GIG-welcome to the site. I am a dental student at the University of Colorado health and sciences center. where are you a med resident? My first hunt was up in NW colorado. Some colleagues and I drove up the evening before the opening day of Elk, and we just got lucky opening morning, shot one, cleaned it, packed it out and were home before sunrise sunday morning. It made for a very long day, I will not do it like that again, but I can attest that it can be done. I did do a couple of scouting trips starting about a few months before. I recommend also the Colorado Big Game CDROM. You can get it at the DOW office or buy it online. Good luck.

There are areas in the Mt. Evans Wilderness that you can get to, hunt, and get home to Denver within a day. Also, some areas West of Boulder where that would work. Probably some South of town, too, like West of Castle Rock or Monument, but I've never hunted in those places.

You need to hurry, because applications for limited draw hunts have to be in to the DOW in April. Check here for information... http://wildlife.state.co.us/