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I've always wondered why Colo doesn't offer a spring bow season for gobblers? Other neighboring states (KS and NE) offer early seasons prior to when all the shotgun guys get out. Having bow tags available in limited units may also distribute tags/applicants and make it a bit easier to draw limited tags throughout the state. I'm sure I'm not the only turkey nut that would be interested in an early bow season?
jims, I have been pushing for a Archery Turkey Season for many years now, but cannot get the CBA to bring the issue up or push for it. Was once told by a fellow CBA member during a season committe meeting that he did not want anyone out there chasing them prior to him going after them with a shotgun.
No, you're not the only one. A perfect opportunity to do so would have been when they split some of the eastern LE units into two shorter seasons. They did that to try to spread out the pressure. I think it backfired. It seemed to me that most of the shotgunners got bored fairly quickly, or only hunted weekends, or for whatever reason hunted for just a fairly short period of time when they had a long season. Now they HAVE to get out during the more limited time frame and there is heavier, more consistent pressure during the entire season. The last time I hunted out near Bonny Res. with the shortened season, it was terrible. It was obvious the turkeys were heavily pressured by shotgunners, which I hadn't seen on previous hunts. When driving around and scouting from the road, just slowing down when you spotted a bird sent them fleeing for their lives. I wonder what causes that reaction?
It seems like turkeys are considered the prostitute of hunting critters in Colo! Eastern Colo turkey tag numbers have gone through the roof in recent years. Take a look at tag numbers this year compared to 5 years ago! It's a shame that turkeys get such a bad rap and there has been so much hunting pressure put on what was once prime public hunting areas at Bonny Res and elsewhere. As mentioned in posts above, offering additional seasons puts more pressure on birds....especially on public land. If tag numbers are conservative it provides a better hunting experience and potentially higher hunter success.
The CPW solution to farmer complaints seems to be offering private land only tags. As many Colo hunters know it's next to impossible for many onyourown type hunters to gain access to private. Large chunks of private are only available to outfitters so the majority of public hunters are pretty much screwed if they don't know a rancher or have the funds for expensive guided hunts. There are some great walk in areas in KS and Nebraska that offer public hunters access to private land where there is crop damage problems from turkeys and other game. It would be great if Colo offered similar opportunities to relieve competition and hunting pressure on private land.
Anyway, a bow season certainly would offer more hunters opportunity that currently isn't available. I know a lot of bowhunters that grab their bow and head to KS or NE to hunt during archery season....but it certainly would be exciting having an archery gobbler season here in Colo!
Why do you guys always need archery only seasons. Turkeys are not hard to kill and they are everywhere now. They are not really pressured I mean most guys give up after the first weekend and before May 1st most dont go very far from the locked gates.
Just a few public land birds I've killed one every year on public since 1993 and can count on one hand the number of times I've seen other people
"They are everywhere now..."
LOL! Yep, they are. I saw two last spring and summer on public land up here in the NoCo foothills where I live. But I'm only out and about in the woods for around five days a week so I may have missed two or three..
Get out of the front range and you will see what I'm talking about. Tons of birds around now. Also a reason why there is no need to collect points for them.
If I'm going to go on a major turkey expedition I can go to Nebraska in three hours, where there are a TON of birds and I can shoot three with OTC tags. If I lived in Bayfield or Meeker or Grand Junction and could hunt close to home it would be a different deal. I know where I can find some here if I do a backpack-bivy hunt. But why?
There is no valid reason why we shouldn't have an archery-only season like other states do. It's all about perspective.
I would rather see them let us shoot two otc spring birds instead of one spring and one fall before an archery only season
Orion, seriously, why are you opposed to an archery-only season? What is the downside? Are you a shotgunner?
I do both. It just seems like some archery guys are constantly griping. I mean archery has plenty of seasons yet guys always complain about something. Heck they constantly gripe about muzzleloaders causing them to not fill their elk tags. Let me guess archery would want 2 to 3 weeks the end of March so they could have all the birds to themselves. How many seasons do muzzleloaders have to themselves? Antelope is all I can think of and that season use to suck when CPW had it after rifle season. Ive never seen muzzleloader only goat or sheep tags. Or better yet their was an entire archery only goat unit for the longest time. Sometimes I just feel some archers are elitist types that need this and that. I mean if your that good of a hunter you should fill tags especially turkey they seriously are not hard to kill.
