ASPEN – A portion of Sky Mountain Park will again be open to limited hunting in the fall, but a lottery to choose five participating hunters will take place March 20.
The hunt, for cow elk only, will again take place during the fourth season – Nov. 15-19. To qualify, hunters must have a Colorado hunting license and a tag allowing them to hunt for a cow elk in the fourth season, in Colorado Game Management Unit 43.
Pitkin County Open Space and Trails is conducting its lottery in March so that drawing winners can put in for a fourth-season tag in Unit 43 and be ready to go. Open Space and Trails will check with Colorado Parks and Wildlife in June to make sure the chosen hunters did in fact acquire the proper tag for the hunt.
This year, Open Space and Trails will also draw the names of three alternates – hunters who may get a chance at the Sky Mountain Park hunt if any of the chosen participants backs out before the hunt.
This will be the fourth year a limited hunt has taken place at Sky Mountain Park in an effort to manage the elk population that uses the open space as both winter habitat and a migration corridor. Last fall, three of the five hunters on the property were successful in bringing down a cow elk.
To enter the lottery, prospective hunters must provide their name, mailing address, phone number and date of birth by noon on March 17. Please email the information to janet.urquhart@pitkincounty.com. Only hunters who supply all of the requested information will be entered in the drawing.