Association News

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Colorado Trappers & Predator Hunters Association

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Hopefully you are in full gear in pursuing your passions. Whether it be hunting, trapping, winter fishing with a little bit of sitting by the fire, drinking your favorite beverage and spending time with the family during the holidays.

Another round of elections has come and gone and no matter what you are, a Republican, Democrat or Independent, this type of landscape is not favorable to hunting, fishing or trapping.

Whether you are reading this from Colorado, Montana, Tennessee, Iowa or any other location your activities are under assault and you should really look yourself in the mirror and figure what you can do to hold elected and appointed officials accountable to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, that is under constant assault.

While it might not seem like a major problem to you right now, rest assured they are coming after it. They don’t want to take away some of it, as they will not be happy with anything other than total annilation of our lifestyles, traditions and heritages.

No other place currently is seeing this assault more than here in Colorado. The entire State is blue. The Governor. The Secretary of State. Treasurer. Attorney General. Boards and Commissions. The House 49–16 favoring the Democrats. The Senate 23-12 favoring the Democrats. If you think we had trouble in the past, you’ve seen nothing yet.

Now if you think I am anti Democrat by what I just said essentially you are wrong. I am anti stupid. I am anti illogical. And I am anti anti. I have friends, colleagues, partners that are Democrat, in name but even the majority of these conservation minded Democrats are not anti. It is the extreme Left Wing Extremists Democrats that get elected and drive their agendas while the overwhelming majority of the sheep just fall in line with the flock not realizing that there are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing.

To many times from Democrats and Republicans I hear “I didn’t know that” “when did they do that””how do we stop this””who do they think they are””that isn’t right”. It’s this sort of head in the sand mentality that allows us as Conservationists to get the short end of the stick, over and over again.

Look at your Game Commissions. Even in the good places look at the slow change that is happening. In the middle of the road places it becomes more obvious and in places like California, Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon, and the supposed once great State of Colorado it continues to grow like a cancer. Montana and Idaho are seeing more and more of it and before long North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and Nevada will have more and more attempts to derail and erode and wipe out Wildlife Management that is based on science with harvest as a management tool.

I find it frustrating that we don’t as a community stand up to these assaults even as much as we think that we do. If every hunter, trapper, fisherman, hell just Sportsmen in general, would spend as much time fighting the fight as what they do on social media bragging about what they killed or where to hunt, we would be unstoppable. If we would spend as much time writing letters and making phone calls to elected officials and boards and commissions as we do bitching about something on some forum, face book page or website we would be the most powerful group in America. If we would spend 10% of the time that we do scouting, of hanging up trail camera’s and going to Cabela’s or Bass Pro and dedicate that time to meetings with legislators and decision makers we could not be denied.

Do I think this is possible? You bet. Do I think this is likely? Not really. Our successes ride on the backs of few and our failures will ride on the shoulders of those you do not join the fight.

Our Fur Auction for the Association will be on the February 8th and 9th, 2023. Fur check in in on the 4th and 5th. Our Membership Meeting at the Auction House is on February 5th. For more auction information contact Auction Manager Greg Ashmore at 719 760 0539.

If you are interested in participating in the Stock Show in January contact Bruce Bartow at 208-521-7469 or Don Clifford at 303-775-5468.

Once again mark your calendars for August 11th and 12th for our Convention/Rendezvous in Florence, Colorado as this is shaping up to be a major event. Additionally, keep an eye out for Commercials for the Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management that is the only lobbying organization for Sportsmen and women in Colorado and you can go to Savethehuntcolorado.com for more information.

Wolfengagementco.org is the website to get informed about the Wolf restoration plan here in Colorado and please make sure to pay attention to all levels of social media as this legislative session starts to heat up because we could be in for a very rough ride.

Please reach out. Go to Coloradotrapper.com for association information and enjoy what you can for this winter. Volunteer and donate when, where and however you can.

Aim Small and MissDan Gates