Grasshopper's Link
At some point in 2018, elections will be held for the roundtable, the public is welcome to apply. The term is for two years.
See the press release at the link.
It is always (usually) enjoyable to meet and hang out with my hunting brothers, hope you can make it.
Colorado makes more revenue off of hunting licenses than any other state.
Colorado resident hunting license fees are at the midpoint when compared to other western states with the same species.
Colorado runs about the middle of the pack for fishing licenses (Highly skewed by the states with saltwater that include commercial fishing license revenue).
The big ticket items in their budget shortfalls are not hunting or wildlife related (fish hatcheries, reservoir maintenance, killing unwanted game fish, etc.)
There is no plan to increase quality (no non-resident reduction for OTC hunts, no increased access for public or state lands, predator management, etc)
It appears that if we agree to higher fees, CPW will definitely find ways to mismanage the extra revenue if history is any gauge of the future.
The 23rd is the SE meeting: January 23rd, 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Lake Pueblo State Park Auditorium of the Visitor Center at Lake Pueblo State Park, 640 Pueblo Reservoir Road, Pueblo, 81005
I remain very upset with the CPW's contention that hunting and hunters bring in fewer dollars to the state's economy than wildlife watching or fishing. There certainly seems to be a slant there against hunting that needs to be further investigated and absolutely not taken at face value. Based on license revenue to the CPW, hunting is a much greater factor. When you add in all the expenses required to hunt in this state, the numbers are certainly higher than "wildlife viewing" that I see very little of unless it is someone scouting for hunting.
When you look at the license increases across the board, hunting gets to bear the brunt of it - we have to purchase a different license for every species and all of them are slated to increase - along with the application fees.
With the majority of the "big ticket" expenditures focused on hatcheries and dams, would it not make more sense to increase the cost of fishing licenses to cover those expenditures?
CPW is not as involved in the management of our big game as other states and basically seems to manage to sell numbers of licenses with little regard for population fluctuations or impacts to our big game herds. There is little regard for quality - neither the quality of the hunting experience (overcrowding) nor quality of game animals (older animals).
The issue that CPW brings up about dam and water infrastructure repairs being a big ticket item that should be borne by hunters is very confusing to me. Water in this state is worth more in the long term than gold. Water is bought, sold and leased and a very profitable business in Colorado. I have been involved in water rights leases that returned significant amounts of money. Why isn't CPW looking at these as assets that can pay for themselves and generate income? Should not these required repairs be funded by the water rights themselves?
I am very concerned that, even with the cost increases asked for by CPW, they will continue to mismanage their expenditures and we will be looking at continuous price increases to cover their mistakes.
The bill sponsors will be at the meeting on Thursday. It is in House committee meeting room 109, from 11:30- 1:15, 200 E. Colfax Ave Denver CO. Sportsman are welcome to attend.
I know your a long way from Denver. When the bill gets released, you can sure write letters to those with votes to voice your opinions.
I definitely wrote letters the last time and have been to several meetings with CPW. Definitely get a strong feeling of rejection and inadequacy trying to stay up with all the politics.
https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoParksandWildlife/
6:30 pm start
