Colorado Elk Hunting 2025
Colorado is still home to the largest free-ranging elk population, for now. At the heart of Colorado’s elk habitat is an endless supply of oak, aspen, and pine-covered ridges with scattered high mountain meadows, often with lakes or streams winding through it all. If that gets your blood pumping and heart searching for this backdrop at night, then you absolutely need to be planning a hunt here.
The most talked about topic for elk in Colorado in 2024 and now 2025 is the wolf supplementation that is now in its second full year. At the time of print, there are 29 documented wolves in the state that have been released and re-released in the northern part of the state in units that have had the highest densities of elk. It turns out the only thing that wolves like eating more than moose and elk is beef cattle. Shocker, right? There is no record on wolf/elk or wolf/moose predation, but there is a record of wolf/cattle predation, and it is high. Right now, cattle are the only thing keeping predation to lower levels on wildlife. They are still having an impact, and with the newly released 15 wolves, only time will tell if they shift their focus to moose and elk instead of cattle and hunters will really start to notice the decline.
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Colorado Elk Hunting Draw
Well, it’s official, over-the-counter archery elk for non-residents is over. New for 2025, the CPW Game Commission sided with residents and has put all non-resident archery elk tags in the draw. Although we do not have numbers yet for tag allocation to each of these areas, we do know that CPW is going to try and match demand with tag allocation being close to the amount of non-resident hunters who had been hunting these areas with OTC tags. This means that there should be a fair amount of these tags with hunt codes ending in -VIA- to have tags issued as a second choice. Again, without seeing tag numbers, we can’t say for sure which units will be the easiest to know that will have second choice or leftover tags, but if you want to hunt one of these areas, I would recommend you at least apply for those areas as a second choice and that way you can submit your first choice for either a preference point or a hunt you have been targeting. This should give you a good backup plan for 2025.
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Now all non-resident archery, muzzleloader, early, first, and fourth rifle elk hunts in Colorado are by draw only. This doesn’t mean that if you don’t apply for one of these hunts in the primary draw you have no chance of getting one. All these hunts have tag quotas, and if the tags are not exhausted in the primary draw, they will roll any remaining quota into the secondary draw, then will roll any remaining quota into the leftover tag list and are issued on a first-come, first-served basis. They still have a fair amount of units that have over-the-counter (OTC) second and third rifle elk hunts available. These OTC tags can be bought at any time once they go on sale in August.
Colorado offers a select few units that are specifically managed for trophy potential. Units like 1, 2, 201, and 10 are the big-ticket hunts, but don’t expect to draw them. Drawing a tag here will cost you 25+ points, and that number is only rising with the ongoing point creep. While these areas can produce bulls in the 340” range, it’s still tough to consistently turn up giants. The next tier, units 40, 61, and 76, are a step down but still offer respectable trophy potential with bulls in the 320-330” class. These hunts typically require around 20+ points to draw, making them an excellent choice if you’ve got some points in the bank but aren’t quite ready to chase the monster bulls.
If you’re looking for a true 340-350” bull, Colorado may not be your best bet, especially if you’re not sitting on a pile of points. A good rule of thumb is to use the point requirements to gauge the overall trophy quality of a unit. For hunts that take 0-5 points, expect similar trophy quality across the board, regardless of weapon choice. What varies more is the landscape – public versus private land, wilderness areas, and elk populations. Once you hit the 10-20+ point range, there’s a better chance at a mature bull, but don’t be fooled as the higher point hunts aren’t always the best, especially if they’re popular or have prime season dates. Some units with lower point totals may offer just as much trophy potential, so don’t get stuck chasing after units with big reputations.
If you’re new to the game or don’t have decades of points built up, Colorado isn’t the place to chase the top trophy bulls. However, it is a top-tier opportunity state where you can regularly secure good elk tags and hunt more frequently. With the introduction of wolves and the uncertainties surrounding their impact on the elk population, the landscape may shift, but for now, Colorado remains one of the best states to hunt elk. If you’re not fixated on inches and are looking for a great elk hunting experience, this is a state worth applying in.
