CPW Field Journal
When it comes to outdoors expertise, no one understands Colorado’s fishery and wildlife resources better than Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s diverse staff of wildlife managers, park rangers and biologists. For these dedicated individuals, working for CPW is not just an occupation but a way of life. When they’re not enforcing fish and game laws, patrolling state lands or conducting fish and wildlife research, most CPW employees are avid sportsmen and women who spend their leisure time hunting and angling throughout the state. Here, CPW staff share their personal stories and experiences, provide on-the-ground field updates and offer a unique, “inside” perspective on all things hunting and fishing in Colorado.
In this special, multi-part series of CPW Field Journal, CPW employee Michael Scott shares his personal experiences applying/drawing for sheep and moose licenses, and provides real-time updates during his preseason scouting and fall hunting trips.
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Part One: “Drawing Licenses and Virtual Scouting”
Part Two: “Scouting for Sheep”
I tend to change units from year to year. So in 2013, I leaned toward units with better odds of drawing, instead of where the biggest trophies could be found. Even with that, I have learned over the past 20 years not to get too optimistic about my odds of drawing a license. It’s kind of like buying a Powerball ticket and actually thinking that you will win. You might have that small thought in the back of your head, but reality sets in when you read the numbers and find no matches. So, when I looked at the CPW website the day after the sheep drawing last week and saw that I had drawn a bighorn sheep tag, I thought I had hit the jackpot! I’ve heard dozens of other hunters say this and always thought it sounded a little hokie, but it is true. I finally drew a tag after 20 years of applying.
Now the hard part: preparing for a hunt that could last 1 day or 27. With the snowy spring that we’ve had in northern Colorado, there is a good chance that I may not be able to actually get out on the ground in parts of my sheep unit for another month and a half. The season starts Aug. 3, so that doesn’t leave me a lot of time for scouting. So, I immediately jumped into the process of “online scouting.” For those who are not very computer savvy, you HAVE to take a look at CPW’s Hunting Atlas and a little program called Google Earth. These are, in my opinion, the best free tools available on the internet. I already have all of the reported kill locations, along with the size of the rams, pinned to the satellite images on Google Earth. With this program, I can research access points, see elevations and approaches, view photographs posted by other users and then drop down to ground-level to see what the “country” really looks like. It is the next best thing to actually being there, and it’s the only way to scout while there is 4 feet of snow on the ground!
So now the big surprise: I just looked at the draw results for moose and found out that I drew that tag as well. Wow! Again, after a 20-year wait, I don’t know what I could say that is better than “I feel like I hit the jackpot!” For one brief moment, I actually considered turning in one of these licenses . . . but only briefly. I will definitely keep both tags. I will spend evenings for the next month or so cyber scouting. Then I will spend free days and evenings scouting for sheep whenever I have a chance in July, hunt for sheep in August and then concentrate on a moose hunt that doesn’t start until Oct. 1. This is going to be a long, busy, fun summer and fall. Maybe I should go buy a Powerball ticket. There’s no way I could actually win, but then again . . .
