Reissue 2023

[brutus54]

With all the tag cuts this year can you imagine what the reissue zoo is gonna be like coming up this year… ? I just hope I draw. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.?

 

[LIK2HNT]

Well, my daughter should draw her late mule deer tag. That’s the only Colorado tag I am waiting for. And my moose tag therefore no need to worry about the reissue list. ???

 

[Thill]

I can't wait to see how drastic the shift of the OTC tag hunters in the Flattops and NW CO will be with the massive herd declines and shortened 2nd/3rd season to 5 days. It's going to be weird year. I know a bunch of hunters that try to pick off cow tags/buck tags and such to add to hunting groups for 2nd/3rd Season. This year none of them will have any have any cow tags or buck tags and I have 2 groups of hunters that asked me for recommendations for hunting areas outside of NW CO since it appears it is going to rough hunting until the herds recover on the public land side.

 

[accubond]

I can't wait to see how drastic the shift of the OTC tag hunters in the Flattops and NW CO will be with the massive herd declines and shortened 2nd/3rd season to 5 days. It's going to be weird year. I know a bunch of hunters that try to pick off cow tags/buck tags and such to add to hunting groups for 2nd/3rd Season. This year none of them will have any have any cow tags or buck tags and I have 2 groups of hunters that asked me for recommendations for hunting areas outside of NW CO since it appears it is going to rough hunting until the herds recover on the public land side.

OTC elk seasons in the "unaffected" parts of the state will destroy what quality is left for those with deer tags in those units. I might be in one of those units attempting to hunt deer in a sea of displaced elk hunters. I was looking forward to hopefully drawing the tag but I won't be mad at all if I don't draw now.

 

[elkmo41]

OTC elk seasons in the "unaffected" parts of the state will destroy what quality is left for those with deer tags in those units. I might be in one of those units attempting to hunt deer in a sea of displaced elk hunters. I was looking forward to hopefully drawing the tag but I won't be mad at all if I don't draw now.

I can't wait to see how drastic the shift of the OTC tag hunters in the Flattops and NW CO will be with the massive herd declines and shortened 2nd/3rd season to 5 days. It's going to be weird year. I know a bunch of hunters that try to pick off cow tags/buck tags and such to add to hunting groups for 2nd/3rd Season. This year none of them will have any have any cow tags or buck tags and I have 2 groups of hunters that asked me for recommendations for hunting areas outside of NW CO since it appears it is going to rough hunting until the herds recover on the public land side.

I watched the commissions vote and looking for details on the second/third season being reduced to 5 days. I didn’t think it was changed??

 

[Katoom]

This might be the year to sit home. Gonna be nuts. I already withdrew my WY application. CO, if drawn, might just get sent back. I don't know but it’ll be a weird year that’s for sure.

 

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

I can't wait to see how drastic the shift of the OTC tag hunters in the Flattops and NW CO will be with the massive herd declines and shortened 2nd/3rd season to 5 days. It's going to be weird year. I know a bunch of hunters that try to pick off cow tags/buck tags and such to add to hunting groups for 2nd/3rd Season. This year none of them will have any have any cow tags or buck tags and I have 2 groups of hunters that asked me for recommendations for hunting areas outside of NW CO since it appears it is going to rough hunting until the herds recover on the public land side.

2nd and 3rd season is not 5 days not sure where you got that info

 

[Thill]

2nd and 3rd season is not 5 days not sure where you got that info

It was approved the CPW May 3/4 meeting, just for the NW CO OTC tags. See comment 37 from the URL below.

May CPW Commission meeting

Rapid Response Teams? lol what are we missing?! just imagine a guided meditation session starting with "I would like you to now stop looking at me and close your eyes. Now touch a cold carcass"

www.hunttalk.com

 

[coloradoman]

It was approved the CPW May 3/4 meeting, just for the NW CO OTC tags. See comment 37 from the URL below.

May CPW Commission meeting

Rapid Response Teams? lol what are we missing?! just imagine a guided meditation session starting with "I would like you to now stop looking at me and close your eyes. Now touch a cold carcass"

www.hunttalk.com

Don’t have time to read it right now but they won’t change the dates after the draw deadline?

