On April 5, 2024, the CPW Commissioners (appointment by Governor Polis (D)) will meet to discuss cancelling all Over-the-Counter (OTC) Archery Elk Hunting in Colorado for residents and non-residents. Elections have consequences and the hunters need to think twice about voting for a Democrat as they wage war with Rural Americans and Outdoorsmen by adding more wolves and mountain lions into our already overcrowded mountains. The writing is on the wall if you watch the March 14, 2024, CPW Commission meeting where CPW Staff recommended getting rid of all OTC Archery and all the CPW Commissioners were quick to agree, even before the public was allowed to comment and share the facts and declining resident participation trends the past 10 years in OTC elk hunting. CPW staff has withheld the troubling OTC and Limited elk draw nonresident trends from resident hunters and the CPW Commission. (Sign OTC Petition for residents currently over 6500 signatures)
This article will disclose the facts to help educate the public and hopefully get our Colorado State Representatives like Brandi Bradley and Matt Soper to step up for the residents they have sworn to serve. The “Overcrowding” CPW claims to be addressing is 100% caused by nonresident hunters, so residents are losing archery OTC because of CPW and its pro-nonresident dollar policies that have caused a non-resident hunter invasion in Colorado. There are more nonresident archery OTC hunters in Colorado than resident archery OTC hunters (unheard of anywhere in the country). If you want to save archery OTC hunting for residents sign up here by April 3, 2024, for virtual testimony with the CPW Commission or you can email a comment from the link.
The OTC elk trends are that resident participation is down by about 4,300 (20%) since 2014 and nonresidents are up by about 4,200 (28%), The OTC spreadsheet below shows the nonresident overcrowding and it shows that resident are down in OTC rifle as well. This data is confirmed in the OTC CPW report by Brandon Diamond from 2022. Disclosure -This data is mainly from the CORA Requests, all info is subject to errors and you should verify all numbers with your research. 
With the limited elk draw, nonresident applications are up by almost 45,000 since 2015- a 55% increase, applications are up by 9,000 in the past year alone. By next year there will be more nonresidents applying for Colorado elk licenses than residents, and with Colorado fake tag allocation caps (read the full story here on fake caps), that means fewer tags for residents and resident youth, which all data shows is already happening.
- Quick Fact #1 – Resident Youth in the Colorado Limited Elk Draw– are drawing 3,346 fewer elk tags than they were 9 years ago! That’s a loss of 37%.
- Quick Fact #2- Residents (adults) are drawing 17,248 fewer Limited Elk Tags in Colorado than they were 9 years ago. That’s a loss of 23%.
- Quick Fact #3- Magically nonresidents and nonresident Youth are drawing more tags than 9 years ago!
- Quick Fact #4 – Nonresident limited elk applicants have surged by nearly 45,000 since 2015 (up 55%). Up 9,000 in the past year!
New Data being shared on the Colorado Resident Hunter Association Facebook group shows an absolute surge in Colorado from nonresident hunters since 2015. When you couple that with Colorado’s soft (fake) big game tag allocation (CPW Commission tag caps only apply to residents 1st choice in the primary draw and ignore residents in their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices) the trends in Colorado limited elk draw since 2015 are devastating for resident hunters, especially resident youth hunters. Please see the spreadsheet and graphs below. Disclosure -This data is mainly from the CPW Elk Statistics sheets found on the CPW website, all info is subject to errors and you should verify all numbers with your research.
Most Troubling Limited Elk Trends in Limited Elk Tag Draw- Resident Youth Numbers are Devastating- the Destruction of Resident Family Hunting Heritage in CO
- Since 2015 the Total number of Residents who have drawn a limited elk license has dropped from 73,963 to 56,715 = 17,248 (23 % drop). Nonresidents who have drawn, is up since 2015.
- Since 2015 Resident Youth who have drawn a limited elk license have dropped from 8,986 to 5,640 = 3,346 (37% drop). Nonresident youth who have drawn is up by 7%.
- Since 2015 the Resident overall % of limited elk licenses drawn has dropped from 74% to 68% and the Nonresident % has increased from 26% to 32%.
- Why has the number of limited elk tags drawn for Residents dropped by 23% since 2015 and nonresidents increased since 2015 = Fake Tag Caps.
- Having cow elk tags as part of these numbers softens the trends since residents end up with 90% of cow tags, and nonresidents want the antlers. If someone did the stats on just bull elk units it would expose the fake tag cap impacts to Residents even more. CPW tag allocation caps only apply to first draw choice= Fake
- Overall TOTAL (NR+R) limited elk tags drawn are down by 16,906 since 2015. From 100,165 to 83,259, a drop of 17%. Yet nonresidents are drawing more tags!
- Nonresident Limited Elk Applicants have surged by nearly 45,000 since 2015 (up 55%), and Resident Applicants are up by about 2,000 since 2015 (just 2%). Resident Youth applications are down a staggering 17% and nonresident youth applications are up by 106% since 2015.
- It is very feasible, based on trends, that there will be more nonresidents applying for limited elk tags than residents by next year. Just like there are more nonresident archery OTC hunters than residents.
In OTC hunts, nonresidents caused the overcrowding and CPW punishes residents instead of capping the nonresidents. We saw this last year in the Grand Mesa Archery OTC units where nonresidents were up 250% and residents were down by 20% since 2014. Nonresidents are overrunning Colorado residents and the fake tag allocation caps are taking more and more tags from residents because they can’t draw in their 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices of the draw — all tags (above the fake cap) go to nonresidents at the end of the 1st choice draw. No state in the country does this to its resident hunters, it is a breach of the public trust. If residents fail to draw their first choice, no tags are left because it’s not protected in the later draw choices, under our fake caps (CPW Rule #206, B #5)Drawing Process (Page 21).
Does Colorado Sell More Nonresident Elk Tags Than All Western States Combined
The data in this spreadsheet shows that even though these 7 other western states have 742,000 elk compared to Colorado’s 280,000 elk, yes Colorado sells more nonresident elk tags than the 7 other western states. How is this possible? No state treats its resident hunters worse than Colorado. Colorado has been selling resident hunter equity for decades, and the spreadsheet below shows how overhunted Colorado’s public lands are. Likely the biggest travesty in wildlife management history is when a state, ethically bound to serve its residents (based on the Colorado Constitution and Commission Ethics) instead turns on the residents and serves the almighty dollar of visitors to its state. Disclosure -This data is from various online and print sources (data is very fragmented to collect), all info is subject to errors and you should verify all numbers with your own research. It is desired that CPW someday validate this information to share the trends of Westerns States compared to Colorado to show equity status for the residents.
7 Western States Nonresident ELK Tags Sales Vs Colorado
Elk Hunting Pressure per acre amongst Western States
This is analysis from 2018 to 2020. Disclosure -This data is from various online and print sources (data is very fragmented to collect), all info is subject to errors and you should verify all numbers with your own research. It is desired that CPW someday validate this information to share the trends of Westerns States compared to Colorado to show equity status for the residents.
Hunting Pressure on public lands in all western states. Nonresident limited elk tag allocation
