Colorado Parks and Wildlife will begin its annual big-game harvest surveys mid October. Each year from October through mid-February the CPW contracts with an outside firm to collect hunt and harvest information from deer, elk and pronghorn hunters. Individual hunters are asked a series of questions related to their experience including:
Each year Colorado has over 375,000 deer, elk and pronghorn hunters making it infeasible to contact each individual hunter by February. Therefore, approximately 190,000 hunters are randomly selected to participate in the annual harvest survey. The information gathered from the participating hunters is then used with information collected by CPW biologists to estimate annual big-game harvest and population numbers. An important part of setting seasons and license numbers for next year comes from harvest survey responses.
Not all hunters are eligible to take the survey. Only those hunters who have been randomly selected and notified by CPW are eligible.
For more information, please see the frequently asked questions.
