Colorado now not will permit hunters to make use of digital gadgets to lure mountain lions to them after state wildlife leaders voted this week to ban synthetic calls.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Fee voted unanimously Thursday to ban digital calls — criticized by some as giving hunters an unfair benefit — and to place an finish to the state’s April mountain lion searching season. Hunters use digital calls to play recordings of different lions or distressed prey, luring the carnivores to an space.
Each digital calls and the April searching season have been authorized in just some elements of the state earlier than the fee’s vote. Hunters with a license nonetheless will be capable to hunt mountain lions in Colorado from November via March.
The choice comes as mountain lion advocates push two potential poll measures. One would ban mountain lion searching and bobcat trapping. The opposite would restrict searching of the felines by prohibiting using canine or traps in addition to shortening the searching season to 2 weeks.
Over the past decade, hunters have legally killed round 500 mountain lions a yr — beneath the harvest limits set by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The state’s limits change yr to yr, however lately they’ve hovered round 650. It’s tough to find out what number of mountain lions stay in Colorado due to their elusive nature and wide-ranging habits, however wildlife officers estimate their numbers at between 3,000 and seven,000.
Mark Vieira, CPW’s carnivore and furbearer program supervisor, advised commissioners that Colorado’s mountain lion inhabitants is secure and wholesome. It’s attainable to permit searching of lions and keep a wholesome inhabitants, he mentioned.
“These two circumstances will not be mutually unique,” Vieira mentioned.
