Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Changes in elk tags for NW Colorado

Couple of things. Colorado is the only state that offers OTC tags without a cap and without limits on nonresidents.. Nonresidents apply for other states and then come to Colorado if they do not draw. We are the dumping grounds.

There are quotas for the primary draw for residents and non residents. For the 2nd draw those quotas for non residents go out the window. Same for left over tags. For sheep, goat, and moose, a nonresident has as much chance of drawing a tag as a resident. Other states limit those once in a life time tags to residents only. Now youths have 100% preference of drawing until there are no more tags for the second draw, with no quotas for res VS non res. Nonresidents are putting their youngster in to the draw and then come hunting with them and they get a cut in price for the youth tag. All the kid does is end up pulling the trigger. I am all for giving preference to youngsters, but resident youngster should have first crack at the tags. It is disheartening to hear of resident youngsters not being able to draw a tag

We have finite number of elk and to sustain the number and quality hunts the draw quotas need to be 90% residents,10% nonresidents,not 65% and 35% respectively . There should be a cap on the number of OTC tags for nonresidents every as other western state has them. Archery hunters have grown by leaps and bounds with no caps on OTC tags. Much of that is because archery season is a month long and less hunters.

Right now I see a majority of out of state license plates at trailheads. I left the east 60 years ago and the crowding was terrible in deer season. I see the same thing now in Colorado for elk seasons.

I totally agree on residents having first whack at hunting, I refuse to live in a place that I can’t hunt every year. I also think COs tag system for the draw sucks bigly, especially the leftover boondoggle.

I hate what it has all become now that hunting, especially out west, is the in thing. It’s quickly strangling my family’s tradition of hunting out there. If I were to guess I’d say that the end of OTC bull tags will be the final straw for our camp. Thankful for the great run we’ve had.

I've read all the posts to this thread and agree with the sentiment that residents should get preference. My "but" relates to the nature of public land - we ALL own it. I'm 100% cool with residents having much less expensive tags than NR - that's the luxury of living in a state. I do struggle with allocation schemes that severely handicap me as a NR trying to hunt on public land - all I need is a permission slip in the form of a tag.

One of the reasons I struggle with this is that I've seen and experienced public land crowding. It sucks and has gotten exponentially worse over the last 10 years. I've changed tactics in recent years and do a couple of simple things - avoid all trailheads, ends of roads, and popular access points. I also quit looking deep jnto the backcountry - everyone is into that trick. I've had a good run of success hunting 1-3 miles off the trail/road - past the road hunters, but not into the horse guys.

I have areas that I've hunted for alot of years that I run into people now that 10 years ago I'd never see a boot track. Times have changed and the need to change strategy is here. Last year I hunted a totally new area to me. I spent a week scouting in September and confirmed a few things. Guys congregate at trailheads and end of the road, try to hunt 'way back in', and quit after a few days. The elk were there, I saw elk and sign - but not in the areas everyone was congregating or trying to get to. I heard a bunch of stories about hiking back in 4-5-6 miles and running into people. Let's try this: try something different.

This past season, I saw 13 elk, was into elk most days, and saw exactly 1 set of boot tracks in areas i was hunting and not a single person. I saw alot of guys near the road, a few boot tracks within 1 mile of the road.

Bottom line for me: I've hunted elk every year since 2007 and most years before that going back to the 1990s. I'm 60 and know I have more years behind me than in front of me. I plan to elk hunt every year some how - if I can get a tag. I'm cool with paying more, even alot more, but don't handicap me by making it highly unlikely to draw a tag.

Book this….

If NR tags are severely cut, resident fees will go up big time. Somebody will have to pay the $800 shortfall for every NR cut out of the game.

For the naysayers, check out where CPW gets most of its funding.

WAM, out

So its money over Management 🤔

Theres 2 things that always get brought up about NR hunting Money and Public land.
Somehow NR think they have the " right " to hunt a NR state because of public land or that they plop down 1,000 for a tag and license.
First the only " right " you have on public land is to access it not to hunt or fish unless you have a NR license which is controlled by that states GF, politicians and residents who vote those politicians in office.
You either like the rules or go somewhere else simple as that or do like Petey sue because you don't like the rules.
I hunt Colo, Wyoming and Nevada and I know when I plop my money down as a NR its a privilege if I dont like ill move on.
Do you go to your neighbors and tell them how to run there house hold? im sure some do.

Always has been. I have been reading final published 5 year Big Game structures for several years.The last page is always what will bring in the most revenue.

Two things.

