Hunt code E-F-027-O4-R: 2026 Colorado cow elk, 4th rifle
E-F-027-O4-R (printed on a license as EF027O4R) is a limited cow elk rifle license for the 4th rifle season, November 18, 2026 to November 22, 2026, valid in unit 27.
Read left to right: E is elk, F is cow, 027 is the hunt area number (it names the license, and is not always a unit number), O4 is the 4th rifle season and R is rifle. How to read any hunt code.
EF027O4R season dates and units
- Dates: November 18, 2026 to November 22, 2026
- Valid in: unit 27
- How it is issued: limited: issued through the draw, with any left over sold afterwards
Read from the 2026 Colorado Big Game brochure. Your license and the current brochure are the authority: check both with Colorado Parks and Wildlife before you hunt.
How many preference points did EF027O4R take in the 2026 draw?
In Colorado's 2026 primary draw, all first-choice applicants for EF027O4R drew a license, so no preference points were needed, and 69 of its 70 licenses were left over after the draw.
Licenses left after the draws are sold first come, first served on CPW's leftover and reissued license list, and they do not use or earn preference points.
| Draw year | Licenses | Issued in the draw | Residents drew out at (points) | Resident first choice: drew | Nonresidents drew out at (points) | Nonresident first choice: drew |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 70 | 1 | leftover | leftover | ||
| 2025 | 70 | 2 | leftover | 1 of 1 | leftover | |
| 2024 | 90 | 2 | leftover | leftover |
"Drew out at" is CPW's own figure: the preference point level of the last license the draw gave that group. "2nd+ choice" means every first-choice applicant drew and the rest went to applicants who listed it lower; "leftover" means licenses were still left after the draw. Source: Colorado Parks and Wildlife, 2026 Primary ELK Post Draw Report; 2025 Primary ELK Post Draw Report; 2024 Primary ELK Post Draw Report.
What was EF027O4R's hunter success in 2025?
CPW's 2025 harvest survey estimates that 20 hunters held EF027O4R and took 3 cows: 15% success, over 43 days in the field.
| 2025 | Bulls | Cows | Calves | Harvest | Hunters | Success | Days hunted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EF027O4R | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 15% | 43 |
CPW's estimates for this license alone (2025 Colorado Elk Harvest Estimates), the first year CPW reports by hunt code rather than by unit.
How did elk hunters do in unit 27 in the 4th rifle season?
- Unit 27 had 59 elk hunters in the 4th rifle season in 2024, who took 7 elk: 12% success. In 2023 it was 5% from 64 hunters, so success is up 7 points on the year before and hunter numbers went from 64 to 59.
- This is a cow license. Of the 7 elk taken, 3 were cows and 0 were calves (43% of the elk taken). The 2023 and 2024 unit surveys count animals by sex but not hunters by license; CPW's 2025 report gives this license's own success, above.
EF027O4R is valid in the same unit, in the same season, as EE027O4R. The unit-by-unit hunter and harvest table, the ground and legal light on opening day, the other licenses and the State Wildlife Areas in unit 27 are on the EE027O4R page and on the unit 27 page.
See unit 27 on the map
- The unit boundaries for unit 27, over a topo map or an aerial photo.
- Who owns the ground: public and private land, parcel lines and the owner on record.
- Where elk live: the published summer and winter range maps.
- How much of each unit is public.
Holding EF027O4R?
FilledTag builds one exact plan for this tag: where to park, camp and sit in unit 27, with every pin checked against public land and road rules.
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