• Jack-it Night: April 2024 RS Meeting Hey Guest: Wed. April 3rd is the next Rising Sun meeting, and you won't want to miss it. We're doing our annual offroad recovery equipment demonstration and trail skills training aka "Jack It Night." Meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. (early) Click here for all the details.

Starting Wednesday, you need a hunting or fishing license to hike in Colorado state wildlife areas

IoN6

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Heard rumblings about it and the justification being that those that do not have a license are taking advantage of those that do (and fund the parks).
 

gungriffin

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I was not aware of this. The list of licenses needed to be on and drive public lands is getting a bit high.

Also, I loathe fines that come with surcharges...
 

KC Masterpiece

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May 4, 2019
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Difficult situation.

I hate the idea of a license to use public land.... but hunting is on the decline in the state and that constitutes a huge portion of the department of parks and wildlife's budget. At the same time their revenue is decreasing it also looks like we (not me but most of the state) are going to ask them to reintroduce wolves at an estimated cost of more than 5 million over the next decade. Since that is a "government estimate" its probably on the low end.

I wonder if that had any impact on their decision to require the habitat stamp for some areas.
 

gungriffin

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It isn't that I don't mind contributing, but I don't want it to become too many different items that I need to get every year. I wish that they would just package it with the OHV permit and any other permit that could be needed as a single pay checklist..

When I was younger, my Dad got caught in a situation like this. We went hunting with a friend in a neighboring state. He had the state license, but didn't realize that he also needed a WMA license. We were caught by an officer and it was a ~$120 fine. This was ~1996 in South Carolina and so the fine was also mandatory in cash or he would be placed under arrest until he could pay.
 

Hulk

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I read the article. This doesn't sound like a big deal to me. If you want to go hiking, there are tens of thousands of places in Colorado to do so. This just protects the areas set aside for hunting and fishing for the people who hunt and fish. Seems like responsible management to me.
 
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