If CPW had not become a big bloated government political driven bureaucracy, you would not see the big prices in NR tag, but you would see more NR hunters

Residents would gladly pay more for their tags if it meant less hunters. CPW isn't going to help us and small towns won't stand for it as they depend on that cash flow of hunters.

I dont care about the money argument wether its true or not, all I care about is whats good sound management.
Everybody's bitchs about the money ruining hunting which I 100% agree with, well if you believe that then it shouldn't matter how much NR bring to the table

Colorado can do what Wyoming just did, raise NRs prices through the roof ands most NRs will still buy that tag. Pretty easy to make up shortfalls when license numbers are cut.
Small towns will now have wolf watchers make up that difference.

100% i agree with.
Montana needs to cut 1/3 of there NR tags then raise the price on the rest.
Theres been a huge increase in resident license last few years because of the influx of people our deer and elk herds can't sustain the pressure something has to be done.

I am like most here I just want to have the opportunity to hunt. I have 50+ seasons behind me and pray for a few more. I am looking at OTC opportunities, but realize after last years winter I will have a wait a year or so for the numbers to come back. I will stick with Wyoming and Oregon this next season, maybe burn my points in Nevada.

“You either like the rules or go somewhere else simple as that”

I had to ponder your post a bit before replying to prevent a similar knee-jerk reaction as your post. Two rhetorical questions: I wonder how your post would be interpreted by the non-hunting crowd? Especially those that also use those same public lands. A second question: Do Bozeman and Missoula look the same as they did in the 1990s before several waves of new Montana ‘residents’ arrived?

Your post comes across as a very short-sighted attempt at reminding all NR that your state controls access, via hunting tags, to the public lands in your state. Your post seems to indicate your goal is to acquire as many of the hunting tags as you can, NR tough luck and go somewhere else.

A couple of things:
Like it or not, NR hunters contribute greatly to the bottom line of all the local communities. You can create an argument that a week or 10 days of NR spending doesn’t equate to the total dollars spent by a year long resident – probably true, but again seems a bit short-sighted, especially if you’re a business owner depending on those dollars. I’m fairly certain most business owners in the western small towns don’t complain about NR revenue from Sept to Dec. Do all the businesses in these small towns remain open throughout the year? I don’t have the answer but wonder if they could afford to shut down for 2-3 months after hunting season if the influx of NR dollars did not happen Sept to Dec.

A fair inference from your post, it seems that resident hunters are able to keep F&G budgets afloat. Wonder what the unintended consequences are – much higher resident tag fees? What happens when license sales can’t support F&G budgets? Funding becomes part of the general state budget? That should work well when all the new Montanans decide hunting is not a good idea on ‘their’ public lands. Colorado should be keenly aware of the impact of public participation in F&G topics.

At the end of the day, there exist ways to keep all of us in the game without resorting to ‘if you don’t like it, go somewhere else’. If your complaint is with over-crowding, that is an issue all hunters share, resident and NR alike. Why not tweak the system where we all can participate on a reasonable basis, hence my comment on ‘owning’ public land. As a resident you can buy a tag OTC, as a NR, I cannot. Your state controls the hunting permission slip, and by default, access to those lands for the purpose of hunting. Telling NR to like it or go somewhere else does not seem like a good strategy in the long run, especially in this day and age of attacks on hunting. It doesn’t need to be binary using a like it or leave it attitude.

Well said. Another unintended consequence of reducing the number of NR opportunities is how many fewer advocates there will be for the hunting and federal land issues. Many times, even the locals, can use all the help they can get to get good management/ideas implemented.

So the answer is just keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result.
Sell 88,00 deer and elk tags to NR that includes ALL doe, bucks, bull and cow.
Residents are suppose to give up opportunity so NR don't
I get it
I ask again should I be able to tell Ten. or Indiana that there fish and game tag allotment be suited to my needs
You can agree or not, im not about to give up opportunity just so a NR can, especially for my grandson who was born and raised here his 19 years.
I came to montanavhunting as a NR 35 years ago now 32 as a resident there was welcome hunter signs in every town. Now you dont see hardly any even in the little po dunk towns so obviously its not as much as you think.

If you took that from either my post or the one before it, you are being purposefully obtuse.

Wow such big words.
In 2021 Montana sold more Resident Elk tags than they have alive elk do you think thats sustainable?

2023 Colorado issued 107,700 elk licenses for 280,000 elk, Montana issued apprx 156,000 elk tags for 151,000 elk you guys tell me.

