Why does Colorado start archery deer so late?

JakeH

Long Time Member
Messages
4,251
Just wondering if anyone knows why Colorado starts the archery deer so much later than most of the other states.
 
Because the CBA and CPW screwed bow hunters a few years ago. It used to start the end of August but they pushed it back to September 2 a couple years ago.
 
Why do the other states start so early? I like my deer hard horned.
Not sure why dome states start earlier, but lots of guys like velvet.

You can always strip the velvet off if it's not your thing, but that's not really an option if you like the furry stuff.
 
The state was pretty hard set to not allow deer and elk to open at different times. The state survey and the Colorado Bow Hunters both did surveys about the start date. Under the old system the start of archery was the Saturday of the last full weekend in August and then End of Archery was the Sunday of the last full weekend in September. This meant some years archery started as early as like the 23/24 and ended sept 23/24. The archery elk hunters, which are higher and number and have more say all wanted to hunt later in September. So of the options they Chose a Sept 1 start for all Archery to move later to rut.
 
Not sure why dome states start earlier, but lots of guys like velvet.

You can always strip the velvet off if it's not your thing, but that's not really an option if you like the furry stuff.
You can always add the velvet back on.
 
What you don’t like the opener on the busiest weekend in the backcountry or Labor Day??

Since you asked…

The change pushed through at the last sec and had a huge impact on archery deer hunting.. Degrading the season to the point even die hard archery hunters are asking it is even worth hunting deer archery?

Or every deer hunter hunts the first week and as close as the season is to muzzy and rifle in some places 3 - 4 days after archery guys are hunting w the muzzy and rifle guys. Other places you get maybe a week before muzzy. Add in the biggest user group or rec folks on the opener and crowding has gotten to the point of even guys like me are asking is it worth it..

Flat out the old archaic members of the CBA only care about elk. As well as fighting the loosing battle of keeping otc for elk. Or to be clear it is the “elk only” cba.. The ass also wanted a floating start date for the retired guys so they don’t have to deal w weekend crowds on the opener. For real those are the reasons…

The elk only ASS knew they were screwing over deer hunters and simply don’t care. When I pointed it out to the board I was told to get bent. Brought it up again and was branded a “arrogant rebel bastard” by the cba board.. Or the cba cares nothing about anything other than elk and maybe a banquet or summer shoot…

Is what it is and just shows the cba is worthless or could care less about pretty much anything other than otc elk.

Thanks again Colorado Bowhunters Ass..
 
You CBA haters are full of it. I recall the the DOW rep at the time was very optimistic about an August 15th opener but that was jerked out from under us via the WC and the Division.


Archery opens the 2nd, not the 1st and you can thank the CWC and the Division for that one too.
 
What you don’t like the opener on the busiest weekend in the backcountry or Labor Day??

Since you asked…

The change pushed through at the last sec and had a huge impact on archery deer hunting.. Degrading the season to the point even die hard archery hunters are asking it is even worth hunting deer archery?

Or every deer hunter hunts the first week and as close as the season is to muzzy and rifle in some places 3 - 4 days after archery guys are hunting w the muzzy and rifle guys. Other places you get maybe a week before muzzy. Add in the biggest user group or rec folks on the opener and crowding has gotten to the point of even guys like me are asking is it worth it..

Flat out the old archaic members of the CBA only care about elk. As well as fighting the loosing battle of keeping otc for elk. Or to be clear it is the “elk only” cba.. The ass also wanted a floating start date for the retired guys so they don’t have to deal w weekend crowds on the opener. For real those are the reasons…

The elk only ASS knew they were screwing over deer hunters and simply don’t care. When I pointed it out to the board I was told to get bent. Brought it up again and was branded a “arrogant rebel bastard” by the cba board.. Or the cba cares nothing about anything other than elk and maybe a banquet or summer shoot…

Is what it is and just shows the cba is worthless or could care less about pretty much anything other than otc elk.

Thanks again Colorado Bowhunters Ass..
yeah you are full of crap. The CBA was pushing hard for an earlier opening date for Deer. We had good support at first. Then the state pulled that as an option and left us with status quo or moving ahead with the dates in favor of the elk season.

Both CPWs statewide survey, overwhelmingly supported sacrificing the early deer date for better elk dates as did the the surveys from CBA.

Sorry but next time try not to lie flat out. CBA tried hard for a split date but that was not in the cards for the state.

As for the limited archery OTC stuff. CBA took another stance and tried something different there.

