Colorado Rifle Elk Hunting

Rifle Hunting and Guide Options

Join AEI Outfitter for an amazing adventure! We are prepared to hike you deep into wild elk country or to set you up in established stand sites. Our guides will ensure you a first class hunt and we promise to work as hard to give you the best opportunity at success. If you are fortunate to harvest an animal, your guide, along with AEI Outfitter staff, will field dress and pack your animal out for you. Food, lodging and pack outs are included with all AEI Outfitter base camp hunting packages. Gunnison offers quality meat processing and taxidermy services to get your trophy ready for travel.

CURRENTLY, AEI is only offering rifle elk hunts during the 1st rifle season. NON-RESIDENTS WANTING TO HUNT 1ST RIFLE WILL NOW NEED 3 PREFERENCE POINTS TO DRAW. In the winter of 2023/24, CPW changed tag allocations to give more tags and preference to Colorado residents, consequently, non-residents only receive 25% of limited license allocations.

Fully-Guided Rifle Elk Hunt
Our fully-guided elk hunts gives you the opportunity to hunt 1-on-2 or 1-on-1 with an experienced Colorado elk guide. This hunt package is our most successful option and offers the best opportunity for harvesting big game animals. This hunt takes place on nearly 360,000 acres of surrounding Gunnison National Forest and the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness.

Private Land-Stand Elk Hunt
The private land, stand hunt allows you to hunt on established stands and blinds on both private (~2,000 acres) lands. This is a stand-hunt only, but we provide transportation to and from stand locations each hunt and suggest hunt locations throughout the week based on elk movements and sightings.

Semi-Guided Rifle Elk Hunt
For more experienced hunters, the semi-guided hunt is another hunt option with AEI. We will look over maps with you daily, helping you come up with a game plan and strategy. Though physically, this is not a guided hunt, we help you as much as possible to find the elk and give advice on how to hunt certain areas. This hunt takes place on nearly 360,000 acres of surrounding Gunnison National Forest and the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness.

* All of our hunting options include food, lodging and pack-out services!

*Rifle Elk Tags in CO GMU 55 are by drawing only. Non-residents need at least 4 elk preference points (47% chance) to draw a tag in our area and 5 points should get you the tag according to previous year's statistics.  While residents can draw with 0 points (23%) but likely need 1 point to draw the tag. You must submit a drawing application before the deadline in early April of each year. Applications for tags are available at the beginning of March each year through the CPW website. See below for more information.

Application & Licenses

First Season Rifle Licenses are available by drawing only. The drawing deadline is the first Tuesday of April each year and licenses go on sale online in August.

CO Preference Point Minimums to draw a Unit 55 1st Rifle Bull Elk Tag:

Resident 1st Rifle Bull Tag - 0 points (69%) (1 points drew a tag previous year)

Non-Resident 1st Rifle Bull Tag - 3 points (47%) (4 points drew a tag previous year)

Hunt Codes for GMU 55 Rifle Elk Hunts: 

Bull Tag (1st Rifle): E-M-055-O1-R

Cow Tag (1st Rifle): E-F-055-O1-R

Reservation

To make a hunt reservation, you will need to fill out a registration form and we require a deposit of 1/2 the total hunt or $1,000 depending on your preference point situation. The second payment is due by June 15 and final payment is due 30 days prior to the start of your hunt. The deposit is non-refundable unless extraneous circumstances are approved by outfitter and if you do not draw your desired tag, you may roll over your deposit to a future year.

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