If you want a chance at hunting bison in Colorado, then you need to sign up for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) bison hunting license roster. Senate Bill 25-053, which was recently approved, establishes free-roaming, wild bison that travel into Colorado to be managed as a big game species. The new law, which was set in place to primarily protect the wild bison herd that roam Utah’s Book Cliffs now allows CPW to manage them like they would any other big game animal, according to KUNC.

Bison are not a regular species within the state and CPW doesn’t plan to establish a regular hunting season. 

“We don’t have any intentions to hunt these animals in the near term, but we also need some flexibility to deal with any issues that arise,” said Brian Dreher, CPW’s assistant director of the terrestrial branch.

Last October, CPW began the stakeholder process to develop a bison management plan, which establishes a designated management area and a target population range to guide future decisions about wild bison that travel into the state just northwest of Grand Junction, according to KUNC. The wildlife commission approved several regulatory changes, including a framework for potential hunting of wild bison to address disease concerns or property damage, as well as provisions for compensating landowners for damages caused by the animals. 

Bison that are privately raised as livestock will be managed by the Colorado Department of Agriculture.

If you sign up to be on the bison roster, CPW will randomly select hunters from the list on an as-needed basis. Licenses will only be issued on a “case-by-case basis for time-sensitive management needs.” If your name is drawn and you receive a license, you have one week to kill a bison. 

The application deadline to sign up for the roster is Jan. 31, 2026.