 

[30PointBuck]

Don’t have time to read it right now but they won’t change the dates after the draw deadline?

Perhaps they would because OTC tags aren't drawn...seems weird though.

 

[Thill]

Here it is.


Agenda Item 16: Chapter W-2 – “Big Game” 2 CCR 406-2 and those related provisions of Chapter W-0 (“General Provisions” 2 CCR 406-0) necessary to accommodate changes to or ensure consistency with Chapter W-2 (Step 1 of 1)

The Commission finalized the following regulations:

• Adoption of all limited license numbers for black bear, deer, elk, pronghorn and moose for all Game Management Units in the state that have limited licenses for these species for the 2023 big game seasons. As directed by the Commission, licenses for hunt codes EE004O1A, EE004O1M, and EE014O1M have been further reduced by another 25% to 375, 100, and 150. Also as directed by the Commission, the season dates for licenses EM000U2R and EM000U3R have been shortened to 5 days (October 28, 2023 – November 1, 2023 and November 11, 2023 – November 15, 2023) if used in GMUs 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 24, 131, 211, 214, 231, 301, and 441.

Agenda Item 17: Chapter W-2 – “Big Game” 2 CCR 406-2 and those related provisions of Chapter W-0 (“General Provisions” 2 CCR 406-0) necessary to accommodate changes to or ensure consistency with Chapter W-2 (Step 2 of 2)

The Commission finalized the following regulations modifying the big game license distribution for black bear, deer, elk and pronghorn to 80% for residents and 20% for nonresidents for high-demand hunt codes and 75% for residents and 25% for nonresidents for all other hunt codes for those species effective for the 2024 big game seasons.

 

[LIK2HNT]

Thanks

 

[FrontRange]

Thanks Thill

 

[sneakem]

Just to further clarify for those that don't read so good..., the shortened dates are for the OTC elk tags during 2nd and 3rd season in only those aforementioned units. No draw tag dates were changed.

 

[txhunter58]

CPW side of things: Herds are hurting and harvest needs to be reduced. We want to allow you to still hunt and chose to reduce harvest by cutting the season length down.

Our side: Herds are hurting and harvest needs to be reduced. CPW is not going to lose money by actually limiting the number of tags. That would cost too much money.

Final thought: Hunting will be crappy: lots of hunters and few critters, but at least you wont have to suffer long!

 

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

If CPW was really concerned about the herds more than the money they would shut down the reissue list for this year. Or at least not reissue tags in the hard hit units.

 

[nripepi]

Just cut tags, this is simple!

 

[sb2017]

In my opinion, shortening the OTC hunts won't do anything at all. When you drive through OTC units on the last weekend of 2nd season, 90% of the camps are packed up and gone anyways.

CPW will literally do anything OTHER than limit tags. I don't understand why they don't up the prices & lower the quotas (for both NR and R). CO license fees could increase substantially and still be comparable to other western states.

 

[COLOelkman]

In my opinion, shortening the OTC hunts won't do anything at all. When you drive through OTC units on the last weekend of 2nd season, 90% of the camps are packed up and gone anyways.

CPW will literally do anything OTHER than limit tags. I don't understand why they don't up the prices & lower the quotas (for both NR and R). CO license fees could increase substantially and still be comparable to other western states.

I believe they have regulatory limits on when and by how much they can raise prices. That said, I agree that cutting a season in half will likely do little to the harvest. As always, it seems anything that will reduce their budget will not be a serious consideration so they seem to propose things that will do very little to work on the quality of hunting and herd health. Kinda sad.

 

[Sako76]

Me and a buddy were booked for OTC bull elk for last 4 days of second combined in unit 12/13, season is cancelled, outfitter is pissed! Us, we are happy, a couple of ranchers said the winter kill was devastating, even for elk!

 

[RRCowboyStar]

I do think shorting the season will affect the amount of Non Residents. If they have to travel for a 5 day season. Or they will put even more pressure on units where the season is full length.

 

[accubond]

I do think shorting the season will affect the amount of Non Residents. If they have to travel for a 5 day season. Or they will put even more pressure on units where the season is full length.

