- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 70,011
- Reaction score
- 1,007
DOW elk policy being contested
By Dave Buchanan The Grand Junction Dailiy Sentinel
12/11/02
A punch-up is developing over a plan that could displace several thousand elk hunters and cost five western Colorado counties about $2.4 million annually in hunting-gen- erated income by turning the Uncompahgre Plateau into a limited-entry, quality elk hunting unit.
The plan, devised by the Colorado Division of Wildlife as the Uncompahgre Plateau Elk Management Plan, is the keystone of a revamping of the management policies for the plateau sought by the Colorado Wildlife Commission. That body decided in 1999 to switch 20 percent of the state's elk resource into quality hunting units.
These quality units are designed to produce older and bigger bulls by strictly limiting the hunting pressure, which allows more of the elk to survive past the 21/2- to 3-year-old mark, which commonly is the longest a bull elk will live in units where hunting pressure is uncontrolled.
In most unlimited units, more than 80 percent of the legal bulls are killed each year by hunters, according to the DOW. The chances are very small of finding a bull older than 4 years old in these units where hunters can walk up and buy a bull license.
Another reason the Uncompahgre Plateau was targeted for this new policy is because the southern half of the plateau, which comprises Game Unit 61, has been under limited-entry rules since 1983 and is one of the state's most desired elk hunting destinations.
Hunters are willing to wait the five years or so it takes to accrue enough preference points to get a bull license in unit 61.
Unit 62, meanwhile, caters to hunters who seek the unlimited, over-the-counter bull licenses and is one of the "most heavily hunted units in Colorado," according to the DOW.
But the only separation between the two units (unit 62 is the entire north half of the plateau) is the red-dirt Divide Road that runs down most of the plateau's 75-mile spine.
The DOW claims having two singularly opposite units side by side leads to law enforcement problems with poachers illegally sneaking into 61 and killing trophy bulls.
There's also the problem of adequately managing an elk herd that freely crosses back and forth between the units, giving headaches to wildlife managers seeking to maximize elk hunting opportunities in unit 62 while providing hunters in unit 61 a less-crowded hunt with more opportunity for a trophy (4 years and older) bull.
Since 1997, only 397 bull elk tags have been allotted each year for unit 61.
Combining the two herds under one management policy would ease many problems and DOW biologists are urging the wildlife commission to adopt a policy change for unit 62 that would bring it in line with the current regulations for 61.
However, that would mean drastically cutting the number of bull hunters in 62 (cow elk and either-sex elk licenses might even increase in the early years as the division tries to keep the elk population in check).
How popular is unit 62 among elk hunters? According to the division, from 1994 to 2000, more hunters (in excess of 5,000 per year) used 62 than any other of the state's 127 units where hunters killed elk.
That popularity is both a boon and a bane.
It keeps the elk scattered, but hunters seeking solitude find it difficult to get away from the pressure.
Bruce Hyatt, whose family has operated Hyatt Guides and Outfitters in Montrose since 1965, says the hunting pressure means the elk are in smaller herds across the plateau where hunters of all abilities can find them.
"You can go about anywhere, from the aspen to the pinyon-juniper, and kill an elk," Hyatt said.
Hyatt also said keeping the herds in smaller bunches counters the possibility of disease, particularly chronic wasting disease, from spreading though the herd.
Hyatt spoke against the plan at the commission's August meeting in Meeker and then "decided I had to do something." He has been collecting signatures on petitions opposing the quality-unit proposal.
"During the hunting season, when I wasn't guiding for my dad, I took the petition along (the Divide Road) and got about 300 nonresident signatures," Hyatt said. "I only ran into one guy who was opposed to the petition and after I talked to him about it, he said, ‘Give me the paper and I'll sign it.’ ”
As of last week, Hyatt had collected about 2,500 signatures of people from Ridgway to Montrose.
He has a two-page list of what he sees wrong with turning the entire plateau into a limited-entry area, starting with the economic impacts of the change.
The division estimates a loss of about $2.4 million each year to the local economies. The plan also calls for a 71 percent cut in bull hunters across the plateau.
Grand Junction resident Greg Corle, who has hunted unit 62 for more than 10 years and recently started taking his two sons, Sam and Nathan, also is opposed to the plan. He said making unit 62 a draw-only unit would force many resident hunters elsewhere.
"I like having a place right outside my door that I can hunt every year, especially a place I can take my sons," said Corle, who expressed a strong preference for hunting bulls over hunting cow elk. "I've spent 10 years getting to know that unit and you know as well as I do, familiarity with your hunting area is one of the keys to success.
"I don't want to have to start all over learning a new area."
Sam, 14, has hunted with Greg for three years in unit 62 and this fall killed his first elk.
Support for the proposed change comes from a 1998 DOW survey of hunters, landowners and local businesses that said 56 percent of the respondents (226 out of 823 surveys) supported totally limiting bull tags in unit 62.
"I've seen only one big bull in all the years I've hunted 62 and there should be a bunch of big bulls up there," said Kit Haddow of Grand Junction, one of the policy supporters and another 10-year veteran of hunting the Uncompahgre Plateau. "I would love to see a trophy area this close to my hometown."
The Uncompahgre Plateau elk plan is scheduled for consideration at 1 p.m. on Thursday. The bellowing will start soon after.
Dave Buchanan can be reached via e-mail at dbuchanan@gjds.com.
