Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game 2014 Big Game Brochure came inthe mail today

Is there still a combo License as in Elk/Deer anymore
What if you want to hunt both on the same trip ?
Rich

Not in Colorado. If you want to hunt deer and elk on the same trip, you have to have a license for each.

Check out Montana. They use to require nonresidents to buy combo tags and they might still do it that way.

KC

Well said!!

My brochure came last week while I was out of town, as did the "Preference Points" issue of Colorado Outdoors.

Not that it makes any difference to us as we're on a multi-year plan that has been working out well, at least for me, with 7 elk in the last 8 years. (My hunting buddies are living proof that a) missing what you shoot at doesn�t work, and b) going home early limits your chances for success.) We apply for a Preference Point one year, then hunt Unit 12 with a leftover cow tag and OTC bull tag option. The next year we hunt with a RFW cow tag and an OTC bull tag option. Then repeat. I always buy OTC bull tags, my hunting buddies mostly not. This year we�ll be back to applying for the RFW hunt and our Preference Points (1 each) virtually guarantee success in the draw.

Sometimes we put in as a group, other times individually. My long time hunting buddy screwed up his application in 2007. Fortunately we put in separately that year. Not only did I get my RFW cow tag, I got a voucher for a second cow tag on the ranch as well. I hunted the ranch, filled both tags and then we tried for a public land bull for my hunting buddy, without success. I guess the moral of the story is �Don�t screw up your application�.

As someone else pointed out, applying online limits chances for error on the part of the applicant and eliminates a myriad of possible problems including loss in the mail or incorrect data entry once/if it is received. Moreover you get to hang on to your money longer rather than giving a free loan to DPW. We haven�t used paper applications in years and I can�t see why we would ever do so again.

The application deadline is Tuesday, April 1st. To avoid possible problems with the DPW computer or last minute congestion we�ll probably put our apps in a week early.

Only 259 days to go�

I agree, but only to a point. Not to long ago, I was in the age bracket that you noted. I hunted out of state when I could, which was quite a bit more than others I know that are the same age. Then again, I didn't drive as fancy a truck as many of them, or as fancy of clothes, etc. It's all about priorities.

Heck, many in the 17-26 age bracket today pay $100/month for a fancy cellphone plan for a phone that cost hundreds. IMO, the desire to go on out of state hunts is a good reason to better your lot at that age so you can afford those trips. If folks really want to, they will make it happen as I don't see it as a "kings sport" quite yet.

Back when I was 17-26, $600 was a small fortune. Not so much today for many in that age bracket. We have a young guy at work that spends way more than that on tattoos, body piercings and various accoutrements of his fantasy world. In many cases it is more a matter of priorities and lack of interest than cost. Two of the young guys at work have hunted before but are distinctly lacking in enthusiasm to get tags. They may hunt this year or they may not but they certainly don't think about it much. Most of the city boys grow up without hunting/shooting/fishing/camping experiences influencing their decisions and prefer to spend their money on booze, cigarettes, happy smoke, fancy rides and/or girls. For that matter, we moved off the farm in the mid-60's and the same could be said about many/most of the townies I knew back then.

Boy, I don't know $600 is a lot of money to me even in this day. Usually that is the cost of my entire 10 day elk hunt.

Gotta remember, that there are still a lot out there that don't put hardware in their face or have $100 phone contracts per month. Blue collar workers that have 1-2 boys ( or girls ) that would like to hunt with them but can't put it together. I think too many guys, as they get older an more affluent, don't remember what it was like starting out. Let's not discount them just because we know others that don't have the hunting bug or don't have a problem of dropping a few hundred bucks wherever.

There are lot of single parent households that the father have run off and the kids will never have the opportunity to even try hunting. I know because I have helped some of those kids in scouting in years past and have personally helped some youngsters get stared in hunting.

saddlesore �

There are a lot of hard-luck cases out there and I don�t mean to disparage or dismiss them in any way. There are also a lot of folks that simply haven�t learned to manage their money. People that spend their money on fancy rides, alcohol, cigarettes, weed, premium cable/satellite TV packages, the latest smart phones, huge flat panel TVs or other non-essentials and then claim they can�t afford the price of an elk hunt get no sympathy from me. There are a LOT of people that fall into that category, both Residents and Non-Residents.

