Small game license year to remain same

Small game license year to remain same

October 2, 2001

BY THE COLORADO DIVISION OF WILDLIFE

DENVER — The small game license year in Colorado will remain Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 following Wildlife Commission direction to end consideration of a change to a license year that would begin April 1 and run through March 31.

Four commissioners voted for the change and four voted against it at a meeting in Las Animas on Sept. 13 and 14. A tie vote effectively means a motion is rejected since a majority is needed for approval.

The proposal, which aimed to keep small game and waterfowl hunters from having to purchase a new license in the middle of the hunting season and from having to register twice per season for the Harvest Information Program, had been under consideration since 1997.

The first small game hunting season begins Sept. 1 and the last usually runs through mid- or late March. Fishing licenses, which are valid year-round, and mountain lion license would also have been included in the change. Mountain lion season runs from Nov. 15 through Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 through March 31.

"There was a lot of debate on and interest in the change," said John Smeltzer, manager of the Division of Wildlife’s human dimensions section. "We looked around the country at the various ways other states do their licensing years, and the results were pretty mixed. The jury was spilt as to which one works best."

Smeltzer said the Division hasn’t received many complaints about the license year and the proposal was primarily administrative.

"If the license year were changed, a few things would line up better, but on the other hand, several commissioners like the traditional calendar year approach and felt strongly about keeping it as is. There were probably few, if any, unsolicited actual requests from the public to change it."

The license year change proposal was suggested as part of the Total Licensing Project, which will modernize the licensing process in part by making licenses available through the Internet and electronically through point-of-sale agents.