sundance55

I was born in Colorado and have hunted big game since i was 14, so the math says that is almost 50 years of hunting deer and elk. For the last 25 years i have chased elk to hell and gone and have been fairly successful in filling my tags. But this is not about me, it is specifically about the condition of our elk herd, and i can bear witness that in my neck of the woods here in the southwest part of the state, that our herds are in trouble, and that is pretty much what Colo. Parks and Wildlife is saying statewide. Their studies show that the mortality rate of calves is way down in the first 6 month period of life for calves. They estimate that locally the herd is down 30-40 percent, and that has not been affected by adverse winters for the last 3 years.Parks & Wildlife doesn't know why either. They say that it isn't predators, many of us local hunters who cover hundreds of miles hunting, say it is. They say that due to the amount of archery hunters during the pre rut that many bulls are staying away from the cows. Local archery hunters say that happens to a degree, but not enough to affect the herds to this degree. What has some of us local guys worried is that if the herds are declining, and the number of hunters is increasing each year, we will lose the foundational core of our herds. Colo Parks know they have a problem, but they also need the revenue to exist and manage the hunting resoures in this state. There is a hinting from the rumors that they are looking at archery restructuring, with this entailing maybe a shorter season, or maybe a draw. From some of the local archery hunters i have talked with, we agree that there is getting to be to many hunters in the easily accessable hunting areas, and each year there are more archery elk hunters in the woods. These same hunters said they would sacrafice hunting every year if it would bring the herds back up to where it was 8-10 years ago and also increase the bull to cow ratio's to where there are more bulls and also larger bulls. But, we also don't think that this is the fix required to stem this decline in elk. And we also don't think that archery should take the brunt of it. The over the counter elk tags puts a bullseye on this state from hunters across the nation, and as the amount of hunters increases each year, it is an unsustainable equation for having quality elk herds in the future. So, some of us here are seriously talking about starting up a non profit hunting organization specifically to try and get a voice representing hunters with the Wildlife Commission, with the legislature, and assist them in finding answers that are fair to all and increase the health of our elk herds. For now, that is the biggest issue we see, but we hopefully will have input into all aspects of hunting of all the game in Colorado. So i am reaching out to you all, because everything i have talked about affect's a fair number of you. I know that some of you have had some good hunts in this state recently, and the are localized areas that there is still a fair number of elk, but i guarantee you, my aching feet at the end of each archery season guarantees it, that for the last 5 years,my son and i spend much of our time asking each other where the hell the are the elk. When, after each season, 30-40 guys who hunt hard and cover terrain like a goat, each have the same report from our hunts, well, we knew there was a problem before the Parks and Wildlife did. So, input fellow archery hunters, rifle hunters of elk. Would you sacrafice to have better hunting, and to what degree? And the same for rifle hunters? And eventually, when we get this organization off the ground, would you be interested in supporting it? I've tried to give you just the basics of this issue, and i would be remiss if i didn't remind you that pretty much all hunting nowdays boils down to money, revenue. Wildlife is a resource, has to be managed, and that costs money. So when we talk about trying to get a voice and bring about change that is good for all, it is a pretty tall tree we are barking up, and as i have been telling people, you better have a pretty loud bark to be heard. And that can happen only in numbers, so we shall see where this takes us.
Thank you fellow "huntsmen of the woods"