$600 is still a lot of money but not nearly what it was in years past. It is also the top end of the license pricing and only one cost Non-Residents have to contend with. As a Resident, I often spend $500 in fuel for a week-long hunt. Non Residents will often spend much more, depending on where they are coming from. In addition they will have equipment and food expenses, which can be considerable. My equipment expenses include a truck and camper plus maintenance and insurance for both, plus we built a barn to shelter them during the times they are unused. These expenses dwarf all my other costs, and would do so even if I was a Non-Resident. In the greater scheme of things, the cost of the licenses is only one of many cost items and often only a small part of what a Non-Resident can expect to pay overall.

Let�s take a look at some alternatives for those looking to lower their costs. The first thing a person could do is decide to buy a cow tag. Same price for residents but for Non-Residents the price drops from $604 to $454. As a resident that often takes a cow and goes home with an unfilled bull tag, I have no sympathy for someone who claims cash is a problem but is not willing to consider the antlerless option.

If this is about the kids, Resident youths ages 12-17 can buy licenses for $13.75 each. For Non-Residents the youth tags are $103.75. If parents can�t afford that then they could not afford an elk hunt even if the licenses were free. A parent that truly wants to give their youths an opportunity to hunt elk could to forego buying a tag for themselves and simply buy youth tags for their kids. Again, I have no sympathy for someone unwilling to consider this very affordable alternative.

In short, $600 tags are only one of the many barriers to Non-Resident elk hunting elk in Colorado but only if the NR insists on hunting bulls.

I completely agree with what Saddlesore is saying. Regular working folk can have a tough time justifying spending that type of money, whether it is for tags, gas, ammo, etc., when they have other financial obligations. Throw in the cost to gear up for a couple of kids, and you have an even bigger obligation.

I also agree with Coyote Hunter, that if a guy is really driven to hunt, then he will find a way to get it done.

However, what I think a lot of people forget is the fact that years ago, 30-40 or even 20 years ago, it was much easier to just pick up and go hunting. Someone didn't have to plan for 9 months just to go. You could decide during the week that you were going, go grab your license, throw your gear in your vehicle and go hunting. Nowadays, they have made it so difficult, not only as far as expense, but in regulations, and where and how you can hunt, that a lot of people just don't bother anymore.

I also know that there will always be, on this thread and elsewhere, those who don't give a second thought to those people because they have the financial means, the ability to wade through all the bureaucracy, and the desire to do all of it. However, I bet there are a ton of those types of people that had a Dad or Uncle or Grandpa or some relative that got them started in hunting whose mentor really wasn't one of those guys. They were guys that just liked to get out at hunting time and weren't that enthusiastic about it, but still enjoyed it, but they weren't rifle or hunting loony's. But they got out, took their kid, and now their kid is carrying the hunting tradition on. If we don't make it easier to get out and hunt, and to be successful every now and then, we will lose everyone that isn't a loony and there aren't enough of those people to sustain things.

Just my 2 cents.

CH. That is just plain snobbery. You probably see those more well off people buying this and that because of where you live and work. I see the same kind of thinking from homeowners in my area. People that come out and spend $600+K to build a house and them complain about the 300K homes around that folks buy because they can't spend more. Then the snobs complain that the lower income homes put up a wire fence instead of a fancy expensive cedar or synthetic. As I stated more affluent people forget about that.
I annotated the youth licenses, but my complaint was those past 17 and young adults. I am also not talking about residents hunter
No I can see where you don't have sympathy for the less than affluent as I remember you have hard deciding which of 3 guns to take a on a trip.

And no, a lot of people don't spend money for a new truck and new camper or put up barn to house them. They get a $100 tent and wear their same work clothes to hunt in and maybe have one $200 used gun, drive 15 year old + vehicle and don't spend $500 on fuel. Trust me there are a heck of a lot more people in that category than those you meet.

As for purchasing a cow tag. Do you remember when you started elk hunting and your dream was getting a chance to kill a bull elk. Not a trophy ,but any bull. These young adults have the same dream. From what you are saying it's let us more financially stable get to kill the bulls, you poor folks, go kill cows.

Keep thinking like that and these youngsters that can buy a youth license now will fade away for the hunting season as young adults, and in years to come when we get on a pension and/or a 401K allotment, we will wonder why we didn't say anything years ago, because even then resident hunting license has increased more than we can afford.

Right now it is up to the older generation to take steps that insure hunting is available to all in the future. Your thoughts preclude that

+1, Saddlesore.

