HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT WILDERNESS?

[m8braaaap]

Just wanna hear thoughts on riding national forest, and losing our riding areas to government bs.i can tell you I have mixed feelings, being a big hunter my best luck has hands down been private or wilderness.i have hunted and guided in sw Colorado and in the last few years,deer and elk numbers are way down.I BLAME PREDATORS!!!! in co, you are not allowed to bait bears or hunt with dogs.lions, you cannot,kill a female or they close the quota for that unit.the dow and the big game outfitters are the reason that Colorado deer and elk numbers are down.makes a guy wanna go outlaw.just sayin.colorado wants the non resident to keep buying tags.hunters ive talked to, don't want to come back to co,because the hunt they saved for all year was a joke.you can imagine how us locals feel.voice your opinion please.dont get me started on landowner vouchers!!!

 

[Dogmeat]

I have no plans to ever actually hunt in Colorado.

However, the simple fact of the matter is, if the game numbers are down, they need to stop selling so many f-ing tags.

More "wilderness" designations do nothing to improve habitat contrary to the popular belief.

 

[m8braaaap]

on the snowmobiling side, I love to ride the gnarly stuff, but I honestly think in the winter snowmobilers are the only ones in the backcountry.ive ridin the backcountry since ive moved here and ive never seen a single animal above 100000 ft once its deep.and shouldn't.snowmobilers ive known respect and love this country.lookin for a happy medium.maybe its just the area I ride and live in, but seems f'd up to me.

 

[m8braaaap]

I have no plans to ever actually hunt in Colorado.

However, the simple fact of the matter is, if the game numbers are down, they need to stop selling so many f-ing tags.

More "wilderness" designations do nothing to improve habitat contrary to the popular belief.

I promise you, if you go bowhunting within 30 miles of my house, you will only have every day action in remote areas.when I moved out here,14 years ago, therewas elk everywhere.things are fd up

 

[m8braaaap]

deer numbers are even worse.and im a big muley fan!!

 

[HOTRODREDNECK]

wilderness areas have the best untracked snow:face-icon-small-ton before the:argue: flaming comes on that was a joke. i do feel that wilderness areas are "land of no uses" but i respect the rules and stay out. keep closing places for me to ride and my inner outlaw mentality WILL come out:face-icon-small-coo

 

[POLZIN]

I also like wilderness from a hunters perspective its the only way to get away from the azzclowns "hunting" off fourwheelers .The hunting is not what it used to be for sure.

from a snowmobilers perspective its totally ridiculous. After the melt our tracks are gone or the most part. But there are those who trash everything where ever they go.

 

[traw4life]

hunting tags are a very small percent of game being killed compared to predators.

 

[ak2co]

since ive moved here and ive never seen a single animal above 100000 ft once its deep.

Damn what turbo do you have to get that high and what animals would be up there. teryodactyls?

 

[AndrettiDog]

This can be a very lengthy discussion...

I've been involved with the battle against wilderness for several years now. The bottom line is that there is an abundance of wilderness in Colorado. Truth be told, it's not a bad thing in some areas, the high altitude areas. However, we are getting more shoved down our throats and it's at mid level altitudes where it doesn't make sense. We have already seen heavy human interaction at these levels. It doesn't make sense to make areas that have pipelines, roads and campsites into wilderness. These are also areas that many people enjoy and many cannot hike in 15 miles to get to the deep wilderness.

As far as the impact on animals, I think most of the studies are total BS. I have not seen any proof that one single mammal species has been negatively affected by living in a non-wildereness area. The Canadian Lynx (call this because the f'er comes from Canada, not Colorado) has struggled in Colorado. It's best survival habitat in Colorado has been on Vail Pass, home of a very heavy usage of snowmobiles and hybrid use people. Obviously it is not impacted by snowmobile usage.

90% of the time, when I've had the unfortunate task of working with the Wilderness Workshop (the driving entity of wilderness in Colorado), the reason for wilderness is not "truly" because of an effort to help animals. There is a large disconnect with motorized users and they want to kill our sport. They don't attack ski resorts and the oil industry as hard because they know they don't have a chance. However, take Vail Resorts for example. They have 100 snow cats and probably another 100 snowmobiles. That's a lot of potential fuel and oil spills and terrain impact, but they attack us as individuals because it is much easier to divide an conquer.

Just know that Colorado clubs work hard with COHVO, Blue Ribbon, CSA, WRFA and others to battle these opposing efforts. Join a club. You don't have to go on club rides, parties, meetings or anything else. But you will contribute to the numbers and efforts without doing a thing.

 

[corpeleven]

Wilderness areas (where appropriate ie: exhibit true wilderness characteristics) absolutely has it's place and I'm thankful we have it. I enjoy backpacking into remote wilderness areas in the Flattops and San Juans to fly fish, and hunt. I want my children to have the opportunity to experience it too.

HOWEVER, we have more than enough in CO already. I strongly oppose the continued closure of areas and re-designation as wilderness. As an avid mountain biker and snowmobiler, we have a huge fight on our hands to just keep open what we have now, and we cannot let up. The government land management agencies are "closers" not "openers". Once it gets the wilderness designation, it will never go the other way.

