Not enough game in the field? Not enough youngsters coming along to keep hunting viable?
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is in the process of accepting your ideas about potential problems with big-game hunting and how to fix them. Last week in Durango, the agency held one of 16 public open houses about its plan to restructure the big-game season for 2015-19.
The five-year plan will be created in the next several months with the help of public feedback. Comments are due March 31. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission will make the final decisions about the plan in September.
“It’s been interesting and valuable for me to hear the issues that are of concern for folks,” Matt Thorpe, area wildlife manager based in Durango, said last week at the La Plata County Fairgrounds Extension building.
Thorpe was introducing the plan’s process to about 30 local residents in attendance. About 12 Parks and Wildlife employees were on hand to help answer questions and lead people to the right stations.
In contrast to changing rules from year to year, the five-year plan helps hunters, businesses and game officials develop some consistency and allow them to plan ahead, said Thorpe, who became Southwest Colorado area wildlife manager in August. A 10-year plan might be too long, locking in some regulations that nobody likes.
The regulations are for elk, deer, pronghorn, moose, black bear and mountain lions.
Although any area of regulation is up for comment, four main stations were set up at the Fairgrounds:
Hunting preference points – Is the current structure working, in which hunters whose licenses aren’t drawn gain points to help them next time they apply? How should it be changed?
Season dates and structure – Are the season overlaps with archery, muzzleloaders and rifles working well? Do the dates and gaps between seasons make sense?
Limited elk-hunting units – Residents can nominate an area for designation or removal as a unit where a limited amount of licenses are sold.
Youth opportunity – “The average age of big-game hunters is going up every year,” Thorpe said. “We’re not recruiting young big-game hunters.”
There’s no easy answer for how to get youngsters involved in the sport, he said.
“We’ve had some success, but we’re smart enough to know we don’t have all the answers,” Thorpe said.
Hunters had plenty to say to various agents and in small-group talks among themselves. One hunter worried that changing weather patterns are leading to later mating seasons and changing the dynamics of best times to hunt. Other hunters talked about an excess of hunters in the field and a lack of big game, specifically elk.
“There’s pumpkin patches everywhere,” said Chauncey Ewing, referring to groups of hunters in orange hats and vests. Hunting conditions are much tougher now than 15 years ago, when “hundreds of head of elk” were prolific.
Hunter Brad Pontine agreed the lack of game is a huge problem.
Chauncey’s father, Hody Ewing, said that although Parks and Wildlife figures seem to indicate big-game numbers are stable, that doesn’t jive with what he sees. Success rates have been very low, he said.
Hody Ewing suggested cutting back on the number of licenses issued, and trying to cut back the numbers of big-game predators such as mountain lions.
The complaint about lack of game is common, but Parks and Wildlife studies, which include flyovers and statistical analysis, continue to show that elk numbers are stable in Colorado, said Joe Lewandowski, Parks and Wildlife spokesman.
He said elk are smart, and when they begin to sense hunting pressure – noise from shots or from off-highway vehicles, for instance – they find places to scatter. Sometimes elk move to private land or deeper into the forest, where hunters are reluctant to go because of the difficulties of retrieval, he said.
Big-game seasons are big business in Colorado. One study in 2008 showed that elk hunting alone pumps $295 million into the state economy and supports 3,400 jobs, according to Parks and Wildlife.
johnp@durangoherald.com
To comment
Those wishing to give input about Colorado’s 2015-19 big-game hunting regulations can do so online at cpw.state.co.us. Search for “Season Structure.” There is an online public comment form.
Written comments can be mailed to Big Game Season Structure, Policy and Planning Section, 6060 Broadway, Denver, CO 80216.
Comments are due March 31. For questions, email bgss@state.co.us.
