Commission to consider big changes

Commission to consider big changes

Jan. 10, 2001

STAFF REPORT

DENVER — The Colorado Wildlife Commission will consider changes to big game season dates for 2002 and final regulations concerning chronic wasting disease at its first meeting of the new year Jan. 10-11 in Denver. The Commission will also take a look at reducing nonresident license fees for cow elk.

The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday at Division of Wildlife headquarters at 6060 Broadway.

The final CWD regulations are part of the Division's ongoing effort to manage the disease and keep it from spreading. Up for final consideration is the prohibition of new commercial deer and elk farms and creation of satellite facilities for existing parks. Another final regulation would ban the importation of deer or elk into the state unless the source herd has been monitored for the disease for five years.

Chronic wasting disease, which is always fatal, attacks the brains of deer and elk. CWD had been confined to wild herds in the northeast portion of Colorado and portions of Wyoming and Nebraska but was recently detected in commercial herds in the San Luis Valley and North Park.

The Commission also will establish seasons for deer or elk necessary to manage CWD, including multiple carcass tags per license for deer and a late or extended antlerless deer season on both private and public lands, as well as the unlimited sale of leftover licenses.

The Division of Wildlife's Strategic Plan, which will chart the agency's course over the next five years, could also be adopted at the meeting.

Up for annual review is a 5.4 percent increase to nonresident big game license fees to include annual consumer price index changes. Nonresident bull elk licenses could be raised to $470 and nonresident deer licenses could be raised to $285.

However, the Commission will consider reducing the cost of nonresident cow elk licenses to $250.

Changes to big game season dates and game management unit boundaries will also be considered.

For bighorn sheep and mountain goats, the Commission will consider establishing distribution hunt licensing for goats outside of established goat-hunting units and mandatory checks for sheep and goats, to be completed within five days of take.

For deer, the Commission will look at allowing the sale of leftover antlered licenses.

The sale of over-the-counter bear licenses could be limited to Division offices after the opening of bear seasons and the mandatory check for bull moose could be replaced with a harvest questionnaire.

Other regulations to be considered are the re-establishment of a light goose conservation order allowing take east of Interstate 25 during the spring migration because of overpopulation and resulting habitat damage.

Also up for final approval: a citizen proposal to allow the live take of eyas (young nesting) peregrine falcons for falconry; a proposal to prohibit the use of smokeless powder during muzzle-loading season; and a citizen proposal to increase the minimum standards for legal hand-held bows and archery equipment, including the definition of a hand-held bow, minimum draw weights and maximum mechanical drawing advantage.