Colorado Extends Flood Refunds to Fourth Rifle Season, 28 Deer and Elk Hunt Codes

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will refund fourth rifle season licenses for 28 deer and elk hunt codes in the flood-damaged units of southwest Colorado, the agency said in a release from Durango on November 9. The season runs November 18 to 22, and a license must be back at a CPW or state park office, or postmarked, before it opens.

The agency set up refunds for third rifle season hunters before that season opened November 7, then worked with the national forests and the affected counties on repair timelines for closed roads. Field staff who have reached the ground report that many areas will take considerable time to reopen safely. Highway closures and closed county and Forest Service roads still cut off much of the public land, and CPW continues to discourage travel into nine Game Management Units, 74, 75, 77, 78, 80, 81, 741, 751 and 771.

Twelve deer codes qualify: DM075O4R, DF075O4R, DM075P4R, DF075P4R, DM077O4R, DF077O4R, DM077P4R, DM074O4R, DM741O4R, DM741P4R, DF741P4R and DM080O4R. Sixteen elk codes qualify: EM074O4R, EF074O4R, EF741O4R, EM074P4R, EF074P4R, EM075O4R, EF075O4R, EM075P4R, EF075P4R, EM077O4R, EF077O4R, EM077P4R, EF077P4R, EF080O4R, EF081O4R and EM080O4R. CPW waives every refund fee on these licenses and restores any preference points spent in the draw to their pre-draw level. Under the agency’s standing refund rules, a request must arrive at least 30 days before a season starts and most refunds lose a 15-dollar processing fee, so both terms are suspended here. Refunds go out as paper checks and can take up to 90 days.

Hunters return the license with the refund and preference point application, mark both the refund box and the point restoration box, and write SW FLOODING in the reason field. Licenses turned in for these units will not be reissued. A hunter with a different hunt code who was directly affected can send in the license with proof of the impact for a case-by-case decision. Everyone holding one of the 28 codes gets an email from the agency, and license questions go to 303-297-1192.

Several major highways in southwest Colorado remain closed, and CPW points hunters to cotrip.org and to the Rio Grande and San Juan national forest condition pages for road and trail status. The release carries a San Juan National Forest photo of First Fork Road in the Pagosa Ranger District washed out completely.

Fourth rifle season opens November 18, 2026, and that morning is the deadline for a license to be postmarked or handed in for a refund.