Colorado Hunting News

The Colorado Division of Wildlife is seeking volunteers to help reduce the number of bear/people conflicts in the Durango area.

We seek volunteers with excellent people skills to put up signs, distribute brochures, talk to people door-to-door and initiate other bear outreach to the public. Volunteers will follow protocol established by DOW and work closely with local wildlife officers.

Mandatory training for all new and returning Bear Aware volunteers, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Monday Aug. 6.

Call Jennifer Kleffner at (970)375-6704 for more information or to sign up.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife recently completed its annual search for lynx kittens. No dens with kittens were found this year.

Although disappointing, the result was not completely unexpected given the biology of lynx and snowshoe hares, their primary prey item. DOW biologists and researchers believe that the lack of lynx reproduction is most likely due to a decline in snowshoe hare numbers. A decline in the number of snowshoe hares might be part of a natural cycle in hare abundance. In Canada, it is well known that the population of lynx fluctuates with the cycles of snowshoe hare population. No formal studies have been conducted to determine if snowshoe hare populations fluctuate in Colorado.
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Nearly 20 different organizations and agencies signed an agreement yesterday pledging to work together to provide recreational shooting opportunities along Colorado’s Front Range.

The U. S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Colorado Wildlife Federation, National Wild Turkey Federation, Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW), Colorado State Parks and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, are just some of the organizations that agreed to work together in order to provide safe and sustainable recreational shooting opportunities.
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Wildlife and public lands managers are urging campers and anglers to be vigilant to prevent bears, skunks, rodents and other wildlife from being attracted to campsites and fishing areas in Colorado.

Recently, at Haviland Lake north of Durango bears have been attracted to piles of fish guts, bait, food and trash left on the bank by anglers and other people using the lake. If fish are cleaned on the bank of a lake or river, anglers should dispose of the waste at the campground dumpster or at home. No trash of any kind should be left on the ground in forest lands.
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On Tuesday, July 2, the Colorado Wildlife Commission approved regulations pertaining to feral hogs, including the adoption of a definition of “feral hogs” and provisions for legal take of such hogs. Feral hogs can cause significant wildlife habitat damage and have been declared by the Wildlife Commission to be detrimental to Colorado’s wildlife. Many other states are trying to control or eliminate feral hog populations and Colorado wildlife and agriculture officials now have methods to curtail the expansion of these invasive animals into the state.
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The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) has extended the public comment period for the Colorado Greater Sage-Grouse Draft Plan by 30 days to August 31.

Additional information about the plan and the plan itself are available to the public on the DOW Web site at: http://wildlife.state.co.us by clicking on wildlife species, species of concern, birds, greater sage-grouse and greater sage-grouse statewide conservation plan on the left hand side of the screen. The DOW has received several requests to extend the comment period on the draft plan due to the size of the document and the amount of detailed information to review. Comments in electronic format are preferred and can be e-mailed to pam.schnurr@state.co.us.
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The “Walk-in Access Program” sponsored by the Colorado Division of Wildlife to provide hunters access to private land to hunt small game is expanding to western Colorado.

Property owners who participate in the program are eligible to earn from $1 to $5 per acre depending on the amount of property available for hunting and the species. In southwest Colorado the DOW is asking property owners to consider providing access for spring turkey hunting, small game hunting and waterfowl hunting. In some cases, enrolling waterfowl hunting land can result in a significantly higher rental payment.
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