FILING - 1/31/2017 Basis and Purpose Chapter W-2 - Big Game

Basis and Purpose:

These regulations amend Chapter 2 – Big Game – of the Parks and Wildlife Commission Regulations and implement 2017 bighorn sheep and mountain goat license numbers. They also amend season dates for the 2017 big game seasons. These regulations are designed to manage statewide big game herds at herd objective levels and provide a diversity of hunting recreation opportunities for resident and nonresident hunters throughout Colorado; to minimize or control local game damage situations; and to provide opportunity for landowners to cooperatively manage wildlife with the Division. These modifications are the result of extensive public involvement and application of biological information on deer, elk, pronghorn, bear and moose. All regulation changes are based on the best available biological information and are designed to manage big game herds towards stated objectives and to ensure long- term viability. Specific changes include:

Big Game Baiting Baiting can be extremely detrimental to big game populations from a disease standpoint, as it is not natural for big game animals to congregate in large numbers and touch nose to nose while feeding. Hunting over bait also constitutes a fair chase issue for hunters and for hunting in general.

Baiting for big game, especially during the archery season, has risen exponentially statewide in the last 10 years. Previous regulations made it unlawful to bait big game, but did not specifically prohibit a person from hunting over a baited site. For big game species other than black bear, officers had to first prove that the hunter placed, disposed, or scattered the bait themselves. Adding a regulation that prohibits anyone from hunting big game over bait (whether they put it there or not) makes it easier for officers to enforce a “no baiting” regulation. A definition of bait has also been added to the regulations for further guidance and clarification.

Exempting Private RFW Archery Hunters from the Fluorescent Orange or Pink Requirement CPW regulation #210.D.4.a establishes that all private and public Ranching for Wildlife licenses will be issued as rifle licenses. As such, holders of these licenses were required by regulation #209.E.1 to wear daylight fluorescent orange or pink while hunting, regardless of manner of take. A provision is provided in #210.D.4.a that allows for the creation of additional public hunting opportunity for more restrictive manner of take, which could be used to allow public RFW hunters in a defined RFW public archery season to hunt without wearing daylight fluorescent orange or pink garments. No similar provision is provided for private RFW licenses.

This regulatory change to #209.E.1 allows private voucher archers on any RFW property to be exempt from the hunter orange/pink garment requirement without the creation of any ranch-specific private voucher season(s). All private RFW vouchers will remain rifle licenses, allowing the hunter to select manner of take. The garment exemption would only apply for a private voucher hunter while hunting with archery equipment.

Combining Units S-5 and S-60 Previously Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep GMU S-5 was not hunted due to its small population size while neighboring GMU S-60 had 2 rifle licenses allocated each year. Recent CPW survey and radio collar data indicates that sheep, particularly rams, regularly move back and forth across the S-60/S-5 boundary. Combining S-5 with the S-60 hunt code will allow S-60 hunters to also hunt in S-5, increasing opportunity.

Combining Units S-78 and S-12 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep DAU RBS-05 consists of GMUs S-12, S-39, and S-78. Hunting licenses were previously issued for S-12 and for S-39, but not for S-78. CPW survey data indicates that sheep, particularly rams, regularly move back and forth across the S-12/S-78 boundary. Given the apparent

1 crossover of sheep across the GMU boundaries, including S-78 within the S-12 hunt code will allow S-12 hunters to also hunt in S-78 providing more hunting opportunity.

Combining Units S-29 and S-30 Over the past several years, opportunity to harvest sheep in unit S-29 has declined significantly. Three of the last four successful applicants in this unit have turned in their licenses and requested refunds after exhaustive scouting efforts showed little or no quality rams available for harvest. Recent successful license applicants have expressed disappointment and frustration about spending money, effort, and a considerable amount of time scouting in S-29, only to discover a subsequent lack of opportunity to harvest a quality ram. Numerous sheep counts and a collaring study being conducted by CPW have corroborated these concerns. Combining the bighorn ram license in S-29 with the S-30 license will enable hunters to hunt in both units, providing adequate hunter opportunity until sheep populations recover in S- 29.

Date Modifications for S-57 The previous archery season for S-57 ran from the day after Labor Day through the first weekend in October. Watchable wildlife visitation to the area is high during that time period due to elk rutting behavior in the Estes Valley. Bighorn ram hunters have expressed concerns about the volume of people also viewing bighorns during the season and non-consumptive users have complained about bighorn hunters conducting normal hunting activities. In three of the last four years, hunters have required CPW staff assistance to retrieve harvested bighorns.

In an effort to reduce the probability of conflicts among bighorn hunters and other users and to improve the hunting experience for bighorn hunters, the S-57 bighorn season has been moved to the month of December. The potential for conflicts between hunters and non-consumptive users is still present in December, but not at the level present in September and October. Because male and female bighorn occur together during the month of December, the ram season will start one week earlier than the ewe season in order to reduce crowding between ram and ewe hunters.

