Colorado: OTC Bull Elk Licenses No Longer Available

Is this the beginning of the end for OTC bull elk tags in Colorado? 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has announced Over-the-Counter (OTC) bull elk licenses will no longer be available in the northern Gunnison Basin. 

Years of discussion surrounding over-the-counter versus limited hunting in the Gunnison area culminated in a recent regulation change specific to bull elk hunting in the northern Gunnison Basin.

At the Parks and Wildlife Commission (PWC) Meeting held Jan. 14-15 the commission approved CPW’s staff recommendation to eliminate OTC hunting licenses for bull elk that had previously been available during the second and third rifle seasons in Game Management Units (GMUs) 54, 55 and 551 in the northern Gunnison Basin.

This management shift now aligns with GMUs 66 and 67 in the southern Gunnison Basin, which were converted to totally limited for elk licenses in 1999. The entire Gunnison Basin is now completely limited across all hunt codes, and hunters will need to plan on applying for elk licenses in these GMUs through the annual draw process. These changes are reflected in the new 2026 Colorado Big Game Brochure which is arriving in everyone’s mail-boxes this week. For the 2026 hunting seasons, draw applications are due by 8 p.m. on April 7.

The potential for statewide elk license limitations was one of the primary topics of discussion during the public comment period leading up to the adoption of the 2025-29 Big Game Season Structure (BGSS). While the PWC ultimately did not adopt a BGSS framework to limit second and third rifle season licenses for elk statewide, limitations were advocated for by members of the Gunnison Basin community during public meetings and throughout the BGSS public comment process.

This topic of limiting OTC elk licenses in order to reduce serious overcrowding has been a hot topic for many years. Last year at this time CPW approved a change restricting OTC archery elk licenses to Colorado residents-only west of I-25 and in GMU 140. This decision was an attempt to begin to resolve overcrowding during seasons with OTC tags. CPW was aware that simply eliminating nonresident OTC archery tags would not be enough to “solve” the overcrowding problem; therefore, going forward they will also consider OTC resident archery tags and all OTC bull elk rifle tags. This new change to eliminate OTC hunting licenses for bull elk during the second and third rifle seasons in GMUs 54, 55 and 551 is a step towards reducing overcrowding in these units. 

If you have ever hunted during one of the OTC seasons you know the sea-of-orange that blankets the landscape as thousands of hunters take to the field is disheartening and downright dangerous. Overcrowding during OTC seasons is most definitely real, and CPW has begun to address it. Will it end with the elimination of all bull elk OTC licenses, or maybe just the elimination of nonresident OTC tags? At present, it is difficult to assess, given that certain budgetary considerations must also be resolved prior to eliminating any OTC licenses. 

One thing for sure though, overcrowding is getting out of control and the dam is about to burst. This has become an extreme issue that may take extreme measures to resolve.