finding good land to hunt east of denver can be time consuming, but it can be done, just need to knock on a lot of doors.

I spent two saturdays a few years ago driving around and scored access to two great pieces of property...so it can be done.

another option worth checking out is wyoming, over 50% of the state is BLM and National forest.
and the cool thing is that accoring to wyoming law even if a rancher has a lease on public land they cant keep you off it, yes they can put a fence up...but they have to let you have access to YOUR land.
and the best part is wyoming is infested with varmints of all kinds
anything smaller than a deer is pretty much fair game (a little exagerated, yes, but almost true, call WYO fish and game and they'll rattle off all the stuff you can shoot without a tag...all you need is a hunter safety card)

not so in colorado, however, a leased piece of BLM land can be restricted to public access, which is total bull$hit