Addition of Female-Only Licenses in G-7 Female-only licenses were experimentally implemented in both G-15, to the north of G-7, and G-16, to the south of G-7 in 2010.Female-only mountain goat licenses have been implemented to successfully manage mountain goat population abundance, while maintaining/increasing the male age structure of those populations. Due to consistent movement of mountain goats between G-7 and G-16 and to further aid in efforts to increase the age structure of males in both GMUs and more effectively manage population abundance, female-only licenses have now been added in GMU G-7. In addition to the above population management benefits of female-only licenses, female-only licenses also provide mountain goat hunters with another alternative license type, which is typically easier to draw.

Modification of the G-11 Sub-Unit Boundaries Previously, the sub-unit descriptions for mountain goat GMU G-11 were unintentionally ambiguous. A pair of trail/road intersections that were described actually existed in two disparate locations within the same GMU. This led to hunter and law enforcement confusion when interpreting the boundary. The new sub- unit descriptions do not dramatically change the effective size or arrangement of the two sub-units but do provide clarification to our customers and staff.

Addition of a 2 nd Rifle Goat Season in G-12 The goat population in GMU G-12 has been increasing over the past several decades. This herd overlaps the indigenous bighorn sheep populations in GMU S-13 and S-25. Due to concerns about competition between goats and sheep, the stated objective for G-12 has been “to significantly reduce or eliminate goats from this area to prevent competition with native sheep”.

CPW has been slowly increasing the goat license quota in G-12 from 5 licenses in 2008, up to 30 licenses in 2016. In 2015, a nanny-only huntcode was also instituted in addition to the existing either-sex huntcode in order to further target nannies in the harvest. Despite these efforts, the goat population in G-12 continues to increase dramatically. To allow further increases in the license quota without creating hunter

2 crowding issues, the previous month-long season has been split into two non-overlapping seasons of 15- 20 days each. Most successful hunters are able to fill their tags within only 2-3 days of hunting.

Making Bear Licenses is DAUs B-1 and B-17 List B Licenses Black bear license numbers in DAU B-1 (GMUs 21, 22, 30, 31, and 32) and DAU B-17(GMUs 41, 42, 52, 53, 63, 411, 421, and 521) have been increased incrementally since 2008. The goal has been to reduce these bear populations and to indirectly reduce the number of human-bear conflicts. This approach provides opportunities for bears to be harvested by hunters rather than killed for conflict or as road kills. As each successive license quota increase has occurred, the percentage of available license quota that is sold annually has declined indicating that quotas have exceeded the demand for these licenses. By making all bear licenses in DAUs B-1 and B-17 List B, this will allow interested hunters to have up to 2 bear licenses at a time. This could increase bear harvest, decrease crowding by allowing a single individual to harvest two bears, and achieve more complete sales of the annual license quota.

Reinstating Late Antlerless Deer Rifle Seasons in GMUs 87 and 88 Recently there have been no antlerless deer rifle hunt codes in the late season for GMUs 87 and 88. However, the DAU is reaching population objective, and again is able to provide some antlerless hunting opportunity in both the late rifle seasons.

Removal of Hunt Code DF711P5R Based on declining mule deer numbers, decreased game damage conflicts, and only 20 licenses previously allocated to this hunt code, eliminating hunt code DF711P5R should have minimal impacts on hunters. The elimination of this hunt code also aligns with area management goals and reduces pressure on mule deer on both private agricultural lands and on the large tracts of private land that are encumbered by national forest.

Removal of Hunt Code EF 711P5R This PLO season was a redundancy that spanned all four regular rifle seasons, including the breaks in between seasons. The elimination of this hunt code helps reduce the number of hunt codes for the GMU without impacting hunter opportunity. There is still a PLO antlerless season for 1st and 4th rifle seasons, in which the 10 licenses from the eliminated hunt code could be redistributed to if necessary. Both antlered and antlerless licenses are also available during 2nd and 3rd rifle seasons, and game damage situations can be handled on a case-by-case basis by issuing damage licenses if needed.

Changes to Elk Licenses in DAU E-23 Elk population E-23 (GMUs 59, 511, 512, 581 and 591) has steadily declined in recent years due to heavy cow harvest. The population is currently within the population objective range, but will decline below objective without reductions in cow harvest. In recent years, approximately 240 cows were harvested annually in the DAU, with approximately 30 of those coming from hunt code EE059O1M (100 licenses offered) and another 30 coming from hunt code EF000U1A (average 435 hunters annually). Also, all antlerless licenses in the DAU were previously List B. In an effort to reduce cow harvest and stabilize the population at objective, all E23 antlerless licenses have been converted to List A, hunt code EE059O1M has been converted to EM059O1M (bull only), and all E23 units have been removed from the unlimited antlerless archery hunt code.

