It’s finally here.
Like today’s intersection of the , this Saturday has been circled in red on many an outdoors calendar.
For those lucky enough to draw one of the limited elk hunting licenses for Colorado’s first rifle season, the 30 minutes before sunrise Saturday will provide the long-anticipated opportunity to put all that stuff in the Cabela’s catalog to use. It’s the first of the state’s four primary and hunters standing on the sidelines for their chance to get into the game Oct. 18-26, Nov. 1-9 or Nov. 12-16 will be eagerly awaiting reports from the field.
“The bottom line is that we are all really excited to get things going with all these seasons,” said Andy Holland, big game manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “For those of us on CPW staff and hunters headed out to the field, it’s that exciting time of the year when seasons are turning, and we are all excited to get out and go.”
It’s not only elk hunters holding high expectations for Saturday’s sunrise, however. Colorado’s heavily populated and highly productive northeast region joins the Western Slope (Pacific Flyway) and mountain/foothills zones of the Central Flyway to open roughly three quarters of the state for the first split of . The southeast zone (south of I-70 and east of I-25) fills the final act of the duck bill Oct. 22.
With improved habitat conditions over last year, North America’s spring duck population hit a , according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s annual report on trends in duck-breeding populations. That’s expected to translate to more ducks in the fall flight and a longer season to call them down to decoys. If field reports from last weekend’s opening day in the northern mountain/foothills zone are any indication, waterfowlers north of I-70 have good reason to awaken early Saturday.
“It should be epic,” said Jim Arnold of in Fort Collins. “We already had an unbelievable opener of teal season.”
For those whose aquatic infatuation tends toward the subsurface, the word from CPW biologists is that this Saturday falls during the apex of brown trout spawn ripening. That means the hook-jawed males will likely be as aggressive as ever, and opportunistic egg poachers are likely to be lurking nearby.
While it’s considered bad form to fish over trout actively spawning over the redds, timing of the spawn is not universal, and prespawn fish are generally thought of as fair game. Brown trout cannot spawn successfully in most lakes, so the decision to pursue them is unlikely to have much impact on those fisheries. Anglers should be more conscientious in flowing water and attempt to avoid obvious redds.
River flows remain healthy virtually statewide this October, and fishing action has remained steady since the spring runoff subsided. Now that shotgun and rifle hunting are being added to the fall mix, it’s prime time to add a few check marks alongside that circle on the calendar.
Scott Willoughby: swilloughby@denverpost.com or twitter.com/swilloughby
