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The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission will meet in Westminster Thursday and Friday to finalize big-game hunting regulations for 2013.

The meeting, held at the Doubletree Hotel, 8773 Yates Dr., will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

The commission will review more than 40 proposed changes to the big-game regulations. Among the biggest proposed changes is a proposal to further reduce the areas allowed for youth late-season elk hunting, as a result of elk populations being reduced to desired long-term levels.

The proposal, if approved, would allow youth elk hunters to hunt late seasons in the general area and method of take where their unfilled limited cow or either-sex elk licenses are originally valid, instead of the larger areas allowed during the 2012 seasons.

“This is an issue hunters will want to be aware of as they prepare for the next year’s license draw,” said Rick Cables, Director of CPW, in a release. “Hunters planning to hunt with youth hunters next year should check the Colorado big game brochure when it comes out in February for a synopsis of changes the commission might approve.”

Other significant proposals include an attempt to establish a mountain lion hunting season during April and regulation changes to allow for better disease monitoring of bighorn sheep. Most of the other proposed changes are to specific hunting areas to adjust hunting harvest in according with herd management goals.

To read about each proposal, a full agenda for the meeting can be found on the CPW website here.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission sets regulations and policies for Colorado’s state parks and wildlife programs. It meets monthly across the state. The commission is scheduled to meet in 10 other cities in 2013, including Steamboat Springs.

For more information about the Division of Wildlife, visit http://wildlife.state.co.us.