When Colorado Parks and Wildlife rolled out updates to bull elk hunting in the Gunnison Basin on Feb. 13, some outdoorspeople welcomed the changes.
“You don’t want to be seeing orange in your hunting view,” said Yon Iaccio, who owns Tomichi Creek Trading Post in Sargents with his wife, Melissa. The multipurpose business east of Gunnison is one spot that will experience a shift now that CPW has eliminated previously available bull elk licenses. The changeover specifically concerns over-the-counter tags previously available during the second and third rifle seasons in Game Management Units (GMUs) 54, 55 and 551 in the northern Gunnison Basin.
The thrust of ensuring all units of the Gunnison Basin require licensing through Colorado’s annual draw process reflects the intense popularity of elk hunting in the area. According to a CPW press release, surveys indicated 70% of Gunnison Basin residents supported converting OTC bull elk licenses to limited.
But Iaccio questioned CPW’s portrayal of broad popularity for limited licensing. In his view, there are tradeoffs between balancing an enjoyable hunting experience and sustaining local businesses.
“I don’t agree with it,” he said. “Sargents residents don’t agree with it. I think most of the county would probably agree with me. I think we’re going to lose a lot of money over this.”
He said OTC bull elk licenses have been a reliable backup option for hunters from near and far who miss out on the draw. Iaccio regularly gets reservations from hunters hailing from far-flung locales like Pennsylvania and Arkansas.
“We see groups from all over the country,” he said. He’s concerned about the educational efforts it will take for Colorado businesses like his to inform travelers of the new regulations. The immediate economic impacts, he said, may not truly rear their heads for many months.
“I see a burst of business after the summer season,” Iaccio added. He suggested other Gunnison Valley enterprises, from lodging to liquor stores, depend upon fall travel to stay financially healthy year-round.
“I can see both sides,” Iaccio said. “In my opinion, it’s an economic problem. It’s never been this way.”
Like Iaccio, Mike Chavez at Quaking Aspen Outfitters said there’s some potential benefits to CPW’s new rules. A healthier elk population would be a desirable outcome of limited licensing – but he said the communications around the changes left outfitters in the lurch.
“I was definitely a little shocked and surprised,” said Chavez. “There should’ve been a lot more of a heads-up. A little more clarity would’ve been nice.”
For their part, CPW indicated that the choice to do away with OTC tags came out of years of careful deliberation and community engagement. Conversations about local elk management date back to at least 1999, when CPW converted southern basin GMUs 66 and 67 to totally limited for elk licenses.
More recently, the Gunnison Wildlife Association “conducted online surveys of the public and received responses from hunters, ranchers, outfitters, local business owners, non-hunter wildlife watchers and non-resident hunters,” the press release said. In collaboration with CPW, the association also held informational sessions in the area throughout 2025.
The decision to limit northern basin licenses came up at the Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Denver last month.
“We knew it was in the works,” said Chavez, who acknowledged GWA’s Will Shoemaker reached out to Quaking Aspen as the decision was being weighed.
Still, Chavez said the abrupt end to OTC licensing didn’t get the runway he would have liked, and he expects the changes to weed out would-be hunters. Quaking Aspen is almost completely booked up for 2026, Chavez said. Now he’s calling all of his current bookings to make sure they sign up for the draw.
“My business depends on this,” he said, noting a more equitable approach might be to eliminate OTC tags statewide instead of targeting the Gunnison Basin. “I could see that hurting a lot of local businesses.”
Part of the trouble with the changes, said Daren Glover at Gene Taylor’s Sporting Goods, lies with the uncertainty of the details. If OTC tags are simply replaced with available tags in the draw, then theoretically the consequences for businesses like his could be neutralized.
In a CPW press release, the agency stated, “To phase into this new model, staff have proposed that bull license numbers for the second and third rifle seasons initially be set near the three-year average or reduced by no more than 10% of the number of OTC licenses used across the three GMUs.”
Bull elk rifle hunting in the fall is an important source of economic activity for Glover and his team at Gene Taylor’s. Glover said they get numerous regulars who return year after year to access the three GMUs that are now closed to OTC tags.
“Those seasons are a huge influx of tourism for Gunnison,” he said. “We don’t really know.”
Still, Glover said, other factors will influence the short-term outcome of the CPW licensing implementation. The unpredictable snowpack, he said, is an example of something to keep an eye on ahead of hunting season.
Glover said he will wait and see the fallout from these changes. But if recent history is any indication, he said, the end of OTC archery tags for bull elk last year might be a positive sign.
“They took away archery last year,” he said. “It didn’t seem to have any notable difference.”
For the 2026 hunting seasons, draw applications are due by 8 p.m. on April 7.
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