As we’ve been discussing on several Big Hunt Guys Podcast episodes, there are going to be significant changes coming to Colorado in 2028. Last week, on January 9, 2025, I watched the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission meeting live streamed on YouTube. Watch the video below:
There are several changes that will happen in 2028 in Colorado. Some of these changes to Colorado are welcomed or disliked depending on how many preference points you have or if you’re someone just getting into the application game in Colorado.
If you’re a high point holder, some of the changes might drastically change how long it takes you to draw a tag if you were previously close to the point break. And if you're a new applicant or one who previously just purchased points, well... now you have a chance. Plus, now we will all face more fees in Colorado at the resident and nonresident level when we apply each year. Add on top of that changes to the resident and nonresident tag allocation, and you have information that you will definitely want to understand, as these changes could impact how people apply in 2025, 2026, and 2027 before these changes happen in the 2028 application season.
Point creep is always a big issue hunters are conserned with across the West. Learn more about point creep below:
Changes happening in 2028 to Colorado's big game draw system
Below is a summary of the changes found on Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s website. You can access the document in the button below:
Draw Type - Split Draw
The split draw change will be one of the most significant changes in 2028. For the primary draw for deer, elk, bear, antelope, and turkey, the quota for each hunt code will be divided 50/50, with half of the quota going to a preference point draw and half going to a bonus draw. Now, everyone will have a “chance” to draw a permit for deer, elk, bear, antelope, or turkey in the state of Colorado. Before, you needed the points to draw, and if you didn't have the points, you had no chance of drawing.
This is going to be great for some people who might have given up on the chance in Colorado to draw a tag for deer, elk, bear, antelope, or turkey because now they have a “chance” to draw a permit, especially when it comes to the more coveted tags in the state.
What is interesting is that the Hybrid draw was removed. And for people who don’t know about Colorado’s Hybrid draw, essentially, the purpose of the Hybrid draw is to give hunters a chance to draw some of Colorado’s best deer, elk, and antelope permits even if they have less than max points for those hunts. Hybrid draw hunts are those that require a resident at least 10 points to draw (averaged over three years). Those hunts will have up to 20% of the permits allocated randomly through the hybrid draw. In theory, hunters who would not have enough preference points to draw these licenses have a slight chance in the Hybrid draw. Applicants must have at least five points to be considered in the Hybrid draw. Here is the catch for nonresidents, the Hybrid draw occurs after the normal draw, and all the nonresident deer and elk quotas are already met prior to the Hybrid random draw. So essentially, nonresidents won’t draw one of these deer or elk hunts in the hybrid draw. The antelope draw is not beholden to a resident/nonresident percent split so there is some chance there for nonresidents. Residents have some chance in all Hybrid draw hunts.
Below is the direct quote from CPW on the new Split Draw:
“A split draw methodology will be used in the Primary Draw for all deer, elk, bear, pronghorn, and turkey licenses. The quota for each hunt code will be divided 50/50, with half of the quota going to a preference point draw, and half going to a bonus draw (*see Appendix A for descriptions of draw types). If the quota cannot be evenly split, the extra license will go to the preference point draw. The previous hybrid draw is removed and replaced with the above split draw methodology.”
Tag allocation changes in Colorado
Another big change Colorado made was changing the tag allocations for residents and nonresidents. Starting in 2028, 75% of the deer, elk, bear, antelope, and turkey licenses will go to residents, and 25% will go to nonresidents. The only way that allocation could be modified is if there is insufficient demand to reach the 75% resident allocation.
There was also the elimination of the different high-demand and low-demand allocations. Under the current system, if the hunt code has taken more than six preference points for a resident to draw using a three-year average, then the license split was 80% for residents and 20% for nonresidents of that hunt code. If the license for a certain hunt code took less than six points for a resident draw using a three-year average, it was a 75% tag allocation for residents and 25% for nonresidents.
Some residents might be upset at this change.
“The nonresident allocation for all deer, elk, bear, pronghorn, and turkey licenses is 25%, unless there is insufficient demand to reach the 75% resident allocation. All hunt codes for these species will have the same residency allocation. No continued differentiation between high-demand and low-demand hunt codes (using resident preference point and three-year averages)."
The other change in this tag allocation section:
“Allocation rules apply to the first and second choices in the Primary Draw. If there is insufficient resident demand after going through the first and second choices, any excess quota may go to nonresidents (soft cap). No more than half of the nonresident cap will be included in the preference point half of the split draw.”
Preference point changes in Colorado
There's a big change regarding preference points. The first is in how the points are earned in Colorado.
"Preference Points are species-specific. With the exception of turkey, only one point per species can be accrued per draw year. For turkey, a point can be accrued per draw application season (spring and fall), so a maximum of two per draw year. Preference points are accrued in two ways; 1) by purchasing a point during the Primary Draw application period, or 2) if unsuccessful in drawing a first choice license during the Primary Draw. The first choice preference point only hunt code for each species is eliminated."
Preference point fee changes
In 2028, residents and nonresidents will now be charged a preference point fee for deer, elk, bear, antelope, and turkey. The fee is $15 for residents and $30 for nonresidents per species. I’ve heard some rumblings from residents who are very upset with this change.
Cost to purchase Colorado preference points for deer, elk, bear, antelope, and turkey
Residency | Resident |
|---|---|
Species and cost | Deer: $15 |
Residency | Nonresident |
Species and cost | Deer: $30 |
Residency | Species and cost |
|---|---|
Resident | Deer: $15 |
Nonresident | Deer: $30 |
"Residents will be charged a $15 fee, and nonresidents a $30 fee to receive a preference point for deer, elk, bear, pronghorn, or turkey (per species). Applicants can select to opt-out of paying the preference point fee if unsuccessful, but they will not gain a preference point for that species for that year."
