Anyone here hunt upland in Colorado? I saw that they have grouse, ptarmigan and prairie chicken. If I had a little more free time, I'd definitely make a trip. I already have the license from my elk application. Wish I wasn't so busy.

Ptarmigan are way up high and prairie chickens are hunted only on private land.

Heck we have grouse, pheasants, sage grouse, sharptails, and huns up here, chukars too. Even snipe.

That's right. I left off chukars. Are you saying the public land in CO is void of prairie chickens? Wyoming sounds like a prime upland destination. Of course it's twice as far and I don't already have a WY license.

It used to be prairie chickens could only be hunted on private land in the areas that were open. Might have changed, I'll look.

PM sniper John. He has done a few trips. Bring air compressor and plugs

Blue Grouse, aka Dusky Grouse now are easy to hunt once you find the elevation they are on. The will likely be in the same areas your Elk hunting. There is no public land access for Prairie Chicken that I am aware of. I don't think they were even legal when I last went. Most Sharptail are going to be on private land, but I was able to successfully hunt them due to an area that offered a permit to hunt them that was available back then. Ptarmigan are at high elevation. Hike far or access at one of the passes. Sage Grouse far north CO and a very short season now. I think the areas I hunted them is a two day season now. Not all these seasons line up with each other and the habitats vary between them so expect time and travel if you try to hunt them all in one trip like I was doing. My best advice is just go and be mobile. If your not finding birds in an area, pull camp, get in the truck, and move to another area. Talk to locals about what your looking for. Some of my best intel came from across gas pumps. And of course spend some time trout fishing between stops.

Sounds like a dream trip for someone who's retired. Who knows. Maybe I'll talk myself into going this season. We'll see.

I did my trips starting more early in September when most seasons either overlapped or ran back to back with each other . For example right now Sharp Tail and Sage Grouse seasons are already over. But there is always Blue Grouse season. It will run into November and IMO is one of the best eating game birds there is. White meat that tastes better than chicken.
I considered a Sept CO road trip this year, but due to some health issues that needed attention and a wedding in the family I had to give up that idea. I may or may not end up doing an extended Western OK bird trip.

Grew up in CO and have hunted them all including prairie chickens on a friend's ranch in Yuma county,

Sent you a PM with some ideas

Moved back to Texas 2019 after retiring out of Ft Carson in 2012. Prairie chickens can be shot on wal in ground (public) however I only saw them on public ground a very few times . Shot a few on private ground the limit when I left was two a year. Prairie Sharptails are the birds that are illegal to take in Colorado. The state is trying to re establish them near Ft. Morgan. When i left they were also putting chukar in the big Thompson canyon.The better option in my opinion for chickens was western Kansas near Bird City and St. Francis. Nebraska right around Oglallala or Paxton was also pretty darn good on many years. Sharptails also factored in there as well. All three states Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado had generous season dates and pheasants usually shared habitat with the prairie grouse.
Sage grouse as has been pointed out is over already in Colorado. A buddy of mine that's still in Colorado said this year was pretty poor for sage grouse. The short season for sage grouse also used to overlap a season for mountain or Columbian sharptails as well. Used to head out toward Hayden and Craig for them .
We used to try for ptarmigan but getting to where they live can be a pain. Blue grouse were fairly fun and could be had depending on human activities specifically four wheelers and dirt bike access in an area. Those darn things drive the birds away quick. They're easier to get to early in the season . The colder it gets the higher they go. I'll try and post some photos later.

Sage grouse, Columbian sharptails and one wayward blue grouse near Hayden Colorado


Front range blue grouse


Colorado chicken



Kansas chickens

Awesome pics. Living' the dream! I need to win the Lotto so I can have time to travel. Never done Kansas or Nebraska but hopefully some day.

I was, then the wife moved us back to Texas, I started working again to keep up with the cost of living but it was real fun while it lasted. If you need info on Colorado birds I can point you to some good stuff. If I saw a walk in map could even highlight two fields that use to hold chickens and where to get on blue grouse close to the Denver /Springs area. Chicken season runs from Oct thru December. It ain't easy killing them in Colorado takes a lot of boot leather but most wild birds do. Wish there were birds here to be had. Scalies are high on my list of things I want to hunt in Texas. Saw a whole covey run across 190 out near Iran on my way to El Paso for work.

I wish our place north of Van Horn was bigger. I'd invite you to go. For enough room to stretch, I'll likely hunt Eastern NM some this year.