Plain answers from Colorado’s own draw results
DrawWise turns CPW’s draw reports into plain answers: which elk and deer hunts your points can draw, and what to do with the points you’ve saved.
What DrawWise is
A research tool for Colorado’s elk and deer draw. Tell it your preference points and it shows the hunts you could likely draw, explains every code and term along the way, and helps you decide whether to use your points now or save them. It reads only what Colorado Parks and Wildlife publishes.
What DrawWise covers today
Colorado elk and deer, for nonresident hunters. Everything on this site is built and checked for that. You can switch to resident results, but nonresident applicants are who we design for first. Other states and species aren’t available.
Who it’s for
- Applying for the first time
- Every code, season and unit is explained in plain words, along with how to earn your first preference points.
- Sitting on points you've saved
- See what your points can draw today, how each hunt has changed year to year, and what Colorado’s 2028 draw change means for you.
What you can use today
How to read every result explains each one, free and Pro.
Search hunts
Free
Every elk and deer hunt in CPW’s latest draw, with the points it took. Filter by unit, weapon, season and which animal, with every term explained.
Hunt pages
Free
One page per hunt: CPW’s results year by year, how many people applied at each point level, and the trend.
Your plan
Free
Enter your preference points. See which hunts you'd likely draw, which sit right at the cutoff for your points, and which need more, based on the latest year of CPW’s draw results.
Draw dates
Free
Colorado’s application, results and payment dates, from CPW’s own brochure.
Next-year point estimates
Open to everyone during early access
For hunts decided by points, an estimate of how many points the next draw may take, and how sure we are of it.
Your full plan
Open to everyone during early access
A recommendation for the points you've saved: use them on a named hunt in the next draw, save them, or try for a hunt this year while saving them. CPW’s results sit behind each option.
Why we built it
Colorado publishes a lot of useful draw data: who applied, how many points it took, and how many licenses each hunt offered. It arrives as long PDF reports, which are hard to work through when you’re deciding where to put points that took years to save.
The draw is also changing. From 2028, about half of each hunt’s licenses will go by preference points and about half by a random draw. Hunters with points saved have a real decision to make before then, and we wanted a tool that helps with it honestly: one that shows its sources, separates what happened from what might happen, and admits what it can’t know.
How we work
- The state is the source
- Every draw figure comes from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's published results, with the year it's from and a link to CPW.
- History, estimates and scenarios are kept apart
- Past results are shown as past results. Estimates and 2028 replays are labeled as such, with what they assume written beside them.
- We say what we don't know
- Every plan ends with a list of what nobody can know yet, like who will apply next year. When our data is too thin to answer, we say so instead of guessing.
- You stay in charge of your application
- DrawWise never applies for you and never asks for your CPW login. You apply on CPW’s own site, and you should check every detail against CPW’s brochure first.
- Independent
- DrawWise isn't part of, or endorsed by, Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Planned, not available yet
These are on our list. None of them exists today, and plans can change.
- More species: pronghorn
Where the numbers come from
Draw figures come from CPW’s published elk and deer draw statistics (CPW’s elk statistics (opens in a new tab) and CPW’s deer statistics (opens in a new tab)). Each result on the site says which year it’s from. Rules and numbers change every year, so check CPW’s brochure before you apply.
Enter your pointsPhoto credits
Photos by Tim Mossholder, Josh McCausland, Christie Greene (also this photo, this photo), Taylor Mikkelsen, Danny Shives and We Care Wild on Unsplash. Contour art by DrawWise.