Boulder Hunting Ban

[bayoublaster7527]

Just saw this one in a BHA email. Thanks for highlighting this. As goes Boulder….. so goes Colorado. They have the current Governor and may have the next. I just wish the Boulder anti-gun, anti-hunting zealots would be honest. Just admit that you despise gun owners and hunters and you are looking to impose your views on everyone else and the rest of Colorado if able…. Safety concerns? With bow and arrows? Come on now.

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Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.

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[perma]

Email sent.

 

[nrpate05]

Many people in Boulder are scared of a lot of things if they don't understand them. Interesting for a place that is supposedly so 'inclusive'.

 

[TOGIE]

the target shooting restrictions are 100% justified.

i didn't realize that the sugarloaf area included hunting though. based on authority alone, that should change.

but that said, there are some state wildlife area lands that have no shooting/no hunting zones set up for safety reasons and nearby/homes properties that hugely more conservative than that. if you look at onx on the sugarloaf zone there are a SHIT ton of homes interspersed in there; it's really not a great place to be discharging rifles for any reason. but there are some decent little holes in there to look for deer. i don't think a blanket no hunting component is necessarily appropriate. kind of a tough one.

given the home density in there, i wouldn't say the folks living in there are completely unjustified in having a little fear of firearm discharge given how sporadic and interspersed the public land is. the complains didn't make it to the county commissioners for no reason at all. i would give them some benefit of doubt there. but still, blanket no hunting isn't the answer.

 

[trb]

I lived in Boulder and currently live in Longmont. Obviously this is silly overreach, and I have sent emails, etc...

BUT, I will say that gun owners have not done themselves any favors in this area. In the triangular area between Boulder, Ft. Collins, and Estes Park, the amount of irresponsible shooting and trash left behind from recreational target shooting is absolutely ridiculous. I don't blame people for being fed up with it, because I am too. I cannot tell you how many people I encounter partaking in ridiculously irresponsible target shooting near trailheads, towards hiking and biking trails, and dangerously close to houses and public utilities.

Part of the responsibilities lay with the public land managers for the fact that our closest shooting range is over an hour away in Pawnee Grasslands, but that is no excuse for the behavior I see every single month of the year out here. I have collected and disposed of literally hundreds of pounds of trash left over from target shooting. I could rant all day about my disagreements with Boulderites worldviews, NIMBYism, and so on, but there is a small group of people who are directly responsible for local landowners painting all gun-owners and hunters with a broad brush.

And that isn't even touching on the issue of the maze of private land, mining claims, and limited public land that is up in the Sugarloaf area...

 

[LuketheDog]

Boulder is such a dung heap, I try to go through there as little as possible. I think the feds will roll them over on this one though.

 

[Hunt&FishCO]

FWIW- As a recreational user of this area - it’s actually being trashed by vagrants than by consumptive users like ourselves. I’ve never seen any of the recreational shooting trash you speak of in most of Colorado; let alone the Front Range.

This complex mess of local rules made me hunt more on the western slope; really limits access to people trying to enter the sport.

 

[nastynate]

the target shooting restrictions are 100% justified.

i didn't realize that the sugarloaf area included hunting though. based on authority alone, that should change.

but that said, there are some state wildlife area lands that have no shooting/no hunting zones set up for safety reasons and nearby/homes properties that hugely more conservative than that. if you look at onx on the sugarloaf zone there are a SHIT ton of homes interspersed in there; it's really not a great place to be discharging rifles for any reason. but there are some decent little holes in there to look for deer. i don't think a blanket no hunting component is necessarily appropriate. kind of a tough one.

given the home density in there, i wouldn't say the folks living in there are completely unjustified in having a little fear of firearm discharge given how sporadic and interspersed the public land is. the complains didn't make it to the county commissioners for no reason at all. i would give them some benefit of doubt there. but still, blanket no hunting isn't the answer.

I see where you’re coming from. In MN there are laws protecting the right to hunt and fish on public lands and waters, and I’m glad we have that legislation on the books. You build a giant mansion on the lake? I can still shoot ducks next to your dock so long as I’m on public water. I think that doesn’t happen all that much but it is legal. The private land owner should not be able to edge me out of my public hunting spot by building a home nearby.

My hunting buddy lives in Boulder. I’ve passed this to him and his friends. We got some raised eyebrows from his neighbors there when we butchered a pair of deer in his carport there. But we also convinced them to come eat some steaks later. Winning em over one at a time.

 

[nastynate]

I should add Minnesota obviously has places with shooting restrictions too. I guess my point was I generally don’t like the idea of private land being developed adjacent to public land altering what we can do on that land. But that’s why we gotta keep fighting for it cause that will continue to happen.

 

[TOGIE]

I see where you’re coming from. In MN there are laws protecting the right to hunt and fish on public lands and waters, and I’m glad we have that legislation on the books. You build a giant mansion on the lake? I can still shoot ducks next to your dock so long as I’m on public water. I think that doesn’t happen all that much but it is legal. The private land owner should not be able to edge me out of my public hunting spot by building a home nearby.

don't necessarily disagree.

but i don't think private property owners are pushing hunters out of their public hunting spots.

people abusive of public lands are pushing themselves out of public lands and dragging everyone else with them, whether everyone else deserves it or not.

granted the boulder county commissioners are more likely to have a political bend we don't like and that may influence their decision making, but we're our own worst enemy on a lot of this stuff.

people claiming recreational shooters are not problematic in these areas, or basically anywhere they show up, ever, have their heads in the sand.

 

[LuketheDog]

granted the boulder county commissioners are more likely to have a political bend we don't like and that may influence their decision making, but we're our own worst enemy on a lot of this stuff.