That was me. I couldn't have afforded the trip or the tags to hunt Colorado, Wyoming, or Montana, but then again I didn't need to. And wasn't entitled to.

I hunted my butt off in my home state, and enjoyed the heck out of it. I never thought of myself as missing out, or anything like that. I just looked forward to the day when I could afford a western hunt.

That was me as well. +1

Saddlesore -

There is nothing snobbish about suggesting someone consider a viable Plan B when Plan A is a non-starter - especially if it is what you would do yourself in a similar situation. Not only would I be happy to hunt cows if I couldn't afford a bull tag, hunting cows is pretty much what I do anyway. Of the 12 elk I've killed since 2000 only 3 have been bulls. The two biggest bulls I saw in that time were in my sights, both broadside at 100 yards, and both got walking papers even though I had an unfilled bull tag in my pocket on each occasion. So no, I'm not suggesting " let us more financially stable" people kill the bulls, I'm saying "Go hunt elk, don't stay home just because you can't afford a bull tag".

When I mentioned people buying "fancy rides, alcohol, cigarettes, weed, premium cable/satellite TV packages, the latest smart phones, huge flat panel TVs or other non-essentials", I wasn't talking about rich people - quite the opposite. I was talking about people like one of the guys I work with that can't get qualified to buy a $100,000 home yet found the money to buy a new motorcycle last fall, one that he now has a big loan on. This is the same guy that has thousands of dollars worth of tattoos (sleeve tats, neck, chest, back and face) and keeps getting more. Not to mention numerous body piercings. He simply hasn't learned to manage his money. There are a great many people in that category and no, they don't get much if any sympathy from me. My oldest daughter spent some time in that category and it took her a while to figure it out. I spent several of my younger years in that category as well. The people that do get my sympathy are the ones that work hard, budget their money well, stick to their budget and still have a tough time.

By the way, I didn't buy a new truck to go hunting. The last vehicle we sold was our Expedition at 245,000 miles. It was 13 years old at the time. My "hunting truck" has just under 140,000 miles on it and is 9 years old. It gets good maintenance and regular oil changes because a fix here at home is much easier and cheaper than a breakdown on some mountain back road. A work buddy ignored my advice a couple years ago and took a 'shortcut' on his way home, going through a pass that I had cautioned him not to take due to the lateness of the season. He got hung up in the snow and the tow alone cost him $1,000. Some years ago I had a F250 diesel and blew the clutch out while fighting 70mph headwinds west of Laramie with the camper in tow. That incident cost me well over $1500 before I was back on the road to elk camp. For someone that can't afford a $600 bull tag, expenses of that magnitude aren't going to be welcome either. The fact is they probably don't have the financial buffer they need and probably should consider staying home. Reality can suck sometimes.

$500 for fuel may be more than many Non-Residents spend. For someone not towing a camper, and if gas stays around $3.30 a gallon, that's about 2300 miles at 15 mpg. If they hunt near Craig, like I do, and come from Minneapolis, where I lived before moving to Colorado, they'll drive about 2,150 miles round trip, at a cost of $473, plus whatever mileage they put on while actually hunting. In any case, a $500 fuel bill for a Non-Resident is hardly an unreasonable figure. Some will pay less, others will spend much more.

I do remember when I started elk hunting - sleeping in 2-man tents, driving a vehicle I had purchased used and thinking tire chains were a luxury I couldn't afford until events proved how necessary they could be (after which I re-prioritized my budget). We slept in tents, no cots, my boots were uninsulated and far from waterproof and I took the only rifle I had. Cooking was on a Coleman stove. I wore blue jeans, a sweatshirt and an old jeans jacket that had belonged to my Granddad. I wasn't very successful but I was elk hunting and happy. I think it took me 3 years to get my first elk, a spike bull with one antler broken off half-way up. Our first camper, many years old when we acquired it, was only 14-1/2 feet long including the tongue and I could almost stand upright in it. It was small but it was what we could afford and it served us for a decade or so. We sold it when the company I worked for went under and then it was back to sleeping in a tent.

I also remember my first cow and I was every bit as happy with it as with my first good bull. My oldest daughter took her first big game animal last year, a Wyoming doe antelope. She could have afforded a buck tag (and we had ample opportunity to fill one) but I don't think she would have been any more thrilled than with the doe. As a parent I was just glad to see her succeed with one shot. She's now hooked and plans to hunt antelope with us again this fall.