2025 Colorado Elk Hunting Season Dates
| Hunt |
2025 Dates |
| Colorado Archery Elk Hunt |
September 2-30 |
| Colorado Muzzleloader Elk Hunt |
September 13-21 |
| Colorado First Rifle Elk Hunt |
October 15-19 |
| Colorado Second Rifle Elk Hunt |
October 25-November 2 |
| Colorado Third Rifle Elk Hunt |
November 8-16 |
| Colorado Fourth Rifle Hunt |
November 19-23 |
Colorado OTC Elk Hunts
In our March issue, we covered Colorado’s elk hunts that are available through the draw. This article will cover over-the-counter licenses that are available for elk. For more information on Colorado’s rules and regulations, refer back to our March issue or Colorado’s 2025 Big Game Regulations.
Colorado offers over-the-counter archery, second, and third season rifle elk licenses.
These licenses are unlimited and can be purchased online, by phone, or in person at any license retailer location at 9 a.m. (MT) on August 5, 2025. These licenses do not affect your preference points in any way. You do not have to buy a qualifying license in order to purchase any leftover or over-the-counter licenses. Colorado will also have leftover and reissued limited licenses that go on sale on August 5th by phone, in person at some license agents, and online at 9 a.m. (MT). These are for any big game licenses remaining after the secondary draw has been conducted. There are always a handful of good elk and deer hunts available, so watch for this list to become available and reference our unit descriptions in this issue and our March issue to find out what units are better than others.
Colorado has a program to reissue returned licenses. A reissue preview list will come out on Tuesday, August 12th at 11 a.m. You can view the reissue list at cpw.state.co.us/refunds#reissue. All hunt codes from the reissue list will then be available for purchase through the reissue process starting at 11 a.m. This process will continue three times each week until the end of the season. Any hunts that still have available licenses near the start of the season will be able to be purchased online, at licensed vendors, and at any CPW location. Some of the best second and third season hunts are on the reissue list after the season has started.
In this issue, we are covering over-the-counter unlimited elk licenses as we do not yet know what leftover limited licenses will be available. Colorado has over 40 units west of Denver that can be hunted with over-the-counter licenses. We cover units that have an ample amount of public land to hunt and have a reasonable chance at success without having to pay a trespass fee. You might notice that some of these units differ for archery versus rifle because elk could be moving onto private land later in the year.
Bear licenses are either unlimited OTC or limited draw. However, there are often leftover licenses available for these draw areas. Archery and muzzleloader OTC licenses are still “add-on,” meaning you must have a valid deer or elk license to be eligible to purchase a bear license for the same season in the same unit. One of the biggest changes this year is with an E-License for bear licenses purchased OTC. Bear licenses purchased online and as an E-License will no longer be “hard stock” licenses. If you want your purchase of an OTC license to be printed on the orange hard license stock, you will have to go into a CPW location or license agent to get one. Also, Colorado increased the price of bear licenses and bear application cost back up to $51.75 from the reduced price of $40.45 that we saw in 2024. Bear licenses were discounted and “locked to a unit” to help increase harvest and higher harvest percentages due to low bear populations across the state as a result of the reduced price. This year, the price has increased to $294.75.
The first rifle season will start on October 15th, and the fourth season won’t start until November 19th. Extended break periods in between rifle hunts were put in place in 2020 to allow animals to relax a bit and hopefully give a better opportunity to the next season’s hunters to take elk after the shooting stops from the prior season. After four or five seasons of harvest reporting, it appears that the break period has little to no effect on the harvest percentage throughout all the seasons.
New for 2025, there are no longer OTC archery elk hunts for non-residents west of I-25. There are still OTC opportunities for antlerless and either-sex east of I-25. For antlerless, the license cost is $46.88. Most of Colorado’s elk herds are west of the interstate, but with the increasing population, some herds have been increasing east of the divide. However, these units don’t get much attention and often have low harvest percentages simply because you have low access to private land.
The second and third rifle seasons get more hunting pressure, with the second season being the bulk of the harvest. Success tends to be better during warmer and more active weather, and large cow herds during the third season having a bigger impact on accessibility into the backcountry where elk can hang up. Elk can withstand a lot of snow, so quite often, they will stay up at higher elevations if hunting pressure persists throughout the second rifle hunt and into the third rifle hunt, which can pose a problem if you are not physically fit or equipped with the right transportation methods and gear to get back in their hidey holes. The biggest advantages the second rifle season offers are a better chance for nicer weather, calmer elk that have not been shot at yet, and fewer bulls have been harvested up to this point as compared to the third season.
