Colorado Commission Put on Legal Notice Over Two-Furbearer Bag Limit

Colorado’s wildlife commission just got a formal warning over how it handled furbearer limits.

The Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and Safari Club International say the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission violated basic public-notice rules when it adopted a uniform daily bag limit of two furbearers for all legal species. The public notice laid out two options for comment: a 15-furbearer daily limit recommended by CPW staff as conservative and sustainable, or a tiered limit of eight or four depending on species.

Then, at the July 17 meeting, the commission went lower than both noticed options and passed a two-furbearer limit. That is an 86.7% cut from the CPW staff recommendation and a 75% cut from most of the tiered alternative. The legal complaint is not just about the number. It is about changing the game after the public-comment window had already been framed around different choices.

Hunters and trappers do not need wildlife commissions making back-room-style leaps because somebody wants the public to “feel better” about legal harvest. Management decisions should be noticed, debated, backed by the record, and tied to the statutory job of sustaining wildlife populations and opportunity.

SAF and SCI are demanding the commission re-notice and reconsider the vote. Good. If a commission wants to cut legal harvest, it can at least do it in the daylight and give sportsmen a fair shot to be heard.