I've got a feeling this is exactly what's going to happen, the situation in the northwest corner will cause above average pressure/harvest in the rest of the state.

 

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

I've got a feeling this is exactly what's going to happen, the situation in the northwest corner will put cause above average pressure/harvest in the rest of the state.

And when CPW posts their harvest stats I bet none of them reflect this uptick in pressure or harvest.

 

[oilcan]

I do think shorting the season will affect the amount of Non Residents. If they have to travel for a 5 day season. Or they will put even more pressure on units where the season is full length.

I’m not so sure about that. I remember years ago when the buck deer season was three days and had to be three-pointer or better there were a lot of hunters out there still. I cannot remember how many years ago that was, but our group came from California regardless.

 

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

The three day three point or better seasons were during the early to mid 90s if I remember correctly right before all the deer hunts went limited

 

[Thill]

In my opinion, shortening the OTC hunts won't do anything at all. When you drive through OTC units on the last weekend of 2nd season, 90% of the camps are packed up and gone anyways.
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I know a bunch of 2nd season OTC guys that are pissed right now and do regularly harvest animals after 5 days - WEATHER Dependent. The 3rd season is joke though - most are headed back before the 2nd weekend or breaking camp and not hunting by Friday.

 

[Thill]

If CPW was really concerned about the herds more than the money they would shut down the reissue list for this year. Or at least not reissue tags in the hard hit units.

I can't believe they didn't - but I didn't ever hear anyone bring this up or I bet it would have. Common sense stuff.

Think about this - If the insane winter caused so many females to abort this years calf/fawn crop and what crop we have this year will be born in rough shape and decrease it survival rate. The males will continue to get pounded. I don't see anyway the overall populations will not take a bigger digger by the end of this years hunting season.

In a normal year by mid May in my neighborhood I am watching a bunch of elk and deer, while trying to kill every coyote I can find to save calves/fawns. Right now - I am still 50% snow covered with NO ELK/DEER and no Coyotes.
.
This stuff in the NW CO may be even worse than we all realize.

 

[Deercy]

Sure seems like shortening the season would result in less animals tagged.

 

[txhunter58]

By what percent? Prob need to reduce the the harvest by 50%. Will that do that?

Not to mention, as has been mentioned before, that some hunters will change to units that haven’t been shortened. Increasing crowding there.

 

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

One of the other huge problems with CPW is they are reactive and not proactive. Look how long it took them to address the bear issue down here in the southwest corner. It took them years to admit their counts were off and we had a lot more bears than they thought even though they were repeatedly told by sportsmen at many meetings, not to mention the huge uptick in conflicts we were having.

 

[txhunter58]

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing...

cpw.state.co.us

They did at least cut cow tags drastically and either sex tags by 25%

 

[elkmo41]

By memory, but after 2007 winter they didn’t cut tags correct? Deer numbers were higher and B/D ratios were excellent. Either they learned something or the extreme weather forced their hand being the shape of the herd going into this winter.

 

[HntHrdr]

I agree from what I’ve seen 85-90% of camps are done by the first weekend. Seems like a pointless gesture. Why not cut all cow, doe tags to nothing in those units

 

[elkmo41]

If my OTC unit went to five days, and I knew it well with years of experience in it, I’m going regardless of the five day season and enjoy the predicted lower crowds. That alone will offset any decrease in bulls, I only need one.

Then after five days, I would roll into a new unit and try make the best of it.

 

[Sako76]

By memory, but after 2007 winter they didn’t cut tags correct? Deer numbers were higher and B/D ratios were excellent. Either they learned something or the extreme weather forced their hand being the shape of the herd going into this winter.

I hunted the 2008 season in Hamilton, Colorado (just south of Craig). I used to see 30-40 bucks in a 5 day hunt (granted, most were small but I’ve killed two 165-170 bucks there) and during my hunt I saw one spike mule deer.

I believe you are correct that DOW didn’t cut tags.

 

[RRCowboyStar]

Here are the Details

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing...

cpw.state.co.us

 

[RRCowboyStar]

 

[ORIONTHEHUNTER]

Still curious if they are going to re-issue tags in these units, especially deer and pronghorn