Colorado Overcrowding Elk Hunting

[SandyCreek]

I married a proud native coloradoan.. and then we moved away. I absolutely loved/love the country but it’s a people and demographic problem that frankly will get worse and worse every year. Obviously I think all NR should be a draw tag. But that’s not going to cure everything. I left CBA after this season change thing as I don’t see a point in being in a group prioritizes elk over deer. Especially when it really f*cks over my style of hunting. Best I think we could hope for is a mass exodus from the state but that’ll never happen. Wish I could’ve seen it in the 80’s and 90’s.

 

[Hnthrdr]

70s,80s,90s even early 00s were the good old days it seems like, talking to with the owner of a local bow shop that was backpack elk hunting in the early 80s before calling was really even a thing and it sounded unreal! He told me he made a whistle tube out of a wood wedge and a garden hose and the thing worked like you wouldn’t believe back then, I think we have it good these days with all the info, gear and technology, but I think I would trade it all to go back to being the only hunter in a drainage. Now we have combat elk hunting where most of the time you aren’t hunting elk but going where you think hunting pressure will push the elk, just a disgruntled Co native, but hey at least we get to elk hunt every year right?

 

[Gerbdog]

70s,80s,90s even early 00s were the good old days it seems like, talking to with the owner of a local bow shop that was backpack elk hunting in the early 80s before calling was really even a thing and it sounded unreal! He told me he made a whistle tube out of a wood wedge and a garden hose and the thing worked like you wouldn’t believe back then, I think we have it good these days with all the info, gear and technology, but I think I would trade it all to go back to being the only hunter in a drainage. Now we have combat elk hunting where most of the time you aren’t hunting elk but going where you think hunting pressure will push the elk, just a disgruntled Co native, but hey at least we get to elk hunt every year right?

Well we at least get to hike with a bow/gun in our hands every year..... Sad i missed the good ole days but i gotta believe i'll have elk opportunities still or i'm gonna just start hiking with sticks... its easier and lighter then that bow

 

[Hnthrdr]

Well we at least get to hike with a bow/gun in our hands every year..... Sad i missed the good ole days but i gotta believe i'll have elk opportunities still or i'm gonna just start hiking with sticks... its easier and lighter then that bow

Yep, that’s the great part about hunting is there is always a chance and skill, hard work, determination and grit are typically rewarded with success. I love it too damn much to give it up so it pushes me to be a better caller, shooter, biologist, sign reader, tracker, and general outdoorsman than the next guy so that hopefully I can still bring home some meat

 

[swampokie]

Arizona omission?? Mite skew #s

 

[Banded_spooney]

I've hunted elk in 4 states, Colorado isn't one of them.
I hunt Colorado for deer every year in one of the 'best' OTC units in the state and never bother to buy an elk tag while I'm there. Fun fact, I've never seen an elk in the state. Moose, goats, antelope, Sheep and deer all with a gun in my hand. Never an elk

I'll keep building cheap points for a glory tag when I apply for deer and spend my elk budget in Wyoming and Arizona in the meantime.

 

[bozeman]

A buddy sent me a pic of a cow elk he shot with a bow this week, 2 comments:
Never hunted in weather out here this hot
Never seen this many people trying to kill an elk (calls and bugles)

Lol.........

 

[Buffalo0922]

This an emotionally confusing topic for somebody who lives out of state. My family has had a cabin in Northern Colorado since the early 1940s. We travel to Colorado 3-4 times per year, with 1 of those trips for hunting. I feel like a resident when I’m up there in the same area I have gone my whole life.

I understand the concern residents have, hunting ground is starting to become a limited resource.

Not sure what the “right” or “fair” solution is. I feel like Colorado still does a pretty good job compared to states who dish out hundreds of tags to ranchers, who then do as they wish with them. (ie New Mexico). Or Idaho, which seems to lose more ground to wolves every year.

 

[Ucsdryder]

. I feel like a resident when I’m up there in the same area I have gone my whole life.

so does every other non resident!!!

 

[BBob]

I feel like Colorado still does a pretty good job compared to states who dish out hundreds of tags to ranchers, who then do as they wish with them. (ie Arizona/New Mexico). Or Idaho, which seems to lose more ground to wolves every year.

Arizona does not give tags to ranchers at all like New Mexico does. The commission put their foot down on that decades ago when they (ranch cabals) were lobbying for that. Now they do have special draws, governor auction tags and raffle tags but no rancher or special interest group tags.

 

[Hnthrdr]

This an emotionally confusing topic for somebody who lives out of state. My family has had a cabin in Northern Colorado since the early 1940s. We travel to Colorado 3-4 times per year, with 1 of those trips for hunting. I feel like a resident when I’m up there in the same area I have gone my whole life.

I understand the concern residents have, hunting ground is starting to become a limited resource.

Not sure what the “right” or “fair” solution is. I feel like Colorado still does a pretty good job compared to states who dish out hundreds of tags to ranchers, who then do as they wish with them. (ie Arizona/New Mexico). Or Idaho, which seems to lose more ground to wolves every year.

