Colorado: Big Changes Coming!

PHOTO CREDIT: Mike Eastman

During its Jan. 8-9, 2025, meeting, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission heard and approved proposed changes to regulations as follows. 

Wolf Citizen Petition

A group of 26 ranching and farming groups filed a petition for rulemaking which would prevent the Division from reintroducing additional wolves indefinitely until further study is conducted as outlined in their petition. The Commissioners DENIED this petition stating the seven conditions raised in the petition are already being addressed, and reintroducing additional wolves is critical to achieving a stable wolf population and may reduce the rate of wolf-livestock conflict. 

This petition never had a chance.

 

All final regulations go into effect on March 2, 2025.

2025-2029 Big Game Season Structure (BGGS)

The Commission finalized regulations including the 2025-2029 Big Game Season Structure which you can read at the link. In summary, it includes:

Changes to implement the 2025-2029 Big Game Season Structure policy changes. This includes Season Dates.  Here’s a summary of the dates for this fall:

2025 Season Dates
ARCHERY
Deer/elk (west of I-25 and Unit 140)	September 2 – 30
Plains deer (east of I-25, except Unit 140)	October 1 – 24
	November 5 – 30
	December 15 – 31
Moose	September 6 – 30
Pronghorn	Aug 15 – Sept 20
MUZZLELOADER
Deer, Elk & Moose	September 13-21
Plains Deer (East I-25, except Unit 140)	October 11-19
Pronghorn	September 21 -29
ANY WEAPON
Elk-Limited (1st Season)	October 15 – 19
Deer/Elk Combined (2nd Season)	Oct 25 – Nov 2
Deer/Elk Combined (3rd Season)	November 8 – 16
Deer/Elk Combined Limited (4th Season)	November 19 – 23
Deer – Plains, Early (East of I-25, except Unit 140)	Oct 25 – Nov 4
Deer – Plains, Late (East of I-25, except Unit 140)	December 1 – 14
Moose	October 1 – 14
Pronghorn – First Season	October 4 – 12
Pronghorn – Optional Second Season	October 18 – 26
Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat	Varies by Unit/Weapon
Check the regulation brochures for more specifics and variations.

 

Annual Bag Limits and Maximum Numbers of Licenses per Person

During this discussion the Commissioners finalized Annual Bag Limits and Maximum Numbers of Licenses per Person and the details can be seen at this link (changes are highlighted in red). The charts at the link show Unit Names, Hunt Code, Season Dates, Sex, and License Numbers for all species listed below. 

• Annual changes to season dates, limited license areas, and manner of take provisions for deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, moose, and bear (statewide).
• Annual changes to season dates, limited license areas, and quotas and manner of take provisions for bighorn sheep and mountain goat (statewide).

 

Other Key items include:

• A modification restricting Over-the-Counter (OTC) archery elk licenses to residents only west of I-25 and in GMU 140. 
• Removes the ability to take coyotes by a hunter with an unfilled big game license (Note: However, you can still hunt coyotes with a small-game license, which is a qualifying license for the primary and/or secondary big-game draw.)
• Adds a bighorn sheep ram hunt in S80
• Adds a bighorn sheep ewe hunt in S22
• Adds a first rifle antlered deer season in data analysis unit D-3
• Modifying the Elk Ranching for Wildlife Program
• Adds a private-land-only either-sex elk archery hunt code in data analysis unit E-10
• Adds private-land-only archery hunt codes for limited archery elk data analysis units where over-the-counter archery license are valid on private land
• Modifies the list B antlerless elk licenses to be list A licenses in the northwest elk data analysis units below population objective
• Adds a local  drawing limiting elk hunt participation in the Baca National Wildlife Refuge
• Adds a pronghorn second rifle hunt codes in data analysis unit PH-1 (GMUs 87 and 88)
• Adds wilderness only moose hunt code in data analysis unit M-2

 

The following changes will not take effect until the 2028 Draw

1. Deer, Elk, Bear, Pronghorn and Turkey- Primary Draw

• 50/50 split draw, with preference point and bonus splits. The quota for each hunt code will be divided 50/50, with half of the quota going to a preference point draw, and half going to a bonus draw.
• 75/25 across the board allocation with a soft cap. No more than 50% of the residency cap will be applied to the preference point split of the draw.
• Allocation rules apply to the first and second choices.
• Preference points are only gained and used on the first choice. No change.
• A new $15 resident and $30 nonresident preference point fee will be changed for each species, with the option to opt-out and not receive a point.

