craigdailypress.com

The preference points system, relatively untouched in past years, has undergone several changes.

"The old system was, you got a point every year when you didn't hunt where you wanted," said Randy Hampton, Northwest Region public information specialist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "That is still the basic system, but there are some new things we've done."

Complaints from Colorado hunters and younger hunters prompted the DOW to evaluate its preference points systems. For new residents eager to hunt in their backyards, or for new hunters just starting to accumulate preference points, it was impossible to catch up to veteran hunters who have been accumulating preference points for upwards of two decades.

"We wanted to look for ways to start to limit preference points creep," Hampton said. "There are a couple of things that the division did."

The first change is referred to as "pay to play," a concept common in other states.

In past years, if a hunter didn't draw a license in his or her choice game management unit (GMU), a preference point was given, and his or her money was returned except for a $3 application fee. Now, a preference point will cost $25.

Additionally, people who make mistakes on their hunting applications will not receive a preference point as a sort-of consolation prize. Beginning in 2007, people who don't apply for licenses for three consecutive years, will lose their preference points.

"It didn't seem fair that someone who wasn't contributing to wildlife management in Colorado was receiving the benefit of that," Hampton said.

In 2006 only, hunters can utilize what the DOW is referring to as a "banking system." People with different preference points still wishing to hunt together can do so without costing one person years of points.

For example, if one friend has four preference points and his or her companion has 10, they both couldn't hunt in the GMU requiring 10 points, but they both could draw for the four-point GMU. In years past, the hunter with 10 points would lose all 10 and have to start again at zero.

This year only, the hunter with 10 points will lose six points to hunt in a four-point GMU with his or her friend.

"People would hold on to their preference points and were waiting for a better unit," Hampton said. Consequently, hunters were hoarding points. The "banking system" experiment will see if hunters are willing to relinquish points.

"There are people who will wait, and there are people who will go and hunt," Hampton said. "At the same time, if you put in and don't draw the license you want, that doesn't keep you from going out and buying a leftover license or an over-the-counter bull license. They just aren't (hunting) in the primary unit."

For hunters seeking conversation-starting mantle pieces, the primary units are GMUs 1, 2, 10 and 201, otherwise known as the Green River area extending from the Wyoming border in extreme western Moffat County into the upper portions of Rio Blanco counties.

Last year, it took 16 preference points for a resident to hunt in GMU 201. Nine points were required for a resident to deer hunt in GMU 10.

"You can find trophy animals everywhere, but the units we are managing for quality are those four," Hampton said. "We can manage for quality or we can manage for quantity, but you can't manage for both."

One change has been made specifically for those four trophy units. Beginning this year, 80 percent of the licenses will go to residents, an increase from past years. Residents used to get 60 percent.