Please read, requesting your help to open a public hunt in Boulder county

[grasshopper]

As a member of the CPW sportsmen’s roundtable in the NE region, I am asking for your help.

Boulder county has a massive open space budget generated from sales tax revenues, and over the years they have acquired a large amount of property. To date, they have not allowed open to the public hunting on their properties.

One of their properties, Rabbit Mountain open space, currently has a large (350 plus animal) non migratory elk herd. The herd is about to get bigger when the calves start dropping this spring. CPW is paying sportsmen game damage dollars to local ag producers as the elk will move into neighboring corn and ag fields, and then back to the refuge open space.

If you read the info at the link, the elk are causing serious habitat degradation as well as game damage expense. After much encouragement and consultation with the CPW the Boulder county open space staff has now developed a draft elk management plan to include limited hunting to reduce the herd, and encourage natural migration off the property and into the mountains.

I’d appreciate your help in lodging comment from the link to support the management plan hunt. The CPW has been working this issue for over 3 years. In your comments, it might be wise to reference the habitat damage, and problems with game damage to neighboring private lands rather than hunting opportunity. It might be received more favorably in a place like Boulder county given the real anti-hunting sentiment.

If you live on the front range, in person support at the meetings would help too.

See the press release at the link for more details, let me know if I can answer any questions.
Thanks!
Steve Hilde
NE region CPW sportsmans roundtable delegate



http://www.bouldercounty.org/os/ope...&utm_medium=redirect&utm_campaign=POSRedirect

 

[publichunter1]

Hope al of this works out! Any extra access to hunt elk is a great thing especially when it helps in the management of the animals.

 

[Jwill]

Done, best of luck!

 

[rideold]

Thanks for posting the link for comments. I read the article last night and made a note to search out where I can send comments since I can't make the meeting. Saved me some trouble and time. Going to send comments now. Maybe this can be a catalyst for City of Boulder open space as well. The deer herd could use some thinning as well.

 

[colo_junk]

Saw this story yesterday and I appreciate you posting the link. Put in my comments. Got heckled this past season on a trail outside of Silverthorne for being a hunter, can only imagine what this might look like at a Boulder open space

 

[cedahm]

Saw this story yesterday and I appreciate you posting the link. Put in my comments. Got heckled this past season on a trail outside of Silverthorne for being a hunter, can only imagine what this might look like at a Boulder open space

Comments submitted.

To the point above - If (hopefuly 'when') the hunt happens, I am nearly certain Boulder will hold a 'vigil' for elk taken on the hunt like they did for the moose from Brainard lake the other year...

 

[colo_junk]

Looks like the first round of comments went well. Found two things interesting: didn't know there wasn't an approved fertility control approved for free ranging elk and hunters taking part in this hunt wouldn't be allowed to post any pictures online.

https://assets.bouldercounty.org/wp...-rabbit-mountain-elk-management-plan-2017.pdf

 

[rideold]

Time again to speak up on this. The revised plan has additional focus on hazing, fertility control and potentially adding trails in the area to discourage the elk. The first version was pretty decent in my eyes and the revised one seems to begin the process of softening the hunting solution. Comments are in written form only this round. https://www.bouldercounty.org/open-space/management/rabbit-mountain-elk-management-plan/ by May 25th.

 

[vanish]

The revised plan has additional focus on hazing, fertility control and potentially adding trails in the area to discourage the elk. The first version was pretty decent in my eyes and the revised one seems to begin the process of softening the hunting solution.

I wouldn't say the revised plan has an additional focuses on those items. The revised plan details out pretty much WHY those _won't_ work. The reason there is so much written is during the in-person meeting that's what detractors focused on ( in addition to culling ) - especially fertility control.

If anything, the revised plan has MORE access for hunters than before, since they're proposing to open areas currently closed to the public.

 

[cedahm]

I wouldn't say the revised plan has an additional focuses on those items. The revised plan details out pretty much WHY those _won't_ work. The reason there is so much written is during the in-person meeting that's what detractors focused on ( in addition to culling ) - especially fertility control..

That's how I read the revision as well. Both sections specifically posit against it:

"BCPOS and CPW conclude that fertility control is not a solution for
management of the Rabbit Mountain elk herd. "

"Therefore, CPW and BCPOS conclude that agency or professional culling is not a viable option."

I like that they have bulked up on supporting data. A true anti-hunting BoCo resident isn't going to be 'for' hunting no matter what the data, finances, and science are. The additional data points will be good for anyone in the middle.

 

[rideold]

Thanks for the clarification. I was not reading it clearly.

 

[elks]

Just an interesting note. What effect might hormone fertility treatments have on potential consumption? I mean after all those elk might leave the park and end up on your table.

 

[colo_junk]

Looks like its gonna happen

http://www.timescall.com/news-regio...ty-permit-limited-elk-hunting-rabbit-mountain