Information on the 2023 Colorado Secondary Draw

If you didn't draw a tag for the 2023 season in Colorado or you elected to just apply for points... well, there is still hope to hunt this year! The application period for the Colorado Second Draw is June 21 through June 30 at 8 p.m. MT.

You can apply online here. Draw results should be available in the middle of July.

Hunters who didn't draw a license or didn't apply in the primary draw, still have the opportunity to draw a license in the secondary big game draw. Most elk, deer, antelope, and bear licenses not issued through the primary draw will now be made available in a secondary draw that is open to anyone, whether they applied for the primary draw or not.

A list of licenses can be found by clicking the buttons below:

Elk Deer Bear Antelope

Once again for 2023, I uploaded the original PDF documents of all the tags available for the secondary draw. This means you'll always have access to this original document (even if you forget to save them). The great thing; this is a useful tool to have for the 2024 season, as a way to sort of gauge which tags might be available as leftovers which can help when deciding how to use your first and second choice on your Colorado application and to track trends on what tags were available.

Important Information when applying

• A qualifying license is required. Click here to find out more.
• Application fee: You’ll still be charged a fee for applying, whether or not you draw a license. The $8 resident and $10 nonresident application fees apply per species for the secondary draw.
• You did not need to have applied in the primary big game draw to apply in the secondary draw.
• You cannot use or apply for a preference point in the secondary draw. This also means that you will not lose any preference points if you draw a tag in the secondary draw. 
• You cannot apply as a group in the secondary draw.
• Any licenses remaining after the secondary draw (except for Ranching for Wildlife licenses) will be placed on the leftover list and available for purchase on leftover day, starting Aug. 1 at 9 a.m. MT.

Note: The licenses that appear on these second draw lists were left over from the primary draw or were not paid for or were surrendered by individuals who drew.

THE BIG ONE — Youth preference

In the Colorado Secondary draw, all youth applicants receive 100% preference over adult applicants. What this means is that youth applicants will draw all available tags before adult applicants are considered for a given hunt code. As an example, if 10 tags are available for a hunt code and eight youth applicants apply, there will be only two tags available for adult hunters. This can be an important factor to take into consideration when applying for the various hunts. If applying for youth in your household, there are some great opportunities to be had here!

2023 qualifying licenses

Resident and nonresident:

• Annual Spring Turkey License
• Annual Youth Spring Turkey License
• Annual Fall Turkey License (valid for the secondary draw ONLY)
• Annual Youth Fall Turkey License (valid for the secondary draw ONLY)
• Annual Small Game License
• Annual Youth Small Game License

Resident only:

• Annual Resident Combination Small Game/Fishing License
• Annual Resident Senior Combination Small Game/Fishing License
• Resident Disabled Veteran Lifetime Combination Small Game/Fishing License
• Resident Disabled First Responder Lifetime Combination Small Game/Fishing License
• Annual Small-Game License for Resident Senior Lifetime Fishing License Holders

The list of tags

Once again, you can check out each link below to access that species 2023 Colorado leftover list.

Elk Deer Bear Antelope

Researching these Colorado second draw hunts

In my opinion, Filtering 2.0 is one of the best tools for figuring out what unit you might want to apply for during the secondary draw. Below are links to each species on Filtering 2.0. From there you can jump into each Unit Profile and further break down the hunts.

• Elk research on Filtering 2.0
• Mule deer research on Filtering 2.0
• Whitetail deer research on Filtering 2.0
• Bear research on Filtering 2.0
• Antelope on Filtering 2.0

Another tactic is looking at the overall tag numbers from the tag allocation graphs located in the Unit Profiles. These provide you a great glimpse into hunter numbers and also gives a number to bounce off of any OTC hunts that might be going on in the unit at the same time.

If you’re not familiar with Insider, check out the link below to learn more about everything we cover within our Insider membership to make your e-scouting, research, and hunting efforts more successful. Everything you need to have the best season ever can be found on Insider. You can also check out our maps and research tools on a 7-day free trial.

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