Colorado Changing Non-resident License Allocation

Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission Meeting, 15-16 March 2023

During today’s meeting in Aurora, the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission addressed many topics; to include Preference Point Banking, Group Averaging, and Big Game License Allocations. Prior to this meeting, CPW’s Staff conducted public outreach on these topics, which could be implemented as early as the 2024 big game hunting season. The results of the public comments gathered were: 

Staff Recommendations discussed during today’s meeting follow: 

–Based on the 2023 comment form results, 69% of resident hunters ranked status quo as their least preferred option, showing that residents want CPW to take some kind of additional action on license allocation. Furthermore, 86% of residents and 74% of non-residents ranked a 75/25 (R/NR) across-the-board allocation as either their first or second choice. 

–In the 2022 Big Game Attitudes Survey, when asked to select the fairest license allocation for resident and non-resident hunters, more than half (59%) of residents selected the option that most favored residents (80/20 (R/NR)), and more than three-quarters (83%) of non-residents selected the option that most favored non-residents (65/35 (R/NR)). However, 41% of resident hunters indicated an allocation split at or below the 75/25 breakdown as the fairest approach. Note that only 10% of resident hunters supported the allocation option of 65/35 (R/NR), indicating that residents want a change from the status quo. 

–An across-the-board, single allocation of 75/25 (R/NR) would decrease the number of licenses for current high-demand hunt codes allocated to residents by 5% (~100 fewer licenses drawn by residents), but for all other hunt codes it would increase licenses allocated to residents by 10% (~3,000 licenses). This approach could be a good compromise between resident and non-resident interests. Additionally, an across-the-board, single allocation maintains a higher level of predictability for the draw over time, simplifies CPW operations and regulations, and increases customer understanding of the license allocation. 

–Considering all of the information available for a very polarizing issue, and recognizing that resident hunters desire a more substantial allocation than the status quo, CPW recommends transitioning from the current license allocation system to a simpler 75/25 across-the-board allocation for deer, elk, pronghorn and bear (i.e., the 80/20 R/NR allocation for high-demand hunt codes would be eliminated). CPW sees a 75/25 across-the-board allocation as a good compromise between resident and non-resident interests with the benefits outlined above. 

Next Steps:

The Commission will take final regulatory action during its next meeting in May 2023.  

They indicated:

The only question remaining is. . . what’s your take? 

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