My thoughts do nothing to preclude young hunters from going afield. Far from it. What I am suggesting is that if someone can't afford a NR bull tag for themselves and their young hunter, perhaps they should consider getting a cow tag for themselves and a Youth cow tag for the young hunter, In my previous post I also suggested the adult might want to forgo a license for themselves if that is what it took (something I would gladly do if it meant one of my girls got to hunt instead). In my book it is much better to hunt cows than not hunt elk at all.

I spot read a lot of this..but really if a guy is struggling to kill a bull in Colorado, it aint gonna come easier for him anywhere else.I've hunted late hunts or general hunts in AZ.UT,ID, MT and WY..Colorado is about as easy as it gets for just whacking a legal bull, imo.

I mostly hunt colorado for deer, but I can buy an OTC bull tag in the area..in the 8 times i've hunted there, i've never not had the opportunity at a 5 point bull, most years i could have dropped respectable 6 points.

I've been accused of snobbery for suggesting that someone consider reduced price (cow) tags rather than not hunt because they can't afford bull tags. Here is more along the same lines, five different situations regarding Non-Residents:

1. Single adult. If they can't afford $604 for a NR bull tag they probably can't afford $454 for a cow tag, either. I don't buy Wyoming antelope buck tags for $225 because I can buy leftover doe tags for $34 each and get up to four tags. The money saved goes a long ways toward paying for the trip and I still enjoy the hunt and good eating that follows. For a NR that wants to hunt elk, a cow tag is much better than no hunt at all. When I lived in MN I would have loved to go elk hunting in Colorado but couldn't afford the time away from work, let alone the cost of the hunt. Sometimes life just isn't what you want it to be. Elk hunting had been my dream ever since I had been a kid so I moved to Colorado. My first hunt was 1982 and I've only missed one or two years since. For those that have the will there is a way.

2. Single adult with two 18-26 year-olds. If everyone gets a bull tag that's $1812 right off the bat. If everyone hunts cows it is $1354, a savings of $450 or $150 per person. That should go a long ways toward making such a hunt more affordable.

3. Single adult with two 18-26 year-olds. The adult forgoes a tag (this IS about the kids, right?), resulting in license costs of $908, a savings of $904. I would gladly forgo a tag if it meant one of my daughters got to hunt in my place.

4. Single adult with 2 teens 12-17 years old. Again, $1812 if everyone hunts bulls, but only $811.50 if the adult gets a cow tag and the young ones get Youth cow tags. That's a savings of $1000.50.

5. Single adult with 2 teens 12-17 years old. Again, $1812 if everyone hunts bulls. The adult forgoes a tag and the two kids get Youth cow tags. License cost is now $207.5. That is a savings of $1604.50 over everyone hunting bulls. If a parent can't afford this option they have no business going hunting in the first place.


So, just some suggestions as to how a NR can reduce costs to help make a Colorado elk hunt a reality. If hunting cows isn't good enough, the snobbery is on their part.

I have to disagree that it is more difficult now than �back when�.

Granddad was far more involved in my hunting and shooting than Dad was. My brothers and I started out young, hunting small game in Iowa. It seems Grandma was always cooking up pheasant or rabbit or squirrel or pigeon. I don�t know how much Granddad thought about hunting larger game, but I suspect not much. He took his first big game animal, a MO whitetail, when he was 83. He took another at 87 or so and decided they were �too much trouble�. He never hunted again. Still, it was the ever-present stack of �Outdoor Life�, �Field and Stream� and �Sports Afield� magazines at his house that gave me the elk hunting bug as a kid.

It wasn�t until I was 31 and had moved to Colorado that such a hunt became possible. I started out taking Friday off, hunting Saturday (opening day) and Sunday and heading home on Monday. In an exceptional year I would wait until Tuesday to head home. That was the schedule for far more years than I would have liked but the reality was it was all the time I could afford away from work. Getting a license wasn�t a problem � I just picked up an OTC bull tag before the season opened. It is still completely possible for people to do the same, even Non-Residents.

Although there are a lot of different license types, season dates and so on, the process of getting a tag is no more difficult than back the in the early 1980�s when I got started. In the simplest form, just pick up an OTC bull tag any time before the season opens. Since it would be �snobbery� to suggest someone consider hunting cows, there is no need to suggest they consider putting in an application for one. Should they do so, however, the process is no more difficult today than it was back in the early 80�s. In fact, the online applications available today simplify the process and reduce the chances for errors that would invalidate such an application.

