Colorado Shed Closure.

Marklaroif

Member
Messages
19
Just curious what everybody else seen as far as if the restriction was successful or not here in the Northwest Corner? I was in favor of the closure as shed hunting has gotten completely out of hand here in the Northwest Corner of Colorado. Sadly I am not sure i am in favor of it anymore if they can't or will not put forth the effort to enforce it in the future. I agree they need to protect the wintering wildlife from a lot of the people that seem to have no respect to the harm they do to them by pushing them early in the year but at what cost?
From what i seen the closure seemed to have little to no impact on keeping people from going out. Everybody I talked too said they seen boot tracks and off road vehicle sign everywhere. Sadly the restrictions were not enforced and the law abiding people got the shaft. I have yet to hear of anybody who was issued a ticket for going out early or anybody who even seen a DOW Officer patrolling any of these areas either. It was a pretty well known fact that people were out making stash piles and were marking them with flags in the sand wash basin in unit 2. There were also several campers that were parked in Maybell Colorado that were sneaking antlers in at night during the closure. As far as i know they were never issued any citations even after being reported by people. I first hand reported some land owners that were shed hunting on BLM land in unit 10 during the closure and were driving anywhctly where the group was parked and staying. Again I never heard back from anybody and no citations were given to my knowledge. I am curious to see what other people think of the situation or what they seen first hand here this spring?
 
I was up there the weekend of March 18th to pick up some trail cameras and didn't see a single game warden. I now live in NM so when they announced the closure I already had my vacation scheduled so decided we would run up get our trail cameras and then go down to the river at swinging bridge. We drove all the way up to Diamond Peak before we ran into too much snow and had to turn around so in the end we just ended up going to the river. Anyway the only officer we saw was just across the state line in Utah. We did see a ton of pickups parked off the roads.

I think that area is patrolled extremely poorly all the time. I personally hunted unit 2 in 2011 after drawing the hybrid tag with 9 pts. The only game warden we saw was in camp up off the boulevard and that was only one time. Here I was the only hunter under 50 in the unit and I never got my license checked!
 
Last year we went over to snoop around the Colorado river units when they opened up on the 15th and there had been people all over, even on game and fish property.
Sometimes I think they set these dates with little intent of enforcing. Just do it to appear proactive, simply "hoping" most will abide, knowing full well they haven't the resources to patrol.
I like the later antler gathering dates, but only if they're enforced, otherwise those of us who wait are the fools.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
LIKE MonsterMuleys.com
on Facebook!
 

Colorado Hunting Guides & Outfitters

Rocky Mountain Ranches

Hunt some of the finest ranches in N.W. Colorado. Superb elk, mule deer, and antelope hunting.

Blue Mountain Outfitters

Unit 10 trophy deer and elk in Northwest Colorado. Guaranteed tags. Call Kent (801) 562-1802

Frazier Outfitting

Great Colorado elk hunting. Hunt the backcountry of unit 76. More than a hunt, it's an adventure!

CJ Outfitters

Hunt Colorado's premier trophy units, 2, 10 and 201 for trophy elk, deer and antelope.

Allout Guiding & Outfitting

Offering high quality mule deer, elk, bear and cougar hunts in Colorado units 40 and 61.

Ivory & Antler Outfitters

Hunt trophy elk, mule deer, moose, antelope, bear, cougar and turkey on both private land and BLM.

Urge 2 Hunt

We offer both DIY and guided hunts on large ranches all over Colorado for archery, muzzleloader and rifle hunts.

Hunters Domain

Colorado landowner tags for mule deer, elk and antelope. Tags for other states also available.

Flat Tops Elk Hunting

For the Do-It-Yourself hunters, an amazing cabin in GMU 12 for your groups elk or deer hunt.

Back
Top Bottom