Wildlife officials seek antler-hunting curbs
Colorado Division of Wildlife officials are proposing a limited season for antler hunting, April 1 through Dec. 31.
Wildlife managers such as J Wenum in Gunnison said that antler collectors so intensely scour ranges for the shed horns, with many beginning as early as late January, that the increasingly popular pursuit has become harmful to wildlife already stressed by winter conditions.
Officials are preparing a paper on a proposed antler-hunting season that will be reviewed by the Wildlife Commission, perhaps at its March 9 meeting, agency spokesman Joe Lewandowski said. Any new rules could take effect April 1, 2007.
Teen arrested in robberies, carjackings
A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with a series of robberies and carjackings in Wheat Ridge, said police spokeswoman Lisa Stigall.
The robber, dubbed the “Burberry Bandit” because of the brand of jacket he typically wore, is suspected in six robberies of convenience stores, gasoline stations and a cigarette store, a carjacking and two attempted carjackings that failed because he couldn’t drive a car with a stick shift, Stigall said.
All of the activity took place between Feb. 10 and Saturday. Police had set up a surveillance team Feb. 17, and the youth was arrested about noon on Sunday in Aurora driving the black Honda Accord he successfully carjacked, she said.
The youth could face charges of aggravated robbery, felony menacing and kidnapping. Stigall said police will recommend that the youth be charged as an adult.
Illinois man dies after skiing into a tree
A 28-year-old man from Illinois died from injuries suffered while skiing at Breckenridge, authorities said Thursday.
Lee Robinson of Decatur, Ill., suffered head injuries after skiiing into a tree on the 4 O’clock trail at the resort on Sunday, Summit County coroner Joanne Richardson said.
Robinson was transferred to Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, where he died Tuesday.
Court backs exclusion of slaying confessions
A federal appeals court has affirmed a lower court’s decision to exclude confessions in a 2003 slaying on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation in Towaoc.
In an opinion issued Tuesday, the 10th U.S. Court of Appeals said law enforcement agents’ promises of leniency had a coercive effect on Leland Jeremy Lopez, who twice confessed to shooting an acquaintance.
Officers misrepresented the strength of the evidence they had against Lopez and promised he would spend six rather than 60 years in prison if he confessed to killing Dalton Box, the opinion said.
Lopez is accused of approaching Box as he left a party and shooting him several times before kicking him in the head, according to the opinion.
Lopez is charged with first- degree murder, and much of the case against Lopez rests on the confessions.
A spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Colorado said prosecutors are “reviewing the court’s decision and the government’s options.”
Cats’ visits to resort worry lynx experts
An endangered species in Colorado is being spotted more frequently, but wildlife officials aren’t pleased.
The officials are suspicious that three Canada lynx are being fed by residents of the upscale resort Mountain Village and that’s why the normally elusive cats that range over a large area have been around so much.
“A female and her two kittens are now staying almost exclusively in the Mountain Village area,” said Tanya Shenk, a Colorado Division of Wildlife biologist and lynx specialist.
Feeding wild animals causes them to lose their ability to hunt and lose their fear of humans and brings them into contact with people, said Joe Lewandowski, Division of Wildlife spokesman in Durango.
Calls from slopes up for rescue group
This season, reports of lost skiers or snowboarders have been more numerous than normal for the Summit Rescue Group.
The all-volunteer group has been put on standby on at least 10 separate occasions and was called out three times by local resorts for searches, including a false alarm Monday for a missing snowboarder at Breckenridge Ski Resort, according to spokesman Mike Schmitt.
He said the workload has been balanced by a lower-than- average number of other typical winter emergencies.
