Ok, here is the tutorial on how to calculate your chances in the Colorado draw. This applys to deer, elk, antelope and bear. Goat, Sheep, and moose use a different system and I'm not going into it here!
Notice the rather large and hard to read graphic (sorry). [edit; by the time i reduced the images to a size the board would accept they became a bit hard to read. you may have to right click and print them to follow along.]
This is from the Hunt recap that is published each year for the previous year. As Elks said, your chances from year to year are pretty stable unless a unit is converted to a trophy unit or if tags are increased or reduced to meet population objectives. I'm using a limited cow draw hunt code because it illustrates some variations that you need to know about such as Youth licenses (there are no special youth licenses for bulls or buck deer or antelope, but they are available for cow/doe elk, deer and antelope RIFLE TAGS. Not for archery or ml)
Starting on the left is the hunt code. This code interprets as Elk Female, unit 28, 2nd rifle season. Next to the right are the quotas or licenses allowed. You see 243 General licenses, no landowner tags, no non resident landowner tags and 42 youth tags. Grand total of 285 tags for this hunt code. Next to the right are the number of applications. there were 297 first choice apps, 161 second choice apps, etc., etc. Next to the right are the applications broken down by resident, non resident and youth. there were 232 res, 53 non res and 12 youth.
Now, before going on, you must realize that the nonresident licensce are limited to 35% of the total and that youth licenses that are not applied for flow back to the General quota. Therefore, only 12 youths applied for the 42 tags that were set aside for youth. that means that 30 unapplied foir youth tags flowed back to the general quota to make the actual general tags available 273 total. IF there had been landowner quota tags and IF they had been unapplied for by qualified landowners, they too would flow back to general tag allocation.
(there is a huge opportunity here for youth hunters that goes unused and this is a good example. There are many hard to draw doe and cow tags out there that are a guaranteed draw for kids if they put in, but the kids don't understand the system and apparently neither do their parents. Or worse yet maybe their parents don't care! My grandson will draw a doe antelope tag this year in a good public land unit with no points that I would need two points to draw)
Next we get to the key to calculating your chances. Go to the last section titled preference points. You will see points liste from 0 to 11 at the top. Below they don't show in two rows but stop at five points because nobody had 6 or more points. Interpret as such; there were 221 resident applicants with 0 points. 21 with 1 point, 1 with 2 points and 1 with 3 points. The nonresidents show 48 with 0 points, 4 with 1 point and 1 with 2 points. Ok, there are 273 tags available and 297 applicants. There are 23 residents with 1 or more points and 5 nonresidents with 1 or more points. Those 28 applicants are a sure thing. There are not enough non residents to exceed the 35% limit so the remaining 269 res and non res applicants are vying equally with no points for the remaining 245 licences. That means that any one of those applicants has a 91% chance to draw a tag.
Be sure to look back at the number of applicants who applied for this hunt code as a second choice (161) a third choice (52) and a fourth choice (34). NONE OF THOSE APPLICANTS HAD ANY CHANCE. EVEN IF THEY HAD 10 POINTS, CAUSE THEY WERE NOT CONSIDERED UNTIL ALL THE FIRST CHOICE APPLICANTS HAD BEEN DRAWN. If you are going for a tag that you know you don't have enough points to draw, then use this same system to calculate your chances for your second choice and be sure to go for a unit that you have a good chance to draw a second choice tag in!!!! Some,like this unit 28, offer no chance for a second choice applicant, but some offer a 100% chance for a second choice applicant!!
This example shows a pretty good chance for most anybody to draw these tags, but if you go to one of the sought after trophy units such as unit 10 or 201 and look at the odds you will be able to calculate exactly how many points are a 100% chance and how many have a less than 100% chance.
Below are the stats for unit 67 muzzleloading bull tags. If you take the explanation above and apply it to the stats below you see that there were 30 tags available to the public (the five landowner tags will be sucked up and sold to well heeled hunters). Ten tags will go to non res and 20 to res. Just go to the point holders and start adding them up backwards till you get to ten non res or 20 res. As you can see, there are seven res with more than two points and they are a sure thing. That leaves 18 applicants with two points vying for the remaining 13 licensces each has a 72.2% chance of drawing. The other 75 applicants with one or less points get nada! Check out the non res applicants; nine applicants with 5 or more pints will draw and the 22 applicants with four points have a little less than 1/2 of a percent chance.
Once again, believe it or not, some applicants wasted their second choice on this unit!!!! Drawing a second choice does not burn points so whey not apply for one where there is a chance or not bother wasting the ink at all!!!