Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Colorado draw. Habitat stamp?

I just completed my big game application for the Colorado DNR Elk and Deer tag draw process. I have done this since 2002 and honestly, I don't remember being required to purchase a habitat stamp before. Is this new or what? I remember buying one a few years ago when I went to Colorado for vacation because I thought I may end up buying one while I was out there but I don't remember it ever being required.

I just checked my paperwork from 2010 and don't see it on there. That's just another $10 headed out the door for a preference point, I guess. I know it's only $10 but it is already $3 convenience fee, then $25 they keep for applying for PP, now another $10 for the habitat stamp.

Anyone else notice this? I tried to remove it from the purchase option but it would not allow me to do so.

Before any Colorado residents blast me, I am not saying it is excessive and I am glad to pay it, I just noticed that it seems to be a new requirement this year. They also allow you to opt-out of paying the $25 for PP if you are not drawn (I think that is new this year, too). You will just not get a PP if you don't pay 425 for it. I am happy to have the opportunity to gain points to hopefully be able to draw in a trophy area one day in your great state.

Yes it's new. The usual routine would be to hold the tag hostage until the habitat stamp is paid. This system now avoids that, which also upset a lot of people. And this money is required to go to the purchase and improvements of state wildlife areas.
So, yes it costs $38 to get a preference point only now. That's a lot better than Arizona, Utah or Wyoming or Nevada.

I'm OK with the $38, the part I don't like is them holding my entire license fee for 5 months when I only applied for the preference point.

And, if you want to know how mant preference points it takes to draw a license? Well, that costs $2.95 now

Sorry, completed mine yesterday too

What do you mean it costs $2.95 to find out how many points it takes to draw?

This is free
http://wildlife.state.co.us/NR/rdonlyres/FAB33AB5-33BA-4BF4-9E40-12418F55E7BB/0/ElkMinPP10.pdf

I know in some states if you call it costs you....I just do some digging on the net and get my results there.

How did you get off with $25 for a point? I had to pay the the nonresident tag fee in order to obtain a point. The cost for elk, deer and antelope points was over $1,000....plus that habitat stamp. Dang, I hope I didn't screw up. They sure changed the application process this year and their site is the WORST I have ever had to navigate. Flinch

No it's just that they refund the full fee, minus an extra $25 if you haven't bought any kind of fishing or hunting license in the past year. It's an extra fee that the DOW tacks onto those who simply accumulate preference points and do not hunt.

I am glad to pay the extra $10, especially if it goes directly into habitat improvement.

Flinch, I actually paid $698 today but I will get the majority of it back. They will keep $3 convenience fee, $25 per tag applied for (PP) and now they make you buy the $10 habitat stamp whether you actually go to Colorado or not. The only real change is the new $10 fee.
If you spent $1000, you didn't do anything wrong as yuo will get most of it back if you don't draw. At least they let you only pay the price for a cow elk now. In the past, I have paid for a bull elk tag and they keep that money for a few weeks. Not that it breaks me but I would still rather have my money back. I just put it on the credit card, pay it off when the bill comes, then put it back into my account in June when they send the money back.
As said above, it is still a lot better (cheaper) than many other states so I am not complaining, just taking note of the new change.

I bet the new Opt-out option will get a few people.

jumpr:

I guess you are collecting points and have not yet hunted in Colorado and I hope that the draw/preference point process goes good for you. However, if you have hunted in Colorado recently and you didn't purchase a habitat stamp, then you broke the law. Actually the only thing that's new is the mandatory requirement to buy the habitat stamp when you apply for a license. Habitat stamps have been required in Colorado for several years. Long enough that I can't remember when they started, maybe five or six years ago. In the past you could wait until you drew a license and then buy the habitat stamp. If you drew two or more licenses you had to buy two $5 stamps. Now you have to buy one $10 stamp when you apply.

KC

I was referring to the Colorado Outdoors preference point magazine in the 2nd paragragh. If the link to the data is still available then I was incorrect

http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/

Yep, those stats are published and available for free within a day or two of the draw results. You just have to know where to look: the Statistics page. Don't worry, lots of residents have never been there either or think that preference point requirements are some arbitrary limit that the DOW sets.

Thanks for the info! I couldn't find it yesterday and when I saw the magazine I thought it was another way to make money. I think there's more info in the magazine but if all you want is the latest pref pt reqt for a given unit the bare stats are fine

BillN:

It used to be that the only way you could get the stats on points required was to buy the magazine and I collected 8 or 10 issues. That was the only reason that I bought the DOW magazine because it was mostly a propaganda-advertising tool to encourage nonresident hunters to come to Colorado. Each year there are articles regarding the hunting outlook for the coming season and the outlook is always good. When they started publishing the stats on-line, I stopped buying the magazine.

http://wildlife.state.co.us/Hunting/BigGame/Statistics/

KC

OK i understand the habitat stamp fee costs, but as an out of state hunter I usually mail-in {2} applications: one for elk, and one for deer. Does this mean I have to add $10.00 to both envelopes for the Habitat Stamps to be included for the limited draws. Or, do I just include $10.00 to say the elk application, and this will then cover me for both draws. Confused again! And I can't purchase anything via the internet due to the CODOW asking for a hunter education number, which Ohio doesn't include on your Hunter-ED verification card.

Never mail in an application to a state that allows online apps. Since you obviously got on line, you can apply online. I'm not actually sure whether or not you'd have to buy to habitat stamps, I'd call someone who works at the DOW. But just apply online. Buy the stamp, and do your app all at once so you can't screw up.

Also, for states that do not issue numbers, they DOW just uses the date that you received it as the number. Once again, call someone, but I bet this would allow you to apply.

http://wildlife.state.co.us/NewsMedia/PressReleases/

Hopes this Helps!!
You will have to scroll down on the link to:
2-18-2011 "Get Ready to Hunt Colorado"

Just need to purchase one Habitat Stamp ($10) per year. If you apply without buying the HS they will with hold your license until you you get the stamp. The DOW will send you a "reminder" postcard if you draw a tag.

I am of the opinion that the process could use some streamlining as it is it seems to be a full employment program for the bean counters and computer folks. Lots going to overhead and databases and less going to the field. I agree that applying on line is the best bet. As far as the extra $10 goes why not just up the license fee $10 and not build another seperate system and staff/program to confuse and confuddle everyone. As you can guess by now, I think this process is overmanaged and overdone. Now they're spending money to "recruit" new hunters, that's a worthy goal but take a step back and look at how daunting just the application process can be for someone who's never hunted before, if you don't have a mentor trying to figure out all of this on your own is very discouraging. OK enough, rant over. CH

It's a $10 fee in addition to licenses that is only allowed to go to habitat improvement projects or acquisitions. If you add it to the license costs, you'd be adding it to every license. While that would certainly great for revenue, imagine how many more people would cry about those fee increases.

I had figured out how to apply for licenses when I was 14 years old and didn't have anyone to mentor me. It's not that hard.

If you want to see a dumb system, look at Wyoming. They have different unit numbers for every species, and don't publish the actual season dates, just a tentative opener. They can and do change season dates after you apply, so if you wanted a combo hunt, your dates may not end up overlapping. Oh and it's a $14 application fee per speicies, as opposed to $3. And they have different application deadlines for different species (so do a few other states).