Sitka Gear Turkey Tool Belt

Colorado Elk Highs and Lows

Someone fill me in on Colorado’s trespass laws. Is there a posting requirement? I have always wondered about the private in holdings. My experience has been the locals hunt them as public if they are not posted.
 
I feel the hunting regulation system is no different than any other legal system where there will always be some items that aren't crystal clear and open to each person's interpretation of them. In my specific case, I'm going to bet that almost every single game warden in Wisconsin will not issue a citation for a hunter that is possessing and transporting legal proof of sex as required per a law from another state. Yes, I do know there is at least one Dane county officer who will. He literally might be the only one. This is where I know and accept that my stubbornness likely led to the citations. The chance of giving the game warden the photo as proof and not getting a citation were very high.

Like I said, I have personally moved past all of this and the response from everybody so far is basically what I expected because it mimics pretty close to that of how I felt and what others close to me who have heard about this already felt.

This next week I'm wrapping up the horn mounts where I plan to mount them on this old fence post I found on my property. They will sit in our family room along side all our other trophies (I really hate that word now thanks to social media and I just cant find a good replacement) in that room and I hope to be able to look at them and remember the Highs of this trip rather than the Lows and I'm confident I'll be able to do that :)
I’ve started using the word “tribute” to replace trophy. Seems to be more accurate since the mount is more of a tribute to an awesome animal.
 
He. bluffed you folded, it is the nature of the game after all. Kenny said "if your gonna play the game boy you gotta learn to play it right".

First you need evidence of sex naturally attached, cut them nuts off and heave 'em, there are better and cleaner ways to comply.

Hunters are like fish, they only get caught if they open their mouths, practice saying GFY like it was dragged through honey (when you may be "slightly" in violation. Say it with passionate enthusiasm raw and unfiltered when pure as the driven snow.)

What you experienced is standard operating procedure in this area.
 
Someone fill me in on Colorado’s trespass laws. Is there a posting requirement? I have always wondered about the private in holdings. My experience has been the locals hunt them as public if they are not posted.
In Colorado it is your responsibility to know where the private land is and stay off of it, even if it is not posted, fenced, or in any way identified.
 
Per CPW regs: testicle, scrotum or penis attached to carcass.
I usually leave a small portion of the penis attached to a hindquarter. Very simple to do when you are using the gutless method.
 
I concur with jls. an inch or so (elk are well hung) left ATTACHED to a hind ham is irrefutable evidence. WAY less messy and it is actually easier once you do it Have I been threatened with a ticket... yes. has a ticket ever been written?? NO... The regs are full of discretionary tickets that can be written but not enforced if challenged, the key is to challenge, they will fold like a cheap suit when it gets to the DA. They are counting on the convenience of a guilty plea vs. the inconvenience of a challenge and they win almost 100% of these against NRes. And they know this all too well. They are bottom feeders, with a forest Gump IQ.
 
I so hope to fill a tag next year. I’ve got one chance at my age and where I live to make it happen. Your so lucky of you live in Elk land.
 
In Colorado it is your responsibility to know where the private land is and stay off of it, even if it is not posted, fenced, or in any way identified.
Thanks. That’s how I have always approached it however most of the other hunters I have encountered didn’t seem to worry about it.
 
I wasn't entirely sure if and when I was going to tell this story. Many emotions have been experienced over the last six months with this particular hunt from the excitement of drawing the tag in the beginning to the anger of having to pay a fine for a big game "violation" at the end and all things between. I feel that a lot of us hunters would maybe omit the parts of this hunt that make themselves feel ashamed but I knew I couldn't do that and thankfully I know that the HT community (at least the dedicated ones) will appreciate that. I also know that I needed some time to let all of those strong emotions settle before I put the story into words. Doing so beforehand likely would have resulted in a story with lots of whining and complaining and probably too much focus on the individual that put a damper on our overall experience. Now that I am calm and at ease with the situation, I'm able to relive the good moments from the trip and focus on learning from my mistakes and to not put us in that type of situation again. So, with that preface complete, I take you all back to the beginning of October...

