Anti-Hunting Groups Mount a New Effort to Ban Hunting, This Time by Replacing the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission

You’ve got to respect the hustle. Like Rocky or your favorite annoying Instagram influencer, the anti-hunting crowd out in Colorado has no quit. Despite ‘winning’ the 2020 ballot initiative on wolf reintroduction, activists have gone 0-3 in recent bill attempts, including an attempt at restricting certain firearms, and a pair of provisions aimed at banning big cat hunting. But like a dogged out hunter with one more ridge to climb, these insufferable groups are channeling their inner Cam Hanes, and are now attempting to topple the state’s Parks and Wildlife Commission.

Introduced as the Big Beautiful Colorado Wildlife and Biodiversity Protection Act, a new ballot initiative known as Initiative 82 seeks to create an independent commission that would act parallel to the current Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission. In an effort to overthrow work in conjunction with the state’s commission, the newly-formed independent commission would exist to create legal protections for unnamed “keystone species,” which, of course, remains wide open for interpretation.

While the details and specifics of the proposal were scant to begin with, a review and comment hearing by Colorado’s Legislative Council managed to shine light on some of the disturbing details encapsulated in this potential piece of legislation. The process found that the new commission would require $2.5 million in taxpayer funding to set up shop. It also stated that the new commission would also have free reign to unilaterally determine if a species has been or is in the process of being harmed and thus impose fines to further help fund their conquest of Colorado’s natural resources. 

Thankfully, the Legislative Council seems to be doing its job on this one. As part of their response to the asinine requests, the Council clapped back with a 19-page rebuttal that tore the piss-poor proposal to shreds. The good news is that given the response from the Council, it’s looking like 82 isn’t going anywhere without some serious amendments.

But like a sick dog returning to its vomit, we can all rest assured that somewhere right now this group is gathering steam (and funding) in an effort to rewrite the laws that ultimately govern how we enjoy the great outdoors.

We would all be remiss to ignore the fact that these anti-hunting efforts, not only in Colorado, but across the country, are not haphazard in design. These proposals and initiatives are clearly well organized and supported by deep pockets. In the case of the failed Initiative 91, which was led by the brave souls over a Cats Aren’t Trophies, over 80 animal rights groups endorsed their works. Among the supporters included well funded groups such as the Audubon Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society of Boulder Valley and the Sierra Club’s Rocky Mountain Chapter.

And while we might be up against some frustrating and annoying groups, the truth remains that the pro-hunting and pro-North American wildlife model lobby is perhaps the most powerful of all. Without any major fundamental changes to the wording of this initiative, you can expect that in-state organizations on our side will challenge this nonsense in the Colorado Supreme Court and in all likelihood, should emerge victorious.

With the use of ballot box biology on the rise in states that allow for it, it’s something all of us need to remain mindful of. In the majority of these cases, these citizen-led ballot grabs seek to make wildlife management decisions based on emotion rather than the sound science that has governed our lifestyle for over 100 years now. 

With these kinds of efforts showing no signs of slowing down, perhaps now more than ever, we need to #keephammering these blatant attacks on our state agencies and wildlife.