Removal of Over-the-Counter with Caps Huntcode EM054U2R Beginning in 2010, wildlife managers in the Gunnison Basin began aggressively working towards reducing the elk population in DAU E-41 (GMU 54). Limited archery and muzzle-loader licenses, Either- sex licenses, List B and List C cow licenses, late seasons, and expanded private land opportunities were all tools that were used as part of the effort to harvest elk in this DAU. At that time, as an alternative to totally limited licenses, wildlife managers experimented with a combination of limited seasons, Over-the- Counter (OTC) seasons, and an Over-the-Counter-with-Caps option for the second combined rifle season. At this time local managers feel like elk numbers have been successfully reduced and that certain hunt codes and strategies are no longer necessary for elk management purposes.

3 Adjacent DAU E-43, Game Management Units 55 & 551, both offer OTC bull licenses for the 2nd and 3rd combined seasons. Removal of the OTC with Caps 2nd season hunt code in GMU 54 reduces regulatory complexity and establishes consistency across the northern Gunnison Basin.

Boundary Modification for Hunt Code EF072P5R The EF072P5R boundary has been modified to focus hunting pressure on private property where the majority of conflicts occur. Restricting hunting in GMU 711 to west and south of the Dolores River in Dolores County only will help concentrate hunting pressure on private agricultural lands and better serve the intent of this hunt code in reducing game damage conflicts. The area east of the Dolores River, is primarily public land, with some private land interspersed. Since the intent of this hunt code was to create added pressure on elk in agricultural areas prone to game damage, it is logical to remove the portion of GMU 711 that has none of these conflicts, less privately held land, and a higher population of elk that reside within the area where we are managing for them.

Extending Season Dates for Hunt Code AF110L1R After two consecutive years of good moisture in 2014 and 2015, pronghorn DAU PH-8 experienced excellent fawn production. The antelope population in this DAU is now well above objective (2016 Post- Hunt Population Projection = 12,800 pronghorn). In response, license numbers have been doubled in the DAU (from 1,725 licenses in 2014 to 3,450 in 2016). Even with the addition of licenses, the herd is predicted to stabilize or continue to increase. Additional doe harvest will be needed to bring the population closer to objective. Extending the December season to be a month long will allow landowners to accommodate more hunters without overcrowding, particularly in a unit that is almost exclusively private land.

New Private Land Only Pronghorn Licenses in GMU 135 GMU 135 is one of the only GMUs within DAU PH-7 with public lands and is therefore popular with pronghorn hunters (reflected in the number of preference points required to get a buck license). PH-7 is also over on both the population and sex ratio objectives. Therefore, increased harvest is desired, but there is concern that the addition of general licenses into GMU 135 will increase pressure on public lands. Creating a set of PLO hunt codes will add additional harvest on private lands and change the harvest distribution away from the public lands. This will also offer people with access to private property a chance to draw a Unit 135 license with fewer preference points.

New Late Rifle Doe Pronghorn Season in GMU 951 In pronghorn DAU PH-1 (GMUs 87, 88, and 951) game damage claims are currently not significant, but very localized concentrations of pronghorn in winter can create significant losses for individual landowners. There have been large concentrations of pronghorn in GMUs 87 and 88 on certain pieces of winter wheat which have required staff hazing to alleviate landowner concerns. Adding a late rifle PLO doe season in GMU 951 will provide consistency across the DAU and will provide landowners/managers in 951 with an option for redistributing/harvesting pronghorn on private land that may be causing damage after the regular rifle seasons have concluded.

Special Seasons and Licenses for Managing Urban/Suburban Deer and Elk Populations The unique challenges of managing urban/suburban deer and elk populations prompted this regulation change to create licenses to be issued to counties or municipalities. These licenses will be utilized to aid counties and municipalities in working collaboratively with CPW to develop and effect hunter harvest based management plans addressing specific conflicts associated with these species.

Hunting based herd management is often limited by restrictions stemming from county or municipal ownership or regulations. Addressing these issues in cooperation with local governments who represent the publics most affected by these conflicts via management plans will eliminate many of the barriers that historically prohibited management of these herds. Management plans will be developed by the local county or municipality with technical assistance provided by CPW. A critical component of developing these management plans is providing sufficient hunting licenses to allow management plan implementation.

4 Cities and counties will control access to their properties and exemptions to their regulatory restrictions and issue these 271.E licenses in a manner similar to game damage dispersal licenses given to agricultural producers. Licenses will be accounted for during big game herd population modeling and will be compatible with Herd Management Plan (DAU) objectives.

The primary statutory authority for these regulations can be found in § 24-4-103, C.R.S., and the state Wildlife Act, §§ 33-1-101 to 33-6-209, C.R.S., specifically including, but not limited to: §§ 33-1- 106, C.R.S.

EFFECTIVE DATE - THESE REGULATIONS SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE MARCH 2, 2017 AND SHALL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT UNTIL REPEALED, AMENDED OR SUPERSEDED.

APPROVED AND ADOPTED BY THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO THIS 11TH DAY OF JANUARY, 2017.

APPROVED: James C. Pribyl Chairman

ATTEST: Michelle Zimmerman Secretary

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