Please read - Boulder county hunting
Colorado
As a member of the CPW sportsmen’s roundtable in the NE region, I am asking for your help.
Boulder county has a massive open space budget generated from sales tax revenues, and over the years they have acquired a large amount of property. To date, they have not allowed open to the public hunting on their properties.
One of their properties, Rabbit Mountain open space, currently has a large (350 plus) non migratory elk herd. The herd is about to get bigger when the calves start dropping this spring. CPW is paying sportsmen game damage dollars to local ag producers as the elk will move into neighboring corn and ag fields, and then back to the refuge open space.
If you read the info at the link, the elk are causing serious habitat degradation as well as game damage expense. After much encouragement and consultation with the CPW the Boulder county open space staff has now developed a draft elk management plan to include limited hunting to reduce the herd, and encourage natural migration off the property and into the mountains.
I’d appreciate your help in lodging comment from the link to support the management plan hunt. The CPW has been working this issue for over 3 years. In your comments, it might be wise to reference the habitat damage, and problems with game damage to neighboring private lands rather than hunting opportunity. It might be received more favorably in a place like Boulder county given the anti-hunting sentiment.
If you live on the front range, in person support at the meetings would help too.
See the press release at the link for more details, let me know if I can answer any questions.
Thanks!
Steve Hilde NE region roundtable delegate 970-222-2492
Steve you are exactly correct that comments should address the issue of habitat loss issues and crop damage issues instead of "my right to hunt" comments. If then, some type of hunting is allow to control the elk population, hunting sportsman win regardless of weapon of choice. The CPW will always support using hunters as a tool to control wild game populations as it is cost effective. Using birth control or moving these elk to another place is not. There is no doubt that if hunting is allow, it will be highly controlled and monitored through a draw system.
I was on the select team of county employees working with CPW to make this happen. I've been pushing hunting on Open Space for years to no avail but this is a step in the right direction. All of the educated/informed managers, both from Open Space and CPW, are in favor of hunting as a means of controlling this population. The estimated carrying capacity for this small piece of land is 35-70 animals. Currently 90%+ of the game damage payouts for unit 20 are to farmers in this small area around this Open Space. This isn't BCPOS only property with overcrowding of deer/elk and this won't be the last chance for public access to a public resource. This is a potentially huge win for us as sportsmen. Thanks for posting this, Steve. Hopefully the troops will rally for the meeting April 6 as I'm sure there will be a ton of antis attending.
Done. Good call on the verbage.
Steve, Well done on providing this link and supporting information. Thank you
Comments sent. Hunting really is the right solution. Not sure I would opt to do it myself. Sounds like it will be very regulated, and probably some folks just watching and waiting for something newsworthy to happen.
Yep I put in a good one too.
Sent! Theres a ton up there, see them every night I work.
Sent. Grasshopper, thanks for the heads up on this matter! I plan on attending the public meeting as well.
Thanks for bringing this to everyone's attention! It looks like there is a lot of support....keep them coming!
In the Sunday Boulder Daily Camera, a letter to the editor:
I am a Boulder County Parks and Open Space wildlife volunteer at Rabbit Mountain, now in my 27th season. In 1985 I started hiking there.
I recall the first time I saw elk at Rabbit Mountain. There were six bulls loafing on the southwest part of the property. That was some 20 years ago.
Unfortunately we now have too many elk on this wonderful open space. The elk are destroying the understory vegetation. The Ponderosa groves are very old and their landscape fragile.
Thinning this non-migratory herd is critical to the outstanding biodiversity significance of Rabbit Mountain. I support the proposed elk management plan.
Todd Van Dyke
Thanks, Todd!
We (I'm a BCPOS employee) have had over 100 comments on our website and only 1 negative and 2 maybe. All other comments are in support of what is best for the herd and the overall environment; hunting!
