2020-24 season structure options

[Rich M]

The crowding issue is only a problem in the mind of hunters. They are the ones who started the discussion about too many people in the woods during archery season.

The fact that Colorado OTC is everyone’s fall back Plan is clearly a problem.
People don’t spend their hard earned money and time off from work just to go hiking, and the management plans are not for the elk to not be harvested.
IMO what is currently going on is not sustainable and not offering a lot of hunters the experience they seek, hence the constant complaining about excess hunting pressure.

BINGO!!

This is about hunters getting that "quality" experience they seek and not having to trip over each other. Think about it - many or most NR guys would still be satisfied if they got a chance to give it a go, and didn't get something but also didn't get overrun by other folks. They could stay home and hunt if they wanted to get overrun by other hunters.

So they complain. What they don't understand (or don;t care about) is that the whining usually means increased regulation. Regulatory agencies do not know how to do stuff without increasing regulation.

- I'm involved as a hunter liaison with a local wildlife refuge. We never get anything back that they take away. And they take away (reduce hunter numbers, quantity of permits, etc.) in response to folks whining about having a bad day. Top that off with folks having an innate inability to A). piss each other off and B). totally disrespect the other guy who got there first.

So, here it is playing out on a much larger scale.

I'm guessing that we will see a 2 part season and limited quota for them. The split will allow 2x the quantity of folks to hunt and the limited quota will reduce the amount of folks tripping over each other, increasing the "quality experience".

Get ready!

 

[chasewild]

Spring bear is never coming back. The populous voted against it by a wide margin.

Archers aren't killing too many elk. We've got plenty of elk, and the CPW doesn't hardly considers archery season when it comes to population control.

The crowding issue is only a problem in the mind of hunters. They are the ones who started the discussion about too many people in the woods during archery season. However, it is a fact that there are more gun tags during archery than archery tags ( Paul N has the numbers somewhere ), so the discussion being too many archers is disingenuous. Whether you consider this a problem is up to you.

The raw number is a problem, but the trend is perhaps my bigger issue.

 

[cnelk]

I understand you aging hunters want to hunt and gain a point every year but if you can look past that and at the big picture you will see that going all limited will help resident hunters, the resource, and will not hurt opportunity to hunt if you plan.

Damn right I want to hunt elk every year.
The way I figure it, I got maybe 20 Septembers left to chase elk - If Im lucky.

Father Time is undefeated

 

[5MilesBack]

The way I figure it, I got maybe 20 Septembers left to chase elk - If Im lucky.

I'm counting on 30, and I'm 54 here shortly. But realistically only about 10-15 more the way I really like to hunt.

 

[njdoxie]

This thread will be lighting up when BGSS is announced in July.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Josh Wright]

I bet there are no changes. Hunters can ways get away from people. I like to bow hunt too, but archers need to stop griping. I hunt in a heavily hunted unit and I don't see anyone while hunting. I see them on the way in and on the way out. 4/5 years I've killed a bull with 2 of those being 300" ers.

 

[Bearshirt]

The area we hunt has seen an increase in archery hunters. 10 years ago statistics showed around 600-700 and now its showing 1000-1200. We have only seen a hunter once in spots we hunt. Plenty of hunter sign in areas but it always looks older. If I go to a parking spot and there are 3-4 vehicals there that could be 8 people hunting. Some of these areas are huge and you can walk for days and mot cover it all. As vast as some of the areas are out west I think they can support more hunters. Most guys we talk to at the trail heads walk the trails looking for sign. We apend almost no time on the trails and have found fresh sign almost every we looked. We even have seen a few elk every year Every year it gets better as we learn our areas and find new ones. If it goes to draw that could be a bummer. I dont have points and I am in my 50's. I Have got my nephew adicted to elk hunting so hopefully we can have some more hunts together.