Additional cow elk licenses can be purchased for 2002

Additional cow elk licenses can be purchased for 2002

Jan. 17, 2001

BY THE COLORADO DIVISION OF WILDLIFE

DENVER — Bad luck shooting Colorado elk hunters last season means more elk to hunt this season. The Colorado Wildlife Commission voted this past week to allow hunters an opportunity to purchase a second elk tag.

The commission voted to permit the sale of cow elk licenses as "additional" licenses, meaning hunters can already hold a bull or cow tag and still purchase an over-the-counter cow tag.

The reasoning behind this is to cut down the over-population of elk with which Colorado suddenly finds itself overwhelmed.

A poor elk harvest last fall, ascribed to many causes ranging from a mild fall and a boycott by nonresident hunters, has left the state with more than 260,000 elk and looking at having more than 300,000 after the spring calving season. Colorado’s elk herd now estimated at more than 500,000.

The state needs to harvest around 60,000 elk every year, just to keep up with annual herd increases. The harvest last fall is expected to total around 40,000 or so once the final numbers are counted sometime in February.

The easiest way to control elk numbers is to crop the breeding cows, and this fall hunters will have the chance to pick up an additional antlerless elk tag in more than 80 units across the Western Slope.

Hunters also can expect the division to increase the number of cow licenses available above the 190,000 or so sold this year.

In an attempt to further stimulate hunters to kill cow elk, the commission opted to lower the nonresident cow elk license to $250, a drop of $200 from last fall's price.

Of course, there always is the question whether hunters will sniff out the bait and actually purchase a cow license. History has shown that there are many hunters who refuse to shoot hen pheasants, doe deer and cow elk, no matter how inexpensive the license.

The Division of Wildlife is hoping the lower-priced licenses will lure back the nonresidents who last fall swore off and swore at the DOW for increasing the out-of-state tags by 80 percent last year.

But those cow elk licenses are the only relief nonresidents are going to get, since they again face another increase in their bull elk and buck deer licenses. With their hands tied by the 1999 statute that approved the price increase, the commission raised nonresident bull and buck licenses to $470 and $285, respectively.

This raise is tied to the Consumer Price Index, and while it's not nearly as drastic as the huge jump of a year ago, it still might irk nonresidents enough they once again stay home or hunt another western state.

However, the CPI increase will help keep Colorado in line with the big-game prices charged in other states. This was one of the major demands made by hunting groups who voiced the opinion Colorado was low-balling its license fees and the state became a dumping ground for nonresident hunters who couldn't or wouldn't afford the higher prices elsewhere.

The commission also voted to re-establish a light goose season in eastern Colorado during the spring migration. This officially is known as a "federal conservation order" since waterfowl seasons normally aren't allowed to extend past Jan. 20 or so.