Falconry renewal in Colorado and the paper CPW wants

Last updated 2026-08-19

Do you need a license for falconry in Colorado?

Yes. You need a Colorado Parks and Wildlife falconry license before you possess a raptor for falconry. That license has to meet the federal standards in 50 CFR 21.82.^[1] A small game license does not cover the bird.

The Migratory Bird Treaty Act is the federal wall. 16 U.S.C. 703(a) says "it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner, to pursue, hunt, take, capture, kill" migratory birds except as permitted by regulation.^[2] Most species people actually fly sit on the migratory bird list in 50 CFR 10.13.^[7] Falconry is a permitted exception. It is not a handshake with a friend who already keeps hawks.

Colorado law sits on top of that. Title 33 treats wildlife as the state's property and makes unlicensed hunting and possession a licensing violation.^[5][6] I would not keep a "rescued" kestrel in a dog crate while you figure out the paper. That is possession. Wardens can count.

You do not buy a separate USFWS falconry permit in a state that already issues a 50 CFR 21.82 license. The 2008 federal rule moved day to day permitting to those states.^[3] CPW is the office. If a forum post says you still mail a federal falconry card application to a Service office, that writer is remembering a system that ended.

If you only photograph hawks, you need no falconry license. If the bird lives in your mews, you do.

People entering falconry in Colorado get this backward all the time. They budget for a bird first. The license is the gate. The bird comes after the exam, after a sponsor if you are an apprentice, and after a facilities check.

How long is a Colorado falconry license valid?

A state, tribal, or territorial falconry permit is valid for a maximum of 5 years under 50 CFR 21.82.^[1] That is the federal ceiling. Colorado can print a shorter term. Confirm the current CPW term before you assume you have five hunting seasons.

I have seen people treat "5 years" as a Colorado promise. It is not. It is a cap. CPW prints the expiration on the license. That date wins.

When the term ends you renew, or you are unlicensed and the birds become a possession problem the same day. Do not lean on a verbal we are backed up. Nobody can honestly publish a processing time that stays true across budget years. Ask CPW how they want the renewal sitting on their desk relative to the printed expiration.

Keep a calendar reminder 90 days out. Paper falconry dies from missed dates more than from bad slips.

If you hold General or Master class, the class usually travels with you on a timely renewal unless CPW's current lapse rule says otherwise. Confirm that rule with them. It is a board fact, not a club-meeting fact.

50 CFR 21.82 states, "A State, tribal, or territorial falconry permit is valid for a maximum of 5 years."^[1] Quote that to anyone who swears Colorado cards last forever. Then still read the date on your own paper.

How do you renew a falconry license in Colorado?

You renew with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, on their current falconry or special license form, with whatever fee they are charging that cycle. Confirm the form name, the fee, and the mailing or portal address with CPW. I will not invent a dollar figure or a turnaround.

The packet that actually works looks like this. Current license. Class. Inventory of every bird you hold, matching your Form 3-186A history.^[4] Facilities still legal. Any required hunting license if you will fly game. Signature. Fee.

If CPW asks for photos of the mews, send photos of the mews. Not a lifestyle shot of the hawk on your fist. They want perches, a bath pan, shelter, and hardware that will not hang a bird by the jesses.

Call the special licenses desk if the website PDF looks stale. Regulation chapters move. The person who inspects facilities in your region is the one whose opinion matters on the building.

Compare the form to Arizona's renewal path or California falconry renewal only for structure. Do not mail Arizona's checklist to a Colorado address.

I'd do the inventory first. Then the form. Then the payment. People reverse that and bounce.

If your address changed, say so on the form. A license mailed to the old county does not count as a completed renewal just because you paid.

How much does falconry cost in Colorado?

The license fee is the small line. Confirm it with CPW for the year you renew. Federal rules do not add a second USFWS falconry permit fee in a state that issues the 50 CFR 21.82 license.^[1][3]

The real money is food, housing, and lost birds. A legal mews and weathering yard can be built for a modest lumber ticket if you do the work. Contractor raptor palaces are where money goes to die. A hanging scale that actually reads to the gram matters more than cedar siding.

