RIFLE — The thin orange line of vehicles trailing down the lone passable public access road to the Roan Plateau ferried not a few deer and an occasional elk. All were way over the limit for mud.
Each resembled one of those improbable makeups for a hokey TV commercial, and the occupants hadn’t fared much better – movable parts of the countryside caked to boots and clothing, maybe even some behind the ears.
All of which provided a segue into that eternal debate among big game enthusiasts about preferred conditions in which to hunt. Thing was, the cab of wildlife conservation officer JT Romatzke’s truck didn’t afford much room for controversy.
“I’d rather hunt early when it’s dry,” the veteran warden said, giving an opinion soon to be reinforced by a mucky belly crawl to install tire chains.
Romatzke got no argument from an outdoors writer tagging along on a two-pronged mission to survey the progress of the second- season hunt while also keeping tabs on the Roan’s much-discussed energy development.
The conclusion: Hunters performed well enough in the wake of the season’s first real snowstorm, but the oil and gas boys are faring much better under federal government directives determined to give them everything they want, hang the consequences.
Public outdoor participation both on the Roan Plateau and much of the Piceance Basin to the north – territory covering hundreds of thousands of acres – is hanging by a slender thread. The fate of threatened cutthroat trout in three headwater streams may be even more tenuous once drilling begins on the most disputed part of the terrain.
All-weather access to 54,000 acres of public land atop the plateau and 400,000 more in the Piceance hinge upon use of the Cow Creek Road west of Highway 13. This route crosses land controlled by the EnCana Corporation, a Canadian energy giant that now allows public use on an annual basis. If that permission goes away, so, effectively, all public use also evaporates.
For now, the hunt goes on. Those who stuck it out showed a healthy success rate. Trouble is, many folded their tents once they began to sag from snow.
“We had lots of camps up here before the start of the season. Once the storm hit, a lot of them bailed out,” Romatzke said.
Some departed for good reason. Their pickup bed stuffed with buck deer, three California hunters headed for a processing plant in Rangely. With or without meat, others scrambled for home, eager for a warm bed and a change of clothes.
Their spiritual successors who will invade the northern Colorado woods later this week for the third season likely will find dryer conditions, although this situation might change. The National Weather Service predicts a band of rain and snow showers in the northwest on Friday, lots of sunshine for the weekend and the prospect of more moisture on Monday. The southwest figures to be almost completely dry.
This third wave of hunters will be hard-pressed to match the success of their predecessors during this Nov. 3-9 split, particularly for deer.
“We’re swamped, and they’re still coming in,” said Steve Bobitsky of Rocky Mountain Meats in Denver. Old World Meats, a popular processor in Grand Junction, reported a volume similar to last year, a good season.
Charlie Meyers: 303-954-1609 or cmeyers@denverpost.com