 

2. Deer, Elk, Bear and Pronghorn- Secondary Draw

• 100% random draw with 100% youth preference
• No allocation rules
• No preference points are gained or used.

 

3. Moose, RM Bighorn Sheep, and Mountain Goat- Primary Draw

• 100% bonus draw
• 90/10 hard cap allocation, with residency-specified quota by hunt code.
• Preference points are only gained and used on the first choice. $50/$100 preference point fee remains in place, with the option to opt-out. No Change.
• No more weighted points, conversion to all normal preference points.
• Once-in-a-lifetime harvest for bull moose, bighorn sheep rams and all goats (except those harvested on a nanny-only goat license, special management license, private land bighorn sheep access program or auction and raffle license). Wait 5 years after harvest to apply for points or a license for a female.
• Waiting periods-3 point threshold to initially draw a male license. No change.
• Group applications allowed for all species but restricted to two members that share the same residency.

 

4. Desert Bighorn Sheep- Primary Draw

• 100% random draw. No change.
• 90/10 hard cap allocation, with residency-specified quota by hunt code.
• No preference points.
• Once-in-a lifetime harvest.
• Group applications allowed for all species but restricted to two members that share the same residency.

 

5. Auto Reissue

Up to two weeks prior to the start of the season:

• Auto-reissue to the next eligible applicant in the draw order by residency and if they opted-in. Opt-in by hunt code. This process is used for all licenses returned or surrendered up to 2 weeks before the start of the season.
• Licenses auto-reissued from a first-choice primary draw application, will use points.

 

Two weeks or less prior to the start of the season:

• Deer, elk, bear, pronghorn and turkey licenses are put on the weekly leftover list and do not require points.
• Sheep, Goat and Moose licenses are manually reissued and require points. The customer must approve the manual reissue.

 

Fail to Pay 

• License gets returned and auto-reissued. Points get reinstated to the pre- draw level.

 

6. Preference Points for Deer, Elk, Bear, Pronghorn & Turkey

Obtaining Points – Preference Points are species-specific. With the exception

of turkey, only one point per species can be accrued per draw year. For turkey,

a point can be accrued per draw application season (spring and fall), so a

maximum of two per draw year.

• Points are accrued in two ways. 

1) By purchasing a point during the Primary Draw application period, or 

2) if unsuccessful in drawing a first-choice license during the Primary Draw.

• Preference points are only gained and used on the first choice.
• The first-choice preference point only hunt code (x-x-999-99-x) for each species is

eliminated.

Point Fees

• Residents will be charged a $15 fee and nonresidents a $30 fee to receive a

preference point for deer, elk, bear, pronghorn, or turkey (per species).

Applicants can select to opt-out of paying the preference point fee if

unsuccessful, but they will not gain a preference point for that species for

that year.

7. Preference Points for Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Mountain Goat, & Moose

Obtaining Points – Preference Points are species specific. Only one point per

species can be accrued per draw year.

• Points are accrued in two ways. 

1) By purchasing a point during the Primary Draw application period, or 

2) if unsuccessful in drawing a first-choice license during the Primary Draw.

• $50/$100 preference point fee remains in place, with the option to opt-out.
• 90/10 hard cap allocation, with residency-specified quota by hunt code.
• The first-choice preference point only hunt code (x-x-999-99-x) for each species is

eliminated.

Points are Points

• The differentiation between preference points and weighted preference

points are eliminated. All points are considered normal preference points

moving forward. All preexisting weighted preference points are added to

the number of preexisting preference points for that species to get the

updated point value for each customer.