CPW Opens Bison Roster for Potential Special Management Hunts

[Winchester]

FYI...
In November, 2025 the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission unanimously approved regulations giving bison a dual legal classification as both livestock and wildlife in Colorado, following the direction of the 2025 Protect Wild Bison Act (SB25-053).

Under the new regulations, privately owned and fenced bison herds will continue to be managed as livestock through the Colorado Department of Agriculture. However, free-ranging bison that naturally enter the state from neighboring jurisdictions will now be managed as wildlife, beginning Jan. 1, 2026, and specifically as a big-game species under CPW’s authority.

Colorado currently has no confirmed wild bison herds, though animals from Utah’s Book Cliffs herd occasionally cross into the state. Classifying wild bison as wildlife when they enter Colorado protects them by allowing CPW to prevent their harvest without a proper hunting license.

Back in November, CPW did not propose regular bison hunting seasons; however, they began developing a registration process for interested hunters to join a management roster, which could be used if needed to manage a free-ranging herd.

Today, CPW has begun accepting hunter registrations for this ”Bison Roster”, a list that may be used if special management licenses are needed on a case-by-case basis for time-sensitive management needs, such as preventing property or agricultural damage from free-roaming wild bison that travel into Colorado.
Hunters interested in the chance to receive one of these special licenses may sign up for the bison roster for calendar year 2026.

How the bison roster works
If CPW determines that management action is necessary, hunters will be selected through a random drawing from the roster. If a hunter’s name is drawn and they accept the license, they will have one week from the time the license is issued to harvest a bison. At this time, no regular bison hunting seasons are planned.
Sign up for the bison roster

• Sign-up period: Jan. 1-31, 2026
• Where to sign up: Online through the CPW website
• Limit: One sign-up per individual
• Account required: Hunters must create a unique login and password.

Notification and acceptance
If a drawing is conducted, successful applicants will be notified by phone and email. Hunters will have 24 hours to respond and accept the license.
License terms and requirements
Because these licenses address time-sensitive management needs:

• Hunters will have 24 hours to pick up the license after it is issued.
• Hunters will have one week to harvest a bison from the time they pick up the license.

For more information about bison management and SB25-053, visit CPW’s Rules and Regulations page.

 

[JimP]

Back when Utah introduced the bison to the Book Cliffs I talked to one of the biologiest and he told me that they had approached Colorado's CP&W at the time to see if they would be interested in working with them and the reintroduction. CP&W turned them down flat telling Utah that they had no desire to work with them on the reintroduction.

Less than a year after Utah reintroduced them there were reports of bison crossing into Colorado. At first is was across the southern boarder of the Book Cliffs just north of I-70 and there were a number of reports of them well inside of Colorado. As the herd grew in Utah the bison began to move further east, the first reintroduction was along Steer Ridge and Moon Ridge almost due north of the small town of Thompson that sits along I-70. As the years went along most of the bison that were shot in Colorado were south of the town of Rangley along the Utah boarder.

I don't expect to see Colorado issue any bison "control" tags anytime in the near or even distant future. CP&W just isn't interested in them.

For some information, Utah has two genetically pure bison herds that can be hunted through their draw system. The Henry Mountain herd and the one in the Book Cliffs. They also have a herd on Antelope Island on the east side of the Great Salt Lake. While the Henry Mountain herd has pure bison genes there will be a question on the Book Cliffs herd since they may cross with the herd that the Ute Nation maintains. I don't know of just how pure that herd is.

Utah also has a over the counter bison tag that depends on the bison that migrate across the Green River from the Ute Nation. There was a lot of problems with this herd a number of years ago when they crossed the Green River and the Ute Nation herded them back using helicopters as the hunt was happening on the Utah side of the Green River. Since then they were required to build bison "proof" fences to keep the bison on Tribal Lands.