Arizona does not offer private land tags so not sure what you are talking about? I sure wish they did though, wife’s family pioneered around Kirkland and I could hunt down their every year if they did.

 

[Buffalo0922]

Arizona does not offer private land tags so not sure what you are talking about? I sure wish they did though, wife’s family pioneered around Kirkland and I could hunt down their every year if they did.

I thought it was Arizona and New Mexico. Thank you for the correction

 

[Banded_spooney]

I thought it was Arizona and New Mexico. Thank you for the correction

I feel like Colorado would actually fit in your example. There are tons of landowner tags that get sold every year.

 

[Coveyleader]

Not sure what the “right” or “fair” solution is. I feel like Colorado still does a pretty good job compared to states who dish out hundreds of tags to ranchers, who then do as they wish with them. (ie New Mexico). Or Idaho, which seems to lose more ground to wolves every year.

Colorado gives a ton of tags to private landholders so they can do whatever they want with them. Those tags come from the public land pool. Example.........105 total tags, 20% go to private land holders, 10% of them are sold to the highest bidder in most cases.

You might say 10 tags isn't much, and it may not be, but multiply that by all seasons, units, etc, that's a big number, 2460 tags big, statewide ouch.


We need to get with the times and reconsider tag allocations for NR on draw tags, and OTC as a whole.

 

[sndmn11]

Colorado gives a ton of tags to private landholders so they can do whatever they want with them. Those tags come from the public land pool. Example.........105 total tags, 20% go to private land holders, 10% of them are sold to the highest bidder in most cases.

You might say 10 tags isn't much, and it may not be, but multiply that by all seasons, units, etc, that's a big number, 2460 tags big, statewide ouch.


We need to get with the times and reconsider tag allocations for NR on draw tags, and OTC as a whole.

View attachment 452208

View attachment 452211

To note from that example, those landowner tags went as leftover choices, whereas the took multiple points for common folk. That should be a huge clue that there are too many landowner tags available for that hunt code.

 

[907SHEEP]

As a NR who goes to CO each year, I'd actually be OK with doing unit specific OTC tags.
Maybe a few years later implement a cap?
Maybe even go to a draw a few years after that but with relatively high draw odds?
I certainly don't have all the answers but there's no doubt overcrowding is a huge issue.
Maybe even trade these changes for shitcanning the wolf reintroduction?

I plan on hunting elk in Colorado next year and I would warn most states against a draw system for specific units. I believe once it becomes a draw, it will not return to OTC.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cuerro viejo]

Only 305 public acres/elk hunter in Colorado

Holy shit

What about the thousands of OTC or LO tags that aren’t used for public land. How many of those tags are used in units like 83, where I bet 95+% of the tags are non residents hunters, hunting 100% private land.

 

[cuerro viejo]

Colorado gives a ton of tags to private landholders so they can do whatever they want with them. Those tags come from the public land pool. Example.........105 total tags, 20% go to private land holders, 10% of them are sold to the highest bidder in most cases.

You might say 10 tags isn't much, and it may not be, but multiply that by all seasons, units, etc, that's a big number, 2460 tags big, statewide ouch.


We need to get with the times and reconsider tag allocations for NR on draw tags, and OTC as a whole.

View attachment 452208

View attachment 452211

What are you going to do when Sec of Agriculture then issues 3k depredation permits. That’s what a landowner tag is, it a bribe not to go smoke a herd, for grazing, ag and fence reduction/destruction.

We forget where 90% of winter habitat falls. It’s not high country public land…

Buying tolerance is the number one reason CO has the herds they have.

 

[Coveyleader]

What are you going to do when Sec of Agriculture then issues 3k depredation permits. That’s what a landowner tag is, it a bribe not to go smoke a herd, for grazing, ag and fence reduction/destruction.

We forget where 90% of winter habitat falls. It’s not high country public land…

Buying tolerance is the number one reason CO has the herds they have.

That may be true, but go knock on that same ranchers door to get permission to kill those hay eaters and see what he says.

Also, a lot of those vouchers are sold with the intent that they will NOT HUNT the acreage in which the voucher is tied to.

I have no sympathy at all for those valley ranches that get saturated with “pesky elk”

It’s all one big money grab. It is what it is, not going to change.

 

[cuerro viejo]

That may be true, but go knock on that same ranchers door to get permission to kill those hay eaters and see what he says.

Also, a lot of those vouchers are sold with the intent that they will NOT HUNT the acreage in which the voucher is tied to.

I have no sympathy at all for those valley ranches that get saturated with “pesky elk”

It’s all one big money grab. It is what it is, not going to change.

The goal is for the voucher revenue is to out weight the damage. The majority of the wildlife damage maybe in April or Jan/Feb.. aka not hunting season, thus the unit wide ideologies. Don’t just focus on a finite window, as the tolerance tags are to subsidize damage over a 365 day period, Not just hunting season