Colorado Shed Hunting Season and Permit

[kestump]

I spend a lot of time shed hunting, and would almost venture to say I enjoy it more than actually hunting for the animal. I have yet to ever sell a shed, though won't say I never will sell my stash. I'm all for less folks and pressure on wintering wildlife, but land management agencies and Fish & Game already can't/won't enforce existing winter range closures. I'm not sure how adding more unenforceable regulation will help things. I'm speaking from experience in Idaho mind you, not Colorado.

 

[odin0226]

What is the fine/punishment if cought breaking this law? The $40 is nothing; the season dates is the enforcement measure.

 

[Idaho Brad]

All for it. I enjoy shed hunting and would gladly purchase the permit and abide by a season if it was better for the herd.

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

 

[George]

Honest people will abide by the law and the new class of shed poachers will have reduced competition.

G

 

[realunlucky]

When utah closed it's winter range to shed hunting last year they did a good job of policing it and even made a few busts from social media posts. It can be done

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[5MilesBack]

So what's their goal? What are they trying to accomplish? If wildlife harassment is the problem, they're not fixing that. They're just profiting off of it by selling permits. There are already seasons in place in many units. So the only change is CPW making some money as well. The problem I see if what was mentioned above. Once they are shed, antlers aren't a CPW issue, and they're just another resource on whichever land they fall on........be it state, BLM, FS, or private.

The sheds themselves should be managed by whatever agency manages the land......just like timber. CPW's concern and control is over the wildlife harassment issue only. And the problem with any of this logic is that anyone can harass the wildlife, not just shed hunters......but now they want to charge a sub-sect of the users a fee to actually pick up an object that the CPW doesn't have control over. So if I find a shed while hunting in Sept, I have to have a "permit" to pick it up. That's ridiculous. What's next? A pine cone tax.

 

[Ehinckle]

I have a few issues with the shed season in Colorado. Some of the BLM offices open their winter gate closures April 15th. If the winter gates are open, people can ride mountain bikes, drive all the roads, but they can’t pick up sheds.
The wildlife commission stated they based it off Wyoming’s shed season. Isn’t Wyoming farther north and therefore their spring is later. By May 1st some of the areas already have the oak brush with leaving out. It definitely makes it harder to find sheds when all the vegetation is growing. When I lived in Idaho the spring was much later.
I want to protect the wintering grounds and the wildlife but I know the game wardens caught very few people with the eagle valley restrictions. Wouldn’t it make more sense to put winter gate closures on more habitat so that individuals would actually have to walk to get to those areas. You could even pay for the gates with some type of permit.