So You Want to Hunt a Trophy Unit...
Lets walk through some examples and break down the years and true cost to drawing one of Colorado's coveted tags...
Non-Resident
1
Unit 201 - Early Rifle
Unit 201 is Colorado's most coveted unit in the very Northwest corner of the State.
Example:
Age: 40 years old
Current Preference Points: 12
Current People in front of you: 292
Number of tags per year: 4
Your Age when you draw the tag:
113 yrs old
You can quickly see how unless you are very young or are much further along in your preference point journey, you will never be hunting Unit 201, lets move on to the next example...
2
Unit 10 - Early Rifle
Just below 201 on difficulty to draw, and very similar in trophy quality is Colorado's prestigious Unit 10 and Unit 2.
Example:
Age: 40 years old
Current Preference Points: 12
Current People in front of you: 215
Number of tags per year: 5
Your age when you draw the tag:
83 yrs old
Now we're not saying you wont be hunting elk when you are 83, we hope you are! However, your mobility and priorities will probably be significantly different by that point in your life! So lets move on to our third example...
3
Unit 61 - Early Rifle
Other than the Northwest corner, Unit 61 is Colorado's most coveted trophy unit.
Example:
Age: 40 years old
Current Preference Points: 12
Current People in front of you: 126
Number of tags per year: 4
Your age when you draw the tag:
72 yrs old
Ok now we are getting somewhere! This obviously is still less than ideal but, not impossible to think that you could hunt that unit at that age. So, lets continue with this example below and show you how much it cost you to get to that point!
The Cost...
Drawing a Nonresident 61 Early Rifle Tag
Ok you can draw Unit 61 in the example above when your 72 years old, here's how much it cost you:
Applying in Colorado:
Nonresident Small Game Tag: $100
Habitat Stamp: $12
Elk Application: $10
Total: $122
In the example above you already had 12 points, so at Colorado's current pricing that's roughly $1,464 you have spent to gain those points...
Based on the statistics above you will have to draw in Colorado for another 32 years in order to draw the tag. Taking in the time value of money and a very modest 3% inflation rate, you will spend another $6,405 until you draw the tag.
When you add those together, the total cost for you to draw that tag was $7,869 and 44 years of your time.
Now if that interests you by all means pursue it, and when you draw that tag of a lifetime, Stewart Guide Co. will be here to make sure you are successful.
The Solution...
Purchase a Landowner Voucher
If you are not interested in trying to get your lifetime bull at the end of your lifetime, we highly recommend you reconsider purchasing a landowner voucher from us. We get it, when you put a landowner voucher price together with a guided hunt it is expensive. But our landowner voucher options fall very close to your 42 years of application fees, and on top of that you can pursue that bull of a lifetime right away. The question comes down to what is important to you, if you want to guarantee you can hunt a trophy unit, on your terms than our landowner voucher program is the only way to go.