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Colorado cutting tag numbers

Hi all - looking for some advice. Put in for a draw in one of the zones listed above. Husband and I are now going back and forth on whether to change to a different unit.

My argument to stick with our current 'winter kill' unit -- yes, herd numbers will be effected but it's not like the entire elk population is dying off. My gut is if we draw our tags we're still going to see animals. CPW is just accounting for the animals lost to a harsher than normal winter. Sickies and grandpa elk. My data is based on my eyeballs, eg the giant friggin elk herd I see in their normal winter migration zone.

Husband unit on the other hand is arguing for switching units to one of our close runner up choices that we know is not in the effected area. Mo elk he says. Call this CPW office even though you hate the telephone he says.

Thoughts?
Same boat. Just had to help a friend completely re-tool his draw because our 3rd season option was in the White River DAU, and I guarantee they cut cow tags the most.
 
pulled my pronghorn app. not that i was gonna draw it, but i know that i don't want it if i did.

and that poor white river deer herd. decimated in '08, decimated by cpw over cwd, and now, again by snow. we'll see what the future holds up there.
 
Same boat. Just had to help a friend completely re-tool his draw because our 3rd season option was in the White River DAU, and I guarantee they cut cow tags the most
Apps are already in, downpayment on a cabin near Meeker. There is a no refund policy and I understand why. Talked it over with my wife this morning, told her of the dire conditions and maybe forfeiting our deposit and cancelling the trip, was hoping for what was confirmed. We are still going.
She scares me once in a while, like the other day when I first mentioned the winter effects in the GMU's we're hunting this year she said "if we don't see anything this year (like 2021), she may not go again. (She was kidding)
I get depressed when she talks like that, can't imagine any of my friends doing these hunts. Most are used to walking 100yds & climbing into their tower stands. Boring:sleep:
 
Should be celebration time for cdow, winter will get rid of those older mule deer bucks to help with the spread of CWD. Lower total populations too, also a desired management option for them too.

They have to be viewing this as a win-win.
 
Should be celebration time for cdow, winter will get rid of those older mule deer bucks to help with the spread of CWD. Lower total populations too, also a desired management option for them too.

They have to be viewing this as a win-win.
You hit the nail on the head. I’d even take it one step further. Considering the significant faction of the CPW commission that is openly hostile toward hunting, this is a huge win. Less deer=less deer hunting=less hunters. Celebrations abound!
 
You hit the nail on the head. I’d even take it one step further. Considering the significant faction of the CPW commission that is openly hostile toward hunting, this is a huge win. Less deer=less deer hunting=less hunters. Celebrations abound!
Now they just have to hope the wolves pick off the rest. Anti-hunting wet dream trifecta. Those pro-coal ag & hunting communities should know better than to exist.
 
You hit the nail on the head. I’d even take it one step further. Considering the significant faction of the CPW commission that is openly hostile toward hunting, this is a huge win. Less deer=less deer hunting=less hunters. Celebrations abound!
Honest question.
What motivates anti-hunting? If it's the death of wildlife what does it matter if wildlife die by bullet, snow, or wolf? Dead deer are still dead regardless of cause of death. So celebrating winter kill because it hurts hunting confuses me, deer are dead either way.
Excuse my ignorance.
 
Honest question.
What motivates anti-hunting? If it's the death of wildlife what does it matter if wildlife die by bullet, snow, or wolf? Dead deer are still dead regardless of cause of death. So celebrating winter kill because it hurts hunting confuses me, deer are dead either way.
Excuse my ignorance.
Without a viable population of big game, hunting participation will circle the drain until species get ESA protection and hunting is outlawed in sections of the West. That seems to be why migratory wolves were released that can clean out a drainage then rather than see predator populations decline until prey populations rebound...the wolves just head to the next drainage as if were following a caribou migration. Wolves are in all the states bordering the Pacific now after a few pairs being released in Wyoming years ago. Likely those released wolves exterminated a reclusive native wolf population within Yellowstone.
 
I think the cost of a cow tag is what will effect point creep for elk way more than 40 % less tags in that area. Most of the area is OTC. It's too late to change that now.
There's only a handful of hunt codes for those areas when it comes to deer. If a lot of people decide not to apply because of the reduced amount of tags you probably won't even see it affect the amount of points it takes to draw.
 
Isn’t everywhere in Colorado facing above average snow accumulations? Are there any other DAU’s that will have tag numbers cut or is there something especially bad happening in NW Colorado?
 
or is there something especially bad happening in NW Colorado?

yes, that.

to my knowledge nowhere else in the state is seeing essentially 100% of winter range habitat crusted over under multiple feet of snow since like mid december. whole herds of pronghorn trying to survive on the highway shoulders are getting killed, one semi at a time. northwest colorado and south central wyoming are experiencing the same horrific winter as far as wildlife goes.
 

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