Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Landowner Tags

Can someone explain how the landowner tag system works in CO for elk? Do you buy straight from the owner or pay the owner to be able to buy a tag from the state? I've only bowhunted in CO and may have some time off from work where I could swing a rifle hunt this year. I've just spent a half hour in the CO DOW phone maze and have gotten nowhere trying to answer somethign that's likely pretty simple for someone on the board here.

Second question - would there be a certain rifle season most productive, a buddy and I would be mostly looking at a cow tag and to make boot tracks in new country.

Thanks
David Sapp

David,
Landowner tags, you get a voucher from the landowner then go to the DOW and buy the tag, it is only good for the landowners property.

Hope that helps

Landowner can sell them or give them away. He has to apply for them early based on the amount of land he has that is inhabited by the beasts of choice. The voucher is a legal document that defines the property, owner and game animal of choice signed by the land owner. As noted in the previous post you get that from the landowner and take it to the DOW where they make it a license.
Weather condtions play a huge part in determining when and where animals will be. Typically early seasons the weather is warmer the animals are higher. Later seasons are colder the animals are lower. Given the predictability of CO weather you may as well flip a coin. I prefer the 3rd-4th seasons because of where I hunt.

I thought the landowner tags were good on or off the property in the GMU that the landowner has his property. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I've certainly run into people who had landowner tags that were hunting on public land because there weren't any animals on the landowner's property during that particular season. Can anyone clarify this?
Test

Nope,
Private land only tag means "Private Land Only"

"Private-Land-Only Licenses: By application and drawing for specific units on private land and State Trust Lands not leased by the DOW."

Each unit has its own regs and some may be open.

"Private land only" licenses are NOT "landowner tags". skb and test have it right. You buy the voucher from the landowner and then buy the tag from the CDOW or any license agent. The tag is good unit-wide, but the landowner must give you permission to hunt on his property.

You are correct Oak, I was getting the two mixexd up, Landowner vouchers are good for the entire GMU they are designated for,

Private land only or only good on private land in that unit.

Sorry for the Miss information guys.

My brother in law gets landowner vouchers for deer and antelope. The voucher becomes a license at the DOW but the license is good anywhere in that GMU that is private land that you have permission on. Works great if you are in the 'good old boys'network.

Yeah, that's always been my gripe concerning the landowner tags. Unfortunately, they are often used unscrupulously (big word for me and misspelled I'm sure!). I think if you get a landowner tag, you should have to hunt on the property of the landowner. However, I know the landowners don't see it that way. These landowner tags have caused a lot of difficulty for people like me who don't have connections with large property owners, but because the DOW issues so many landowner tags, general tags are often hard to come by because the majority of the tags go to the landowners. This is what has happened in my antelope hunting area and the reason it took me 13 years to draw a tag.
Test

i have a question - are landowner tags for residents only, or can a non-res buy one? thanks

HMM
good question, Not for sure on this but if the landowner(gives or sells) the voucher to a non-res then when he goes to DOW to buy the license then he will pay non-res fees for the license. So I think yes non res can get one. but will have to be verified

Actually, the CDOW allocates a maximum of 15% of the available licenses for any given GMU to be available through the landowner draw. The registered properties then apply and accumulate preference points much like an individual would. These applications are competing for the tags available in that 15% pool and not with individual applications which are drawn from the remaining 85% of all tags available for that unit.

David,

There are two types of vouchers "Ranch only" and "unit wide"! Sometime ranch only vouchers are great because the property is large and there is no hunting pressure. Sometime they are for small ranches and not so great.

Your best bet is a unit wide voucher...make sure you ask. They can be sold to anyone...no matter what state they are from. Once you buy one for Colorado you will need to use the voucher to then purchase your tag. You MUST have your hunters safety proof with you or you will not get your tag!

Also, look around and place adds if you want a voucher sometimes waiting can save you allot of money. I bought a unit 67 bull voucher two months ago for $1750 and just found one for $1000. That $750 would have paid for my bull tag and some gas!

The owner of the voucher has to allow you to hunt there property! The landowner also are not allowed to sell them though brokers...but allot do.

