Colorado’s hunting regulator has issued changes to the state’s policies around hunting big game, sheep and goats. Prominent among them are a reallocation of licenses to shoot bears and other large game animals to favor more Colorado resident access, new limits on elk killing and a ban on pronghorn hunts.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced in February that, subject to an exception for high-demand hunt codes, Centennial State residents will be entitled to receive 75% of licenses issued to kill bear, deer, elk and pronghorn, up from 65%, while the non-resident allocation drops from 35% to 25%.
The agency has also altered limits on elk hunting, ending permission to shoot individuals of either sex in several game management units in northwestern Colorado. CPW now will allow killing only of antlered elk in GMUs 3, 4, 5, 14, 214, 301 and 441.
CPW also requires hunters using rifles to focus only on animals with antlers in a number of game management units, including several located in northwestern Colorado, when seeking to kill individuals of those species on “ranching for wildlife” properties.
“Due to the severity of the 2022-23 winter,” according to CPW’s big game hunting brochure, any elk taken “must have four points or more on one antler or a brow tine of at least 5 inches long.” A brow tine is the point at which an elk’s antlers begin to grow vertically and is near the antler’s base.
The new limits on RFW property elk hunting apply in GMUs 3-5, 11-14, 23-26, 33-34, 131, 211, 214, 231, 301, and 441. This new restriction will apply both this coming season and in 2025-2026. CPW also banned “earlyseason” killing of elk females in GMUs 2, 3, and 11.
Humans who wish to pick off pronghorn antelope will need to avoid killing does, at least in northwestern Colorado. In GMUs 3-5, 13, 131, 214, 301, and 441, only male antelope can be shot. The agency cited the lingering after effects of the 2022-23 winter season.
On the other hand, additional opportunities to fell pronghorn females will be available in GMUs 111, 118- 119, and 123-124. Five new hunts are opened there. Those GMUs are located east of I-25.
As for bears, CPW will now permit unlimited access to archery and muzzleloader licenses in early October for hunts in GMU 61, which is located close to southwestern Colorado. Hunters must have a license to cut down deer or elk by the same means before they can obtain an add-on over-thecounter license to kill a bear with a bow and arrow, muzzleloader, or rifle.
Chasers seeking big game animals to add to their tally near Fort Collins and Mount Blue Sky should be attentive to a USDA Forest Service closure on Hermosa Park Road (FS 578) between Aug. 19 and Sept.13 and a bar on all travel on Mount Blue Sky Highway (Colorado Highway 5) beginning Sept. 3.
Bighorn sheep and mountain goat hunters should keep in mind CPW’s mandate that carcasses be inspected within five days of the kill. The bodies of all terminated individuals of those species must be presented at a CPW office or to a CPW officer for inspection during regular business hours.
The agency requires that the corpses of bighorn sheep and mountain goats be presented “with horns and skull intact,” according to its 2024 Colorado Sheep & Goat hunting brochure.