gehrke145, years back I hunted several times around Telluride, off Last Dollar road that goes by the airport to the north and east. The Deep Creek drainage is spectacular, and goes into a wilderness area. Some big mulies up there around timber line, and elk too. We hunted the Aldesaro's ranch and the Uncompagre Wilderness Area behind it.
There's a camp ground up Last Dollar road that's at about 10,000 feet elevation, with a Forest Service trail close by that crosses a pass beside Hawn mountain into the wilderness area. Very steep, very tough. I took two elk out of there, one off the south side of Hawn mountain. A lot of development has taken place since I hunted there, though. Tom Cruise reportedly now has a house on the aspen bench where I took my first one, up above the airport overlooking Telluride.
The Aldesaro family sold a bunch of their land for development, and went from struggling sheep ranchers to millionaires almost instantly, like hitting the lottery. They also owned the site where the airport was built, the only flat land anywhere around. That site was taken from them by "eminent domain", so I was glad to see them get rich from the other property.
Some of the most beautiful country on Earth.