I have to admit they would be easy to kill with a shotgun. I was in a CPW meeting (or two) with Ron Velarde (nw region mgr) and the subject was brought up. He just plain doesn’t like archers/archery seasons and shot it down instantly. “Archers have too much already” according to him. These were not public meetings.
The otc turkey season is also 6 weeks long. So plenty of time to find unpressured birds.
I have had an outstanding request with cpw to get turkey participation data from cpw. I was told after the draw they should be able to get us that. We brought the issue up with cpw leadership at our annual meeting.
Roger has a written proposal. Personally, it seems like we should try a regional pilot as it might be easier to guage adoption results, and then move for a statewide implementation.
In my opinion the turkey brochure is far more complicated than the big game brochure
Turkeys are easy with a shotgun. No doubt. Little fat kids do it. Interesting that you come on the Bowsite to brag about how many birds you've killed with a gun. Pretty funny! How many have you killed with a longbow and no blind? Maybe if shooting them with a load of #4s is so easy you might want to challenge yourself?
Orion, why do you want to shoot 2 otc spring birds...? Especially since the the season is 6 weeks long and 'they are not that hard to kill'...
Got more wall space?
I said both. Ive killed plenty with a compound and no blind. Ive also used a blackpowder shotgun because it was fun. Ive used my kids youth 20 gauge also because its fun. And yes I've shot a bunch with a 12 gauge. I see your elitist attitude coming through though. Hopefully you get that special early archery only season so you can kill one in Colorado.
I dont hunt fall season and yeah it would be nice to have a second tag to hunt more. Lou I'm going to use an atlatl this year.
I don’t think they would ever go for an archery only season in Colorado.
But I would like it being a bowhunter. But that’s me being selfish.
But I don’t think there is that many guys chasing birds with bows. I rarely see many hunters out in the woods except for opening day. I rarely ever see Bowhunter’s.
We don’t have enough birds along the front range to support a superate archery season. Maybe out east in the limited units. I will say that I normally don’t have any luck at the beginning of the season. I’ve killed most of my birds towards the end of the season. When the hens go to nest. Seems like at the first few weeks of the season they are henned up and don’t care about coming to calls. There isn’t enough toms out there to compete and they have all the hens they need. But later on In the season is when they will come to calls for me. While we are talking seperate seasons I’d like to see moose archery and muzzleloader season be seperate!
I would be in favor of an archery only season. Plenty of birds around here, but they aren't very vocal the first week of the season. So, not only would my selfish ass want an archery only season, I want it to be the last two weeks of April, then let the shot gunners come out.
If they are so easy to kill with a shotgun and so plentiful, what is the downside to an archery season? I mean, it shouldn't bother the gunners since they are so easy, right?
Then again it's pretty exciting to be hiding there with your bow, calling in a tom that's gobbling his head off, and suddenly hear a BOOM! Adds a different dimension to the hunt.
The reason I brought this subject up is this would potentially open up a hunt opportunity that doesn't presently exist. KS archery season is April 3-11 with any weapon April 12-31. In NE archery is March 25-May31 and any weapon April 14-May31. Here in Colo gobbler season doesn't open until April 14.
With that said, if you've ever hunted Nebr turkeys in March when toms are henned up in large groups of 20 to 200 turkeys it is everything but an easy hunt with bow! It's obvious that Orion has a sweet secret spot available to hunt turkeys on the Front Range. I have to bust my butt to get to unpressured birds in OTC units in Colo and have found it super challenging where I hunt them on public land! Orion may want to draw a Bonny tag and give us a report on how tough or easy his hunt is when hunting side-by-side shotgun hunters!
I thought there would be a lot of positive response opening gobbler season a few weeks early and offering archery hunters the opportunity to hunt birds a bit earlier than when all the shotguns come out. The early archery season is VERY popular in Kansas and Nebraska!
Parks and wildlife don't want to have to work that early that is a statement from them
One thing to consider, most forest roads down in sw Colorado don't open till the second week of May, and we usually still have snow on the ground till late April. So how would a season that started in March help or benefit us? And if you wanna talk pressured birds, come down here where we have the guys from the valley over here, as well as Bayfield trying to kill birds in three small areas!! In all respect, splitting the season would see more guys suddenly trying tom kill birds with a bow, being able to hunt earlier and longer, not helping at all with the over crowded woods.
