Sales for both hunting and fishing licenses are up in Colorado this year.

According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, over 624,000 people applied for the big game draw this year, up from 609,000 in 2019. And so far, CPW has sold over 940,000 fishing licenses 鈥� roughly 200,000 more than last year.

鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely seeing more people hunting, more people fishing, and more people getting outside and getting to public lands and recreating outside in general,鈥� said Travis Duncan with CPW.

Visitation to Colorado鈥檚 state parks has also increased this year. In July, Colorado鈥檚 41 state parks saw roughly 3.5 million visitors. That鈥檚 1 million more than the same time period last year. Duncan called the increased enthusiasm for the outdoors a 鈥渄ouble-edged sword鈥� and said CPW is asking visitors to pick up after themselves to minimize their impact.

The increase in sales and visitation is a good thing for CPW鈥檚 revenue. The agency鈥檚 biggest chunk of revenue, about 55%, comes from license sales.

鈥淭hose funds definitely help the agency and help the conservation work we do, the wildlife management work we do,鈥� said Duncan. 鈥淪o that鈥檚 definitely a real positive.鈥�

Although refunds are available to big game hunters whose plans were affected by COVID-19, Duncan said so far not many people are taking CPW up on that option.

The agency is asking hunters to take precautions so they don鈥檛 accidentally spread COVID-19 as they plan their trips this year 鈥� like bringing everything they need with them and filling up on gas close to home if they can, especially if heading from crowded Front Range communities to more rural areas.