You are an idiot to believe that CBA is the problem on the OTC archery. The CBA position was to push for limited NR tags and keep resident archery ORC for elk. They were pushing for the first step to be NR with caps. But idiots like yourself could not understand the data and as a result all you cared about was making a change for the sake of change. So the end result is punishing the resident hunter because no one was willing to limit the NR only.

So again before you spout off lies or show your actual ignorance learn the facts.

Fact 1… CBA tried pushing hard for separate start dates for deer and elk. But when that was off the table they had member support that mirrored the state.

Fact 2… CBA was pushing hard using actual data to limit rifle otc first (how can you limit archery but keep rifle otc?) then once that was not going forward their recommendation was a limit to NR first using ORC with caps. But again that was pulled as an option for the state. Trust me resident archery hunters are not the crowding issue.

Fact 3…. There are as many if not more people hunting archery in limited units now than there were on the otc tags. But again that could have been avoided if we had just went with NR caps on all archery tags for elk.
 
Wow elk tell me how ya really feel ?.

Now I may be just be idiot but at least I did not need help finding = well bucks for my family in 33 ???. Now am I lying about this as well ????

Now it is clear we disagree but let’s look at your “facts” from where this idiot sits….

Fact 1. Cpw preferred status quo for archery is a flat out fact. The cpw did not want to change the season dates…. Now Cba did and was not willing to accept status quo.. Or it is a fact the cba was the driving factor in the “elk only” change to the seasons and in the real world removed the best 5 days of deer hunting.. The fact is the cba choose elk over deer hunter and did not care enough to change their position. It is ok but they should own this decision as they made it clear as day…

It is real simple the FACT remains deer hunters lost due to a change pushed by the cba and not the cpw. Or if the cba had not pushed the change we would have status quo = this is an undeniable fact. Elk hunters gained what they think is a better week of hunting right in the middle of the rut in September deer hunters lost the best 5 days. Undeniable even to an idiot like me……

Archery deer hunters lost the best 5 days of the deer season for at least 5 years. The Fact is this change mash n smashed all the early seasons together making extreme crowding a real issue. Another fact is that not even an idiot like me hunts deer the last week of September we are all packed into the first week or til muzzy starts = so it is a fact in the real world deer hunters lost the best 5+ days of the season. While increasing both crowding and user conflicts. The fact is as you said the cba choose elk over deer and told “idiot” deer hunters to shut up n get bent…

Fact 2. That “survey” the cba sent out was laughable or would not even pass academic mustard at any of the most liberal colleges here in your favorite state of Co. It was a leading survey just like the 75-25% the cpw juat offered. If you can’t see that well I am not the only idiot I the room.

Fact 3. The cpw could care less about rifle otc somehow being connected to to limiting archery elk. They are 2 separate things. Bowhunters rightfully sound like entitled whiners talking about connecting archery otc to rifle otc. Rifle and archery are not connected in the eyes of the cpw and they never will be no matter how many fits the cba throws.

Fact 4. Man how many 1 point or low point units have you even archery elk hunted lately or ever? Real question for ya….

There is a group that will say keep otc so I can save points while I hunt, hunt every year, increase point creep, and then hunt a limited unit sometime. Another group hunts low point units as the understand they dynamics of overcrowded otc units.

I am not and have never been in the keep otc at all costs…. As I believe archery elk is better in limited units. Even your precious surveys are now saying more residents want limited archery hunting. Some of us actually go to places like Durango, Ark River valley, and Gunnison. I talk w a lot of resident or actuall generational locals that live in co = not folks who just bounce around on a whim. Almost all to a man think archery is better limited. While this puts us “idiot” “bastards” at odds w the very limited perspective of the cba I find it the norm in many areas of Colorado.

I will stop short of calling anyone an idiot as it is not in good taste but you are right there are many facts out there some flat undeniable no matter how many names you call folks elk………
 
Wow elk tell me how ya really feel ?.

Now I may be just be idiot but at least I did not need help finding = well bucks for my family in 33 ???. Now am I lying about this as well ????

Now it is clear we disagree but let’s look at your “facts” from where this idiot sits….