Good luck huntin!
John

There is no such thing as a "ranch only" voucher in Colorado. New Mexico, yes.

KDF,
You are correct that CDOW allocates 15% of the licenses off the top for landowners. I guess my gripe comes from the fact that there are so many private land tags made available, in addition to the landowner tags, that it makes it very tough to draw a general season rifle tag a guy can use to hunt on public land. For example, if you look at the actual draw for a certain unit, in my case Unit 3, you'll see some interesting things. The available buck tag breakdown, taken directly from CDOW's statistics (Pages 20 and 21, Limited License Reporting, Drawing summary report, 2008 Prong-08 Pronghorn) goes like this: Archery=140, Muzzleloader=15, Rifle=55, Private Land=850, Ranching for Wildlife 1=9, Ranching for Wildlife 2=4. This tells me that they basically give out 140+15+55 licenses for public land hunting, a total of 210 licenses. If we want to be generous in our analysis, you can throw in the Ranching for Wildlife tags to take you to 223. Compare that to the 850 tags they give for private land, not including the 15% they took off the top for landowner tags, and you see where my arguement comes from. In this same area, archers had a 40% chance of drawing, muzzleloaders a 9% chance, rifle hunters a 2% chance and Private Land hunters a 99% chance. So, my point here is that unless you know someone in that area that is willing to let you hunt on their land, you're pretty much screwed unless you are an archer or are willing to wait years and years to draw. And there is plenty of public land in this unit, not just a few little parcels. I know it isn't hard to find a landowner willing to let you hunt their property for does, but mention a buck, and the stonewall goes up pretty quick, since the landowners like to keep the bucks, especially the big bucks, for themselves, families, buddies, outfitters, etc. Keep in mind, I don't really blame them for doing this. It's within the law and it's their perogative. I just wish the CDOW would make it a little easier for the guys who want to or need to hunt public land to get a tag, a little equality for the public land hunters vs. the private land hunters. Hope this makes sense to everyone and I apologize for getting slightly off the topic of landowner tags, which was what this thread was originally about.
Test

Yes that is correct. If my friend from KS comes to hunt antelope with me in CO and I have a voucher for him, he will pay out of state price to get the license using the voucher.

You absolutely can sell vouchers if you are the landowner. It is done in mass to out fitters.

test1328,
I agree with you 100%. The CDOW caters far too much to the landowners. With the number of PLO licenses issued in many units, the DOW has essentially created a 100% draw for those that can afford to pay to hunt private property. If you can't pay, you're thrown in the pool where it will take you years to be drawn. They are just subsidizing the commercialization of our big game.

IMO, there should be NO PLO tags issued for male animals. Population control is best done by removing females, so if the landowners are complaining about the animals on their properties, let them send a bunch of cow/doe hunters in there to move the animals around. Second, I think that any PLO licenses left over after the initial draw should be converted to unit-wide licenses for the leftover draw and subsequent over-the-counter sales. There are too many PLO licenses that go unsold, which represents lost hunting opportunity.

Sorry...a bit off topic.

Thanks, Oak. I know there are a lot of folks who feel the same way, but unfortunately, CDOW doesn't really care. It took a whole lot of bitchin and moanin a few years ago by the general public land hunters to get them to finally withdraw their proposal to give even more private land licenses. I can only imagine how bad things would be if that went through, but things are bad enough as it is. It ain't going to get any better, either.
Test

Thing that gets me is that lot of those PLO tags are for September though Decemeber and us poor schmucks only get a ten day seaon at most. SO the landowner/outfitter can scheduled hunts for 3 months

If the CDOW doesn't make some attempt to cater to private land owners you basically will not have a place to hunt. In order to get land owner vouchers a land owner has to agree to allow a number of public hunters on his property...with permission of course. Your beef is not with the landowner it is then with the DOW. My sisters family owns 12,000 acres of very huntable property, she did not make the rules about who could hunt there and who could not. She just follows the rules as written and takes advantage of the vouchers....they are not free by the way.
If you know any landowners who get vouchers, bang on the door and ask them for permission to hunt or buy land. Bitchin about it is unproductive at best..........