Conference vmsnet::hunting$note:hunting

 It seems to me that if I were to travel as far as Colorado to hunt deer,
I'd certainly want to be able to do so for more than three days. What if
it was crappy weather all three days? I'm sh!t outta luck? No thanks.
Besides, why should it cost $150 to hunt deer for 3 days? Is it really worth
~2x the price of an out of state Pennsylvania license, where you are
virtually assured of bagging a deer? (And the season lasts longer.)

 The Doctah

My understanding was that you could hunt buck and doe for the first 3 days, and
then only doe after that.   The seasons themselves are longer than 3 days,
though.  It wasn't explained very well to me, so I'm not sure.  

	Most hunters aren't happy about it, but it was supposed to be in 
response to the complaints by hunters about the lack of buck deer in Colorado. 


Steve

>>My understanding was that you could hunt buck and doe for the first 3 days, and
>>then only doe after that.   The seasons themselves are longer than 3 days,
>>though.  It wasn't explained very well to me, so I'm not sure.  

As I understand it, antlerless and either sex permits will be available
on a drawing basis.  If you hold one of these permits, you may hunt
deer after the the third day.  However, you will not be allowed to
take a buck after the third day, regardless of the permit you hold.

Jerry

    Jerry,
    
    Good note..The way I see it; Colorado stands to loose a TON of cash,
    due to the new regs.. I called the D.O.W about the Deer season.The way 
    it will goes something like this.  
    
    If an either sex tag is drawn,  one can hunt Buck and Doe for the first
    three days;  After that, only Doe can be harvested for the remander of
    the particular season being hunted.  
    
    This info. doesn't include the deer hunts East of I-25.  I forgot to
    ask.  Sorry.
    
    Jeff 

    Also, I believe they have removed antler restrictions?? I believe the
    part of the DOW's new Deer season strategy is to take some of the
    presure off the state's trophy bucks. 
    
    I tend to agree that the DOW will loose money with Deer. However If
    you notices they raised the prices of '92 licences (small game/fishing
    ect). Also the DOW  has always made more money than the DOW spending
    ceiling so I don't believe they really care if they loose money. Like
    it or not its here for the next three years.
    
    Peter
                                                 

>>                     <<< Note 1115.5 by CSC32::P_HIROSS >>>
>>                       -< No antler restrictions either >-

>>    Also, I believe they have removed antler restrictions?? I believe the

The antler restriction for deer has been removed in all but a few
GMUs.  The areas which which will still have the point restriction are
the Grand Mesa units, and a few units east of there.  I spoke with
one of the DOW biologists who works one of these units, and he told
me that they believe that the point restriction is working.  So, the
idea is to use these units as a control to try to determine if the
point restriction is really working.

Jerry

    
    
     I think something needs to be done. There are not enough bucks around.
    I went up to Craig this weekend with Dave() for a damage hunt for
    deer. We drove about six miles around the area we were to shoot a
    doe in and saw at least 200 does and 8 bucks. None of the bucks
    were big ones, most were fork horns and 2 maybe small 4 pointers.
    That's not a good buck to doe ratio.
    
    But allot of the does did have fawns. Those 8 must of had some fun.
    
    Mark
    

	Jerry, I'll put in my $0.02 to your questions.

	
>>With this information in mind, I have a question for all non-Colorado
>>hunters.  Would you come to Colorado to hunt deer?  If you came for
>>elk, would you drop the extra $150 for a deer tag?  If the seasons
>>were as before, would it make a difference?

	Basically I would have loved to go to CO, and in particular
	I would have loved to come for a mule deer hunt - elk being
	such a dicey proposition (pure statistics here). However, now
	I would have to make a choice of going somewhere else - WY, say -
	where the season is longer. Even if the trophy quality is 
	1st class in CO (or was?) the length of the season has to
	be a consideration when one chooses what the overall chances
	are. Right?
	
	If I did go for elk, 3 days would seem like a bad chance for a 
	150$ licence - again I could do better in other states chance wise. 
	Can you hunt deer in more than one of the new 3 day seasons now?

	Another thing is, I don't know about you guys, but I have the
	feeling that too many herds have been managed for quantity
	in the past. Obviously this management form has been immensely
	successful - just look at the numbers from 50 years ago and today.
	But maybe now the time has come to start looking at quality
	as a management goal - from what I hear CO has been succesful
	with their minimum points requirements for elk. It did not work
	for the deer, so maybe they should try something else. I'm not
	saying that the new season requirements are a good way to go, nor the
	only way... 

>>What I'm wondering is if the new 3-day seasons is going to cost the
>>DOW big time in lost deer license revenue, particularly from out-of-state
>>hunters.

	Probably no doubt about the DOW loosing money. The question 
	to me is: will it be worth it if they have picked the right
	management philosophy for a limited amount of years?

								- Mike

	So what's the score? Any news on the effect the 3 day limitations
	(in each of the general seasons) had on:

	- the number of bucks taken (lower I assume) - in comparison
	  to last season
	- overall number of deer taken
	- DOW's assessment of whether the limitations seems to work
	- loss of income for the licenses

	and most importantly:

	- is it forseen that next (1993) season will also be limited like
	  this year's ??

	Cheers		Mike_who_is_still_hoping_to_go_to_CO_some_day :-)

>>         <<< Note 1115.9 by DECALP::HOHWY "Just another Programmer" >>>
>>                            -< The results in yet? >-

>>	So what's the score? Any news on the effect the 3 day limitations
>>	(in each of the general seasons) had on:

Mike,

Still too early to tell.  There were some late seasons so the final
numbers are probably just now being counted.  It is usually April/May
before official numbers are released.

Jerry

I read that the Commission is re-evaluating the the three-day buck seasons
and a finl decision will be made at the March 1993 Commission meeting.