Colorado Parks and Wildlife - Monte Vista

02/20/2026

02/20/2026

Due to extreme weather conditions, the office will open at 10am this morning. We hope you stay warm and enjoy the snow!

02/06/2026

Attention all hunters!
Our district wildlife manager William Miedema will be putting on a free hunter's education course at Russell Lakes State Wildlife area on February 28th & March 1st from 8:00am-4:00pm.
This is a standard course, so no internet portion is required.
For more information and to register, please click here:

11/19/2025

***ATTENTION*** Due to the influx of responses, we are closing this opportunity to new applications Friday, November 21st at 12pm and will no longer accept applications past that date.
Thank you to all who have applied so far!

The Monte Vista Office of Colorado Parks and Wildlife is offering an opportunity for hunters to help mitigate game damage conflicts on the Baca and Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuges.
We are offering an antlerless elk hunt on the Baca National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR) and on the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge (MVNWR). MVNWR and BNWR will each have one long hunt period starting the day after the end of the 4th Rifle Season continuing through Feb. 28, 2026. Regular hunting licenses are not valid for these hunts.
Successful applicants will have to purchase a license that is valid for these hunts, obtain an access permit from CPW that provides access to the refuge, and abide by all refuge rules. The permits and license must be picked up at the Monte Vista office within 3 days of being notified that you were drawn.
Due to the volume of interest that these hunts generate, we are restricting the number of applications per person to one for EITHER the MVNWR or the BNWR. We also filter out duplicates prior to the drawing so please do not enter more than one application. You can make changes to your application prior to the drawing if you wish.
Hunters will be given directions and are expected to communicate with CPW in a timely fashion so that as hunters harvest or quit hunting we can pull additional hunter names off the list so that they can participate. Failure to operate as expected will result in your disqualification from these opportunities.
We are accepting applications from 11/19/2025 through 11/26/25. Applicants that apply by 12pm on Friday, November 21st will be put in the initial drawing and all applications received after that date will be added to the waiting list.
The application for the drawing is found at this link: https://forms.gle/6ttTGS2etiKc7kfe6 or by emailing [email protected]

This application is to enter a drawing for various game damage/dispersal hunts available Fall/Winter 2025-2026. This application period for the initial drawing ends at noon on November 21, 2025, this form will continue to accept applications until 5 PM on November 26. Applications received between n...

11/14/2025

UPDATE: The Operation Game Thief board has approved an additional $1,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction in this case.

A Rocky Mountain bighorn ram was illegally shot, killed and left to waste Nov. 11 in Saguache County.

If you have any information that could help solve this case, please reach out to the contacts provided in the link below. You could earn a cash reward and future hunting licenses through Operation Game Thief and the Turn In Poachers program.

Poaching is a serious and costly crime. It robs legitimate sportspeople of game and fish, robs businesses and taxpayers of revenues generated by hunting and fishing, and robs all of us of a valuable natural resource that makes Colorado special: our wildlife.

Breadcrumb Home News Releases CPW seeks tips related to bighorn ram poaching case near Saguache CPW seeks tips related to bighorn ram poaching case near Saguache Southwest Region Share: John Livingston Southwest Region Public Information Officer 970-759-9590 / [email protected] CPW seeks ti...

11/13/2025

We have taken a lot of calls and know there is chatter across our communities regarding the latest Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map released Oct. 22 by CPW. We wanted to address this by providing a deeper explanation of what people are seeing on the map.

CPW issues its Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map each month detailing Hydrology Unit Code (HUC) 10 level watersheds where there has been wolf activity. If a radio collar from a wolf uploads a location within a watershed one time during that month, the entire watershed is lit up on the map regardless of where in the watershed that datapoint was gathered.

A watershed is an area of land where all the water – whether from rain, snowmelt or springs – drains into a common water body, such as a river, lake or ocean. Watersheds vary in size, from small drainage basins for local streams to massive systems such as lakes and oceans.

Given that variability, some watersheds may be small and localized, while others span multiple counties. This is commonly true in the San Luis Valley where the unique geography makes for large watersheds with boundaries that often cover multiple counties when viewed at the HUC 10 level.

That is the case with what we saw on the latest Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map. A lone individual briefly stepped foot in the western-most portion of Rio Grande County in what is named the City of Alamosa-Rio Grande watershed on a HUC 10 map (outlined in blue on the watershed map photo). That watershed spans the entire Rio Grande River from west of Del Norte across Rio Grande, Alamosa, Costilla and even into Conejos County.

While a lone collared gray wolf briefly was present in the western most portion of this watershed in Rio Grande County, there has been no collared wolf activity in the other counties. Additionally, there has been no collared wolf activity in any part of the San Luis Valley since Oct. 23.

CPW will continue to publish a monthly map highlighting wolf movements on the watershed level and our field staff will notify producers when wolves are spending time in an area. CPW also facilitates site assessments both proactively and reactively for operations to ensure plans for the deployment of non-lethal deterrents are in place if needed.

To see the updated collared wolf activity map each month and to learn more, go to: https://cpw.state.co.us/wolf-sightings

09/03/2025

Volunteer Elk Dispersal Project, Sept 2025 to Feb 2025:

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is once again accepting volunteer application requests for the Volunteer Elk Dispersal Project. This project uses volunteers and agency staff to manage elk distribution on the Great Sand Dunes National Park (GRSA) and National Wildlife Refuges in the San Luis Valley.

This is not a hunting opportunity. This project is an intensive elk management effort, not a recreational opportunity. Novices need not apply. Youths under 18 years of age are ineligible.

The qualification has proven to be difficult for even the most seasoned elk hunters. The work is difficult. Volunteers must have well-developed endurance, game care, and marksmanship skills. The following application is merely the first step in a multi-step selection process. Please access the application at the following link. (***READ CAREFULLY***):

https://forms.gle/irDWhC9qwyXeDjeJ8

Qualifying applicants will be invited to a qualification within the next couple of weeks. Qualifications typically occur in the afternoon, starting at 2-3 pm.

Qualification demonstration: https://youtu.be/B_2exv31mJw

This video contains three segments. The first is a detailed explanation of the qualification. In the second, I shoot a live-fire demonstration of the course ...

08/05/2025

A reminder for Baca Wildlife Refuge elk hunters!

REMINDER: Baca Wildlife Refuge Elk Hunters!

All elk hunting seasons on the Baca Wildlife Refuge has become limited. To be entered into the draw, potential hunters must submit a Refuge Access Permit application to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Monte Vista Office via email: [email protected]
Please refer to page 35 of the CPW Big Game Hunting Brochure for details.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife - Monte Vista

07/14/2025

We are now accepting public comment on draft Herd Management Plans for moose in our area. The comment period is open through Aug. 31.

Check out the proposed plans that will guide CPW management of moose populations in southwest Colorado through 2035.

Breadcrumb Home News Releases Moose management plans for CPW's Southwest Region open for public comment Moose management plans for CPW's Southwest Region open for public comment Southwest Region Share: John Livingston Southwest Region Public Information Officer 970-759-9590 / [email protected] ...

06/12/2025

06/09/2025

Checking in with a wildlife rehab success story!

This great-horned owl came to CPW in March and went to our Frisco Creek Wildlife Rehab in Del Norte with a wing injury. It was also quite thin at the time.

The owl just needed cage rest and flight conditioning before being released last Friday near Creede. Watch as it gives us one last look before flying off back into the wild.