SW Elk Draft Mgmt plans

Bluehair

Long Time Member
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Ok, read up and enjoy. Be warned, it's an hour you wont get back.

Here is the one for 71/72/711 (my hood). I would review it point by point, but that takes the fun away. My summary is that we have a large number of imaginary elk here, but its not enough because something is ruining our calf recruitment. We encourage predator control and thusly will kill a couple more lions and produce another couple thousand imaginary elk to add to our imaginary numbers.

Whew, we can finally move on.

Disclaimer: I Want to recognize the hard work of the people trying to bring us better hunting. It is a thankless job for a tough crowd, so please don't be discouraged by my sarcasm. It's just my nature.

Here is 70/71/72/711
Here are the others: https://cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo/Pages/HerdManagementPlans.aspx
 
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My one bullet plan to increase calf recruitment : increase lion harvest quotas and bring back spring bear season. Aren’t killing enough bears with the fall seasons
 
The problem with that may be that guys like me don't particularly want to kill a bear. Fooling around with a nasty old bear is way down on my list of fun stuff. I hate skinning paws.

Now if they gave me an extra pref point or something to shoot one, I probably would. And a tag for $5. And don't make me skin it or eat it. Maybe I'm not the best guy to ask on this. LOL

Back in the day down in AZ we used to buy a lion tag for $1, and it was good all year and statewide. We could do the same here.
 
And I have another sorta mini rant. Does anyone besides me think if you are out stumbling around in the woods during spring turkey, you should be able to pick up a shed if you find one? It seems a little petty that I have to come back in two weeks.

Maybe I'm wrong. It's not like there are a lot of sheds anymore anyway.
 
They should make an exception for guys out in the field anyway with a valid hunting tag. But that wouldn’t be PC!
 
Shed season sucks... but we HAD to have it in Gunnison..Idiots killing deer. So we got one....all our IDIOTS went to your low dry season unneeded country and pounded it...and stole your chalk piles out of your yard...we get West of 25.....now your elk herd... 18 calves per 100 cows this winter out of the chopper???? That = NO elk soon with NO human take..... I'm with you on preatotor's but don't over look daily human intrusion 365 harassment...mt bike, hike,ski,dog walk scout...filthy humans we need a wall!
 
After hearing a senior CPW official state his thoughts and concepts in a public forum I do believe their wildlife staff are trying to make a beneficial increase to game numbers. However, our present political system in Colorado has a governor whose significant other is a PETA puffer urging him to make some changes in Colorado outdoor recreation. Don't be fooled one minute if you think Polis' plan includes increasing hunter opportunity as part of the states recreation plan. More changes will come to support his agenda by eliminating DNR officials that do not bow to his crown.

BTW I read one of the plans last night for my region. Said the goal was 20,000 deer with present herd numbers at 8,500. Yet no talks of tag cuts. Primary issues related to the low herd numbers was range health yet no talk anywhere about conducting any range health improvements just suggestions knowing full well they would need to get a federal and state permit prior to conducting any sort of work to what would take years and serious dinero to get completed. WAFJ. So we have nearly regulated ourselves out of state owned herd management. Seems the only wildlife Colorado wants to manage are trout, people, and endangered species.
 
Shed season sucks... but we HAD to have it in Gunnison..Idiots killing deer. So we got one....all our IDIOTS went to your low dry season unneeded country and pounded it...and stole your chalk piles out of your yard...we get West of 25.....now your elk herd... 18 calves per 100 cows this winter out of the chopper???? That = NO elk soon with NO human take..... I'm with you on preatotor's but don't over look daily human intrusion 365 harassment...mt bike, hike,ski,dog walk scout...filthy humans we need a wall!
I was going to mention the analysis of competition for the winter range, but ran out of energy. The reality is that CPW can't manage that, and their only move is to decrease predation - human or otherwise.

I live year round in the critical low winter range, and seasonally above it. I drive thru a bunch of everything in between frequently. The high winter range on public ground looks fabulous. Snow didn't even knock the grass down. Cowboys should enjoy things. Sure looks like we could support a few more elk.

Kinder-Morgan is drilling the crap out of things around here in the critical winter range. The deer seem to adapt to everything but getting run over. I would not be surprised at all if cars killed more deer than anything else.
 
Every elk hunt needs to be on a draw with mandatory tooth check/harvest reporting or they can’t regulate pressure or track harvest data. Leaving 2nd/3rd hunt OTC without caps or on a draw is just crazy.
I was turkey hunting yesterday on the Dolores and saw three good heards with only 2-3 calf’s in each group. Sad
 
Little early for calves. Most are born a little later. I was there Memorial Day last year and there were a lot just hitting the ground. Birth rate is not the problem. Its getting them thru their first year.

As far as OTC, strictly a money thing. They”need” that money! And they know people will still buy bull tags. CPW doesn’t care about the bulls right now. They are on record saying “we are trying to build the herd by limiting cows. 1 bull can breed 20 cows so we are ok with low bull numbers”.

Current bull/ cow ratio is dismal. Don’t see that improving until / if they get the herd numbers back up where they were.
 
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I think putting everything on a draw would be nice for crowding, and now that internet is getting to the parts of midwest that exports OTC hunters, we can finally make harvest reports mandatory!
 

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