Stix's Link
$350 in point fees, $1300 for a special license with a voluntary donation to the Access Yes Program. Going elk hunting in Wyoming = priceless.
Meanwhile, the current "ideas" being discussed for Colorado archery elk seasons at last weeks Commission meeting, and the sportsman's roundtable on Saturday are to split the 30 day season into two 15 day seasons, limit it totally, shorten it by a week, and even stranger stuff ideas. Wrote and sent a long letter tonight from CBA, will share it soon with all of you. These ideas aren't coming from CPW, but other interest groups, and our own Colorado hunters.
Kansas
https://ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Hunting-Programs/Hunter-Recruitment-and-Retention-Effort
https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/2018/5/31/first-light-hunter-recruitment-efforts-shift-to-adults/
http://www.ihea-usa.org/instructors/hunter-recruitment-and-retention
Just a few tops hits on the search engine. States are scrambling to recruit and retain hunters. Colorado has what they all want. A segment of hunting that is growing steadily. You would think they would be trying to foster and enhance the quantity and quality of bowhunting but instead our opportunities get chipped away at and we are told to basically forget asking for something new or better "or else". A win for bowhunting in Colorado is now defined as keeping something we already had or not losing as much as we could have.
Bowhunting is growing
Bowhunting generates more revenue for the CPW per surplus animal
Bowhunting results in far more recreation days per tag
Bowhunting allows more people the opportunity to hunt per surplus animal
Seems like a great asset for managers looking to do the most with a limited resource.
I think the biggest segment of growth from "archery" has come from crossbows nationwide. I could be wrong but I have a feeling all these states legalizing crossbows is really what has padded recent archery numbers.
For sure the urban sprawl has helped some too. As city's suburbs expand often the only viable choice for hunting small acreages is a bow.
Real smart.
Right now, I just think we are in the "crazy idea" portion of BGSS. Every BGSS seems to have that phase, we will get through it. I just need to make a bunch of phone calls to have personal conversations with commissioners. We need to make sure they come out of the phase with keep it simple, the sky isn't falling, common sense intact. I just spoke to Marvin, it put my mind at ease.
Early June will be when we see proposals on paper, I am somewhat confident some of the crazy, and complex ideas will fall of the chart.
Keep your focus, but feel free to continue to write commissioners in a respectful way about what you support, and what you think is insane.
Again, alot of these ideas are not CPW, but other interest groups, and hunters themselves. We need to think about our neighbors, not ourselves, and be grateful for the blessings we do have.
I'm grateful...heading to Wyoming this fall. Someone else can have my CO tag.
From: Orion 27-Sep-18 Would love to see rifle bear moved to August 1st to the 31st. Bears are way active then and it gets it out of archery. Moose and goat tags should be longer. When I drew goat it was only 10 days still killed one but more time would have been nice. CPW has already told the CBA that if they keep griping about muzzleloaders they will get the short end of the stick.
The earliest bear can start under statute is Sept 2. It ain't changing unless you have lots of buddies at the Capitol.
Not sure where your getting your info, but thanks for telling us you told us so.
If CPW would say something to the CBA, it would be to me. I am the liaison. No one has told me any of what your saying.
No doubt there are still some bow hunters that continue to want a clear separation of the ML season from the archery season and those views, I have heard them, are expressed at the CPW meetings as well as on this site and I am sure, some CPW staff still hears those expressions but they are NOT coming from the CBA board of directors.
If CPW told you this they are not speaking the truth. I had a DWM in middle park last year tell me that they (CPW) are pushing to remedy what they (CPW) perceive as a crowding issue. It's coming from staff in the OTC areas. It's coming from DWM's up to senior level staff in these areas.
It may not be every single staff member in these areas, but it's enough to get the issue brought forth.
It appears that CPW started the discussion and other stakeholder groups caught on and signed on.
I continued to tell her that with state population exploding, more and more other recreational users are using the trailheads during early fall but during the rifle seasons these users are not out there due to weather, and it gives the appearance like there is an overcrowding of bowhunters in Sept.
She looked at me like I was from outer space.
I may have seen plenty of folks at the trailheads, but not too many people deeper into forest. IMHO, Plenty of room to disperse.
I am sure that now that there are 40,000 plus bowhunters hunting elk in the 30 days Early Season, the CPW feels a similar threat of early migration caused by increasing numbers of bow hunters and this threat might be statewide.
So why be threatened? Well since bow hunter success was labeled, recreational hunting (bow hunters kill around 5,000 elk) and not game management hunting at one time, and the numbers of bow hunters and the success was not a threat to the over all picture of game management, there might not have been a huge threat in the past.
But as bow hunter numbers have increased, (more that doubled since 1988) now there might be a threat to the over all system of elk management. Rifle elk success and the over all management of Colorado's Elk herd, is based on the number of elk killed b by rifle hunters and if a larger percentage of elk migrate out of the National Forest to private land, from pressure of the Early Season participants, I believe the CPW will seek remedies to correct this early migration by limiting Early Season participation. ML rifle season participation has been controlled by all limited ML elk licenses.
Yea, I know Early Season Participation, ie, Sept, hosts many people in the out of doors that time of year, besides bow hunters, but I doubt if the CPW staff sees that has part of the larger issue of early elk migration.
Will limiting elk bow hunters in the Early Season be next by limited draw, or OTC with caps? Will the CPW limit nonresident participation by creating Limited Draw elk license, decreasing the number of elk bow hunters? (nearly half of Colorado elk bow hunters are non residents (cash cows for sure).
