The primary draw application period for Colorado big-game licenses opens March 1, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) urges hunters to review the changes in license requirements and fees in the 2024 Colorado Big Game brochure.
To begin, big-game license allocation for bear, deer, elk, and pronghorn has been changed from 65% for residents and 35% for nonresidents to 75% for residents and 25% for nonresidents. High-demand hunt codes stay at 80% for residents and 20% for nonresidents.
Additionally, there will be mandatory testing for chronic wasting disease (CWD). CPW will require the submission of CWD test samples from deer harvested during rifle seasons from specific hunt codes. Hunters can also voluntarily submit their animal’s head for testing if they would like to know if it has CWD and pay a testing fee of $25. Testing fees for voluntary submissions will be waived for all moose statewide and deer from some hunt codes.
There will also be big game license reductions in the Severe Winter Zone in Northwest Colorado, due to the effects of the severe winter of 2022-23. Rifle antlered licenses were limited in Game Unit Managements (GMUs) 3, 301, 4, 441, 5, 14, 214 and 11, 211, 12, 13, 131, 231, 23, 24. CPW also created new hunt codes to allow for limited antlered rifle licenses for the 2nd and 3rd seasons for the 2024 and 2025 hunting seasons.
The Bear’s Ears herd suffered high elk mortality, so all either-sex hunt codes within DAU E-02 are replaced with antlered-only hunt codes. Also, CPW will institute an antler point restriction for all antlered elk taken on Ranching For Wildlife properties located in the Bear’s Ears and White River elk herds for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 hunting seasons.
The 2022-23 winter had a significant impact on the pronghorn population, so doe pronghorn hunting will be closed for the 2024-2025 season.
Hunters can find more information about changes for the 2024 season in the Big Game Regulation Brochure.
