First isn't the ranching for wildlife program for residents of the state of Colorado and only?
Second a muzzleloader with a scope in the state of Colorado is illegal?
Can someone help clarify this for me?
I asked them in their facebook page and they said it was legal because the ranch was part of the ranching for wildlife program?
Michael
Public draw tags are resident only.
Ranches get up to 90% of the quota for bulls and bucks as sellable licenses. All the female tags go to the draw for residents.
The ranch (outfitter) can sell those tags for whatever they can get for them.
The public RFW tags are mostly doe-cow tags. The public buck- bull tags are usually only around 10% of the total. The public hunts are typically limited to one week and the ranch can limit access to portions of the property for the public hunts. When you draw a buck or bull tag, typically there are lots of doe-cow hunters out there at the same time. The public seasons are typically set later, after the outfitters have hunted the ranch for several months for trophies for the high-dollar hunters. There are no public archery hunts and the timeframes for the public hunts are typically off the prime rut period for any of the species. Some RFWs may be different and better opportunities for public hunting than others.
I tried a public deer RFW hunt once. Horrible experience. Waste of points
Four of us did cow hunts rfw in January two years in a row. First year was 2 for 4 on a two day hunt. Next year was deep snow and the elk were all. Down low below the ranch property . We didn't get any elk but it turned into a fabulous rabbit hunt.
The deer hunt was quite a few years ago and that property is no longer in the program. It never should have been in! It was about 1500 acres but all but about 400 acres was short grass prairie. The program allowed 16 public rifle hunters on that 400 acres!
I think the program is improved a lot over the years but it is a good idea to do some research.
Whether those guys were voucher tags or public draw, there equipment was legal as long as it was not a specified ML season.
The 1500 acre property was one we hunted many years ago out near Limon. Think it was called Bijou Springs or something like that.