The Colorado Hunting Guide

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Colorado hunting regulations, plain English

Colorado's hunting law lives in two layers: the Code of Colorado Regulations (2 CCR 406), set by the Parks and Wildlife Commission, and Colorado Revised Statutes Title 33 — and CPW republishes both, every license year, as free brochures. This section translates the parts that trip people up most: legal weapons, blaze orange, shooting hours, where you're allowed to drive to hunt, and what the law requires of you once an animal is down. CPW · Rules and Regulations

None of this is our law — it's CPW's and the state legislature's, written here for people who don't want to parse regulation-speak before opening weekend. Every number on these pages traces back to an actual statute or regulation, cited inline, and every page carries the date we last checked it against the source. When a rule turns on your specific unit, season, or license type, we say so and point you to the page that has the real answer.

Start with the official brochures

CPW publishes the underlying rules as free, annually updated brochures — the single best plain-language source, and the one this section leans on hardest. Every current brochure lives on CPW's Rules and Regulations hub:

CPW reissues these every license year and posts corrections when a rule changes mid-cycle, so a brochure saved from a prior season isn't something to hunt from. If a rule on this site and the current brochure ever disagree, the brochure — and the underlying code — wins.

After the shot

Everything above is a rule you satisfy before you pull a trigger. The other half — carcass tags, evidence of sex, the meat you are legally required to pack out, and the duty to go after an animal you wounded — begins the moment one is down, and it is where CPW's own most-common-violations list is concentrated. It has its own page: what the law requires after the shot.

What's in this section

These five pages cover the rules most likely to actually stop a legal hunt: weapon and equipment legality, the orange requirement, timing, motorized access, and what the law asks of you once an animal is down. They don't replace the brochure for your specific unit and season — they're the fast, sourced answer to "wait, is that actually legal?"

Common questions

Where do I find Colorado's official hunting regulations?

CPW's Rules and Regulations page links every current brochure — big game, sheep/goat, mountain lion, small game & waterfowl, and turkey — plus the full Code of Colorado Regulations (2 CCR 406) for anyone who wants the underlying legal text.

Are Colorado's hunting regulations the same every year?

No. The Parks and Wildlife Commission revisits chapters of 2 CCR 406 on a rolling schedule and can change equipment rules, orange requirements, or access policy year to year. CPW reissues its brochures annually to match — always confirm against the current-year brochure before you hunt.

What's the difference between a CPW brochure and the actual law?

The brochure is CPW's plain-English summary built for hunters; the Code of Colorado Regulations (2 CCR 406) and Colorado Revised Statutes Title 33 are the legal text a wildlife officer or court would cite. The brochure is written to match the code, but the code controls if the two ever conflict.

Is CWD testing mandatory in Colorado in 2026?

For elk, under some hunt codes, yes. CPW requires submission of a CWD test sample — the head — from every elk harvested during a rifle season under a selected hunt code, and testing is free where it's mandatory. There is no mandatory CWD testing for deer in the 2026 seasons. Check your hunt code rather than just your unit: CPW states that not all hunt codes in a unit were selected. The list is printed on pages 41–52 of the current Big Game Brochure.

Never miss a deadline

The Colorado draw application closes in early April, and season dates shift a little each year. Leave your email and we'll send one short reminder before the draw deadline and a note whenever the season dates change — nothing else.