and trails are where birds come for grit and dust.
- Stop often. A pause makes a hidden bird flush. A flushed bird often flies up into a tree and sits.
- Know what is behind a treed or low bird.
- Cool the bird quickly on warm September days.
Season and limits
| Season | Dates | Where | Daily bag | Possession |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dusky grouse season | Sep 1, 2026 to Nov 22, 2026 | west of I-25 | 3 | 9 |
Shooting hours: Half an hour before sunrise to sunset.
From the 2026 Colorado Small Game & Waterfowl brochure (corrections 21 Aug 2026), pages 4, 5, 7 and 10: https://cpw.widen.net/s/bklvf2bjmw/colorado-small-game--waterfowl-brochure, read Oct 2, 2026. Rules change every year: read the current brochure before you hunt.
What you need
- Colorado small game licence
- Colorado Habitat Stamp
- Harvest Information Program (HIP) number for this season
Rules that apply here
- Shotgun (10 gauge or smaller, no slugs, three shells at most), bow or crossbow. A rifle, handgun, air gun or slingshot is also legal for dusky grouse.
- West of I-25 during the regular rifle deer and elk seasons, no centerfire rifle larger than .23 calibre for small game unless you hold an unfilled deer or elk licence for that season.
- Keep one fully feathered wing or the head on each bird until you are home.
- Grouse hunting is prohibited on the Upper Baldy Unit of Garfield Creek State Wildlife Area.
- Orange or pink is not required for small game, but big game seasons are open around you. Wear it.
Do not mistake these
- Greater sage-grouse different season or permit
Much larger, with a long pointed tail and a dark belly, in sagebrush. A dusky grouse has a square dark tail with a pale grey band at the tip. Sage-grouse are open only 12 to 18 September in listed units, with a permit. - Columbian sharp-tailed grouse different season or permit
Smaller and pale, with a short pointed tail that shows white at the sides. Open only 1 to 20 September in ten north-west units, with a permit. - White-tailed ptarmigan different season or permit
Far smaller, with white wings and a white tail, at and above treeline. It needs its own permit. - Gunnison sage-grouse protected: never shoot
A sage-grouse in the Gunnison Basin and south-west Colorado. No season anywhere. Do not shoot any sage-grouse there.
What this plan cannot tell you
- The land cover map does not show berries, and the planner has no measure of this year's feed.
- No study gave a daily timing, a flush distance or a road-avoidance distance for dusky grouse.
- Units beside I-25 are not offered until the line is mapped.
Want one for your bird and your unit?
Tell us the species, the unit and the day. You get the covers, the legal parking and the rules for that hunt.
Check my huntYou must verify before you hunt. Rules change every year. Read the current CPW brochure before you hunt. Do not shoot: Gunnison sage-grouse. They are protected or closed and can be mistaken for the bird or animal you are after. See the look-alikes below. Every place here is on National Forest, BLM or CPW land the planner can show is open to the public. Private land, including Walk-In Access parcels, is not in the planner and is not offered. This plan is a planning aid built from public data and can be wrong. If a sign, fence, gate, order or regulation disagrees with it, the plan is wrong.
Map data (c) OpenStreetMap contributors, openstreetmap.org/copyright. Land status from the U.S. Forest Service, BLM and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Not a legal document.