The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission held a public meeting in Winter Park on Wednesday, June 12, regarding the 2025-29 big game season structure and passed policies for resident and nonresident hunters. These policies are for annual hunting licenses for deer, elk, pronghorn, moose and black bear.

The big game season structure helps ensure wildlife are at their population objectives. These objectives are set by the agency’s Herd Management Plan. The season structure also outlines where and when hunting seasons occur to disperse hunters throughout Game Management Units, also known as GMUs.

The most notable policy commissioners voted on was to limit current over-the-counter archery licenses for nonresidents while keeping them available for residents west of Interstate 25 and Game Management Unit 140. The commissioners held a number of meetings over the past year that included public input leading up to Wednesday’s meeting.

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Over-the counter-elk archery licenses west of Interstate-25 and GMU 140

Over-the-counter archery licenses were a significant topic discussed during the meeting. These licenses are an opportunity for people to hunt even if they didn’t draw a tag for that season. These opportunities draw lots of visitors to hunt in Colorado, on top of the resident hunters already here, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Hunter overcrowding is a big issue in Colorado, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis. During the public outreach phase, the agency proposed limiting over-the-counter elk archery licenses across the board — for resident and nonresident hunters.

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Davis said that limiting the licenses in this way would “turn a big dial” to mitigate overcrowding. But after receiving public input from hunters opposed to limits on residents, commissioners deliberated on just limiting nonresidents. This would allow Parks and Wildlife to not make as much of a drastic change.

In a memo to the commissioners before the June 12 meeting, Davis wrote about public outreach.

“Hunters shared their perspectives on hunting heritage, how important OTC (over-the-counter) licenses are to ensure families and friends can hunt together, about recruitment and retention, and many other reasons to maintain OTC archery licenses for residents.”

In discussion of archery licenses, Christian Tenerowicz of the Colorado Resident Hunter Association, spoke in favor of limiting nonresidents. Tenerowicz added that he has a home in Fraser.

“Residents need to be treated differently than nonresidents,” Tenerowicz said. “My family works hard to support multiple properties. We’re not rich, but we spend money in this state every day. Unlike nonresidents who show up for a week, one month.”

Tenerowicz added that allowing residents to have more archery hunting opportunities will keep them engaged, especially youth. Archery requires constant practice; if a young person doesn’t draw a tag or can’t buy a license they may stop practicing and never pick up the sport again, he said.

Several other hunters spoke during public comment. They asked the agency to keep the heritage of hunting alive for residents, instead of making it more difficult. Some residents pointed out that in some years nonresident licenses outnumbered resident licenses. Other community members felt that over-the-counter licenses need to be limited across the board to help with overcrowding.

Elk numbers are also up to about 303,000 post-hunt in 2023, according to Brandon Siegfried, founder of the Resident Hunter Association. He said this is an increase from previous years and believes the biological needs to limit licenses aren’t needed.

After receiving public comment, the commissioners were divided while discussing the topic. However, the motion passed 9-1 to limit over-the-counter archery licenses for just nonresidents. Commissioner Marie Haskett was the only no vote. 

“I think the public process is good when you can listen and hear messages and you can modify your thinking,” Davis said.

Over-the-counter rifle elk licenses west of I-25 and GMU 140

The commission was presented several options for over-the-counter rifle elk licenses.

Some commissioners felt that limiting over-the-counter nonresident archery licenses was enough to prevent overcrowding. Rifle licenses have declined since 2000, according to data presented at the meeting.  

The commission decided to keep the status quo policy for over-the-counter rifle elk licenses: “Rifle elk licenses are limited and issued via the draw, but unlimited over-the-counter bull licenses can be made available in certain units. These bull licenses would be available for both residents and nonresidents.”

According to Davis’ memo, elk bull licenses don’t need to be limited for biological reasons or to prevent hunter overcrowding. The commission also believes that heavily limiting rifle licenses could financially impact Parks and Wildlife.

“None of this is permanent,” Davis said. “We’ll continue to work with our resident hunters, our small businesses. Our outfitters and guides are really important, and we’ll keep looking into economics of hunting for local communities.”

The full recording of the June 12 meeting is available on Parks and Wildlife’s YouTube page. The commission’s next meeting is July 18-19 in Meeker.