You might nail bigger bulls in Arizona, New Mexico or Utah. But when it comes to sheer numbers, the Centennial State is tops. An estimated 250,000 elk live here. Photo by Brian K. Strickland.

It was a perfect September day. The cloudless blue sky seemed electrifying above the Creator's autumn canvas. The faint whistle of a bugling bull elk only added to the surreal moment.

Kevin LaRose and his 16-year-old son Tim had seen an impressive bull and his harem of cows bed down the previous evening. Now they were hot on his trail.

"There was no doubt it was a really nice bull," said Kevin, who had spotted the bull from a few miles away the night before. "He was definitely out of the ordinary."

Attempting to locate the herd, Kevin let out a single bugle and got an immediate hair-

aising response. After the hunter cut loose with a couple more bugles, the bull came in at a run, fiery-eyed to find the intruder.

Before they knew it, he was a mere 50 yards away heading through an avalanche chute. At 30 yards Kevin let out some seductive cow talk and the bull stopped.

Finding the sweet spot, Tim released his arrow and the echoing Whack! told the rest of the story.

A short time later, they stood slack-jawed over this Western monarch.

Tim's 2006 bull was a monster to say the least. It grossed some 380 inches and will rank as one of Colorado's top archery bulls. This icon didn't fall on some well-managed ranch where hunts start at $7,000. No, the LaRose bull came from some prime public timberline real estate that had an over-the-counter tag, priced at a mere $49.

No question, these are the good old days for Colorado elk hunters -- and I'm sure the LaRose family would agree. Over the past few years, they have collected four public-land bulls, each of which stretched the tape to more than 300 inches.

States like Arizona, New Mexico and Utah consistently produce numerous gagger-sized bulls each fall, but none can hold a candle to the sheer numbers of elk living in Colorado, and its access to vast amounts of public land or the more than 90 game management units (GMUs) that offer visiting hunters the opportunity to head to the local Wally-World and buy a license over the counter.

In these units, your chances of lowering the crosshairs on a 350-inch bull are unlikely. But there are plenty of bulls to choose from, making the Centennial State a must-see for elk enthusiasts when fall rolls around.

In fact, Bruce Watkins -- Colorado Division of Wildlife terrestrial analyst and big-game guru -- said that his state is most definitely "the elk capital of the world."

Annually, some 250,000 elk hunters visit each fall. lthough last year's final harvest numbers have not yet been tallied, by all accounts hunters appear to have done pretty good.

"If everything I've heard from the field is correct," said Watkins, "hunters were pretty close to our 57,000 harvest objective."

Although this is not 2004's record harvest of 63,336, it's still worth talking about, considering that about 25 percent of all hunters left the woods with a truckbed full of succulent elk steaks.

And don't think for a minute that a quarter-million camo-clad hunters make for tight spaces. With 12 national forests and countless Bureau of Land Management parcels, Colorado hunters have access to nearly 25 million acres of public land. And it's on these public stretches of aspen, fir and pine that most of the elk roam.

Colorado hosts more hunters than any other Western state, and there are more elk living there as well. CDOW's latest post-hunt survey estimates that more than 250,000 elk populate the rolling hills and deep canyons scattered across the state.

According to Watkins, the ideal target population is around 210,000, and those numbers can fluctuate depending on the conditions of the different Data Analysis Units.

"In most of the DAUs, elk numbers are above objective," said Watkins. "And the problem with some of them is getting hunters to those more remote areas, which is where a lot of the elk tend to be."

For hunters, this burgeoning elk population is a windfall. More elk equals more harvest opportunity. And because of this surplus of lean protein, the CDOW has decided once again to offer additional cow tags for nearly 100 units.

You can purchase these additional licenses over the counter, by drawing or in the leftover license pool. "These additional cow licenses," said Watkins, "have really had an impact in lowering the overall population, which was what we were after."