By Dave Buchanan The Grand Junction Dailiy Sentinel
12/11/02
A punch-up is developing over a plan that could displace several thousand elk hunters and cost five western Colorado counties about $2.4 million annually in hunting-gen- erated income by turning the Uncompahgre Plateau into a limited-entry, quality elk hunting unit.
The plan, devised by the Colorado Division of Wildlife as the Uncompahgre Plateau Elk Management Plan, is the keystone of a revamping of the management policies for the plateau sought by the Colorado Wildlife Commission. That body decided in 1999 to switch 20 percent of the state's elk resource into quality hunting units.
These quality units are designed to produce older and bigger bulls by strictly limiting the hunting pressure, which allows more of the elk to survive past the 21/2- to 3-year-old mark, which commonly is the longest a bull elk will live in units where hunting pressure is uncontrolled.
In most unlimited units, more than 80 percent of the legal bulls are killed each year by hunters, according to the DOW. The chances are very small of finding a bull older than 4 years old in these units where hunters can walk up and buy a bull license.
Another reason the Uncompahgre Plateau was targeted for this new policy is because the southern half of the plateau, which comprises Game Unit 61, has been under limited-entry rules since 1983 and is one of the state's most desired elk hunting destinations.
Hunters are willing to wait the five years or so it takes to accrue enough preference points to get a bull license in unit 61.
Unit 62, meanwhile, caters to hunters who seek the unlimited, over-the-counter bull licenses and is one of the "most heavily hunted units in Colorado," according to the DOW.
But the only separation between the two units (unit 62 is the entire north half of the plateau) is the red-dirt Divide Road that runs down most of the plateau's 75-mile spine.
The DOW claims having two singularly opposite units side by side leads to law enforcement problems with poachers illegally sneaking into 61 and killing trophy bulls.
There's also the problem of adequately managing an elk herd that freely crosses back and forth between the units, giving headaches to wildlife managers seeking to maximize elk hunting opportunities in unit 62 while providing hunters in unit 61 a less-crowded hunt with more opportunity for a trophy (4 years and older) bull.
Since 1997, only 397 bull elk tags have been allotted each year for unit 61.
Combining the two herds under one management policy would ease many problems and DOW biologists are urging the wildlife commission to adopt a policy change for unit 62 that would bring it in line with the current regulations for 61.
However, that would mean drastically cutting the number of bull hunters in 62 (cow elk and either-sex elk licenses might even increase in the early years as the division tries to keep the elk population in check).
How popular is unit 62 among elk hunters? According to the division, from 1994 to 2000, more hunters (in excess of 5,000 per year) used 62 than any other of the state's 127 units where hunters killed elk.
That popularity is both a boon and a bane.
It keeps the elk scattered, but hunters seeking solitude find it difficult to get away from the pressure.
Bruce Hyatt, whose family has operated Hyatt Guides and Outfitters in Montrose since 1965, says the hunting pressure means the elk are in smaller herds across the plateau where hunters of all abilities can find them.
"You can go about anywhere, from the aspen to the pinyon-juniper, and kill an elk," Hyatt said.
Hyatt also said keeping the herds in smaller bunches counters the possibility of disease, particularly chronic wasting disease, from spreading though the herd.
Hyatt spoke against the plan at the commission's August meeting in Meeker and then "decided I had to do something." He has been collecting signatures on petitions opposing the quality-unit proposal.
"During the hunting season, when I wasn't guiding for my dad, I took the petition along (the Divide Road) and got about 300 nonresident signatures," Hyatt said. "I only ran into one guy who was opposed to the petition and after I talked to him about it, he said, ‘Give me the paper and I'll sign it.’ ”
As of last week, Hyatt had collected about 2,500 signatures of people from Ridgway to Montrose.
He has a two-page list of what he sees wrong with turning the entire plateau into a limited-entry area, starting with the economic impacts of the change.
The division estimates a loss of about $2.4 million each year to the local economies. The plan also calls for a 71 percent cut in bull hunters across the plateau.
Grand Junction resident Greg Corle, who has hunted unit 62 for more than 10 years and recently started taking his two sons, Sam and Nathan, also is opposed to the plan. He said making unit 62 a draw-only unit would force many resident hunters elsewhere.
"I like having a place right outside my door that I can hunt every year, especially a place I can take my sons," said Corle, who expressed a strong preference for hunting bulls over hunting cow elk. "I've spent 10 years getting to know that unit and you know as well as I do, familiarity with your hunting area is one of the keys to success.
"I don't want to have to start all over learning a new area."
Sam, 14, has hunted with Greg for three years in unit 62 and this fall killed his first elk.
Support for the proposed change comes from a 1998 DOW survey of hunters, landowners and local businesses that said 56 percent of the respondents (226 out of 823 surveys) supported totally limiting bull tags in unit 62.
"I've seen only one big bull in all the years I've hunted 62 and there should be a bunch of big bulls up there," said Kit Haddow of Grand Junction, one of the policy supporters and another 10-year veteran of hunting the Uncompahgre Plateau. "I would love to see a trophy area this close to my hometown."
The Uncompahgre Plateau elk plan is scheduled for consideration at 1 p.m. on Thursday. The bellowing will start soon after.
Dave Buchanan can be reached via e-mail at dbuchanan@gjds.com.
