You may have heard or read or seen video about winter kill and the affect it has had on the CO elk, deer and antelope herds.  It's not as bad as it seems.  Only the Northwestern part of the state was affected.  Herd sizes dropped about 20% on average from CO Parks & Wildlife herd estimates from the previous year.  Antelope got it the worst, mule deer faired pretty well and the elk migrated into Utah, farther than normal and just came back later than normal.  Due to initial estimates they dropped the number of licenses by as much as 90%, usually for cow and doe licenses.  So if you have a draw license most likely you won't see many hunters from Craig north and west.

The 2nd and 3rd rifle seasons are still over the counter for bull elk but have been reduced to the first 5 days rather than 9 2nd and 7 3rd rifle.

It remains to be seen if they will continue it for 2024 or later but there are still great opportunities in the rest of the state.  Contact us using our outfitter info request form on the website to find a hunt.