The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved a new West Slope mountain lion management plan, including a provision allowing limited use of electronic calls that one commissioner argues goes against the concept of fair chase.
The commission approved the plan this week after CPW staff removed another element from a draft version of the plan that would have allowed lion hunting in the Glenwood Springs area in a new October/November season concurrent with fall rifle-hunting seasons for big game. That provision was dropped after concerns were raised, including by at least one CPW commissioner, that it could result in hunters taking female lions with juveniles still dependent on them.
Under the new plan, which covers at least the next 10 years, CPW will manage lions on a more regional rather than local level, to reflect factors such as lions’ high level of mobility. It seeks to have relatively stable populations in both the northern and southern regions of the West Slope, except in the Glenwood Springs area, where CPW has concerns about a high number of lion sightings and potentially dangerous human-lion encounters.
The Glenwood Springs special management area aside, the plan establishes a 2021-22 hunting harvest goal of 243 lions for the northwest region, and 185 in the southwest region, compared to a 2018-19 harvest limit of 317 for northwest Colorado and 194 in southwest Colorado. In those regions, the plan also seeks to limit adult females to no more than 22% of all lions taken per year, and it takes into consideration total lion mortality from factors such as vehicle strikes and removal of lions that prey on livestock.
However, in the greater Glenwood Springs area, including most of the Roaring Fork Valley and parts of the Eagle Valley south of Interstate 70, the harvest limit is being raised from 21 lions to 33. And while CPW has backed away from the October/November hunting season for that special management area, the commission agreed with its staff’s recommendation to allow the use of electronic calls there, and also in a portion of southwest Colorado near the Utah border where various factors have made lion hunting more challenging.
Lion hunters already can use mouth calls, but that brings lions to where the hunters are, making it possible for the lions to see them and also potentially endangering hunters. Hunters can use electronic calls to attract a lion to a location away from them through the use of speakers, and to imitate the calls of different prey animals. And because the lion is less likely to see a hunter, the hunter can have more time to determine the animal’s gender and if it has any dependent young before deciding whether to harvest the animal, according to CPW staff.
But CPW Commissioner Jay Tutchton said electronic calls run contrary to CPW’s policy on fair chase when it comes to hunting.
“Fair chase principles are vital to getting the nonhunting majority to accept what we do,” said Tutchton, who said lion hunting in general is far from supported by the majority of state residents.
He was unable to get a majority of commissioners to back his motion to remove the electronic-call provision from the plan.
Commissioners heard from members of various interest groups and the public at large that opposed either the use of electronic calls or lion-hunting at large. Katie Dolan of Edwards, which is part of the new Glenwood-region special management area, said many of her neighbors “overwhelmingly desire nonlethal management of lions,” and are interested in learning more “about coexistence with cougars.”
Robin Knox, board president of the Colorado Wildlife Federation, praised the overall lion plan but told commissioners his group generally doesn’t favor allowing electronic calls.
“Many of our longtime hunters feel that it does create a not-so-good impression of hunting,” he said.
Cory Chick, southwest regional manager for CPW, told the commission, “Our attempt is to be very careful in how we’re trying to potentially implement this.”
CPW staff say 12 of 15 states and Canadian provinces that have lion populations and responded to a survey said they allow hunting lions using electronic calls. CPW plans to review the use of the calls after five years.
CPW Commissioner Betsy Blecha said the commission wouldn’t be doing its due diligence if it didn’t consider the use of electronic calls in specific areas to protect citizens and their property.
“I don’t think in any way that this is a wrong way to go about that,” she said.
Commissioner Marie Haskett said she thinks people in the Glenwood Springs area want to see something happen when it comes to lions.
“I do believe that people on the West Slope are very concerned about lions,” she said.
"Electronic" - Google News
September 04, 2020 at 01:15PM
https://ift.tt/2EPaqkJ
Lion management plan approved after debate over electronic calls - The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
"Electronic" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3dmroCo
https://ift.tt/3bbj3jq
No comments:
Post a Comment