Rocky Mtn National Park

Powerstroke · Jan 6, 2009

Appears someone has finally realized that there may be too many elk concentrated in one localized area.....??
It has always amazed me that no one ever seems to get hurt in the town of Estes during the Rut with all these elk "IN" town.

http://wildlife.state.co.us/RMNPElklottery.htm

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Bob in TX · Jan 7, 2009

They also have Big Horn Sheep visible from the highway every year.

Bob

Anonymous · Jan 7, 2009

The locals of Estes could have made this finding many years ago. Now, consider this. The state lowered the number of tags for the management are that borders the eastern side of the park. That means that there are fewer hunters to help with this problem. Or to put it in this perspective, the state and the federal gov. are approaching this issue from entirely different views. They are effectively undoing what the other is doing. Yet by all accounts this over population has existed for years. So now the Park is using your $ to pay to cull the herds and lower the population. To be sure they are more interested in being PC than actually solving the issue. Don't you think giving access to the Park to hunters for a fee, as in making the solution a money maker would be more productive? Having lived Estes for 23 years, the park became something to loath rather than enjoy for it's beauty. The state doesn't help either, and for sure it is a many faceted problem. Still some cooperation between the entities would or could seem like an obvious solution. Wildlife viewing opportunities are abundant in the town of Estes and the surrounding valley region. Hunting opportunities are very limited due to the public land that is open to hunters...I now live in SE Wyoming, do I ever love it.

Powerstroke · Jan 7, 2009

Perfectly said ! Estes isn' t quite my back door, but close.

But you want the DOW to do the obvious solution? ( where's the little emoticon that rolls around on the floor laughing ) ?

Next solution / thought.... CO has quantity of elk, NOT quality. And at even that I belive the DOW fudges some #'s on the elk heards to keep the license numbers up for the good ole mighty dollar they receive.
If they don't get a grip on the deer and elk situation shortly there isn't going to be any left.

Instead of this culling effort that is going to take place, start capturing some of these animals. Obviously the genetics in that heard are some what of a superior gene........

This gives CO the opportunity to transplant some of these elk into other areas of the state. They could shut those areas down from hunting for 3 to 5 years and now CO can start building on some quality ??

Agreed however, a lot of elk need to be removed from the Park .