Guidance on Registration
Live operator phone Harvest Information Program (HIP) registrations close during the overnight hours from 10:30 pm to 7:00 am nightly. In addition, the live operator phone system are closed on Thanksgiving day, Christmas day and New Years day. Online sign ups continue to be available every day, 24 hours per day, by accessing the Colorado HIP website.
The 2023-24 HIP registration process opens at 7:00 am on April 1, 2023. Sign up for your HIP number online or use the live operator service at 1-866-265-6447 during open hours.
NEW for 2023: FURBEARER HUNTERS, beginning April 1, 2023, if you hunt furbearers only (excluding coyotes) and DO NOT hunt waterfowl or small game in Colorado, you no longer need to register with HIP. Hunters for all other species of small game and coyotes must register with HIP before hunting small game during the 2023-24 season.
Are You HIP?
Colorado requires all small game hunters to sign up with HIP, to help Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) better estimate harvest for species that are difficult to address through a general small game survey.
HIP is a joint U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)/CPW program designed to improve small game and migratory bird harvest estimates.
In 1998, state wildlife agencies asked the USFWS to develop a nationwide sign up program for all migratory bird hunters. State biologists were concerned that federal harvest estimates were not providing adequate harvest information using the traditional survey methodology.
HIP for the 2023-2024 Season
Currently, you may sign up online by going to the Colorado HIP website. Please write your 2023-24 HIP number in the space provided on your license. Make phone registrations by calling and speaking with a live operator, from 7:00 am to 10:30 pm, with the exception of Thanksgiving day, Christmas day and New Years day, at 1-866-COLOHIP (265-6447).
Hunters who do not have a HIP number may be warned and then ticketed for non-compliance with the program. The fine is $70.52 and, in addition, 5 points will be assessed against your hunting privileges.
If you will hunt small game (including migratory birds and coyotes) in Colorado during the 2023-24 seasons, you must get a HIP number before hunting.
If you will not hunt small game (meaning you will only hunt furbearers, excluding coyotes) in Colorado during the 2023-24 season, you do not need to participate in HIP.
Spring turkey hunters do not need to get a HIP number.
Annually, on April 1, a new HIP season begins. Hunters cannot get a 2023-24 HIP number until 7:00 am, April 1.
Hunters planning to use their small game license to hunt or trap
(not just as a qualifying license for the big game draw) will need to obtain their 2022 HIP number through the
Colorado HIP website or by calling and speaking with a live operator at 1-866-COLOHIP (265-6447) before they can legally hunt. Although 2023 small game licenses go on sale March 1, HIP numbers for 2023 are not available until April 1.
Furbearer Hunters
As of 2023, Hunters that pursue furbearers (excluding coyotes) are no longer required to register with HIP. Furbearer hunters that hold a furbearer license or furbearer harvest permit may be contacted to complete the furbearer harvest survey. Data from the furbearer harvest survey will be used to gain a better understanding of the number of these types of animals that are harvested each year. The efforts to closely track furbearer harvest will help CPW biologists maintain self-sustaining furbearer populations and allow CPW to continue to provide hunters with diverse opportunities for recreational harvest.
As another aid to tracking harvest numbers, the Fur Harvester Log is available to hunters. Fur harvesters may photocopy or print multiple copies of this form to record their hunts and harvests throughout each season.