Fact 1. Cpw preferred status quo for archery is a flat out fact. The cpw did not want to change the season dates…. Now Cba did and was not willing to accept status quo.. Or it is a fact the cba was the driving factor in the “elk only” change to the seasons and in the real world removed the best 5 days of deer hunting.. The fact is the cba choose elk over deer hunter and did not care enough to change their position. It is ok but they should own this decision as they made it clear as day…

It is real simple the FACT remains deer hunters lost due to a change pushed by the cba and not the cpw. Or if the cba had not pushed the change we would have status quo = this is an undeniable fact. Elk hunters gained what they think is a better week of hunting right in the middle of the rut in September deer hunters lost the best 5 days. Undeniable even to an idiot like me……

Archery deer hunters lost the best 5 days of the deer season for at least 5 years. The Fact is this change mash n smashed all the early seasons together making extreme crowding a real issue. Another fact is that not even an idiot like me hunts deer the last week of September we are all packed into the first week or til muzzy starts = so it is a fact in the real world deer hunters lost the best 5+ days of the season. While increasing both crowding and user conflicts. The fact is as you said the cba choose elk over deer and told “idiot” deer hunters to shut up n get bent…

Fact 2. That “survey” the cba sent out was laughable or would not even pass academic mustard at any of the most liberal colleges here in your favorite state of Co. It was a leading survey just like the 75-25% the cpw juat offered. If you can’t see that well I am not the only idiot I the room.

Fact 3. The cpw could care less about rifle otc somehow being connected to to limiting archery elk. They are 2 separate things. Bowhunters rightfully sound like entitled whiners talking about connecting archery otc to rifle otc. Rifle and archery are not connected in the eyes of the cpw and they never will be no matter how many fits the cba throws.

Fact 4. Man how many 1 point or low point units have you even archery elk hunted lately or ever? Real question for ya….

There is a group that will say keep otc so I can save points while I hunt, hunt every year, increase point creep, and then hunt a limited unit sometime. Another group hunts low point units as the understand they dynamics of overcrowded otc units.

I am not and have never been in the keep otc at all costs…. As I believe archery elk is better in limited units. Even your precious surveys are now saying more residents want limited archery hunting. Some of us actually go to places like Durango, Ark River valley, and Gunnison. I talk w a lot of resident or actuall generational locals that live in co = not folks who just bounce around on a whim. Almost all to a man think archery is better limited. While this puts us “idiot” “bastards” at odds w the very limited perspective of the cba I find it the norm in many areas of Colorado.

I will stop short of calling anyone an idiot as it is not in good taste but you are right there are many facts out there some flat undeniable no matter how many names you call folks elk………
Sorry but you are still wrong. The pressure to change the season dates started outside the CBA. I know this because it was the CPW that started the issue. The CBA in response to the date change started the survey and was initially pushing for the early open of deer and a later date for elk. The state shot that down. Period. I watched as it happened… So given the no go on the states side the options were status quo or a more favorable date for the elk.

Since CBA has less than 1/4 of the total archery hunter as members. There was still opportunity for all the other archery hunters to step up and keep status quo. So where were those people? Where were all the people that were so harmed by this move? Why was it overwhelming majority of all archery hunters wanted the change. Not just the CBA. Also the CBA does not do anything unless the majority of members want it.

As for the unit 33 post…. Not sure why asking for help in a new unit is a bad thing? I know you helped and I was very appreciative of the help. But not sure how that plays into this discussion.

I can keep my head high as I have definitely helped far more people hunt new areas and provided way more advice to hunters than I have ever solicited. Many first time hunters have killed elk from my help. Many guys have had great hunts from using some of my advice.

Not sure why you think it would be something bad to ask for advice on a new area?

Regardless the decision was made, there was a super small minority that worried about archery deer, but it was a very small group. I know because o was one of them. In meetings those of us worried about deer were outnumbered nearly 10-1 by those who wanted the elk seasons later. The state could have easily done the split but less than 10 of people cared, so why should the state care?

Also if you are complaining about archery pressure in Colorado the data just shared this past week showed a decrease in resident archery hunters and as a result a significant increase in nonresident. Even in the areas they already moved to limited…

So again tell me how forcing all archery to limited is good for the resident hunters? Why would the first step to solving the issue not be making the NR capped. Why not do like WY and limit the statewide number of NR archery tags to say 10,000 for archery. That would reduce tens of thousands of hunters without harming the residents at all….
 
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You CBA haters are full of it. I recall the the DOW rep at the time was very optimistic about an August 15th opener but that was jerked out from under us via the WC and the Division.


Archery opens the 2nd, not the 1st and you can thank the CWC and the Division for that one too.
Yep. It was all but given that we could get it done. But as you said it was pulled from under us. I remember the rep also saying he looked at the Aug 15 date as very easy to accomplish. Then once the ball got really rolling it was not even an option.
 
Yep. It was all but given that we could get it done. But as you said it was pulled from under us. I remember the rep also saying he looked at the Aug 15 date as very easy to accomplish. Then once the ball got really rolling it was not even an option.
Exactly what we’re seeing now with this last survey 80/20 etc.

I’ve come to the realization hunting is on borrowed time, I’ll just enjoy it for what it’s worth while we can.
 

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