Telemetry for a bird that will fly Front Range wind is worth it. A third hood in a new color is not.

You will also buy the hunting license that matches your quarry, and a Federal Duck Stamp if you fly waterfowl and you are in the age group the stamp law covers.^[10] Confirm those prices for the season you hunt. They change. I will not invent this year's numbers.

First-year people sometimes buy a kit to get the exam, sponsor search, and mews checklist in one stack. FalconryPath sells a $149 one-time State Exam + Sponsor + Mews Kit. That is entry paper, not a renewal fee, and it does not replace a CPW form.

Ongoing food will beat the license fee every year. Nobody publishes a solid Colorado-wide average for raptor food. Plan for the bird to eat whether you hunted or not.

If you are budgeting, put license and stamps in the confirm this month column. Put food in the this never stops column.

How long does falconry take in Colorado?

Getting to a first legal bird takes as long as the slowest gate in front of you. Federal rules require you to correctly answer at least 80 percent of the questions on the state exam.^[1] Finding a sponsor who will actually pick up the phone can take longer than studying.

Apprentice class lasts at least 2 years, with at least 4 months maintaining, training, flying, and hunting in each of those years, before General.^[1] Master class takes 5 more years at General. That clock is federal. Colorado can be stricter. It cannot be looser on those floors.

Renewal itself is a paperwork week if your files are clean. It is a month of scrambling if your 3-186A history is a shoebox. I would not call renewal the hard part. The hard part is the two-year apprentice if you are starting from zero.

People who already hold a class and just need to renew should plan around CPW's printed expiration, not around opening day. Opening day does not extend a dead license.

If you want a comparison of how other offices handle the same federal floors, Idaho falconry renewal is a different agency with the same 2-year and 5-year math.

Study time for the exam is personal. Some pass after a few weeks with the regulation text open. Some need a season of sitting with a sponsor. Federal falconry rules require a score of at least 80 percent on the state examination (50 CFR 21.82).^[1] That number does not move because you are busy at work.

What paperwork do you file with CPW and USFWS?

Two stacks. State license paper. Federal bird paper.

State paper is the CPW falconry license and each renewal, plus the hunting license for quarry. Hunter education applies if you were born on or after January 1, 1949 and you are buying a hunting license. That rule lives in Colorado's licensing statutes.^[6]

Federal bird paper is Form 3-186A, the Migratory Bird Acquisition and Disposition Report. You file it when you take, transfer, lose, reband, or otherwise change possession of a falconry raptor. USFWS still runs that form.^[4]

Form 3-186A must be filed with USFWS within 10 calendar days of take, transfer, loss, or rebanding of a falconry raptor.^[1][4] A state renewal form does not replace 3-186A. I have watched people think the inventory box on a renewal is the same filing. It is not.

Keep copies. If a warden asks how you got the bird, the 3-186A trail is the answer.

Band numbers, any required markers, and the species legal for your class all have to match. Apprentice species lists are the place people guess wrong. Confirm Colorado's apprentice list with CPW, because the state can narrow what the federal rule allows.

Colorado's general license machinery lives in the Parks and Wildlife Commission's wildlife regulations, codified in the Colorado Code of Regulations.^[8] Read the current version the year you file, not a printout from a prior decade.

What happens if your Colorado falconry license lapses?

You stop being a legal falconer on the expiration date. The birds do not become pets. Migratory bird possession without a permit is still a 16 U.S.C. 703 problem.^[2]

What CPW lets you do next is their call. Some states let a recent lapse renew at the same class if facilities are still good. Some send you back toward an exam or a new inspection. I will not invent Colorado's lapse window. Ask them. Get it in writing if you already hold birds.

If you still have raptors when the card dies, call CPW the morning you notice. Transferring birds to another permitted falconer, if they allow it, is cleaner than hoping nobody asks.

Do not drive the birds under Florida falconry renewal rules and assume they apply on the Platte. They do not.

