DENVER—Two groups representing hunters are warning Colorado’s wildlife commissioners to withdraw their recent vote that restricted the bag limit for furbearer species to two per day, or potentially face a lawsuit.
The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International argue in an August 5 letter to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission that hunters and trappers were deprived of providing public comment when commissioners adopted the two-furbearer daily bag limit that was pushed by one of Gov. Jared Polis’s appointees to the commission.
The letter lays out how the commission gave public notice of two options under consideration: a daily bag limit of 15, or a bag limit of up to eight (or four), depending on the species. However, the limit that commissioners ultimately approved in a 6-5 vote last month was a daily limit of two furbearers.
Fair notice failure
That bag limit was never given adequate public consideration, which the hunting groups argue in the letter violated Colorado’s Administrative Procedure Act, making the commission’s move “legally flawed and vulnerable to legal challenges.”
Colorado previously allowed unlimited take for the state’s 17 furbearer species.
“SCI and SAF object to the adoption of a two-furbearer bag limit because the public was not informed of such a low limit in any way prior to the Commission’s July meeting,” the groups wrote. “Fair notice is fundamental to meaningful public participation. Colorado law requires an agency to publish notice before adopting a proposed rule and specifies what the notice must include.”
The new furbearer limits amount to an 86.7% reduction from the 15-limit proposal and a 75% reduction from the other proposal, the letter noted.
“Because a daily limit of two furbearers falls well outside the range of the proposals provided to the public for consideration and comment, interested parties had no fair chance to comment on its practical, economic, enforcement, or conservation implications,” SCI and SAF said.
The letter also pointed to a detailed CPW staff memo backing the proposal for a daily bag limit of 15.
Colorado in the crosshairs
The commission also narrowly declined an outright ban on commercial fur sales that stemmed from a citizens’ petition for rulemaking brought by the Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity, Complete Colorado previously reported.
Animal rights activists have focused on introducing citizens’ petitions to the commission after failed attempts at the ballot box to ban mountain lion hunting in the state and ban fur sales in Denver.
“Animal-rights extremists have shifted their sights to state wildlife commissions in recent years, and Colorado is one of the proving grounds for their updated playbook,” Michael Jean, SAF’s litigation counsel, said in a statement. “Fortunately, the commission is still bound by its statutory authorities, including adequate notice and opportunity to comment. We’re happy to remind them of just what those authorities are.”
Animal rights activists are also petitioning the commission to ban the use of lead ammunition in hunting, which the Sportsmen’s Alliance also opposes.
CPW’s public information officer confirmed receipt of the letter, saying only that it was under review by the commission.