My wife and I had just finished up hunting Antelope (and some ducks!) in Wyoming. Our tentitive planned schedule for this entire western trip was to arrive in Wyoming Saturday afternoon and travel to Colorado on Wednesday giving us at least two days to scout before the 1st rifle elk season opened on Saturday. We did arrive late on Wednesday to the unit keeping us right on schedule.

This particular 1st rifle elk tag should not have been drawn by us this year. We had no where near the required points but rather than put in the PP code, we always put in for a unit just in case something weird happens. Something weird like drawing the unit with a whole 11 points less than what it took the previous year! It was quite unexpected and I actually didn't even check the draw results right away but rather learned from the email they sent out.

The unit is not an easy hunt and we knew that going into the application. It's managed for big bulls but during the early hunting seasons, very few of these big bulls, and elk in general, are on public land. There is a national park that holds a lot of the elk and also some large tracts of private land that hold a bunch of elk year round as well. During the hunt, we also had two other things that greatly complicated matters. There were two massive burns the previous year and both of these burns were extremely hot resulting is some extremely poor habitat during this past hunting season. A lot of roads were closed limiting access and I don't think it even mattered though as we did hike in the edge of those burns and it was a waste of time it was so charred yet. The other issue we discovered is that the private land owners in this area really do not like public land users. We were harassed twice and also encountered two roads where someone blocked the public forest road with a chain.

Back to the actual hunt. The first two days of scouting and first day of the hunting season there really isn't much to tell. My wife was hunting with my cousin who joined us to help and I was venturing out solo. For three days, we spotted zero elk and barely saw any sign let alone fresh sign. On opening day I cut a fresh large elk track in the day old snow and that was about it. What we did find was other public land users, lots of them. It was frustrating at times how many hikers and mountain bikers we crossed paths with. Even some illegal dirt bikers. It was some beautiful country though and we tried to not let it get us down and we continued to explore new areas.

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Great story! You did the right thing.
 
I concur with jls. an inch or so (elk are well hung) left ATTACHED to a hind ham is irrefutable evidence. WAY less messy and it is actually easier once you do it Have I been threatened with a ticket... yes. has a ticket ever been written?? NO... The regs are full of discretionary tickets that can be written but not enforced if challenged, the key is to challenge, they will fold like a cheap suit when it gets to the DA. They are counting on the convenience of a guilty plea vs. the inconvenience of a challenge and they win almost 100% of these against NRes. And they know this all too well. They are bottom feeders, with a forest Gump IQ.
"Bottom feeders?". Maybe you have a grudge against CPW or are just generally anti-regulation, anti-management? I'm glad that the CPW officers are out there-unfortunately they have too much area to cover and a lot of much more egregious violations go unchecked. If you have a better regulation/management plan for wildlife and public lands (habitat) management, lets see it. Otherwise you might consider showing some respect-these folks are serving the general public and doing a thankless job. By the way CO has more hunting opportunities for non-residents than anyone else and most non-residents that come here genuinely appreciate it. The original post documents an unfortunate occurrence that originated basically because of a small inholding surrounded by public land. I have a friend who was also cited several years for not having proof of sex attached but I don't hold it against the CPW officer who was just doing his job. Encouraging or daring folks to challenge the regulations (in a sense violate them and not worry about it) is not helpful at all to the hunting community and is just more fodder for the anti's.
 
What a story. I missed it somehow. Congrats on the bulls.

Sometimes the right thing ain’t the easy thing that is for sure. You did right.

In that same vein, I would have probably spent $2000 fighting that $149 dollar ticket, just on principal.
 
Sounds like a good trip, harvested and learned a few things, met a new friend. As far as the ticket, It would be nice if each state was on the same page as far as traveling back home with your harvest. Maybe electronic reporting, tags attached, proof of sex attached.
 
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