Well they screwed up the elk herd in Unit 5 4(Gunnison) and in units 24/ 25 FlatTops when they issued all those cow OTC tags. 2000 a year for 3-5 years.They refused to admit that there was a big winter kill in 2007/2009 until two years later even though hunters were telling them there was. Me included.
In large part, CPW got tired of the flak when elk crossing the hwy were being hit by cars on Hwys 50 and 135 during the winter. In the late 90's and early 2000's a couple kids in the vehicles were hurt, and the Gunnison/Crested Butte folks wanted CPW to "do something". So they started feeding elk to keep them from crossing the hwys at night headed onto the ag land. Of course, this type of feeding violates CPW's "policy" of not feeding unless there is a real risk of the adult, breeding population starving to death. After a few years of feeding CPW if decided the existing habitat couldn't support elk without feeding there were too many. Makes sense to me.
Although the CPW did underestimate the winter kill in the late 2000's, but that seemed to be mostly deer. Importantly, those winters were not all that bad by previous harsh winters standards, and points to other factors as contributing to the winter kills those years.
I still say,reduce hunting pressure in Sept so more cows get bred earlier rather in the 2n /3rd estrus cycle so the calves are bigger and stronger come late fall. What do I know though.I don't have degree from some university in the east that has no elk population
I don't disagree that there might be a disturbance factor going on in Sept in the SW. But again, the human population of Colorado practically doubled in a short time. There is a LOT of other activities taking place also during that time of the year.