Typically, bulls in general units fall between the ages of 2 to 3 years, while herd bulls are mostly between 4 to 6 years, with only a few exceeding that range. Use the issue to look through hunter and harvest data as well as a brief description of each unit to determine which ones have what you are looking for in terms of age class and elk direction. Differentiating between the over-the-counter units can be subtle, often boiling down to one’s familiarity and past experiences with a particular unit, which significantly influences the likelihood of success. Ultimately, the essence of any over-the-counter hunt lies in the experience itself, so selecting a unit that aligns with the desired hunting experience is paramount. If you have any questions, give us a call and we will help to get you pointed in the right direction to have a terrific Colorado hunt experience with your friends and family.
Colorado Landowner Tags
Every year, Colorado issues thousands of Landowner Preference Program (LPP) vouchers for elk, deer, and antelope. Landowners who own at least 160 contiguous acres of private agricultural land can register for these vouchers by submitting an application by December 5th for the following year. LPP applicants are drawn just before CPW’s public limited drawing and once selected, registrations are valid up to five years. For hunters, these vouchers must be acquired directly from the landowner and the hunter needs to redeem the voucher for the actual hunting license. Vouchers can be redeemed at any license agent or CPW location. Hunters are responsible for all license fees when redeeming vouchers for licenses.
There are two different types of landowner vouchers available — Unrestricted Quota (unit wide) and Restricted Quota (private land only). Both vouchers entitle the hunter to hunt the landowner’s property the voucher was issued for. Unrestricted Quota licenses are unit wide, which entitles the hunter to hunt all public and private lands in which you acquire permission to hunt within the unit. Restricted Quota licenses are private land only, which entitles the hunter to hunt only private land within the specific unit it was issued for, but permission will need to be acquired for any private land except the private land in which the voucher was issued for.
All LPP vouchers are only valid during the season dates printed on it. LPP vouchers are issued through a draw system to qualified landowners, the same as the general draw, and LPP voucher draw results are available in early June.
Huntin’ Fool has a free listing service for all Colorado LPP voucher recipients. A list of landowners is not available from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. We list more Colorado LPP vouchers than any other listing service. You can find a list of available Colorado LPP vouchers as well as other big game vouchers for multiple states at www.huntinfool.com. Vouchers are updated daily, and we have a free text and email notification process that will notify you every time a new listing is posted. You can sign up for this notifications on our free smartphone app.
Colorado Reissued Licenses
Any license that took fewer than 5 preference points to draw that is returned will be placed on the leftover list. The final assortment of reissued licenses will be made available before they go on sale. Colorado will issue any surrendered deer and elk final leftover license purchase deadline August 5th on a reissue license webpage. They will release a list of reissued licenses each Tuesday beginning August 12th and will transfer them into the leftover list for purchase the following Wednesday, beginning August 13th at 11 a.m. (MT). All tags purchased from the leftover list do not affect current preference/eligibility points for that species.
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Application Deadline for Colorado Elk Hunting
Online applications must be submitted by 8 p.m. (MDT) on April 1, 2025.
Our magazine, which is available in print and online, has everything in one location - application info, draw details and odds, fees, hunter requirements, point structure, age restrictions, youth information, weapon restrictions, other tag opportunites, hunt planning, and much more. If you would like access to all of our research, join today!
2025 Non-Resident Colorado Elk Hunting Fees
| 2025 Colorado Non-Resident Fees |
|
| Fee |
Cost |
| Annual Small Game Hunting License (required to apply) |
$101.54 |
| Youth Annual Small Game Hunt License (under age 18, required to apply) |
$1.50 |
| Habitat Stamp (required for adults to apply) |
$12.47 |
| Draw Application (per species) |
$11.00 |
| Adult Point Fee (per species for Sheep, Moose, and Mtn. Goat) |
$100.00 |
| Youth Point Fee (all species) |
None |
| Post Draw Fees (if successful) |
|
| Elk - Bull, Cow or Either-Sex |
$825.03 |
| Youth Big Game (Elk, Deer, or Antelope) |
$126.18 |
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