Those numbers are a wag. Without mandatory harvest data and the fact that they survey less then thirty percent of hunters i' take those numbers with a grain of salt. Another reason for the tag cuts down here is the low calf recruitment that CPW has publicized numerous times. I'd also call B.S. on their overall herd number for that DAU. How accurate is flying around for thirty minutes and taking the number of elk you see into a formula to give you a different number?That is a lot of harvest detail for a state not having any mandatory harvest check-in data. They know how many tags are sold but their harvest data is a guess.
I've asked numerous times and they told me it would be too hard. When I gave the example of new Mexico making it mandatory and if people don't do it then they can't apply the following year they just looked at me like I was stupid.Hunters should absolutely demand CPW implement Mandatory Harvest Reporting - email the Commission with the addresses posted earlier
Deer is already draw only, not sure this change to archery seasons will effect any population changes.They are sending mixed signals with this. They want to reduce the herd size for deer because of the threat for CWD yet they want to change all of these units to limit the archery hunters. I too am I'm still concerned that they will not limit the OTC 2nd and 3rd rifle for these units. We can only wait and see.
Those San Juan units are steep and deep. My option is if you want to tackle them with a bow you should be able to. The rifle season is where they need to make the cuts if they want to increase the herd size.
They made over 96 million in license sales last year. Its our duty to "demand" something? You guys can whine all you want. As stated, they have their agenda, no amount of message board fodder is going to change that. They're a government agency full of typical government BS.
Also, you can't ascertain the amount of BS these days by attending one DOW meeting (any of the public input meetings) go to 10, the story is the same. It does make for good internet reading listening to all of this however.
More like getting the crap eaten out of them from all the bears.Maybe it's because calf recruitment rates are low from getting chased constantly by half of texas and the midwest during the breeding season.
You forgot to add Utah to that list.Maybe it's because calf recruitment rates are low from getting chased constantly by half of texas and the midwest during the breeding season.
More like getting the crap eaten out of them from all the bears.
Mind you, they have even less of an idea how many bears there are, at least bears have mandatory reporting, a couple years ago you could wait 5 years for a rifle bear tag, all the while glassing 10-20 bears in an evening from one overlook......I didn't say that but how many years did it take before CPW admitted we had a bear problem? If they would have been on top of it bears would not have been out of control and I think the calf survival rate might not have dipped as much. Don't worry I don't just blame the bears. There are many issues including too many years of liberal cow elk rifle seasons, much more encroachment of homes and subdivisions and a lot more people in the woods year round both hunters and recreationalists.
All rifle season cow tags are already limited - draw only. As in no over the counter cow Elk tags are available for those units whatsoever. CPW can adjust the number of rifle cow tags on a yearly basis based on their population estimates. So the rifle seasons are already mostly limited. 1st and 4th are ALL limited and 2nd and 3rd are "partially" limited already (for cows).Why just archery? Why not limit all seasons? Can anyone answer this?