The pheasant season opener is expected to arrive with a bang at sunrise Saturday in northeast Colorado, as hunters look to continue a streak of quality harvests considered among the best in history.
“The northeast won’t be as good as last year, but it will probably be as good as it was two years ago,” said Bob Hix, regional representative for Pheasants Forever. “But the last two years combined have been some of the best we’ve ever seen, and last year might have been as good as it’s been in 20 years.”
There are a couple of caveats, including sporadic hail damage and drought conditions in the south.
“Everything south of I-70 is in pretty bad shape because of the drought,” Hix said.
If you haven’t done your pre- hunt homework by now, hail damage is just one of a few considerations to keep in mind. With a lot of corn still standing in the fields, hunters planning to take advantage of the state’s Walk-In Access (WIA) program are reminded that grass sprinkler corners adjacent to irrigated cornfields are closed to WIA hunting when landowners are actively harvesting crops.
“There are a lot of new people using the program now that it’s free,” Hix said. “But it’s still private land, and you have to ask permission to hunt it when that corn is still in the field. Let them get their crops in, then come back after Thanksgiving and ask to hunt.”
In most cases, corners will only be closed for a couple of days while the landowner completes harvest. Adhering to the temporary closure will help maintain working relations with landowners needed to keep the productive habitat open to public walk-in hunting.
Christo on way.
Monday’s approval by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar of Christo’s “Over the River” project would seem to seal the deal for the $50 million plan to temporarily suspend a series of fabric panels above portions of the Arkansas River between Salida and Cañon City. After clearing the environmental impact statement hurdle, approval from Chaffee and Fremont counties is all that remains.
Well, that and the outcome of at least one and potentially other lawsuits emanating from environmental organizations and local commercial outfitters opposed to the three-year project.
The art project is the first in history to pass through the EIS process, according to Christo, and was approved by the Bureau of Land Management despite a unanimous recommendation to deny it by the former Colorado Wildlife Commission last spring. The BLM was satisfied with mitigation efforts designed to protect wildlife throughout Big Horn Sheep Canyon and the surrounding river corridor while hundreds of steel cables and thousands of anchor points are positioned to suspend the fabric panels above the river for 5.9 miles.
The long-term impacts to the popular trout stream still recovering from prior industrial ravage won’t be known for years; the economic impacts of the project are estimated at $121 million.
” ‘Over the River’ will bring tremendous cultural and economic benefits to Colorado and Coloradans and valuable exposure to our state’s natural beauty,” Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said in the announcement.
Wild places.
Take away the “artistic” component, and the same might be said for the latest announcement from Trout Unlimited and Field & Stream magazine naming the six fishing and hunting destinations in America qualifying as the Best Wild Places for 2011. Two of them are found in Colorado, shining light on both the natural beauty and the conservation needs of each spot.
The White River in northwest Colorado was selected for its great public hunting and fishing despite what TU calls “threats from poorly conceived oil and natural gas drilling.”
The Dolores River in southwest Colorado was selected as a “high-functioning fishery and likely the best habitat available for elk in the state of Colorado.”
TU hopes to preserve the upper Dolores by identifying high- quality habitat for permanent protection and working with landowners to install conservation easements in order to keep private land along the river intact and a functioning part of the river’s ecosystem.
Check out the write-ups by local fishing editor Kirk Deeter of Conifer at .
