aspen,co.bears

[DAVIDKERR]

i have heard there are a lot of black bears around aspen,co. area. how difficult is it to obtain a tag and are the bears on public or mostly private land? my son wants to go bear hunting,he is a resident&i am a non res of colorado. any help i would appreciate/thanks

 

[nmelktrout]

I have been spending a good deal of time on the phone discussing this very topic with a terrestrial biologist for the region as well as a local game warden. Consensus is a VERY healthy bear population with some absolute giant bears in the Aspen, Carbondale and Basalt areas. Should be plenty on national forest lands and I believe a limited number of tags go on sale in August. I would confirm your preferred unit and tag requirements in this year's proclamation.
-Cody

 

[pointingdogsrule]

This was about 8 years ago... Hunted the area near Rifle for archery elk. We saw bears everyday. Back then tags were over-the-counter. Many colors too.

good luck to all
the dog