CO bowhunting changes on the way

[trophyhill]

The game in CO does NOT belong to all of us. The game belongs to the state of CO. The federal land theory is a weak argument and does NOT give NR's any say so whatsoever in CO's game management or ownership.........nor should it

 

[Pacific_Fork]

Colorado...with the largest elk heard in the country, the best mule deer hunting (opportunity:trophy) in the country, one of the most if not the most generous to NRs regardless of these new limitations. Yet in this thread you'd think it was a fundamental right to fling arrows in every unit alongside 50k NR idiots who have no idea what they are doing. Those who are serious about killing elk will continue to kill elk year after year after year as NRs across the west. And those who complain about not being able to dust off their bow august 29th and last minute run around all of CO wounding cows will be eating chicken noodle soup for dinner. #sickforit

 

[HondoArcher]

I sent them a write up on the stats showing that the archery hunters were not killing all of the cows. Of course, those are projections based on the samples the took but I think they were trying to reduce the over-crowding during the archery season also thus the reason to make them draw only. It is too bad because I wanted to head down there for a hunt next year to see what it was like.

 

[Elktaco]

Dont worry guys/gals I'm sure they will give out a ton of tags for that area so you will still be able to hunt there, probably as a leftover!!

 

[5MilesBack]

Dont worry guys/gals I'm sure they will give out a ton of tags for that area so you will still be able to hunt there, probably as a leftover!!

That still doesn't fix their logic.......or lack thereof. THAT's the problem here.

 

[orionthehunter1]

Dont worry guys/gals I'm sure they will give out a ton of tags for that area so you will still be able to hunt there, probably as a leftover!!

That is the other issue since they have no clue how many people were actually hunting these units how do they know what to set the tag quotas at?

 

[gsimmons2]

That is the other issue since they have no clue how many people were actually hunting these units how do they know what to set the tag quotas at?

Just a bad change all the way around.

 

[cnelk]

That is the other issue since they have no clue how many people were actually hunting these units how do they know what to set the tag quotas at?

Im sure they will issue tags based on the previous Harvest Stats.... HaHa!

 

[COLOelkman]

In the meeting, it was universal in all the discussion whether it was commissioners or CPW staff that elk and deer herds are struggling in most of the State. So, I'd not be surprised if cow tags in many areas have reduced quotas. Regarding Bear and Lions, it was also universal that these populations are significantly going up. They had discussions on both and proposed increases to both of these animals however the increases were very minor in my opinion. You think there's a connection here??? Seems like if they really wanted to reduce predator numbers they'd be taking more action like price reduction, longer season times, etc. but I didn't hear anything on that. Last year they did reduce NR tag prices for bear and I know several NR's that bought tags because of this. Good start but seems like further action would be warranted.

 

[tdhanses]

In the meeting, it was universal in all the discussion whether it was commissioners or CPW staff that elk and deer herds are struggling in most of the State. So, I'd not be surprised if cow tags in many areas have reduced quotas. Regarding Bear and Lions, it was also universal that these populations are significantly going up. They had discussions on both and proposed increases to both of these animals however the increases were very minor in my opinion. You think there's a connection here??? Seems like if they really wanted to reduce predator numbers they'd be taking more action like price reduction, longer season times, etc. but I didn't hear anything on that. Last year they did reduce NR tag prices for bear and I know several NR's that bought tags because of this. Good start but seems like further action would be warranted.

Personally I don’t get why a resident wouldn’t always try to have a bear tag in their pocket, as a NR when looking at what it costs me and what I have to budget to hunt CO every year the $100 price of a bear tag is a nobrainer to always get, if available.

I do think in these new draw units you’ll see bear tags sell much slower as I think many NR picked them up just because, it’ll be interesting to see if there is any change there.

Isn’t a resident bear tag something like a $1

 

[gretch6364]

Colorado has been the only state where you get an elk tag and have no idea how many other hunters are in the unit you are hunting. They need to spread people out across all the units and there is no way to do that with OTC tags.

 

[COLOelkman]

Personally I don’t get why a resident wouldn’t always try to have a bear tag in their pocket, as a NR when looking at what it costs me and what I have to budget to hunt CO every year the $100 price of a bear tag is a nobrainer to always get, if available.

I do think in these new draw units you’ll see bear tags sell much slower as I think many NR picked them up just because, it’ll be interesting to see if there is any change there.

Isn’t a resident bear tag something like a $1

Resident bear tag is $50.

 

[Coveyleader]

Colorado has been the only state where you get an elk tag and have no idea how many other hunters are in the unit you are hunting. They need to spread people out across all the units and there is no way to do that with OTC tags.

True, but at least you're hunting and have a chance at killing an elk vs sitting on the bench wishing you were hunting elk.

Sure, AZ, UT, NM, all have great elk, but the residents hardly get to hunt them. NRs, even worse. FYI I had one of the top draw unit tags last year in CO, people were everywhere! I worked my ass off for the elk I ended up taking. Much harder than the OTC unit I normally hunt, and I had way more people to deal with.

This thread, and many like it have just become "White noise" and sadly, most of the conservation groups when testifying in front of the CWC have become just that as well.

 

[COLOelkman]

Colorado has been the only state where you get an elk tag and have no idea how many other hunters are in the unit you are hunting. They need to spread people out across all the units and there is no way to do that with OTC tags.

Spreading people out is a good concept however, the changes they made could do the opposite. Fewer OTC options will now concentrate more people in the remaining OTC units. They eliminated 16 units from OTC and the new limited units were created to limit hunters in these struggling units (think low quality instead of the normal high quality, lower hunter density units for most limited tags). So limiting cow harvest was favored by many people that gave public comments, however the way they did it was a poor choice in my opinion since it likely will create worse overcrowding in the remaining OTC units. Last year, for the White River units, you needed an OTC either sex tag however a special provision was in effect in that you could not shoot a cow in those units. Not sure why they didn't just do the same thing except for it might appear more confusing to have an either sex tag but not be able to shoot either sex.

 

[gretch6364]

This is true....my point was related more to the rumor they will move everything to draw in the next five years.

 

[Scooter90254]

This is a good thing overall. The states has to get the amount of hunters in each unit under control.

That being said I thought archery hunters had almost no impact on the population. People make a point to talk about how poor archery hunters are at controlling population. So which one is it.

The NR vs resident has been beat to death. Just move on. It’s a privilege for NR to be able to hunt in other states and they need to treat it as such. Lazy residents that blame everything on the NRs are just that. Lazy and looking for an excuse or someone to blame for their inability to hunt.