Measured against the vast panoply of Colorado big-game geography and license opportunity, the pilot program proposed for fourth-season deer in Game Management Unit 63 scarcely forms a blip on the map.
So why has the proposal stirred so much complaint and controversy on the eve of a Nov. 8 decision by the Colorado Wildlife Commission?
The answer doesn’t say much for the impact of letting a few dozen buck tags in a place far away from the state’s population centers. But it speaks volumes about the continuing landowner push for more preferred licenses and a growing public reaction against commercial hunting.
Pressured, as always, by ranchers panting for a bigger share of prized licenses to be sold for big bucks, the Division of Wildlife concocted a scheme last year that would create extra landowner preference tags in three western Colorado units. The greater plan also made license concessions to landowners in eastern Colorado, where virtually all the land is private.
For western Colorado, the notion is to provide more preference licenses to landowners, for sale to the highest bidder, while providing an equal number of public-access licenses to these same private lands.
Acting on this recommendation, the Wildlife Commission approved two pilot programs for elk in Units 1 and 10 in the extreme northwest. These were activated for hunting during the current season. A third proposal, for deer in the southwest, had been pondered for months, culminating in the choice of Unit 63.
Each pilot is reviewed annually and has a term limit of three years. The enabling legislation mandated that all three West Slope plans must be expedited, lest the entire package become void.
Against this sort of pressure, game managers scrambled to find a suitable test unit in the southwest. Trouble is, all deer units in the region are either at or below herd objectives, which flunks a key condition that additional licenses be used expressly for excess animals.
That’s where the machinations, and conflict, began. To dodge that bullet, DOW officials contrived to convert 10 percent of the unit’s current private land-only tags (PLO) to something called preferred private land-only (PPLO).
A resulting public outcry targets the fact that this switch materially increases the landowner allotment past the 15 percent stipulated by law and places undue pressure on large bucks that may have survived earlier hunts.
Under a revised proposal, landowners will get 15 more Unit 63 buck licenses during fourth season 2007, to be used only on private lands; the same number will be issued to public hunters, all for the same private property. Further, the plan allows for 30 tags for youth who also may utilize these private lands, but not in fourth season.
The Colorado Wildlife Federation issued a stern letter of protest to the commission, even as the wildlife agency took steps to tweak some of the more objectional elements of the plan.
Tom Spezze, DOW’s southwest regional manager, assures us that all these PPLO tags must be executed exclusively on the property of the landowner recipients.
The Wildlife Federation, the state’s largest and most respected wildlife watchdog, claims Unit 63 fails to contain the unique characteristics or extra animals required by law. It also fears that DOW will be unable to adequately monitor potential landowner abuses – either in keeping these special license holders on private land or in protecting the interests of the lucky public hunters who draw PPLO tags.
CWF also believes this pilot fails to comply with the statutory requirement of maximizing hunter opportunity.
“If PLO licenses are reduced in the future, which is likely, this pilot will have effectively reduced the opportunity for the average hunter,” the letter asserted.
“We remain concerned that this program may become expanded, adversely affecting public hunter interests on a greater scale. We strongly urge the Division and Commission to hold the line on landowner preference limits.”
In this assertion, CWF speaks for thousands of public hunters everywhere. DOW will host a meeting to discuss the issue at 7 p.m. tonight at Hotchkiss High School. The Wildlife Commission will meet at 8 a.m. Nov. 8 at Cheyenne Mountain Resort, 3225 Broadmoor Valley Road in Colorado Springs.
Let’s hope at least some of them show up to speak for themselves.
