Colorado Big Game Draw open today!

Bonecollector

Veteran member
Mar 9, 2014
5,862
3,667
Ohio
If anything NR hunters get the bad deal in certain situations....."Units with low numbers of available licenses may not have any remaining for Non residents after resident licenses are drawn" Terrible terrible Colorado for prioritizing residents.
Once the money starts to get tight again, they will either increase tags (which I think won't help at that point) or transfer more tags from the resident hunter to the Non Resident Hunter. "Quality vs Quantity" sales pitch to generate $$...
Just an early morning thought off the cuff to generate some banter. :eek:
 
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mcseal2

Veteran member
Mar 1, 2011
1,171
195
midwest
I'm still trying to decide if and where to burn my 5 NR deer points. I have some ideas and got some good suggestions from some of you but I'm letting a little more winter play out before I decide. Past that I'll do points for elk, moose, and antelope. If I decide to hold off on deer I'll get a point there and probably hunt WY deer in an area I've hunted before. Its a crowded hunt but last time we found a way to let the orange army push deer to us that might be repeatable.

Next year my big trip will be AK caribou and the following year I should draw the WY elk tag I thought I'd get this year, so I'm looking at 2021 to burn my deer points if I don't use them this year. By then I'll have more points but I bet point creep will have me looking at the same hunts.
 

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
3,967
3,304
As a prior non-resident OTC archery hunter I'll be honest, I shot the first elk I had a shot at in 2002. It was a cow....a really big one (looked like a draft horse...)....and it tasted like a pine-cone...and there were literally bulls bugling everywhere all week long...it was like Narnia in that unit.......Regretted shooting that cow ever since. ha!

Too bad the unit went to crap and is overrun with OTC archery hunters now ( I dont know what draws them to that unit). I'm glad I got to experience it when it was good. I wish everyone got to experience what I saw in that two week period.

I may kill a cow elk again, but it will be later in life.
 

Montana

Veteran member
Nov 3, 2011
1,103
399
Bitterroot Valley, MT.
Colorado general question. If you have say 6 points does it do you any good to apply for a unit that requires 10 pets? Some states will have say 80% of the tags go to top point holders and then the remaining tags go as random draw. Thanks in advance.
One more. Do you have to buy a small game license for points only?



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Alabama

Veteran member
Feb 18, 2013
1,395
191
Sweet Home Alabama
Colorado general question. If you have say 6 points does it do you any good to apply for a unit that requires 10 pets? Some states will have say 80% of the tags go to top point holders and then the remaining tags go as random draw. Thanks in advance.
One more. Do you have to buy a small game license for points only?



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Unless it's one of the hybrid units (they are listed in the regs), then you have no chance unless you have the points to draw. 100% of tags go to the highest point holders unless it's a hybrid unit. There are very few hybrid units and you must have 5 points to be eligible, most of the time NR don't draw hybrid tags, just residents.

Yes, you have to buy the license for points only starting this year.
 

Montana

Veteran member
Nov 3, 2011
1,103
399
Bitterroot Valley, MT.
Unless it's one of the hybrid units (they are listed in the regs), then you have no chance unless you have the points to draw. 100% of tags go to the highest point holders unless it's a hybrid unit. There are very few hybrid units and you must have 5 points to be eligible, most of the time NR don't draw hybrid tags, just residents.

Yes, you have to buy the license for points only starting this year.
Awesome. Thank you.


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JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,337
8,731
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Gypsum, Co
Just remember Colorado works on a preference point system where only the top point holders draw tags.

The other states work on bonus point system where everyone has a chance. How they allocate the tags in the draw is up the the state.
 

tdcour

Veteran member
Feb 28, 2013
1,100
26
Central Kansas
Man, that extra $80 for a small game license that I'll never use kinda hurts. I understand the thought process behind it, but making you buy it and tacking an extra $30 on it from last year kinda sucks. I'll do deer again this year and probably an elk point, but apart from that I'm keeping it simple. $500 for a deer tag is getting pretty steep.
 

JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,337
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Gypsum, Co
They are just falling in line with other states. Utah requires a hunting license for the draw and so does Arizona, if you want points in Nevada you need a license. I can see Wyoming going to it soon since they lost a large part of their budget a couple of years ago.

The days of cheap out of state hunting licenses are gone.
 

Stevo

Member
Mar 2, 2014
76
19
Texas
They are just falling in line with other states. Utah requires a hunting license for the draw and so does Arizona, if you want points in Nevada you need a license. I can see Wyoming going to it soon since they lost a large part of their budget a couple of years ago.

The days of cheap out of state hunting licenses are gone.
I'm wondering if many will just cash out points and get a tag and decide they are done or just accept it as the new normal? I also apply in Utah, so $100 for Colorado and $100 for Utah to just apply definitely sucks but I'm too deeply invested at this point not to continue. It'd be hard just starting out on points with the idea of wanting one of the 20+ point elk or deer hunts where you would have $2k invested, and have to hunt 2nd choice, leftover, or OTC for 20 + years (not taking into account any point creep) before you ever got that chance.
 

Prerylyon

Veteran member
Apr 25, 2016
1,334
511
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Cedar Rapids, IA
I'm wondering if many will just cash out points and get a tag and decide they are done or just accept it as the new normal? I also apply in Utah, so $100 for Colorado and $100 for Utah to just apply definitely sucks but I'm too deeply invested at this point not to continue. It'd be hard just starting out on points with the idea of wanting one of the 20+ point elk or deer hunts where you would have $2k invested, and have to hunt 2nd choice, leftover, or OTC for 20 + years (not taking into account any point creep) before you ever got that chance.
Well put.

I *wanted* to get into the game in CO this yr, but finances are just too stretched right now to drop over $100 just for what amounts to a subscription. Already got too much invested in WY to walk away from that, so need to spend the $$$ for elk, deer, antelope pts there. If I hunt CO in the next few yrs it will be on leftovers.

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Team Kabob

Very Active Member
May 9, 2014
793
148
Pay to play! Wasn?t easy dropping the $100 for points


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JimP

Administrator
Mar 28, 2016
7,337
8,731
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Gypsum, Co
I'm wondering if many will just cash out points and get a tag and decide they are done or just accept it as the new normal? I also apply in Utah, so $100 for Colorado and $100 for Utah to just apply definitely sucks but I'm too deeply invested at this point not to continue. It'd be hard just starting out on points with the idea of wanting one of the 20+ point elk or deer hunts where you would have $2k invested, and have to hunt 2nd choice, leftover, or OTC for 20 + years (not taking into account any point creep) before you ever got that chance.
At least with Utah you can use one license for 2 years on the draws.
 

tdcour

Veteran member
Feb 28, 2013
1,100
26
Central Kansas
They are just falling in line with other states. Utah requires a hunting license for the draw and so does Arizona, if you want points in Nevada you need a license. I can see Wyoming going to it soon since they lost a large part of their budget a couple of years ago.

The days of cheap out of state hunting licenses are gone.
I agree and see that trend, but doesn't mean I'm excited about it... and cheap out of state hunting is definitely a relative term. Gotta pay to play though!
 

hoshour

Veteran member
Hybrid draw is resident only. NR is always highest points
Not so. Look on page 9 in the brochure.

In hunt codes that require 10 or more resident preference points to draw (based on a 3-year average ending with the 2009 drawing), up to 20 percent of the available licenses may be issued through a random drawing.

Qualified resident and nonresident hunters who select applicable hunt codes (listed at right) and have at least five preference points for that species will automatically enter the Hybrid Drawing.
 

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
3,967
3,304
The odds in any licenses making it to the NON-RESIDENT portion of the hybrid drawing are very slim.