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Tag: Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Ballot Measure Would Protect Hunting and Fishing in State Constitution
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Ballot Measure Would Protect Hunting and Fishing in State Constitution

By Mike Krause | Complete Colorado DENVER–Colorado voters will decide in November whether to enshrine hunting and fishing as a constitutional right, after the secretary of state’s office on Wednesday confirmed Initiative #302 qualified for the general election ballot. Backers of the measure, formally titled “Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish,” turned in over 184,000 petition signatures, with state election officials declaring more than 145,000 of those as valid, easily clearing the roughly 124,000 signature threshold required for constitutional amendments, as well as the 2% per-district requirement in all 35 of Colorado’s state senate districts. The measure, backed by the newly formed T. Roosevelt Conservation Alliance, amends the Colorado Constitution to establish...
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Weighted, primed and paid: A walkthrough of the survey behind Colorado’s furbearer vote
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Complete Colorado, Approved, Commentary, State

Weighted, primed and paid: A walkthrough of the survey behind Colorado’s furbearer vote

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Dr. Niemiec's Deeply Flawed Research At a recent Colorado Parks and Wildlife meeting, newly-appointed CPW commissioner Dr. Niemiec produced an incredibly flawed study to help back up her motion regarding furbearer bag limits, a change in policy that was not on the agenda and for which there was no opportunity for comment by the public. If you would like to read up on the meeting itself and a potential lawsuit, see an earlier newsletter linked first below.Not too long after writing the earlier newsletter, a reader shared the Club 20 article (linked second below) providing some context and background on the work. In addition to encouraging you to read the piece, it provides a great excuse to follow up on the ...
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Hunters Warn Colorado Wildlife Commission of Legal Challenge Over Furbearer Limits
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Hunters Warn Colorado Wildlife Commission of Legal Challenge Over Furbearer Limits

By Derek Draplin | Complete Colorado DENVER—Two groups representing hunters are warning Colorado’s wildlife commissioners to withdraw their recent vote that restricted the bag limit for furbearer species to two per day, or potentially face a lawsuit. The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International argue in an August 5 letter to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission that hunters and trappers were deprived of providing public comment when commissioners adopted the two-furbearer daily bag limit that was pushed by one of Gov. Jared Polis’s appointees to the commission. The letter lays out how the commission gave public notice of two options under consideration: a daily bag limit of 15, or a bag limit of up to eight (or four), depe...
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Federal Court Asked to Block Colorado’s New Semiautomatic Firearm Requirements
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Federal Court Asked to Block Colorado’s New Semiautomatic Firearm Requirements

By Marissa Ventrelli | Colorado Politics The Colorado chapter of the National Rifle Association is seeking an injunction to stop the state from enforcing a new law that took effect earlier this month. The new law requires anyone buying or selling certain firearms to first complete a safety training course offered through Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Under Senate Bill 003, the course is mandatory for anyone planning to purchase a semiautomatic rifle, shotgun or handgun with a detachable magazine. The Colorado State Shooting Association had filed a lawsuit last September, challenging the law’s constitutionality and arguing it places “unlawful burdens on the rights of law-abiding Coloradans.” “A government that makes you ask permission to buy a firearm ...
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Hunters and Anglers Rally Behind Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Hunters and Anglers Rally Behind Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish

By Chris Dorsey | The Denver Gazette For generations, Coloradans hunted elk, caught trout and managed wildlife without consulting a constitutional attorney. That was before wildlife management became a recurring statewide election issue, replete with consultants, national pressure groups and enough political mail to denude an aspen grove.   Now comes Initiative 302, the proposed “Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish,” driven by sportsmen who have concluded that activities legal today may require constitutional protection to remain legal tomorrow. Supporters submitted more than 180,000 signatures on July 8, well above the 124,238 valid signatures required. The secretary of state has until Sept. 2 to verify them. Nothing says “settled Colorado tradition” quite li...
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New Colorado Gun Restrictions Slow Sales and Frustrate Lawful Buyers
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DENVER7, Approved, State

New Colorado Gun Restrictions Slow Sales and Frustrate Lawful Buyers

By: Danielle Kreutter | Denver7 Denver7's South Metro reporter Danielle Kreutter spoke to the manager at Englewood's The Shootist about the business impact of SB25-003. ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Gun stores in Colorado are already seeing the impact of a new gun law that places new limits on certain semi-automatic weapons that went into effect at the beginning of this month. Business has been slow at The Shootist Gun Range in Englewood. It's a stark change compared to the record breaking sales they saw in the last few weeks. The new law makes it illegal to sell certain semi-automatic guns without the buyer first getting an eligibility card from a sheriff, then taking additional safety and education courses. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT DENVER7
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Colorado Records 17th Wolf Death After Livestock Attacks
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Records 17th Wolf Death After Livestock Attacks

By: Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics   A yearling male wolf in Grand County has become the 17th wolf to die in Colorado in the past two years. Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that its staff killed the wolf on Aug. 4 because it was believed to be responsible for killing four calves in Jackson and Grand counties between June 29 and Aug. 1. The state agency’s announcement said the producers had pursued nonlethal measures to minimize conflict with the wolf. Ranchers have told Colorado Politics that those minimization efforts are ineffective. The wolf killed on Tuesday is the second mortality in 10 days. Another wolf had been found dead in northwest Colorado, according to a CPW announcement, but no further details were made available. READ THE FUL...
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Study adds evidence that wolves can cost Colorado ranchers beyond livestock losses
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Study adds evidence that wolves can cost Colorado ranchers beyond livestock losses

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The link below was sent in by a reader. It profiles a study out of University of California, Davis which purports to put a price on how much a single wolf in an area can cost a rancher. It’s right there at the top; the image heading this post is the title. I’ll leave it to you to read through the details of the study, note its methods, and come to your own conclusions on the validity of the estimate. For my part, I’m somewhat skeptical of the number itself. I do not at all doubt that wolves put economic costs on ranchers. I do doubt the exact figure and am skeptical in general about estimates.** Rather than looking in depth at the estimate and the method, however, I want to bring something to your attention. This...
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Montezuma County Sheriff Declines to Enforce Colorado Gun Law Citing Constitution and Costs
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DENVER7, Approved, Local

Montezuma County Sheriff Declines to Enforce Colorado Gun Law Citing Constitution and Costs

By: Robert Garrison | Denver7 CORTEZ, Colo. — Montezuma County Sheriff Steven Nowlin announced Monday that his office will not participate in a new Colorado gun law, citing funding, staffing and constitutional concerns. Senate Bill 25-003, which took effect Aug. 1, adds new requirements for purchasing certain semiautomatic firearms, including obtaining a five-year eligibility card from a local sheriff's office and completing an in-person safety course. “As a Colorado Sheriff, and every member of the Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office, each of us has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Colorado, and perform the duties of the Office of Sheriff in Colorado by protecting those rights for all citizens in Montezum...
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What democracy is: An open letter to Jay Tutchton
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

What democracy is: An open letter to Jay Tutchton

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project I wrote recently (see the first link below) about how a political agenda has hijacked the CPW Commission and they're really not bothering to hide the ball anymore. I mentioned to someone in the comments on that post that I'd heard Commissioner Jay Tutchton had remarked about the nature of the commission's votes and democracy. The second link below is to a Yahoo reprint of a 9News article which has the quote I couldn't find for the commenter. Quoting from that piece: "Yesterday was 6-5, today was 6-5. I'm happy with democracy working," said James Tutchton, the commission's chair." Said another way, Mr. Tutchton, somewhat resignedly, commented that the vote going the way he wanted on the day prior vs. the da...
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