Can�t remember your CID # and lost your paperwork? Look it up online using basic personal information, an option that wasn�t available not that many years ago. Can�t remember your name, birth date or address? Maybe you should just stay home�

Need help deciding where and when to hunt? There are a world of online resources available that were not available back in the �good old days�. Online statistics at the DPW include just about everything you need to know to make an intelligent, informed decision as to where to hunt or where to apply for licenses. Then there is Google Earth, which allows you to inspect potential hunting areas in great detail. If you prefer the �old school� methods are still available, too, including topo and land ownership, maps from both the USGS and commercial sources. If anything, obtaining such maps is much easier now than back then. These days you can even order custom maps.

For equipment, a beat-up old .30-06, iron sights and cheap C&C bullets work every bit as well now as it did �back in the day�. So does sleeping in a cheap tent or the back of your pick-up or other vehicle. While I�ve never slept in a pick-up, I have slept in the front seat of a full-size Bronco and the back of a Suburban and would do so again if that�s what it took.

One of the biggest obstacles for new hunters, IMHO, is the requirement for Hunter Safety certificates - but that requirement hasn�t changed in decades. Even old farts like myself had to get one before they were able to buy a license. Two of my daughters and my son-in-law struggled to fit the required classes into their schedule. Once that was done the rest was easy.

The point is that it is still perfectly possible for someone to go elk hunting on the spur of the moment � provided they have met the Hunter Safety requirement. The equipment needed hasn�t changed one iota. Yes, license costs are up but those increases can be mitigated significantly as noted in my other posts. And yes, those mitigation efforts will require planning ahead about 6 months if one puts in for the initial draw or 3 months if applying for leftovers.

If someone can�t plan that far ahead the event probably isn�t all that important to them � and if it isn�t important to them I�ll not lose any sleep over whether they go hunting or not.

Every year when the Brochure comes out the same conversation takes place on here about license costs.

As a non resident if you ask me about Colorado license costs I would say that they suck, but that is the price to go hunting out of state. Illinois charges a non resident $410 for a bow permit and $325 for a gun permit just for whitetail, so to me for a chance at elk, $600 or $450 for a cow is a deal compared to a deer tag.

I have yet to purchase a bull tag and have only been hunting cows because of the reduced cost. That difference is some of my gas money to get out there, but the way the cow tags are increasing, that savings is about gone. When I first started they were $250 and have been going up. My last hunt cost me around $900-1,000 for a cow, which don't get me wrong is a lot of money, but if you consider it as a weeks vacation is not all that bad.

The license cost is cheap compared to getting there. It's about $800 total spent on gas which I have been lucky enough to split with another guy so I'm only out half, and if I could add another hunter in it will only go down. It would be tough to go it alone. After that I have a hotel stay on the way out and food. My buddy picks up the hotel on the way back.

This year my oldest boy will be 12 and he has asked to go so there is another $100 added to the cost. If we go this year I won't buy a tag and just let him hunt. The reason being it's all about him and I also have to get a rife for him and some other gear, so I have other up front costs this year. Basically it adds up to the cost of my tag.

Unless I missed it, it's nice that they don't require me to also have a license just for him to hunt. I know some other states do that because of fact that some guys have been caught hunting on their kids youth license, which makes them the lowest form of life out there.

I have been lucky enough to have gone elk hunting for the last 5 years straight, but for me if the license costs and gas prices go up much more it's going to have to be an every other year thing for me, which is fine.

If you want to go you will figure it out, either give something up, get other guys to split the gas or save and go every few years.

Everything costs these days and nothing says I have to go hunt elk in the west. I could hunt deer out of state in Missouri or Kentucky for way less, I just choose to spend the money on an elk hunt.

Is the free non resident fishing license only valid for the same time frame as the hunting license?

The cost of hunting in general is getting prohibitive. Ammo prices are up. Gas prices are up. Private land opportunities are shrinking; I used to have 5 nice private properties on which to hunt deer. Now we have �outfitters� in Ohio and I am lucky to have 2. For heaven�s sake if you need an outfitter to shoot a whitetail deer in Ohio, you are NO hunter. IMHO, the scoring of animals has had as much negative impact as anything else.

Children are much more interested in technology than the outdoors. Heck, try make a teenager sit quietly in a chair for 10 minutes without some electronic stimulation and you may need to call a squad.

I am afraid that hunting in the US will soon be similar to that in EU; just a rich man�s pursuit on the �kings� land.