I never really thought about forest road closures but that is a definite consideration. I would think that the majority of hunters aren't willing to hike very far beyond gates so hunting may actually be prime behind locked gates before they open? Turkeys may also be concentrated a little bit lower elevation so an early season may actually benefit hunters that hunt mountain units. I hunted the Bosque last year behind locked gates plus snow. According to the game warden the turkeys can be a lot tougher locating once the snow receeds...so I lucked out!
There are a couple possible options that currently aren't available in Colo with and an earlier opening date. KS and NE require hunters to purchase turkey tags that are available for archery plus any weapon seasons. Hunters can continue hunting any weapon seasons if unsuccessful during the early archery season. Obviously this doesn't alleviate hunting pressure if success is low during archery.
Wyo opens many of their seasons a couple weeks earlier than Colo. Similar to Colo their season is open to all weapons. Potentially having a longer season would disperse hunting pressure over a longer period of time. Limited units (Bonny and Eastern Plains) where there has been a steady dramatic increase in turkey tags would benefit from longer season dates to alieve hunting pressure. An additional benefit to longer season dates along the South Platte is an earlier opening would offer easier access along the river before runoff. There has been several years where the river bottom has flooded and turkeys head directly to adjacent private land.
A third option would be to open turkey season earlier for "choose your weapon". This would be similar to the current big game seasons. Hunters would be required to choose either archery or any weapon season dates but can't hunt both. This option would allieviate hunting pressure during the current any weapon season and offer archery guys an early opportunity rather than hunting beside shotgun hunters. It may also open up opportunities to draw limited archery turkey tags that currently don't exist in Colo.
According to some of the posts above there aren't many bowhunters interested in a separate turkey season. I can see several benefits to opening turkey season a week or 2 earlier....whether it is for archery or any weapon seasons. Anyway, I thought I would throw my ideas out there! Good luck in the coming gobbler season!
I didnt want to start a separate thread for this but had a question about using a red dot on a shotgun - is it legal? I have decided to put the bow up and break out the shotgun since this will be my 7th year trying with no success. I cannot find anything in the turkey regulations about using a red dot for turkey.
Colorado est pop 35,000 spring harvest 6,400
Nebraska est pop 150,000 20,431
Kansas est pop 200,000 35,000
Seems obvious to me why Colorado may not have an archery only turkey season like the other states to the east. A lot less turkeys. Actually the CBA has investagated a bow hunting only turkey season in the past but it never went any where with the DOW or the current CPW staff or biologists.
As Grasshopper said, there is a CBA proposal ready to take before the CP&W for an "early archery season". Much like what Nebraska does. It would start a week or so before shotgun season then continue through the regular shotgun season until close. I am not sure if the proposal then converts to weapon of choice or stays "archery only". I think it stays an archery only license.
In my opinion, anybody who says they can't miss with a shotgun has not hunted turkeys very long or hunted a variety of birds. Ranch / farm birds don't count.
Killing birds from a blind is probably the easiest regardless of weapon. IMO - running and gunning is the best, adding bow and arrow to the equation makes it much more difficult, make that traditional gear... well there you go. Not many pics on the turkey meat pole of trad gear killed birds with no blind.
Tell the CPW you are willing to pay more for an archery-only turkey license. You will have your season before closing time tomorrow. Tell them you're a nonresident or an outfitter and they'll hand deliver all the licenses you want.
One argument for an archery only season is avoiding the creepy feeling you get when you catch some movement 40 yards out in the tall grass and its a shotgunner putting the sneak on your DSD jake.
Don't know what the pop. is is Penna. but, I do know that we have a lot of road kill turkey.
We seem to have tons of them over here around Meeker, but Spring Tags are extremely limited. Fall hunting most are after big game and just pick up a tag.
Who needs shotguns or bows - just fan them in and grab them with your hand! This could be the year I actually grab one. I did poke one with my shotgun barrel one time and it jumped about 3 feet and just stood there looking at me. Best turkey hunting memory to date. For a moment I thought I was going to be attacked even with my fan laying on the ground. It was awesome.
Paul when was that count conducted?