A lapse is also how people lose a class clock. The 2-year and 5-year counts only help if the record is continuous enough for CPW to accept it.^[1]

I'd rather renew early than write a sad email. Early is cheap. Unlicensed possession is not.

Title 33 still treats unlicensed possession as a licensing problem even if you used to be legal last month.^[5][6] History is not a permit.

Do you also need a Colorado hunting license to fly game?

Yes, if you take wildlife that Colorado licenses. The falconry license covers the raptor. The small game or migratory bird license covers the quarry. Title 33 still requires a proper license to hunt.^[5][6]

Seasons matter. Colorado publishes migratory bird hunting frameworks in its wildlife regulations, and falconry does not invent a private duck season.^[8] If the state's duck season is closed, you are not training. You are hunting a closed season.

Upland birds, rabbits, and hares follow the small game rules in effect that year. Confirm methods of take. Some listings already name hawking. Some do not. Read the brochure that matches the season you will actually hunt.

Private land still needs permission. Public land still has unit rules. A falconry license is not a key to every CPW property.

Waterfowl adds HIP registration and, for most adult hunters, a Federal Duck Stamp under 16 U.S.C. 718a.^[10] Confirm both before you drive to a reservoir.

If you only fly a creance in the yard and never chase wild quarry, you still need the falconry license for the bird. You may not need the hunting license that day. The moment you slip a bird at a wild rabbit, you are hunting.

What facilities and equipment get checked at renewal?

Federal facility standards sit in 50 CFR 21.82. Indoor mews need protection from weather, predators, and domestic animals, with a bath, and a layout that does not tangle jesses.^[1] Outdoor weathering areas need the same kind of sense. A scale, jesses, leash, swivel, and a bath container are the boring kit the regulation actually names.

CPW inspects before they first permit you. Whether they walk the mews again at every renewal is a Colorado choice. Confirm it. Do not tear down a wall based on a club thread.

I'd keep the chamber dry, shaded, and free of nail heads. Fancy murals do nothing. A bath pan with clean water does.

If you moved the mews, treat it like a new facility even if your license date has not arrived. Call them.

Equipment for the field is not the same as equipment for the inspection. Telemetry helps you find a bird. It does not satisfy a weathering yard rule.

People overbuild. Waste of money, most of the time. A tight, clean box that meets the written standard beats a pretty barn that cooks a bird in July. If an inspector wants a change, get the request in writing and do that change. Do not guess what a future inspector might like.

Can you transfer a falconry permit into Colorado from another state?

You cannot laminate another state's card and hunt Park County. Federal rules require you to come under the state where you reside.^[1][3] Contact CPW before the birds ride in the truck.

Bring your prior permit, your 3-186A history, and photos or inspection records of the new mews. Class reciprocity is common when the prior state also met 50 CFR 21.82, but CPW can still inspect and can still ask you to test. Confirm.

Temporary hunting visits are a different question from a move. A visit still means you follow Colorado seasons and any CPW guest rules. A move means you need a Colorado license.

Alaska falconry renewal and Illinois falconry renewal use the same federal skeleton and different offices. Useful to read. Useless as a Colorado form.

Golden eagles and some take authorizations do not always travel. Do not assume an eagle authorization survives a household move.

If you are only passing through for a week of hunting, ask CPW what they want from a nonresident falconer. Do not invent a reciprocity rule because a gas-station conversation sounded confident.

What changes when you upgrade from apprentice to general?

Upgrade is not a renewal. Renewal keeps the class you have. Upgrade asks CPW to move you after you have met the federal time and activity floor: 2 years as an apprentice, with at least 4 months of maintaining, training, flying, and hunting the raptor in each year.^[1]

You also need the sponsor to sign whatever CPW uses as a release. If your sponsor ghosted, fix that before the anniversary, not after.

General class raises the federal wild-bird cap from 1 to 3 and opens species the apprentice list blocked, subject to Colorado's own list.^[1] Master waits another 5 years at general and raises the wild-bird cap to 5.

Federal class floors that CPW has to respect are simple. Colorado can add restrictions. Confirm species lists and any extra state rules before you apply to upgrade.