M8, not sure what's going on with your elk herds, but in the north eastern SJ's where I hunt the elk are doing awesome, maybe it's a localized problem?

 

[Dogmeat]

M8, not sure what's going on with your elk herds, but in the north eastern SJ's where I hunt the elk are doing awesome, maybe it's a localized problem?

Like they need to offer 1/3 the tags they normally do for 5 years and let the herds regenerate?

 

[Goinboardin]

buzzed ramblings

I really have a good time backpacking. Some trips take me on multi use trails, no big deal for me, most everyone I encounter is friendly. My favorite trips take me far from the truck, as remote as I can get into the wilderness areas. On those trips, I often go days without seeing a SINGLE person. On the CDT (a major trail!) in 2012, South San Juan Wilderness, I went 5 days (around 65 miles) and only saw footprints of other hikers...that was awesome, but what it really pointed out is that we have PLENTY of wilderness in Colorado already!! Really want to feel small? Go deep into the Weminuche wilderness (pic of White Dome Mtn). The wilderness areas are great, I like the solitude, but I know that lot's of others enjoy fourwheeling/dirtbiking as much as I enjoy hiking and therefor I recognize the importance of a balance. Sleds leave almost no trace though..

As for elk, I'm not a hunter (yet) but this photo is of one of the coolest experiences I've had. Woke up in my tent at sunrise, just south of Jones Pass (head of Bobtail Creek drainage), to the sound of elk calling one another. They were hanging out just yards from the tents. I didn't know what the sound was (couldn't see the elk yet) so I said something to my hiking partner who was 30' away in his tent. Well the elk didn't like that, and the whole herd started running! I quick got out of the tent, found a camera, and snapped a couple crappy photos but mostly just watched. There was at least a hundred elk...

 

[WileyCoyote]

Wilderness

They think if they don't make it a wilderness, some one will put a McDonald's on top of it. A day or 2 after we ride somewhere you can't even tell we were there. When the world starts to over populate, in however many decades, I wonder how long it takes for them to reverse the classification and drill/mine it?

 

[AndrettiDog]

It's unfortunate that most people see it as "wilderness" (protected) or "unprotected" (a bunch of red necks are going to dump beer and oil cans while they tear up the terrain with their mud buggies). Truth is that there are alternative solutions. I too want the back country clean and available to us at a recreation level. But wilderness is not the answer. I think alternative designation controlled by the USFS is a better solution. I haven't been a big fan of the USFS but at least it is a group that should be controlled by the government/public. Letting the Wilderness Workshop designate wilderness is a biased group controlling our backcountry.

 

[Dogmeat]

It's unfortunate that most people see it as "wilderness" (protected) or "unprotected" (a bunch of red necks are going to dump beer and oil cans while they tear up the terrain with their mud buggies). Truth is that there are alternative solutions. I too want the back country clean and available to us at a recreation level. But wilderness is not the answer. I think alternative designation controlled by the USFS is a better solution. I haven't been a big fan of the USFS but at least it is a group that should be controlled by the government/public. Letting the Wilderness Workshop designate wilderness is a biased group controlling our backcountry.

There is nothing that pisses me off more than people who won't pick up their f*cking trash. God that makes my blood boil.

 

[mtsummitx]

Plain and simple, there is far too much wilderness!!! The # of acres of wilderness out there is far lopsided for the # of taxpayers who actually utilize the wilderness vs. the # of taxpayers that can't or won't (like me, I'll admit it I aint gonna walk very damn far, and I don't have horses) utilize wilderness.

 

[johnyrocket]

As a mountain biker, hiker,4 wheeler and snowmobiler ( is that word) I think the forest service has been screwing it all up for years. They close roads that have been open for 40 years and then open a new one right next to it, they close existing camp sites and then let people pull of into the tandra any where they like.
They grade 4 wheel drive roads into highways so they can say that 70% of there roads are accessible to everyone. They have turned a few 4 wheel drive roads into good mtb roads but I don't get it.
I to like wilderness but feel I have plenty to use. Someone else maid the piont, we are not band together and make a easy target.

And don't get me started about trash either, I found a burning fire basically on the road with a green tree in it and a pale of feces left for someone else to throw away.

people suck

 

[stingray719]

Like they need to offer 1/3 the tags they normally do for 5 years and let the herds regenerate?

In Idaho the Elk numbers have plumeted. Greenies and hunter groups got together with bioligists and discovered the reason was encroachmnet on there migration routes and ESPECIALLY disturbing thier calving grounds.

Forest service took the data and wiped thier *** with it and blamed it on the Wolves.

And big money people still building in Elk areas.............

 

[OuraySledder]

Not sure how the hunting and snowmobilling go together but... We don't have any trouble taking elk in the San Jauns. My buddies record is 9 elk in the last 8 years with 25 total days of hunting and packing. As for the deer, come on up north a bit from Mancos. They are thick as thieves around here. I have a dozen pass through my yard in town every night.

Wilderness... yep, WAY too much of it and the notion of adding more is absurd. Not that it will slow their roll but almost nobody uses the wilderness they have already designated. So my thoughts on wilderness are that, it is a great place to ride.