Nah, it's not really "we" in this case, it's a whole other group of people who cause the issues who are not hunters or sportsmen, it's not even "gun enthusiasts" or whatever that means. It's a bunch of people who like to break stuff giving the rope to hang themselves to a very anti-gun, anti-hunting, anti-liberty group of people.

 

[TOGIE]

Nah, it's not really "we" in this case, it's a whole other group of people who cause the issues who are not hunters or sportsmen, it's not even "gun enthusiasts" or whatever that means. It's a bunch of people who like to break stuff giving the rope to hang themselves to a very anti-gun, anti-hunting, anti-liberty group of people.

no i definitely mean we, speaking very generally. we as hunters, as a user group, are still our own worst enemy on this stuff.

most of this thread, demeaning the folks that live up there for being scaredy cat, anti hunting liberals, when several of them have probably had a bullet whiz over their porch, some of whom probably have kids who play outside, is a great example of us being our own worst enemy.

it's just unfortunate hunting got wrapped up in it. but is it surprising, the way many of us talk and act so often?

i'm concerned about the types of comments hunters are submitting to the boulder county commissioners... they probably aren't helping us very much.

 

[nrpate05]

FWIW- As a recreational user of this area - it’s actually being trashed by vagrants than by consumptive users like ourselves. I’ve never seen any of the recreational shooting trash you speak of in most of Colorado; let alone the Front Range.

This complex mess of local rules made me hunt more on the western slope; really limits access to people trying to enter the sport.

Head up Lefthand Canyon to where those MTB trails are. There is plenty of old recreational shooting trash in there. Used to hunt rabbits up there and it was pretty heinous. I also stumbled on a trail being illegally built. Dismantled it and took out their markers. It is a sad state of affairs what has happened around the Boulder area and the Front Range in general.

 

[TheGrayRider]

Great book based on true story from Boulder, Colorado.

Summation: Citizens want to pet bambi (deer) and pussy cats (cougars).

Biologists and game wardens warn against such actions.

Mountain lions start showing up in yards and eating pets. Mountain lion then eventually attacks and eats high school jogger.

Town citizens then turn vigilante on all mountain lions. Biologists said we told you so!

Sounds like history is repeating itself. Happy hunting, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.

 

[LuketheDog]

no i definitely mean we, speaking very generally. we as hunters, as a user group, are still our own worst enemy on this stuff.

most of this thread, demeaning the folks that live up there for being scaredy cat, anti hunting liberals, when several of them have probably had a bullet whiz over their porch, some of whom probably have kids who play outside, is a great example of us being our own worst enemy.

it's just unfortunate hunting got wrapped up in it. but is it surprising, the way many of us talk and act so often?

i'm concerned about the types of comments hunters are submitting to the boulder county commissioners... they probably aren't helping us very much.

Yes, it is unfortunate that hunting has come under the crosshairs. But I'd bet money the 'bullets whizzing over the porch were not hunters' bullets, it was probably their neighbors out target shooting. There are many more people out there shooting guns and trashing the place than there are people we can call "We", most hunters spend just a cumulative couple weeks in the woods every fall while there are literally millions of other recreational users who are out there for the other 48 weeks of the year.

 

[TOGIE]

Yes, it is unfortunate that hunting has come under the crosshairs. But I'd bet money the 'bullets whizzing over the porch were not hunters' bullets, it was probably their neighbors out target shooting. There are many more people out there shooting guns and trashing the place than there are people we can call "We", most hunters spend just a cumulative couple weeks in the woods every fall while there are literally millions of other recreational users who are out there for the other 48 weeks of the year.

oh i think the evidence and complaint record guarantee it wasn't hunters.

and yet here we are, a whole thread of hunters calling a bunch of boulder county residents a bunch a scaredy cat liberal whackos for being scared of hunting and guns.

we are our own worst enemy.

 

[SCCWP]

I have heard bad things about Colorado when it comes to hunting and shooting. Glad I don’t live there. I did get stationed at Ft Carson when in the army.

 

[LuketheDog]

boulder county residents a bunch a scaredy cat liberal whackos for being scared of hunting and guns.

Well, on average they are

Boulder/Vail/Aspen types and their buddies with money are also the ones who got spring bear hunting and trapping outlawed, wolf reintroduction passed, and are the driving force behind the cat hunting ban. I'm not going to let them off the hook...

 

[one ate E grain]

Bowhunting too. It's not the safety aspect, it's just that they don't like hunting.

I hunt private land that is surrounded by a lot more houses than are up on Sugarloaf. If one is thoughtful about where the bullet is going after it double lungs it's not rocket science.

Face it. Many people in places like boulder would end all hunting if given a choice.

 

[Hydrophilic]

oh i think the evidence and complaint record guarantee it wasn't hunters.

and yet here we are, a whole thread of hunters calling a bunch of boulder county residents a bunch a scaredy cat liberal whackos for being scared of hunting and guns.

we are our own worst enemy.

When you break it down into numbers it makes it really easy to understand why your comment is correct.

Only ~6% of the general population hunts.

Wildlife is held in trust for everybody. This means the ~94% of the general public who doesn't hunt has a say in what kind of wildlife management they prefer.

Wildlife management has historically been highly tailored towards the minority 6% of the general population.

Sitting at ~6% it is incredibly stupid to attack the majority ~94% with lewd, ignorant comments. At the very least, it puts the crosshairs on the 6% and can easily open the conversation for a different model of wildlife management / conservation.

I'm of the mindset that NAMWC is already on it's way out and we will see this unfold over the next couple decades, hunters have shot themselves in the foot too many times.