Co 5 year season structure survey.
General Topic
Reposting this with new title. Please click on the link guys and take the survey. Our either sex OTC elk tags and month long archery season is in the crosshairs. And don’t be fooled by the muzzle loader question when they ask if you dislike the overlapping season. If we bitch and complain about it, that gives them reason to shorten our season by at least a week to give muzzy their own season. Trust me they WILL NOT take time away from the rifle seasons for this but they will take from us. The CBA is against all these proposed changes. Thanks guys.
Danbows post from first thread.
Don’t mess with archery/muzzleloader season!!! If anything suggest a sept 1 start date. Otherwise leave it alone!!!!!
I’d love to see Colorado go to a draw for archery nonresident
I sure hope more guys have then what’s posted here and on the other thread.
I thought the question on starting archery at the same time as antelope spoke volumes about intent. Hunting in archery season is too hot as it is. Going to result in more spoiled elk meat if they move it up. JMHO
^^^^ That question was for 'Early Archery Deer' not elk
Depends where you hunt.
When I lived in Leadville, it was normal to get frost in August and a few snow storms in September. Never hit like Arizona or New Mexico elk hunting.
Most bow hunters in Colorado want to hunt later in September for the rut. It is actually easier to bow hunt those big bulls if you can find them in August than in the rut with all the cows and satellite bulls in the way.
Deer are much easier to bow hunt earlier. They drop into the timber as soon as they rub velvet off around the 10th of September and are almost impossible to find. Combined with many years of additional pressure from muzzle loader and early rifle seasons starting at about that same time and the bucks have set patterns to disappear from their high basins at that time.
The current archery season catches a week or two when deer hunting is good followed by two weeks of really tough deer hunting. Elk hunting in archery season is good from day one to the last day with the rut usually starting to kick in the last week.
Personally, I would like to start deer earlier and run elk longer.
My exact thoughts Treeline. I didn’t suggest to get muzzleloader out. Just limit the cow tags offered with any rifle weapon. And, to lengthen the season on archery.
For residents that get to scout, that is no advantage. But to a NR that has to show up and find elk before he stands a chance to kill one, more rutting would help. Might be harder to kill but, if we can hear them, we can hunt them with confidence. At least that’s my inexperienced opinion.
Much rather they start the the same day .I can hear it now the deer hunters are moving the elk to soon
Submitted my thoughts again.
Archery mule deer west of I-25, open mid August, same dates as antelope. Archery elk Sept. 1-30. All draw for NR. All archery elk either sex.
Thanks for posting this, lung$hot. If they separate archery and ML, you KNOW bowhunters will get screwed...
Done. I too said I was ok with ml and archery overlapping.
Just the opposite for me. No overlap. I'm prepared to test the waters.
Caz, I can see both sides, but from what I've been told by a couple CPW people, a separation would possibly lead to a 21 day archery season and 9 day ML. Cramming all bowhunters into 3 weeks with only 3 weekends would make it more of a zoo than it is now.
Jaq, that may be, but the areas I hunt ML's are a factor, much more than archery. Lets hope it goes the other way and they push ML into the quiet time if anything at all happens.
I really hope guys show up for the BGSS meeting later this month to express concerns about what's been going on with our archery seasons, and the CDOW/Commission as of late. They seemed to have lost direction and it surely needs to be noted in front of the commission.
Listen to Lung$hot this isn`t a Christmas wish list and the CPW isn`t Santa Claus. Same with OTC Share the woods every year if you can like I have for 35 years in a row or maybe hunt every other or 2 or 3 years!
In the last 5 years I’ve seen 1 muzzle loader during archery season. ONE!!!! Caz, it’s a simple solution. If you don’t want to hunt with ML then don’t hunt the 9 days they are out there hunting! Danbow and jaq have this one right. Could it get better? Yes.... but it could get a whole lot worse!!
This past fall, opening day ML season we never ever heard a shot! And thats for deer AND elk ML season
Ucsdryder,
I seem to recall it was a "Survey". That is to say, input from various points of view. They received comments from you, and they received comments from me.
I don't care how many ML's you saw in the last few years. I know the numbers of elk I see each and every year prior to ML's and after. I know the effects they have in places I hunt. I'm sorry if my comments go against the grain but I'm a bow hunter. I don't bow hunt with guys who use ML's. I don't bow hunt private ground, I'm out there with the masses hunting OTC units and have never liked the idea of guns being around during the archery seasons. A survey was provided and here is my chance to express my points of view on something that has always affected my hunts.
I hear ya Caz and trust me I would love to have the season all to myself but unfortunately I’ve already heard the CPW solution to that issue and it results in loss off hunting days and opportunities for us Bowhunters as a group. The grass ain’t always greener ya know!
Cazador you are right and I respect your opinion I just hope a survey doesn`t affect the masses in shortened seasons. I started elk hunting in the centennial state in 1983 and the archery elk season then ran into the 1st week of October. That was changed for biological reasons, giving the elk some alone time to breed. So In my humble opinion you wont see any lengthening of the season to accommodate archers or muzzle loaders.
Caz in a perfect world I’d love to see them put the season from oct 1-8 but I don’t think that’s happening from everything I’ve read and seen. So the alternative is to have our season taken away at the comments by our own.
Done.. only thing I’d like to see is a hard start and stop date of sept 1-30.
Ask questioned the thought of rifle hunters allowed during archery.. dangerous and just plain sucks
BTW. You can take the survey multiple times if you use a different device
The best solution for elk would be to leave archery as it is, then change the early and first rifle seasons to muzzy. It’s Ridiculous that some elk units have 5-6 rifle hunts! (Early and Late on top of the 4!)
Of course that will never happen in CO
