Hunt code E-F-231-O4-R: 2026 Colorado cow elk, 4th rifle
E-F-231-O4-R (printed on a license as EF231O4R) is a limited cow elk rifle license for the 4th rifle season, November 18, 2026 to November 22, 2026, valid in unit 231.
Read left to right: E is elk, F is cow, 231 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.
EF231O4R season dates and units
- Dates: November 18, 2026 to November 22, 2026
- Valid in: unit 231
- 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 EF231O4R take in the 2026 draw?
In Colorado's 2026 primary draw, all 6 resident first-choice applicants for EF231O4R drew a license, so no preference points were needed, and 13 of its 25 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 | 25 | 12 | leftover | 6 of 6 | leftover | |
| 2025 | 25 | 16 | leftover | 4 of 4 | leftover | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 25 | 20 | leftover | 6 of 6 | 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 EF231O4R's hunter success in 2025?
CPW's 2025 harvest survey estimates that 19 hunters held EF231O4R and took 3 cows: 15.8% success, over 83 days in the field.
| 2025 | Bulls | Cows | Calves | Harvest | Hunters | Success | Days hunted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EF231O4R | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 15.8% | 83 |
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 231 in the 4th rifle season?
- Unit 231 had 50 elk hunters in the 4th rifle season in 2024, who took 12 elk: 24% success. In 2023 it was 9% from 55 hunters, so success is up 15 points on the year before and hunter numbers went from 55 to 50.
- This is a cow license. Of the 12 elk taken, 10 were cows and 0 were calves (83% 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.
EF231O4R is valid in the same unit, in the same season, as EM231O4R. 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 231 are on the EM231O4R page and on the unit 231 page.
See unit 231 on the map
- The unit boundaries for unit 231, 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 EF231O4R?
FilledTag builds one exact plan for this tag: where to park, camp and sit in unit 231, with every pin checked against public land and road rules.
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