Class	Federal minimum age	Time before this class	Federal wild raptor cap
Apprentice	12	Exam at 80 percent, plus a sponsor	1
General	16	2 years apprentice, 4 months flying and hunting each year	3
Master	After general	5 years at general	5

I would not rush take of a second bird the morning the upgrade prints. Get the paper in hand first.

Exam is usually a one-time entry gate, not something you retake at each upgrade. Confirm with CPW if you originally tested decades ago and the file is thin.

Where do you confirm current Colorado fees and forms?

Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Special licenses or the falconry coordinator, plus the current regulation chapters. Fees move. Forms get revised. A blog with a dollar amount is already wrong.

The statutes in Title 33 set a lot of license policy. The Parks and Wildlife Commission writes the wildlife regulations, which are codified in the Colorado Code of Regulations.^[5][8] Read both if you like primary paper. Then still call, because the fee you owe is the one on the current form.

USFWS answers 3-186A questions, not CPW fee questions.^[4]

I'd keep a PDF of my last approved application and the inspection notes. Renewal goes faster when you can show them what they already accepted.

If a district wildlife manager is who you already know, they can often point you to the right desk. They are not a substitute for the license itself.

Read the regulation the year you renew. Do not rely on a copy from 2016. The migratory bird season rules matter if you fly waterfowl or doves.^[8] Seasons are not a feeling.

Nobody has good public data on how many Colorado falconers renew in a given year. The closest solid numbers you can actually cite are the federal thresholds in 50 CFR 21.82, not a club headcount.

What would I actually do before I mailed a renewal?

Ninety days out I would pull every band number and match it to 3-186A. Then I would walk the mews like I hated the builder. Then I would email CPW one short question: what form, what fee, what address, and do you want new photos.

I would renew the hunting license on its own calendar. I would not mix those payments in my head.

I would not hire anyone to handle a renewal. Waste of money. I would not buy new perches the week before an inspection unless a perch is actually unsafe.

If I had moved counties, I would say so. If a bird had died, I would already have filed 3-186A, not wait for the renewal inventory to confess.

FalconryPath publishes these state paper paths as an independent publisher. It is not a law firm and not a service company. For the first-year exam, sponsor, and mews stack, the kit lives at /start. For a Colorado renewal, CPW is the only office that can take your money and keep you legal.

If a friend swears they renewed by text, smile and still file the form. Informal paths are how people end up explaining an expired card to a warden who did not get the text.

Do the boring work. Then go fly.

Frequently asked questions

Do you need a license for falconry in Colorado?

Yes. You need a CPW falconry license that meets 50 CFR 21.82 before you possess a raptor for falconry. A hunting license does not cover the bird. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act still bans take and possession except as permitted. Confirm current application steps with CPW before you acquire a bird.

How much does falconry cost in Colorado?

The state falconry fee is the small line and it changes, so confirm it with CPW. There is not a second USFWS falconry permit fee in a 50 CFR 21.82 state. Food, a legal mews, telemetry, and hunting licenses cost more than the card. Fancy housing is usually a waste. Budget food as a year-round bill.

How long does falconry take in Colorado?

A first legal bird waits on the exam (80 percent), a sponsor if you are an apprentice, and a facilities inspection. Federal rules then require at least 2 years at apprentice, with 4 months of flying and hunting each year, before General, and 5 years at General before Master. Renewal is paperwork. The class clocks are the long part.

How often do you renew a Colorado falconry license?

Renew by the expiration CPW prints on your license. Federal rules cap any state falconry permit at 5 years (50 CFR 21.82). Colorado may use a shorter term. Confirm the current term and file early enough that a slow desk does not leave you unlicensed. Do not treat opening day as an extension.

Is there a separate federal falconry permit in Colorado?

Not in the old sense. The 2008 USFWS rule moved day to day falconry permitting to states that meet 50 CFR 21.82. CPW's license is the authorization to possess falconry raptors. You still file Form 3-186A with USFWS when birds change hands, and you still follow the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

What is Form 3-186A and when is it due?

