Contributors to this thread:
Why were CO big game seasons (specifically elk & deer) pushed back approx. 1 week later than past seasons?
Because they wanted to give the animals a longer break between seasons.
Because then commissioner Robert bray thought it was a good idea, very few of the others hunt, so they believed him and voted for it.
That's what happens when the governor appoints no hunters to a commission in charge of rule making for hunters.
For the same reason, I'm predicting we will get point banking. Our ONE commissioner who guides will be looked at as the expert opinion, and the rest of them who are not hunters will vote for it. It's gonna be great if you have a ton of points, and a disaster if you dont.
It will pass we have commissioners who asked during a public meeting what preference points were. Pretty sad the people we have on the wildlife commission that don't know what preference points are, how they work, or even how the draw works. As far as the season getting pushed back that was because Bray said there was an overwhelming push from people that longer breaks would mean more animals on the public
Do you think the pushed back seasons will be permanent or is this temporary?
Point banking would be the only good thing they’ve done in years.
Crestedbutte at least until the next 5 year season structure which I believe starts in 2024 and they will vote again. They also have decided that killing all the mature bucks will rid of us of CWD and they stated that the easiest way to do that is to have rifle hunts during the rut and increased tag numbers. Many people are also seeing the effects of that decision
crestedbutte, what are you referring to?
Whipranger, I think point banking would have a devastating impact on low point (1-6 points). As someone who is trying to hunt with my teenage son as often as possible, it would make drawing those lower point units nearly impossible.
But it would only last 5 years then everyone would 100% even with a random draw. You could draw the best area 3 years in a row or never, right now so many units are in the never bracket for the majority of hunters now with the point creep
Wouldn’t you like to have the chance to possibly draw a great unit. I’m not saying the odds wouldn’t be shit but better than thinking you’ll never really have chance.
Point Banking will not wipe out all the points in 5 years, many guys will still keep points
Sorry I will elaborate. Let’s say as of now there will no longer be points given. You have 5 years to use but allowed to bank. And after 5 years any remaining points are wiped out and everything becomes 100% random.
There is hundreds of thousands of points out there. The playing field is currently level, the rules have been in place for decades and are well understood. Changing the rules makes the playing field tilt, and favors high point holders.
Why would anyone ever favor government picking winners? When has that ever worked out well.
But they aren't going to stop giving out points, so point collecting will still go on. There is no discussion of stopping PPs.
Any first license of a given species needs to be 1 pref point minimum. You get this point in the draw and chose to use it on an OTC, reissue, or leftover license. At the rate we are going most of us wont be able to hunt half the state for elk in 10 years.
Interesting how a post develops. Don’t really care about points or point creep….just don’t like that they pushed the 2nd season further back into the last few days of Oct. and mostly into the first week of Nov. In the past, that season was usually from mid-late Oct….not late Oct - early Nov.
I hunt the high-back country of Unit 55 and we don’t use horses but instead hike way back in and bivy hunt. The difference in weather patterns between those weeks can be substantial.
This year, after waiting 6 yrs to draw my non-res. tag and arriving at our location on 10/27 (a few days before the opener) we were welcomed with almost 2’ of snow. Then another 1’ of snow fell a few days later. 3’ of snow made for a much harder hunt than in years past and the high back country was essentially void of animals.
Would rather that the season had stayed where it was earlier in Oct. that’s all. I guess overall, what was the consensus of the 2nd season hunters especially those that hunted the high-back country?
I don't know if it effected the rifle seasons, but the CPW proposed that archery season start on Sept. 1 instead of the last Saturday in Aug. and still run for 30 days. That had been discussed a few times over the years, but CBA members had always preferred the Aug. start because it guaranteed 5 full weekends to hunt. This last time, however, the majority opted for the later start date even if most years, that would result in fewer weekend days. So the CBA supported the CPW recommendation and the Commission passed it. Of course, at the last minute, they changed it from Sept. 1st to the 2nd to correspond with bear season, but still ending the last day of Sept., screwing us out of a day of hunting.
I don't know if that resulted in pushing back the rifle seasons, or if that was a completely different issue. I don't think archery season dates will change, and as a bow hunter, I don't really care what they do with rifle seasons, except to get them out of bow season.
What this shift did was put two deer seasons in the rut instead of (maybe) one before. This fits with the CPW overall goal of obliterating as many mature bucks as possible in what will be another failed attempt to slow the spread of CWD.
Wish they weren’t so late. Poor mule deer are getting hammered. Killing off all the mature bucks
If a guy poaches one big muley he deservedly gets a huge fine, stuff confiscated and likely loses hunting privileges.
If the Government mismanages and the results are hundreds of mature bucks getting killed in a failed effort to combat CWD, they will just say "whoops" and carry on.
Absolute shit show and will get worse. The current mismanagement is well on its way to destroying mule deer in Colorado. Since mule deer went 100% draw (to help bring back mule deer herds), they have shown just how badly they can manage a resource.
Well, wolves should fix things.