I'm not quite sure how you derived "So the answer is just keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result." from the above. No one is saying keep doing the same thing. We all recognize there is over-crowding in the elk/deer woods. What I object to is your very narrow, and frankly self-centered, view point as captured in this: "im not about to give up opportunity just so a NR can, especially for my grandson who was born and raised here his 19 years."

Your grandson gets an OTC tag by virtue of his being a resident - more NR isn't cutting into his ability to acquire a tag. What you are really saying is that you want more "opportunity" in the form of supposed less competition in the woods, NR can find somewhere else as long as you and your family, and I'll assume friends, have maximum "opportunity". I do wonder how that form of "opportunity" translates into higher kill percentages. I'd opine that a minority of elk hunters kill the majority of elk every year. Random luck occurs but luck doesn't seem to correlate well with consistent success. Expertise and hard work not so coincidentally relate to the amount of "luck" a person experiences. For a guy without expertise or not willing to work, that luck equation of no NR in the woods is not going to magically translate into more elk killed for residents, despite the increased "opportunity".

Then there is always the how to pay for all that G&F research and management you exposed upon earlier. The equation is conceptually fairly simple: Total revenue to G&F = (number of NR elk tags x cost of NR tag) + (number of resident elk tags x cost of elk tag). Your opinion presupposes resident revenue can make up for the missing NR revenue. How do you feel about paying $300 for your resident elk tag vs the $20 you pay now? Maybe some of your new California-Montana residents can help pay the shortfall - for some kind of increased use. At the moment, they use public lands for free. I ran into people hiking and mountain biking last year in CO during bow season. Maybe MT can put forth a ballot initiative to involve your new CA-MT "residents" to solve the funding shortfall. The revenue will come from somewhere and apparently you want to solve the problem with residents. Good luck - ask CO how thats going.

It is not the NR fault that F&G agencies have set up the game this way. In fact, residents and NR alike should be pissed that it has evolved into a money game. NR are not the enemy of your opportunity. They could make great allies if you can look past your need for greater "opportunity". We all want the same thing - maximum opportunity at an affordable price while minimizing over-crowding. Solutions exist to address this issue.

Carry on.

NR elk tags are only needed in CO because our libtard government decided to join the Division of Wildlife with the insolvent Division of Parks. So, a bunch of gun toting conservatives now pay for a bunch of liberal agenda parks. All these little state parks where the city folks come to on the weekends and hike in their Patagonia puffy's and LuLu leggings while smoking pot, are paid for by conservative hunters. I think it's about 80% of the park's budget comes from hunters, and if I remember correctly, that doesn't include Pittman Robertson funds. It's so f---ed up.

The liberals in the state want to ban (and actively do) guns and hunters and let wolves roam wild. And at the same time, the hunters are paying for all their liberal wildlife and park agenda items. Worse yet, they hide the fact where the money comes from. I can only dream of a day where at the entrance of the park there is a sign that says "Paid for by Colorado resident gun owners and hunters."

As for the NR hunters, there has to be significant preference given to locals. Reason being, our taxes are so damn high. I just renewed my pickup truck plate, three years old, $750. That's a NR elk tag equivalent and I have to pay that every year. And that's just one truck. NR elk tags should be twice that high.

What I really wish CPW would do is ban ATV's completely during hunting season - this alone would reduce applicants. There would be no McFifth-Wheel Toy-Haulers parked at the bottom of the valley with a fleet of UTV's. It would make hunting primitive again, park your truck and start walking. You couldn't buzz around all day road hunting, you'd actually have to be in the woods, or camp, or not show up.

MM - agree 100% with your thoughts. I've spent alot of time in CO over the past 40 years and it's in a sad state of affairs. There is no doubt about the agenda banning hunting. They can't outright ban hunting or gun ownerhsip in general but tackle chunks that some are apathetic to. Once the low hanging fruit is gone, I wonder what the next tactic will be. I know for damn sure that we collectively need to stick together to have a chance.

My biggest thought on this whole topic is the sticking together part. Hunters and gun owners pay for the bulk of recreation opportunities we all have. As a NR, I'm OK with the current cost residents and NR pay. I'm good with paying sub$1000 for an elk tag. I'd like to see CO go to a draw system for all NR tags - as long as we don't end up with some kind of 90/10, 95/5 split. I simply want a reasonable opportunity to hunt elk somewhere every year - be it CO, WY, MT, ID - somewhere with decent elk populations.

I get all wound up when I see f' the NR, I want more opportunity speeches. This isn't the 1970s when we could hunt about anywhere, there wasn't over crowding, and tags were cheap. It's a different day - woods are crowded, tags are expensive and residents in some western states are being Californicated to death. I'd much rather be on your side than sitting on the sidelines.