Hunt code E-F-043-O3-R: 2026 Colorado cow elk, 3rd rifle
E-F-043-O3-R (printed on a license as EF043O3R) is a limited cow elk rifle license for the 3rd rifle season, November 7, 2026 to November 15, 2026, valid in units 43 and 431.
Read left to right: E is elk, F is cow, 043 is the hunt area number (it names the license, and is not always a unit number), O3 is the 3rd rifle season and R is rifle. How to read any hunt code.
EF043O3R season dates and units
- Dates: November 7, 2026 to November 15, 2026
- Valid in: unit 43, unit 431
- 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 EF043O3R take in the 2026 draw?
In Colorado's 2026 primary draw, all 81 resident and 16 nonresident first-choice applicants for EF043O3R drew a license, so no preference points were needed.
| 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 | 120 | 120 | 2nd+ choice | 81 of 81 | 2nd+ choice | 16 of 16 |
| 2025 | 215 | 198 | leftover | 82 of 82 | leftover | 13 of 13 |
| 2024 | 250 | 163 | leftover | 52 of 52 | leftover | 16 of 16 |
"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 EF043O3R's hunter success in 2025?
CPW's 2025 harvest survey estimates that 198 hunters held EF043O3R and took 28 elk (22 cows, 6 calves): 14.1% success, over 909 days in the field.
| 2025 | Bulls | Cows | Calves | Harvest | Hunters | Success | Days hunted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EF043O3R | 0 | 22 | 6 | 28 | 198 | 14.1% | 909 |
CPW's estimates for this license alone (2025 Colorado Elk Harvest Estimates), the first year CPW reports by hunt code rather than by unit.
EF043O3R: elk hunters in these units, 2024 and 2023
| Unit | Hunters, 2024 | Hunters, 2023 | Elk taken, 2024 | Bulls / cows / calves | Success, 2024 | Success, 2023 | Change, points | National forest and BLM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 43 | 384 | 495 | 109 | 46 / 62 / 0 | 28% | 3% | +25 | 71.9% |
| Unit 431 | 23 | 8 | 3 / 4 / 0 | 35% | 72.5% | |||
| All 2 units | 407 | 117 | 49 / 66 / 0 | 29% |
Every 3rd rifle elk hunter in each unit, whatever license they held: CPW's survey does not report hunters by hunt code or by sex of license. Estimates from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's 2024 and 2023 harvest surveys, not counts: CPW rounds each figure, so the parts can differ from a total by one or two, and success here (animals taken divided by hunters, as on the unit pages) can sit a point from the percentage CPW prints. How to read these tables.
What the numbers say about EF043O3R
- The 2 units of this hunt code together had 407 elk hunters in the 3rd rifle season in 2024, who took 117 elk: 29% success.
- Across all 129 Colorado units with an estimate, elk hunters in the 3rd rifle season ran at 20% in 2024 (6,048 elk from 29,935 hunters). This hunt area was 9 points above it, and held 1.4% of the state's hunters for that season.
- This is a cow license. Of the 117 elk taken, 66 were cows and 0 were calves (56% 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.
- Unit 43 had the most hunters (384) and unit 431 the fewest (23).
- Unit 431 had the highest success, 35% from 23 hunters. With fewer than 100 hunters that figure swings a lot from year to year.
- Unit 431 has the largest share of national forest and BLM land (72.5%) and unit 43 the smallest (71.9%).
The ground in these units, and legal light on November 7
| Unit | Counties | Square miles | National forest | BLM | Elevation, feet | Hunters per 100 square miles, 2024 | Legal shooting light, opening day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 43 | Garfield, Pitkin, Eagle, Gunnison | 526 | 61.4% | 10.5% | 6,100 to 12,500 | 73 | 6:14 AM to 5:31 PM |
| Unit 431 | Pitkin | 220 | 71.2% | 1.3% | 7,200 to 13,200 | 10 | 6:12 AM to 5:30 PM |
Land shares are measured inside the unit boundary and count ownership, not access. Legal light is half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset, worked out for the middle of each unit on the Colorado clock: the state's printed sunrise and sunset table is the rule.
Open the map on the 2 units of EF043O3R, with unit boundaries switched on. Land ownership, roads and State Wildlife Areas are layers on the same map.
See units 43 and 431 on the map
- The unit boundaries for units 43 and 431, 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, and these units side by side.
Holding EF043O3R?
FilledTag builds one exact plan for this tag: where to park, camp and sit in units 43 and 431, with every pin checked against public land and road rules.
Check my huntOther licenses and State Wildlife Areas in units 43 and 431
The other elk licenses valid in units 43 and 431 and the State Wildlife Areas and State Trust Lands there are listed on the EF043O2R page, valid in the same units in the 2nd rifle season, and on each unit's own page.