I'm on the back of the Big Game brochure.
[*** upbeat music ***]
It's brochure day.
To go on a hunt, you need to buy a hunting license.
All the licenses you can buy are in the brochures that Colorado Parks and
Wildlife publishes. But if you've never flipped through a Big Game brochure before
it can be a little daunting.
And by daunting, I mean totally overwhelming and your
eyes will glaze over because you have no idea what in tarnation any of this means.
But don't give up!
Find someone to ask or call a hunt planner.
There's people who work for Colorado Parks and Wildlife whose job it
is to explain all of this to you.
You can also just head to a Colorado Parks and
Wildlife office and ask somebody at the front desk.
Since I have a hunting mentor now,
I'll ask him for help.
[car signal clicking]
So we're in Fort Collins, heading to Matt Dunfee's house.
We're going to learn about the Big Game brochure.
I brought a bunch of brochures with me
and I'm hoping he can help me figure some stuff out.
I've got some questions about it.
Here we are.
[*** upbeat music ***]
[Crystal:] Let me tell you a little about the Dunfee family. This was literally the
first time I'd ever met them and they are always this nice.
Their dog is awesome.
Owen and Emma are incredibly handy and resourceful.
They grow most of their own vegetables
and they are just four absolutely delightful people.
Now, let's get on with the brochure lesson. [Matt:] Take one.
You think I should put shoes on? [Matt:] No.
Take two!
I got every brochure that we have, that CPW manages. [Matt:] I see that! Nice.
Might be a little overkill but... [Matt laughs]
I had a chance to look through some of these.
I had a chance to look through through the Big Game brochure.
Oh fantastic! That's what we're here about. Yes!
That's the one we'd start at.
I had just looked through it and there's some interesting stuff.
I learned some stuff [Matt:] Oh good!
and I'm slightly confused by some stuff. [Matt:] Maybe a
little overwhelmed. A lot of stuff in there. [Crystal:] Yeah. So I was hoping you could
help me go through it and [Matt:] Cool.
section by section. Tell me what's in here. [Matt:] Yeah.
What I should be looking at, what I don't really need to look at. [Matt:] Yeah.
Help me out with that.
[Matt:] You bet. Let's do it. Okay
I think the best way to think about this is let's first just not look at all the
information that's in there but why is this here and what.
So to me, there's
really only four categories of information that are here. You're gonna
find in here category number one: who can hunt and why in Colorado. Things like age
requirements, things like residency requirements.
Good section to know. Make sure you're legal.
The second section of information here, towards the
front, is...
sort of what you can do and what you can't do in Colorado. So all the
general hunting regulations.
Whether it be how much orange you have to wear in the field
or what caliber you can use for what game species. How far away from
the road you need to be. How to tag your carcass once you harvest one. Those type
things. Something that everybody should read. It's a couple of pages and really
really informative. This will keep you legal and ethical and responsible in the field.
The third kind of information that's in here is what something you and
I have been talking about a lot. How do you get a license? [Crystal:] Yes!
How do you actually get the license to get out in the field and fill that freezer?
So... in Colorado
there's basically two ways you can get a big-game license. The best way is through
the draw process.
The problem is you got to think about it a year ahead of time
and apply in the spring. We kinda missed that window. [Crystal:] We're not in that window.
So we're gonna be thinking about the second
way and that is either getting a license that's
over-the-counter, based on some hunts that are available just simply at a
licensed vendor, or
the leftover list. So whatever licenses weren't allocated
in the general draw, in the spring and summer, are gonna go up for sale here in the fall.
And we'll have a chance to get one of those licenses that again weren't [Crystal:] Okay.
drawn in the general draw. So in here, you're gonna find information on how to
apply in the spring and how you can go about getting a license if you miss that
application.
Then the big section of information that I'm sure confuses you
the most and it confuses most people is all this stuff in the back with all of
the numbers and letters and dashes.
[Crystal:] There are so many and I tried to read it all. And I was like, I have no idea what any of this says.
[Matt:] Kuddos to you for reading it. [Crystal:] There's sections for each animal and
method of take. And that's as far as I got. [Matt:] Yep. Mhhm.
Well first off, you should never read all of these.
This last section is a lot more like an...
an encyclopedia britannica or a....
a dictionary then it is information like regulations.
In Colorado, as in a lot of states,
the state is broken up into
game management units.
And per species, there's a certain amount of licenses
available in each of those units.
So, if you decide you want to hunt something, as
we're talking about hunting deer in Colorado, and you have an idea in your
mind of where you want on it and you have an idea of what you want to hunt it with
this section allows you to flip through to say rifle hunting and then we
can reference on the left hand side the area that you want to hunt and the game
management unit. And then we can look over to left and see what are hunts
available in that unit for what sex of game and what season that you want to hunt.
Then that'll give you a code that identifies, for instance, a cow tag for
second season in the unit that you're interested in. With that code, that allows
you to apply for a license in the spring if we were thinking about it a year ahead
or look on the leftover list and see if there's a hunt that'll work for you for
what you want.
That's what this whole section is in the back. It just allows you
to identify the specific hunt
that will meet your criteria of species
and time of year and area that you want to hunt in.
So you don't actually need to know what all
those codes mean? [Matt:] Do not try to memorize these.
[Crystal:] What you want to hunt... [Matt:] Just what you want
[Crystal:] What method of take. Time of the year and... [Matt:] And what specific area.
[Crystal:] And then you use that information to get the code... Okay. [Matt:] To help you get the right license.
[Crystal:] Okay. I think I got this. [Matt:] That's all it is.
If we identify two or three or maybe even four...
particular hunts or licenses that you might want,
carcass tags you might want, then when we
go into leftover day
while everybody's trying to get a tag, you've got several
options you can go for if your first or second options get sold before you get a
chance to buy one. [Crystal:] So you just got to be a little strategic about how you go into it
[Matt:] Absolutely. [Crystal:] You need a plan and a couple backup plans?
[Matt:] I would have at least...
three or four choices. Absolutely.
Crystal:] Alright. So we got to figure out...
We know we're hunting a doe deer. [Matt:] Ah ha.
Alright and... so we just need to work on figuring out where and when.
Yeah. So the next step is to go to a map
and let's look at the calendars. [Crystal:] Great.
I honestly did not expect Matt to be able
to explain all that to me. Once you break everything down it's not actually that
hard. You really do need to read it in order to be legal hunter.
Although I know it seems like a lot, once you get how to read it, it's really not that hard.
You can find Big Game brochures and other brochures we publish at Colorado
Parks and Wildlife's offices, big chain stores with a sporting section or
local hunting shops. So pick one up and read it. No excuses anymore. I want you to
grab your Big Game brochure and draw big circles around anything you don't
understand. Ask a friend or someone at Colorado Parks and Wildlife to help you
with those sections.
What are some of the things you're struggling to understand in the brochure?
Leave a comment below. We'll try to help you out.
[*** upbeat music ***]
Hey everyone. Thanks for following along on my big game hunting journey.
Hunting license dollars are a super important source of funding for the wildlife
conservation work that Colorado Parks and Wildlife does for all species in
Colorado, not just the game species you can hunt.
So we want to make it as easy
as possible for you to buy a hunting license. If you've ever thought about
going hunting or just considered the possibility, be sure to hit up our
website or give us a call for more information.
We'll link all the information in the YouTube description.
If you like this video series and you want to see more videos that we make at Colorado Parks
and Wildlife be sure to subscribe on the YouTube link below.
Thanks for watching.