After decades of unlimited bagging of furbearing species, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission limited daily bagging to two of each species per day on Thursday at its meeting at the Sky Ute Casino Resort in Ignacio.
The decision came after a push to implement a “socially acceptable” limit on furbearer bag limits. CPW defines furbearers as species with fur that have commercial value and provide opportunity for sport harvest. There are 17 furbearer species in Colorado, including coyotes, pine martens, beavers, opossums and bobcats.
The CPW Commission voted to implement a limit of two per species per day. Before the Thursday decision, there was no limit in place. According to the CPW, the unlimited bagging policy had little effect on the overall populations of furbearing species. However, the CPW staff still presented the commission with two options.
Alternative 1 set a daily bag limit of 15 for all furbearer species.
Alternative 2 applied a two-tiered approach:
“The division has not yet set a daily bag limit for furbearers because there has not been a biological or management reason to do so,” said Matt Eckert, deputy assistant director of the terrestrial branch for CPW.
According to the CPW, the three-year observed average harvest for each species was significantly lower than the maximum allowable harvest to keep populations at stable and sustainable levels – even with unlimited daily bag limits in place.
In March, the commission asked CPW staff to provide a proposal for a daily bag limit under 15. Eckert said CPW believes there is no need for a more restrictive limit, but to appeal to the commission, the department provided the second two-tiered option, though low bag limits could harm avid fur harvesters.
“We keep talking about how there’s no biological reason to have low bag limits, but I think it’s also important to mention there’s no biological reason to have high bag limits either,” said Commissioner Rebecca Niemiec.
The conversation on bag limits carried on for most of Thursday afternoon. Commissioners and members of the public expressed concerns over high bag limits and the ethics of trapping and fur harvesting, as well as potential adverse effects on species populations.
The commission was split, with no clear consensus on bag limits coming to the forefront of the conversation. Public attendance was also split, with many attendees expressing frustration over potential low limits and others opposing both options presented by CPW.
“We not only believe Alternative 1 is sufficient, but after today’s presentation it is far past sufficient,” said Reece Melton, the natural resources manager for Rio Blanco County, arguing for the installation of the bag limit of 15.
Samantha Miller, the senior carnivore campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, strongly disagreed.
“Is my opportunity to see a fox with my child less valuable than a trapper’s opportunity to kill that fox and sell it for its fur?” she asked commissioners.
Miller said in an interview she was satisfied with the commission setting the daily bag limit to two.
“I think that two is reasonable as far as the bag limit that was set, and I think it’s really important for people to remember that ‘two’ is every single day of the season,” she said.
Miller said she attends every commission meeting. John Allis, a liaison for the United Houndsmen of Colorado, said he does the same. Allis, however, was not as pleased with the commission’s decision.
“This trend lately for the commission to go against their staff recommendation is just really disheartening,” Allis said. “I just don’t appreciate the way they treat their staff. These are good, hardworking people, and they’re making decisions that aren’t in the best interest of wildlife.”
Commissioner Tai Jacober expressed similar confusion before the commission voted to set the bag limit to 2, which fit neither alternative proposed by staff.
“I’m perplexed because throughout these comments there was a large portion of the commissioners that understand these bag limits have no implications on the take, have no implications on the population,” he said. “So why are we not just choosing a motion to support the staff and their recommendations?”
The motion to set the bag limit at two passed with six yeses and five nos.
Though Allis was displeased with the decision, he said it will have little effect on him and other more consistent fur harvesters. For infrequent harvesters, on the other hand, the new limit may pose a bigger issue.
“It’s going to limit the guy that maybe only gets two days to go out and hunt, and maybe he calls in three bobcats in one day, or three coyotes in one day, and now he can’t. He can only take two of those,” Allis said.
Regardless of the new bag limit, Ty Petersburg, chief of law enforcement for CPW, said the new limit will be hard to enforce. Petersburg said navigating harvesters who harvest in Colorado and across the border will be difficult, among other concerns.
“I just want to flag the enforceability problem with where we’re going on this. It’s going to be hard, if not nearly impossible, for our officers to do it,” he said.
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