Colorado is a battleground. On one side is proven wildlife management overseen by biologists and game managers who utilize scientifically regulated hunting and fishing as the primary management tools. On the other are animal rights and anti-hunting activists who consistently try to change that.

"Colorado has seen repeated legislative, commission and ballot-box efforts — 22 by last count — to restrict or phase out hunting, fishing and science-based wildlife management," John Howard, former two-term chairman of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, told Colorado Politics.

Come Nov. 3, Coloradans will go to the Election Day polls with an opportunity to safeguard protections for "hunting, fishing and harvesting fish and wildlife by the use of traditional methods "by voting for the Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish amendment. (It is yet to be officially assigned an amendment number.) Proponents submitted 145,299 signatures to qualify the measure for the statewide ballot.

Almost immediately, the attacks began. A newly formed group called Colorado Hunters and Anglers for Sensible Wildlife Conservation claimed there is currently no threat to hunting and fishing and that passing such a constitutional amendment would overturn state statues, invite cruel and unethical hunting that ultimately doom wildlife populations.

In reality, these accusatory voices are merely political activists in hunters’ clothing. One of them, Gary Skiba, was nominated to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission by Gov. Jared Polis. However, due to previous ties to the Center for Biological Diversity, a well-known anti-hunting and animal rights group, and other issues, a Senate committee rejected his nomination and Skiba withdrew it immediately prior to a scheduled full Senate vote.

Another, Charles Seymour, was an outspoken proponent of Proposition 127, which sought to outlaw the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats. Coloradans overwhelmingly rejected that ballot measure in 2024.

And Eric Washburn, the group's president, is a longtime D.C. political operative with close ties to Gov. Polis. He also was very public in his support of Proposition 114, the animal rights-sponsored 2020 ballot initiative narrowly approved by voters that forcefully returned wolves to Colorado. After that election, he wrote, it is "time for the hysteria over wolves to end. Wolf restoration is not complicated rocket science that takes a long time to get right. It has been done successfully in the Northern Rockies and CPW can base much of its plan on that excellent work," as reported by Colorado Politics. Today, the wolf program has shown to be nowhere close to functional with record livestock kills and ballooning costs.

Despite activist claims, there are a very real and growing threats to hunting. Aforementioned legislative and ballot initiatives aside, activists continue to introduce petitions before the CPW Commission to alter long-standing wildlife management practices. Plus, the commission itself is loaded with activist members placed there by Gov. Polis with ties to animal rights and anti-hunting groups.

That prompted the Denver media and others to declare support for the right to hunt and fish amendment.

• "Our state’s shifting political winds have created a fertile climate for extreme, national animal-rights groups to exploit. Those groups hardly are representative of public sentiment in the Centennial State or elsewhere, but they know how to manipulate it," said the editorial board. "Don’t expect the anti-hunting movement to take ‘no’ for an answer. Its minions are driven by blind devotion to their dogma; its funders are obsessed with their vision for imposing an alternative set of values on the rest of society."

• “The right to hunt and fish amendment will shut down the repeated attempts to erase this heritage by rogue politicians and provide constitutional clarity that the people of Colorado want it continued, not eroded through successive administrative or ballot campaigns,” said Howard. " The right to hunt and fish does not require romantic advertising to justify itself. It requires only that Coloradans recognize a successful, science-backed system when they see it."

• “Some of my fondest childhood memories with my dad are of hunting pheasant and fishing for trout. I, too, want to ensure the next generation will have the same opportunities,” wrote Sunday Denver Post columnist Krista Kafer. “In the meantime, this amendment will protect me, even though I neither hunt or fish (I’m terrible at it), as I ditch factory farms for ethical and sustainable sources of sustenance."

If approved by 55% of voters, Colorado will become the 25th state with constitutional protections for hunting and fishing.

About Hunt 2 Conserve 

Hunt 2 Conserve is a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Its mission is to advance a legacy of hunting and conservation by educating, activating and developing stewards and defenders of these fundamentally American ideals. For more information, go to hunt2conserve.org.