Changes to Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and moose draw system
There are also some big changes to the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and moose draw system.
100% bonus draw
The new system will be a 100% bonus draw for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and moose hunt codes. This completely replaces the current weighted draw for these species. Applicants must still hold a minimum of three species-specific preference points to be eligible to draw a ram, bull moose, or either-sex mountain goat. And no minimum point thresholds for antlerless moose, ewe bighorn,
Current weighted point definition: Every subsequent year that an applicant for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, mountain goat, and moose is unsuccessful, they are awarded a weighted point. During the drawing, the application is assigned a random number, which is then divided by the number of weighted points accumulated by the applicant, plus one. This will render a new number. The first tag is issued to the applicant with the lowest new number and so on.
Learn more on the Colorado State Profile:
Group application changes for sheep, moose, and mountain goat
Group applications are allowed but are restricted to two members in the group, and both must have the same residency. This is status quo for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goat, but expanded to moose and desert bighorn sheep applicants for consistency.
Once-a-lifetime harvest for sheep, moose, and mountain goat
This is the change that is probably needed for these species. Most people who haven’t taken one will most likely think this way, and those who have might want to continue to apply to see if they can beat the odds twice. Overall, I think people understand that drawing a tag for these species in the lower 48 is extremely difficult, and making them once in a lifetime will help, to a degree, to spread the love.
“License holders who harvest any antlered moose, bighorn sheep ram, or mountain goat on an either-sex license, will not be eligible to draw another male or either-sex license for the same species in the future. Exceptions to this policy include auction and raffle licenses, private land tags issued under the Bighorn Sheep Access Program, and control/special management licenses approved by the Division. This policy change is not retroactive, but applies to license holders moving forward. License holders who harvest any antlered moose, bighorn sheep ram, or mountain goat, must wait a minimum of 5 years before they are eligible to reapply for points or for a female license for the same species.”
Preference points for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, moose, and mountain goat
Some information will change for 2028 around Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, moose, and mountain goat. The big one is the differentiation between preference points and weighted preference points is eliminated. All points are considered normal preference points going forward.
"Obtaining Points - Preference Points are species specific. Only one point per species can be accrued per draw year. Points are accrued in two ways; 1) by purchasing a point during the Primary Draw application period, or 2) if unsuccessful in drawing a first choice license during the Primary Draw. The first choice preference point only hunt code for each species is eliminated."
"The differentiation between preference points and weighted preference points is eliminated. All points are considered normal preference points moving forward. All preexisting weighted preference points are added to the number of preexisting preference points for that species to get the updated point value for each customer."
Desert bighorn sheep draw system in 2028
The draw will be status quo and is entirely a random draw for desert bighorn sheep in Colorado. No preference points will be gained or used for this species.
One thing to note that CPW mentioned:
"This is the proposed draw type for any new limited species draw added in the future."
So it would seem that possibly even CPW would prefer to move their system completely to a random draw instead of a preference point draw.
Application restrictions for desert bighorn sheep
Group applications are allowed, but are restricted to two members in the group and both must have the same residency.
Changes to Colorado's reissue license process
First change:
"The reissue process is automated and is used to resell any license that is surrendered, not paid for by the payment deadline, or returned up to two weeks prior to the start of the season. Licenses are automatically reissued to the next eligible applicant in the draw order (by residency based on the next up report) that has opted-in to accept auto reissues. Applicants can opt-in to accept auto reissues by hunt code during the application process. They can also change their opt-in status at any time, prior to being issued a license for that hunt code. When a license is auto-reissued, the system charges the customer for the license."
Second Change:
"If the hunt code was applied for as a first choice during the Primary Draw, then all preference points for that species also become void with the auto reissue. If the hunt code was applied for as a second, third, or fourth choice or during the Secondary Draw, then no points are used."
Weekly reissues:
"Any deer, elk, bear, pronghorn or turkey licenses that are returned two weeks or less prior to the start of the season or returned at any time but do not have any eligible applicants to auto-reissue the license to, will be placed on the weekly reissue list. Those licenses will be released at 11:00 am MT on Wednesdays weekly, with a preview list posted the Tuesday prior. Licenses purchased during the weekly reissue release are treated as leftover licenses and do not require the use of preference points to purchase."
Manual reissues:
"Any Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, desert bighorn sheep, mountain goat or moose license returned two weeks or less prior to the start of the season will be manually reissued to the applicant next up in the draw order (by residency based on the next up report). This is done manually by CPW staff, not automatically by the system. The customer must approve the manual reissue. When a license is manually reissued, the customer is charged for the license and all preference points for that species become void. If there are no eligible applicants to manually reissue the license to or if none of the next five applicants in line accept the license, the license becomes available as a part of the next weekly reissue process."
Failure to pay
"If a customer draws a license during any limited license draw, but the license is not paid for by the payment deadline, the license is removed from the customer’s account and auto reissued (as described above) to the next applicant in the draw order. If preference points were used to obtain the license, those preference points are restored to the pre-draw level."
Again, all of these changes will not be put in place until the 2028 application season.
24 Comments
Jason Neuman
4/2/2025, 7:47:44 PM
Will non-residents still need to buy a qualifying license to apply for the draw or not?
James klosek
3/30/2025, 12:46:06 AM
Sorry kids of the nation. NR's are getting shaken down $$ across the west working to make it unattainable for the kids and new hunters. This is all making it stupid to invest in, at least for working stiffs. I think conservation efforts are gonna be impacted. Sad.
Chad Farrell
3/31/2025, 6:13:04 PM
agree.