I am not seeing what you are and a lot of others don't either.
I attend every CPW meeting that is local. I was at the last Sportsman Caucus meeting for the SE region. A woman (Denver facilitator) from CPW got up and gave a spiel about tag allocation etc. I disagreed with her on about every point, but she would not waiver. After the meeting, both SE Caucus representatives and the acting director for the SE region came over to me after the meeting and told me I was spot on.
One of the points was reducing OTC tags and changing certain areas to draw because of fewer elk and too many hunters. Her response was they could not afford the reduction in income. They are more interested in that income than the health of the herd. It is true today as it was in the past.
Another point was CPW is still using data from 2007-2009 to establish NonResident elk tag quotas from 35% to 20% when they have data from the last draw within months. However, using that old data that 35% figure does not get cut as fast so they get to sell more NR tags which means more money. She would not comment on that.
Then there was the slide that their survey said most hunters would be OK with hunting elk every 3-4 years.The entire room of maybe 50 people jumped on that.
Also now you have the 2nd draw. CPW gets another $7 for residents and $9 for nonresidents when before they didn't by just selling leftover tags. It didn't solve the problem of the computer crashing the day the tags go on sale, because it crashed again this year. I am all for giving youth priority, but many applicants don't read that fine print that youth get 100% priority in that draw and essentially waste their money when they apply.
I remember going to a meeting several years ago before the big jump in tag prices and the qualifying licenses .The purpose of the meeting was to get public opinion on proposed changes. One of the first slides was how could CPW maximize income. Every point they put up came to fruition. They had their mind made up before any public meetings regardless of the opposition.
There might be advocates, but they sure as heck are not on the commission and those are the ones that make the decisions. These commissioners now are more interested in parks...Only two are hunters. CPW has become another bloated government bureaucracy. From frequenting different social media sites, I can say, there are a lot of hunters out there that agree with me. This entire thread reflects that also.
Last edited by saddlesore; 09/05/22.
