Post by Woody Williams on Nov 16, 2005 20:32:08 GMT -5
Greed still prized commodity
Landowners, others aim for higher profits from
big-game voucher sales
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor
All I ever needed to know about the current state of
Colorado big-game hunting affairs I learned on eBay.
That's where one discovers the opportunity to purchase
landowner vouchers that allow big spenders to bypass
the normal waiting period, jumping to the head of the
line for the state's most prized deer and elk
licenses.
Or, if you prefer, simply Google any of several key
words and watch the websites offering vouchers pop up
on the screen. Or catch the classifieds in the various
hunting journals. Maybe even just put your ear to the
ground.
Colorado deer and elk hunting has become big business, not just for ranchers, but an entire lineup of
businesses living off the animals. You'll find
thousands of opportunities to trash the basic
principles of fairness in license acquisition. Don't
want to wait 10 years for a shot at a trophy buck or
bull? Just peel off a few very large bills Colorado
offers as rancher welfare - often to wealthy absentee
owners who need money like France needs rioters.
Colorado deer and elk hunting also has become big
business for a growing lineup of brokers and
outfitters who have made what once was sport a
commodities market.
Take the recent example of Utah resident Jed Lowe, who in late August, through an admirable display of
archery skills, bagged what probably ranks as the
largest Colorado mule deer rack taken in velvet.
Thing is, Lowe acquired his tag through a Utah broker
who bought and resold vouchers in western Colorado.
Lowe leap-frogged Colorado hunters to get the tag,
shot one of the state's all-time trophies and didn't
even have to surrender any preference points.
Such a deal. Moreover, he didn't even hunt on the
property of the landowner who was given the voucher,
trekking instead deep into the national forest for an
animal he had located on an earlier scouting
expedition.
Such examples are at the heart of a flaming debate
over a law approved by a cowboy-dominated legislature
a quarter-century ago.
It awards landowners 15 percent of limited licenses
off the top before ordinary sportsmen get an
opportunity to draw.
As if to demonstrate that greed has no limits,
ranchers now clamor for more. With escalating prices,
they want an even bigger slice of the pie. Although
the lineup on a special license allocation committee
was stacked in their favor, commercial interests were
rebuffed in their latest grab for tags.
Ranchers constantly trumpet their stewardship of
wildlife. Listening to the propaganda put forth by the
Colorado Cattleman's Association, you would think not
a single deer or elk still would be alive but for the
heroic efforts of landowners.
It's true many members of the livestock community
harbor genuine affection for game animals. But for
most, they have evolved into a $5,000 bill on four
legs. Stories abound about ranchers actively hazing
game or blocking their movement to keep prize animals
out of the hands of the average hunter.
Stockmen carp about wildlife living at their expense.
This ignores the overwhelming fact that the animals
were there long before the human ancestors or
predecessors arrived. Time was, dealing with wildlife
and other natural hazards were considered a part of
doing business. More recently, friendly legislatures
at least in part insulated stockmen from risk by
requiring the Division of Wildlife to reimburse them
from a broad variety of damage - money paid by
sportsmen who generally are excluded from these
ranches unless they're willing to pay big again.
Landowners don't give up easily. When the Division of
Wildlife proposed a modest compromise that presumably
carried the blessing of both sportsmen and ranchers to
a Nov. 3 meeting of the Wildlife Commission, lobbyists
quickly turned the session into another round of
pounding away for more concessions.
Timid commission members acquiesced to an expanded
study of units in which landowners might be awarded
even more vouchers for sale to the highest bidder.
Curiously, not one sportsman representative rose to
refute them. As someone suggested, sportsmen thought they put the matter to rest when they beat back a voucher challenge a year ago and simply nodded off.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Landowners
greedy for more of the public's licenses to sell to
the highest bidder never sleep.
Landowners, others aim for higher profits from
big-game voucher sales
By Charlie Meyers
Denver Post Outdoors Editor
All I ever needed to know about the current state of
Colorado big-game hunting affairs I learned on eBay.
That's where one discovers the opportunity to purchase
landowner vouchers that allow big spenders to bypass
the normal waiting period, jumping to the head of the
line for the state's most prized deer and elk
licenses.
Or, if you prefer, simply Google any of several key
words and watch the websites offering vouchers pop up
on the screen. Or catch the classifieds in the various
hunting journals. Maybe even just put your ear to the
ground.
Colorado deer and elk hunting has become big business, not just for ranchers, but an entire lineup of
businesses living off the animals. You'll find
thousands of opportunities to trash the basic
principles of fairness in license acquisition. Don't
want to wait 10 years for a shot at a trophy buck or
bull? Just peel off a few very large bills Colorado
offers as rancher welfare - often to wealthy absentee
owners who need money like France needs rioters.
Colorado deer and elk hunting also has become big
business for a growing lineup of brokers and
outfitters who have made what once was sport a
commodities market.
Take the recent example of Utah resident Jed Lowe, who in late August, through an admirable display of
archery skills, bagged what probably ranks as the
largest Colorado mule deer rack taken in velvet.
Thing is, Lowe acquired his tag through a Utah broker
who bought and resold vouchers in western Colorado.
Lowe leap-frogged Colorado hunters to get the tag,
shot one of the state's all-time trophies and didn't
even have to surrender any preference points.
Such a deal. Moreover, he didn't even hunt on the
property of the landowner who was given the voucher,
trekking instead deep into the national forest for an
animal he had located on an earlier scouting
expedition.
Such examples are at the heart of a flaming debate
over a law approved by a cowboy-dominated legislature
a quarter-century ago.
It awards landowners 15 percent of limited licenses
off the top before ordinary sportsmen get an
opportunity to draw.
As if to demonstrate that greed has no limits,
ranchers now clamor for more. With escalating prices,
they want an even bigger slice of the pie. Although
the lineup on a special license allocation committee
was stacked in their favor, commercial interests were
rebuffed in their latest grab for tags.
Ranchers constantly trumpet their stewardship of
wildlife. Listening to the propaganda put forth by the
Colorado Cattleman's Association, you would think not
a single deer or elk still would be alive but for the
heroic efforts of landowners.
It's true many members of the livestock community
harbor genuine affection for game animals. But for
most, they have evolved into a $5,000 bill on four
legs. Stories abound about ranchers actively hazing
game or blocking their movement to keep prize animals
out of the hands of the average hunter.
Stockmen carp about wildlife living at their expense.
This ignores the overwhelming fact that the animals
were there long before the human ancestors or
predecessors arrived. Time was, dealing with wildlife
and other natural hazards were considered a part of
doing business. More recently, friendly legislatures
at least in part insulated stockmen from risk by
requiring the Division of Wildlife to reimburse them
from a broad variety of damage - money paid by
sportsmen who generally are excluded from these
ranches unless they're willing to pay big again.
Landowners don't give up easily. When the Division of
Wildlife proposed a modest compromise that presumably
carried the blessing of both sportsmen and ranchers to
a Nov. 3 meeting of the Wildlife Commission, lobbyists
quickly turned the session into another round of
pounding away for more concessions.
Timid commission members acquiesced to an expanded
study of units in which landowners might be awarded
even more vouchers for sale to the highest bidder.
Curiously, not one sportsman representative rose to
refute them. As someone suggested, sportsmen thought they put the matter to rest when they beat back a voucher challenge a year ago and simply nodded off.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Landowners
greedy for more of the public's licenses to sell to
the highest bidder never sleep.