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Colorado Trappers & Predator Hunters Association

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

The biggest snows of the season came this week with over 30” at our house and 3 days without power which caused a significant backlog on communications with meetings, emails and outreach coming to a grinding halt and with the power coming back on last night the backlog has increased exponentially, setting up the perfect storm for a week of hell for the 3rd week of March.

You are likely getting ready to or have already completed your taxes. Your Big Game Applications have been submitted and you are starting to tend to the garden, spring cleaning, trimming trees and getting your power equipment all lined up.

If you have not kept apprised of our landscape with the Legislature and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission you probably have saved some brain power but either way you would have ended up bewildered and pissed off.

With the general landscape of the Commission being unknowing Commissioners that are becoming more animal activist oriented, cultural assessments, Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity, the talk of Beaver Bans, Prairie Dog Restrictions, Preference Point Issues, Mountain Lion Management Plans, Wolverines, Bison, Wolves, Over the Counter Restrictions, Non-Residents Allocations, Real Game Wardens Retiring, a lack of Leadership, fear mongering, staff muzzling, Predators being pedestalized while Hunters are bastardized are just some of the issues that are helping the Governor and the First Gentleman accomplish complete disarray.

Additionally, the General Assembly is not a hell of a lot different and by the time that you read this, some of the legislation likely would have already passed putting you all on the verge of becoming criminals. You might have paid attention to some, but if you didn’t and they passed, welcome to the real world.

Below is a list of Bills in the General Assembly that are up for consideration or depending on when you read this might have already been introduced and failed (not likely) or have already passed but if you are interested at all you can google the Bill numbers and find out where they are in the process and what they actually entail.

SB24-003 CBI Authority to Investigate Firearms

SB24-066 Merchant Category Codes for Firearms

HB24-1174 Conceal Carry Permits and Training

SB24-131 Prohibiting Carrying Firearms in Sensitive Spaces

HB24-1270 Firearm Owner Liability Insurance

HB24-1292 Assault Weapons Ban

HB24-1310 Firearms on School Grounds

HB24-1348 Safe Storage in Vehicles

HB24-1349 Guns and Ammo Tax

HB24-1353 State License for Gun Shops

HB24-0324 Wildlife Coexistent

SB24-135 State Agency Reporting Requirements

HB24-1117 Parks and Wildlife Invertebrate Oversight

HB24-1178 Local Authority Pesticide Applications

SB24-026 Commission Engagement

SB24-058 Landowner Liability Signage

SB24-171 Introduction of Wolverines

SB24-161 Concerning Parks & Wildlife Licenses

And as of right now we have 7 weeks left to the Legislative session. While you might think that none of this effects you, it effects all of you.

Between the Commission and the Legislature the only chance that we have in holding the line is to show up. Write letters. Make phone calls. Contact your Legislators. If you don’t know what State Senate or House District you live in or who your elected officials are find out!

All of this coupled with the upcoming Ballot Initiative for this November to Ban the Harvest of Bobcats and Mountain Lions can not be done by a few small groups.

The Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management has made monumental progress in laying out a plan to defeat the proposed Hunting Ban and if you have not engaged or kept up on the issue go to, savethehuntcolorado.com to become educated, watch the videos and Donate. You can also purchase Raffle Tickets for a Mountain Lion Hunt and Life Size Mount along with tickets that are available for a Gunwerks 7PRC Rifle with a Custom Scope. Both of these packages are valued at over $15,000 and all of the proceeds go to Saving the Hunt in Colorado. Both of the links on the Website will take you to the SCI Chapter page that is running the On-Line Raffle.

For additional information you can go to wildlifedeservebetter.com which is the Issues Committee that CRWM and dozens and dozens of other organizations and entities are working with to Defeat these extremist measures and stop them in their tracks.

Check out c.r.w.m on Instagram and the Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management on Facebook and don’t forget to check out Coloradotrapper.com.

Make sure to attend Sportsman Day at the Capitol April 18th for those of you that are seeing this before then.

Also, Outdoorsman Days is at Pathfinder Regional Park August 9th and 10th in Florence, Colorado and while last year was a giant success, this year will be monumental itself as there is tons of Sponsors and the Guest Attendees include World Renown Bowhunter Cameron Hanes; Denver Bronco Super Bowl Winner/Outdoorsman Extraordinaire Derek Wolfe; Laramy “Sasquatch” Miller; Mountain Men TV Series Ray Livingston; World