How Do Preference Points Affect Your Draw Odds In Colorado?

Colorado’s big game draw system is a true preference point system (except for moose, sheep, and mountain goat, which use a weighted draw). 

Colorado’s draw system means:

This means high-demand units can take 10+ years to draw, while others might only take 1-3 points.

Example:

How Many Preference Points Do You Need to draw tags in Colorado?

It depends on the species and unit. Here’s a rough idea:

To check the latest draw odds, use tools found on GOHUNT's Insider membership like their Filtering tool and standalone draw odds page.

What About Hybrid & Weighted Draws?

Colorado also has a Hybrid Draw and a Weighted Draw for certain species:

Hybrid Draw:

Some high-point elk and deer units allocate 20% of tags randomly to applicants with at least 5 points, giving lower-point hunters a shot. 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 non-residents. Residents have some chance in all Hybrid draw hunts.

Weighted Draw:

Used for moose, bighorn sheep, and mountain goat—instead of preference points, extra points reduce your random draw number, increasing odds over time.

Learn more by checking out our state-by-state Application Strategy Articles