Meeker area..great place,great people.Better like cold.
Grand Junction..Palisade..OLATHE.Best corn and cherries you ever laid a lip over.
Good hunting either places.
Miss them.

I've lived in the Denver metro area since 1963 and my choices would be pretty much anywhere on the western slope, eg., Pagosa Springs, Durango (a little bit "boulderish"    ), Montrose, Gunnison, Grand Junction, Glenwood, any of NW CO, Walden (you need to make your own work there!), plus a bunch of other points in between.

Your work situation might be the greatest limitation.  If you own and operate firstlite for a living, you can probably go anywhere you please that has a good internet connection.  

I know a lot of people who "lived" in CO.  Everyone says the reason they moved out of CO was no water.  Being on the Island I bet water is a big part of you and your families life.  CO is DRY.

I worked in Denver for a 90 day temporary assignment  towards the end of my career.  I liked it except for the traffic.

Lots of great places to eat. RMSG. Lots of hiking hiking close by.  Grandkids close by. I liked it, a lot.

Ryan, there is a TON of public accessible land located all over the state.  Much of which allows over the counter elk tags.  Of course, if you have time for preference points, a certain few are primo spots, and others here may clue you.  There are currently, I believe, ten big game animals you can hunt in Colorado, however, at least several are pretty much only by drawing and there are folks who have been in the run for near 30 years and haven't drawn.

There are bears and cougars there, which I don't think you likely have on your islands.

Visit Rocky Mountain National(?) Park, just NW of Denver if you can.  Take a day and drive around it.  Pretty awesome stuff.
ChuckC

Thank you for all the great information guys!!! Yes, I'll be visiting and need to start collecting points.

We've also considered Wyoming, in fact Montana and Idaho were on the list too...

We're not 100% set on CO, but we are set on initially moving to one of those States mentioned above.  Just through talking with friends, family and doing some research, CO seemed like a good start for us.

Aloha!
Ryan

Durango, Steamboat, Grand junction, Colo Springs,
Rifle, Glenwood Springs, Salida, Buena Vista, Woodland park.. in no particular order.
We have Mule deer, White tail, elk, rocky mt goats, big horn sheep, bears, lions, moose, and antelope.  Plus rabbits, quail, grouse, turkeys,pheasants, ducks, geese, doves, squirrels, coyotes, fox, bob cats, etc.. hurry up, we need more good people.

oh did I mention that we have about a zillion square miles of public land.  But don't tell any one.

Awesome! Thank you Joe!!!    

I believe you have desert sheep as well Joe, but I hear it is a tough draw for them.
CHuckC

Yeah Chuck, no bears, cougars, snakes...

Snakes may take a while to get accustomed too.    

Eastman's Journals WY, publishes two magazines. Subscribers get the Members Only Section with filing dates, seasons, areas, draw odds, etc. Very detailed, not available in the news stand issue. Covers  western states. Western Hunter and Elk Hunter has good information.