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http://www.gjsentinel.com/sports/newsfd/auto/feed/sports/2003/09/07/1062916078.18429.9335.0979.html
09.07.03 Commission seeks revamp of point system
If anyone fully understands how the state's convoluted preference point system actually works, they better speak up now.
Action by the Colorado Wildlife Commission, spurred on with the wholehearted encouragement of commission chair Rick Enstrom, the entire preference point system will be reviewed, dissected and likely put back together in a completely different form sometime in early 2005.
That date is when the commission expects to have completed its review of the 2005-2009 five-year season structure cycle.
Along with big-game hunting dates, bag limits, managing deer and elk populations and a slew of other hunting-related topics, preference points and how they are doled out and who gets what are sure to be among the topics of most heated discussion.
What bothers Enstrom, and quite obviously many other hunters, is how nonresident hunters have managed to take advantage of the point system, much to the detriment of resident hunters.
"We need to look at everything involved with preference points," Enstrom said during the commission's meeting last moth in Glenwood Springs. "Are preference points still viable?"
Enstrom, of the Grand Junction candy-making family and now a resident of Lakewood, claimed the current preference point system, which rewards unsuccessful efforts to obtain coveted big-game licenses, has evolved to where nonresidents are able to "cherry-pick" the best licenses.
Nonresidents have learned to wait until they accrue enough preference points and virtually are assured a license for one of the state's top trophy unit.
"They can apply for years for a Colorado license, piling up the points while still hunting in their home state," Enstrom said. "When they have enough points, they come here and hunt in the best units."
The problem is that resident hunters can't play that waiting game without losing out on some hunting opportunities.
A survey done for the 2000-2004 five-year policy showed a majority of resident hunters would rather hunter every year than wait two or three or more years to garner enough preference points to get the hunt of their dreams.
The end result is a seeming disproportionate number of nonresidents hunting in the trophy units.
"I think it's turned our citizens into second-class citizens," Enstrom said.
The trouble lies in the so-called "creep element," said Mike King, regulations coordinator for the Division of Wildlife.
He said the number of people with 12 or more preference points tripled in the past year. Nonresidents equal residents on this list, he said.
What that means is that it now takes at least 15 points to draw a bull tag for unit 201 in northwest Colorado. That number is sure to go up as more would-be hunters collect more points.
State big-game coordinator John Ellenberger said he's been waiting 15 years to accrue enough points to return to unit 201 in Colorado's northwest corner.
"In 1987 it took me seven preference points to draw; I now have 15 and I'm still trying to go back," said Ellenberger, who skipped last year's hunt season because of other obligations.
The Division's hunter recap page shows 731 residents and 380 nonresidents applied for the 17 licenses available in 201 for last year's early elk-only season. Forty-two residents and 20 nonresidents had at least 14 points.
That means the hunters who didn't draw with 14 points, like Ellenberger, will have 15 points this year with which to gamble.
"In that 15 years, it takes twice the number of points to draw as it did before," Ellenberger said. "We're seeing that in a lot of our better game management units.
"In some units, there are enough people with enough points applying for limited licenses that you if you started this year you'll never catch up."
It can be discouraging, said Bill DeVergie, the Division's Area Wildlife Manager in Montrose.
"Some people get tired of waiting and bail out for another unit if they have enough points," he said.
Enstrom also wants the division to look into giving extra preference points to landowners with the best big-game habitat. The thinking is that these landowners, on whom the division relies for most of the state's winter habitat, also have access to most of the state's elk and could use some help harvesting the animals.
"We have to find an equitable way to allow hunters use their preference points," Enstrom said.
Some states, including Wyoming, have systems that account for those who have been shut out in earlier attempts to draw tags.
One proposal, to charge more for a license in one of the trophy units, fell quickly.
"That would eliminate a lot of citizens from the process," Enstrom said.
09.07.03 Commission seeks revamp of point system
If anyone fully understands how the state's convoluted preference point system actually works, they better speak up now.
Action by the Colorado Wildlife Commission, spurred on with the wholehearted encouragement of commission chair Rick Enstrom, the entire preference point system will be reviewed, dissected and likely put back together in a completely different form sometime in early 2005.
That date is when the commission expects to have completed its review of the 2005-2009 five-year season structure cycle.
Along with big-game hunting dates, bag limits, managing deer and elk populations and a slew of other hunting-related topics, preference points and how they are doled out and who gets what are sure to be among the topics of most heated discussion.
What bothers Enstrom, and quite obviously many other hunters, is how nonresident hunters have managed to take advantage of the point system, much to the detriment of resident hunters.
"We need to look at everything involved with preference points," Enstrom said during the commission's meeting last moth in Glenwood Springs. "Are preference points still viable?"
Enstrom, of the Grand Junction candy-making family and now a resident of Lakewood, claimed the current preference point system, which rewards unsuccessful efforts to obtain coveted big-game licenses, has evolved to where nonresidents are able to "cherry-pick" the best licenses.
Nonresidents have learned to wait until they accrue enough preference points and virtually are assured a license for one of the state's top trophy unit.
"They can apply for years for a Colorado license, piling up the points while still hunting in their home state," Enstrom said. "When they have enough points, they come here and hunt in the best units."
The problem is that resident hunters can't play that waiting game without losing out on some hunting opportunities.
A survey done for the 2000-2004 five-year policy showed a majority of resident hunters would rather hunter every year than wait two or three or more years to garner enough preference points to get the hunt of their dreams.
The end result is a seeming disproportionate number of nonresidents hunting in the trophy units.
"I think it's turned our citizens into second-class citizens," Enstrom said.
The trouble lies in the so-called "creep element," said Mike King, regulations coordinator for the Division of Wildlife.
He said the number of people with 12 or more preference points tripled in the past year. Nonresidents equal residents on this list, he said.
What that means is that it now takes at least 15 points to draw a bull tag for unit 201 in northwest Colorado. That number is sure to go up as more would-be hunters collect more points.
State big-game coordinator John Ellenberger said he's been waiting 15 years to accrue enough points to return to unit 201 in Colorado's northwest corner.
"In 1987 it took me seven preference points to draw; I now have 15 and I'm still trying to go back," said Ellenberger, who skipped last year's hunt season because of other obligations.
The Division's hunter recap page shows 731 residents and 380 nonresidents applied for the 17 licenses available in 201 for last year's early elk-only season. Forty-two residents and 20 nonresidents had at least 14 points.
That means the hunters who didn't draw with 14 points, like Ellenberger, will have 15 points this year with which to gamble.
"In that 15 years, it takes twice the number of points to draw as it did before," Ellenberger said. "We're seeing that in a lot of our better game management units.
"In some units, there are enough people with enough points applying for limited licenses that you if you started this year you'll never catch up."
It can be discouraging, said Bill DeVergie, the Division's Area Wildlife Manager in Montrose.
"Some people get tired of waiting and bail out for another unit if they have enough points," he said.
Enstrom also wants the division to look into giving extra preference points to landowners with the best big-game habitat. The thinking is that these landowners, on whom the division relies for most of the state's winter habitat, also have access to most of the state's elk and could use some help harvesting the animals.
"We have to find an equitable way to allow hunters use their preference points," Enstrom said.
Some states, including Wyoming, have systems that account for those who have been shut out in earlier attempts to draw tags.
One proposal, to charge more for a license in one of the trophy units, fell quickly.
"That would eliminate a lot of citizens from the process," Enstrom said.