Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Cant say enough bad about Damg colorado parks

I will second that the in the field wardens in NW Colorado are first rate. I’ve been thoroughly checked when a bull 2 miles away was shot on private - always professional. One helped me find a downed cow once too. We have had a problem with a POS lying landowner who calls them every time someone shoots an animal within 1/2 a mile of his (now marked) property line. The last time 2 years ago 2 wardens showed up checked my hunting parter then proceeded to help him drag out his buck a short way & toss it over a fence - right where the jackass landowner could see what they thought of his complaint.

More on topic a system that favors locals and kids the $ cost of tags certainly does that, gives hunters a chance to hunt prime ares before they turn 70 & draws lots of out of state hunters isn’t that easy but CO misses the mark.

Have a 50% random draw for every hunt code would keep people applying. Take away the BS small game tag requirement & we give you 3 fishing licenses & tack on a nakedly for profit $20/40 application fee to bring in money. People will apply in larger numbers, no costs to manage refunds some first timers will unfairly draw great tags.

Yes, I personally know Evan Jones who is the WCO for units 12 ,13 etc.. ( south of Craig, Hamilton) I knew him even before he became WCO. Great guy ,he goes by the book,but will help any one out.

Brandon Diamond in the Gunnison country is another one.

It is not the WCO's. It is those commissioners and PoLis who are the problem.

I am not sure what the solution is for the preference point issue. I was a CO resident for 54 years with 25 of those years spent on active duty. At the time active duty could apply for preference points at any time because they were often out of the country during the drawing period. So I always put in for points. When I retired from active duty I ended up in TX teaching NJROTC and have a lot of CO points. I am currently sitting on 26 points for elk, 19 for deer, max points including weighted points for moose, and 3 + 15 weighted points for sheep. I drew a buck pronghorn tag this year and drew a Bosque de Oso bear tag last year. I have taken both a sheep and a goat so I don't apply for those any longer. I am really wanting one of the either sex elk tags for Unit 2 and a good late season mulie tag for unit 10. Even with 26 elk points and 19 deer points I can't get either of those as a non-resident, I could draw either as a resident though.

As long as guys like me are sitting on lots of points then new hunters getting into the game will never be able to pull some tags. But guys like me played the game in accordance with the rules put forth by the state. If they suddenly told me that 26 years worth of points were going to be negated then it would really piss me off. I remember when they first started the preference point thing. Nobody, including me, ever thought that it would take 25+ points to draw a tag. I do not have a solution but no matter what they do, someone is going to get screwed somewhere.

If 26 points aren’t and won’t be enough to draw the tag you really want due to point creep or whatever other issue then they are basically telling you that your points have been negated, unless you’re willing to settle for a lesser tag.

Happened to a good friend of ours. He began applying for points when the ranching for wildlife program started. His idea was to bank points until he would be sure of drawing a really good bull tag and then do one really great elk hunt in his life. Problem was that by the time he had the 12 points the unit required it had been raised to 14. And in two years when he had 14 he found out he needed 16 and so on it went. He finally got tired of the game and called and spoke to someone at the CPW office about his issue. They recommended a unit and season that took less points to draw and he ended up having a good hunt and killing a very nice bull. But his original goal was never going to be achievable and it doesn’t sound like yours will either MAC.

So true.I finally drew Unit 201 with points 21. I figured I would never draw bull moose tag so spent my17 weighted points on a cow moose, RFW hunt and have never accumulated points since.This hybrid draw screwed a lot of people ,now with proposed changes, more will get screwed if implemented.

I wonder how many points it takes for 201 now.

Ditto’s on WCO Evan Jones. I have visited with him in unit 13 a couple of times. Very professional, courteous and friendly. We play by all the rules on the ranch where we hunt and the landowner welcomes him there. I’m sure there are a few that don’t fit that mold somewhere. He once told me that carrying a loaded or uncased firearm on an atv is never overlooked — always a citation. I have no intention of finding out…

Have never hunted Colorado since the time we were there and had to listen to four trucks on a ranch herd a bull for over two hours so a paying customer could get a shot..Radios, trucks and a few guys guarding the fence line kept that bull pretty much where the guy could be brought in for the shot...

Check my post in “general biggame “, don’t keep track of Colorado cause I don’t hunt there, but I’d be expecting some price hikes as Wyoming has now set the stage

I wonder if that’s WCO that checked us in 2016, he was cruising along saw my truck stopped backed up. He got out and said Alaska?? Lol real nice guy checked our license etc. told him we had deer tags as well. Told us if you had antelope tags he knew plenty of landowners let us hunt their property. But deer and elk not so much, again great interaction with all WCO’s I encountered. 99% of the time it was my license plate lol..

Well I drew Bull Moose tag with 11 points. Buddy with 21 points was pissed, but he drew same tag following year. Muzzleloader and Archery, respectively. Best hunt ever, shame it has to be once-in-a-lifetime.

Big game draw tags should go to a silent auction system. Any leftovers tags go to a draw system.

silent auction as in.... he who has the most money wins? Yeah, don't care for that idea. Hunting is becoming a rich mans sport fast enough without that idea catching on.

Dumbest idea I ever heard. No average guy would ever have a shot a good tag and there would be no leftover tags because someone would always be willing to pony up $200 for a tag.

A few years ago I got interested in doing a bucket list hunt in Colorado. After going through the most confusing sets of protocols, i.e., points and draws, I just gave up.

Or more... outfits would buy them all and charge ridiculous to hunt.

So there’s six bull tags and one cow tag available on the reissue list for our unit tomorrow. Hmm I am eligible for the B cow tag.. better not I spent a ton on tags so far this year. Don’t know how many normally get turned in but seems like a bunch so far. Might have been a good year if you wanted to get a hard to draw unit on the reissue list.

Shawn

So there we were, complaining about lack of tags and now swimming in them! LOL

We hunt public bordering a ranch where they get $5K+ per hunter & they pull that crap all the time. Last year shot several times into the herd to move them off public, finished a badly wounded cow that made it just over the property line & tagged it. They’ve sent ranch hands up to move & make noise, lie about boundaries, all kinds of unethical crap. I’m guessing that the last guy I found doing that stuff hasn’t forgotten the encounter. Armed pissed off hunter telling you exactly what kind of loathsome scumbag you are offering a fistfight while we wait for the warden or the 2 Leo’s hunting nearby have probably lessened his enthusiasm for the task.

None of that is necessary or enjoyable but landowners always get the benefit of the doubt in CO so make damn sure you are right if you have to call a warden. Reporting the crap is worthwhile - the wardens will know the character of the rancher or outfitter that way.