Colorado Voters May Decide Constitutional Right To Hunt And Fish

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado

DENVER–Colorado voters may well get the chance to weigh in this November on creating a constitutional right to hunt and fish, which proponents say is necessary to protect outdoor sporting activities from an ongoing onslaught of anti-hunting efforts.

The T. Roosevelt Conservation Alliance, a newly formed issue committee, launched  Initiative 302, ‘Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish’ in early April. The ballot measure would amend the state Constitution, establishing hunting, fishing, and harvesting of fish and wildlife as a constitutional right to every Coloradan. It would apply to all species managed by the state except for endangered, federally prohibited, and non-game species.

“Coloradans value the state’s long-standing hunting and fishing traditions,” said committee chairman Luke Hilgemann in a recent press release on the effort. “This measure is intended to provide constitutional clarity and long-term protection for those practices, consistent with science-based wildlife management.”

While the provision generally prohibits infringement of hunting and fishing rights, the language says lawmakers may regulate such activities under certain conditions.

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