Form 3-186A is the USFWS Migratory Bird Acquisition and Disposition Report. File it when you take, transfer, lose, or reband a falconry raptor. Federal falconry rules give you 10 calendar days. A CPW renewal inventory does not replace that filing. Keep copies with band numbers that match the bird on the perch.

Can an apprentice renew without a sponsor?

Renewal keeps the class you already hold. A current apprentice still needs a sponsor relationship that CPW accepts if they ask at renewal or inspection. Confirm the current sponsor line on CPW's form. If your sponsor dropped you, fix that before the card expires. Do not guess from a forum post.

Do you need hunter education to hunt with a hawk in Colorado?

If you buy a Colorado hunting license and you were born on or after January 1, 1949, hunter education applies under Colorado licensing law. The falconry license does not waive that. Confirm your certificate status before you try to purchase the small game or migratory bird license you need for quarry.

What if a bird dies during a license year?

File Form 3-186A within 10 calendar days. Do not wait for renewal to report the death. Keep any band and any notes CPW or USFWS would want if they ask how the bird left your inventory. Then update your own ledger so the next renewal inventory matches the federal trail.

Can you keep birds if the license expires?

No. Expiration ends legal falconry possession. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act still applies the next morning. Call CPW immediately if you still hold birds, and ask about transfer to another permitted falconer. Do not invent a grace period. Confirm any short administrative window with the office that issued the card.

Does Colorado inspect the mews every renewal?

Federal rules require a facilities inspection before the first permit. Reinspection at renewal is a state choice. Confirm the current CPW practice for your class and county. If you moved the building, treat it as a new facility and call before the birds move. Photos help only if the office asked for photos.

How do you change address on a Colorado falconry license?

Tell CPW on the renewal form, and sooner if you already moved. A card mailed to a dead address is how people miss expiration. If the new address also means a new mews, ask whether they want an inspection before the birds change counties. Update 3-186A contact details if the Service form asks for them.

Can you hunt only during regular small game seasons?

You hunt quarry in the seasons and units Colorado opens for that species. Falconry does not create a private calendar. Migratory birds follow the state's published frameworks. Upland game and rabbits follow the small game rules in force that year. Closed season is closed, even if you call it training.

What species can an apprentice fly in Colorado?

Federal rules limit apprentice birds and cap the apprentice at 1 wild raptor. Colorado can narrow that list further. Confirm the current apprentice species list with CPW before you trap or accept a transfer. Do not rely on a species a friend flew in another state. Illegal possession starts at the first night in the mews.

Sources

1. eCFR, 50 CFR 21.82 Falconry standards and falconry permitting: State falconry permits are valid for a maximum of 5 years; exam pass mark is 80 percent; apprentice, general, and master class time floors, possession caps, facility standards, and 10-day acquisition reports apply.
2. U.S. Code, 16 U.S.C. 703(a) Migratory Bird Treaty Act: It is unlawful to pursue, hunt, take, capture, or kill migratory birds except as permitted by regulation.
3. Federal Register, Migratory Bird Permits; Changes in the Regulations Governing Falconry (E8-23286): USFWS moved day to day falconry permitting to states whose regulations meet the federal falconry standards.
4. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Migratory Bird Program permits: Falconers report take, transfer, loss, and other possession changes of migratory raptors on Form 3-186A filed with USFWS.
5. Colorado General Assembly, Colorado Revised Statutes 2023 Title 33 Parks and Wildlife: Colorado Title 33 sets wildlife as state property and the statutory frame for hunting and possession licenses.
6. Colorado Revised Statutes, C.R.S. 33-6-107 Licensing violations: Colorado makes hunting or possessing wildlife without a proper license unlawful and requires hunter education for persons born on or after January 1, 1949.
7. eCFR, 50 CFR 10.13 List of Migratory Birds: Hawks, falcons, and other raptors used in falconry are listed migratory birds protected by the MBTA unless a permit applies.
8. U.S. Code, 16 U.S.C. 718a Migratory bird hunting and conservation stamp: Taking migratory waterfowl requires a Federal Duck Stamp for hunters who fall under the stamp statute.