Or will the CPW Staff just recommend Status Quo?
It might be a game of darts. Place the options on the wall, and throw a dart at them!
my best, Paul
I've always been frustrated that the CBA doesn't lobby for OTC with caps instead of just being ok with bowhunting opportunity being limited. OTC with caps ensures that no serious bowhunter loses the opportunity to hunt...the only guys who lose out are the guys who aren't very serious about getting a tag in the first place.
Are you a member?
I was a member of the CBA for years, but I let my membership expire when I felt they let us down out here in Gunnison when we went limited a decade ago. We asked the CBA to recommend OTC with caps instead of limitation and the CBA refused to do so. That being said, I'll be the first to say that there are a lot of GREAT folks that are involved in the CBA and I'm thankful they are there. I'm just disappointed that they let the bowhunters in Gunnison down when we needed them the most.
In my opinion, that whole gunnison limitation deal was about getting vouchers. They didn't get them because not all seasons went limited. I think the quota for archers is very large, not sure if it takes points or not now. Have you ever not drawn an elk tag with the quota?
Personally, I like totally limited, but that would cause mass upheaval in the points system for the foreseeable future, According to our survey folks don't want that. Limits, are Limits. I'm not here to push for anyone other than the what the majority wants. Step back up buddy, while I get you were disappointed, I'll bet you still have blessings!
I asked CPW if they ever used OTC with caps for elk, they told me gunnison - if that was bad info. Sorry.
"OTC with caps ensures that no serious bowhunter loses the opportunity to hunt...the only guys who lose out are the guys who aren't very serious about getting a tag in the first place.
Splitting the season into to seperate seasons would be the worst thing to do, cause we'd end up with very short seasons, just like New Mexico. Do you really only want to hunt elk only nine says a year, if you draw a tag... Very bad idea, and yo want and push for this means the idea hasn't been studied on.
Our issue is this. Wildlife management had been almost zero in most gmu's, while CPW is always pushing the money issue. And as much as you want to get involved, judging from past history of the CPW, your input is going to be ignored in favor of the bottom dollar. With the sudden and unannounced changes they had in 2019, to make more money, I have no doubt we will see no changes in the license stystem in 2020.
I'm not complaining, just saying that IMHO, CO appears to be pretty much in line with the rest of them.
Yes, theoretically as we continue to gain more R hunters, the revenue curve will start to drop slightly, as fewer NRs pick up from the leftover list, but its not a huge swing in revenue. If CPW really needs that money, set the # of licenses to be revenue neutral (with current numbers) at full participation from R's, and there's your ceiling.
1. ML rifle elk = 11,534
2. Early PLO elk = 8,066
3. Sept bear PLO = 1,142
4. Reg Sept Rife bear = 9,454
5.ML Sept bear = 729
Total Sept 30,925 bear and elk hunters
Then add in the High Country Early Rife buck season above tree line. Sheep and goat rifle hunts in Sept. A few rifle cow elk hunts on Public Land. And if you want to add in more pressure, one can add in, hikers, bikers, atvs, grouse hunters, campers, and lets not forget leaf and wildlife viewers. Pressure from out side of the bow hunting season, you bet. And are these factors added in the "too many bow hunters" equation, pressuring the elk?
So now we have nearly 42,000 addition rifle hunters in Sept during the Sept archery elk season.
And how many elk bowhunters?
Total archery tags can be skewed by guys that will have deer, elk and bear tags in their pockets as well as elk.
Approximately 1/2 of the hunters in the field in September are bowhunters and the other 1/2 are hunting with muzzle loading and high-power rifles. Got it.
Colorado is one of the few states that does not have an archery only season, without rifle hunters on top of bowhunters. Heck, we are sharing the field with an equal number of gun hunters!
And CPW's published BGSS option or "solution" is to go to fully limited archery hunting?
Something is very, very screwed up.
CPW certainly seems to be out of touch.
Why isn't the CBA working to get an archery season? Why allow any more rifle hunters on top of bowhunters when we should be pushing to get our own seasons?
Why are there only 169 - 'Out of State' CBA memberships?
Cpw is not going to take rifle bear hunters out of September. That's the primary opportunity to manage bear populations. Ml hunters, bow hunters and regular rifle hunters probably don't take a very high percentage of the bear harvest.
I don't think there's a chance in Hades that there will ever be an archery only season without forfeiting a whole lot of season. In fact, there's only been a few years in history when there was an archery only season in Colorado.
In a world where everything is politics and everything is compromise, we need to balance what we want with what is possible.
I agree, there will never be an archery only Early Season.. The DOW changed that definition to a Early Season of opportunity for a variety of Manners Of Take and for Game Management purposes, over 15 years ago.
Over Crowding during the Early Season? One CPW staff member stated to me at a Round Table meeting that the CBA has done too good of a job recruiting bow hunters to hunt Colorado.
The Reality of that statement is not correct. It was not because of the CBA. The DOW/CPW has done a great job attracting bow hunters to Colorado, boasting of 320,000, ie, 1 of every 4 elk in the US. (years 2000). Having unlimited OTC licenses for Residents and Nonresidents. The CPW has/had run many TV ads out of state attracting hunters to Colorado.
The suggestion that CBA is responsible for the number of Bowhunters in Colorado is ridiculous. Hopefully it's just the misguided opinion of a few rather rather than a widespread misconception.
