I do want to make one thing clear...In my previous posts I was not outright accusing the CDOW of anything, just hoping that a part of the equation in dropping "walk-in" fees altogether is not that they already smell the coffee & are far more aware of the looming CRP crisis than the rest of us.
I do believe that a huge part of their motive is also no doubt doing anything they possibly can to encourage youth participation & introduction to hunting, which I am 100% for! :thumbsup: As several others have already alluded to in this thread, dropping all fees for youth participants is an excellent way to make it pocket-friendly on working-class parents and mentors to introduce a kid to hunting. However, I think they should possibly considerably upping the annual "walk-in" fee on the rest of us adult hunters (maybe even to as much as $50) as long as they can be held accountable to a significant increase in the amount of quality habitat to hunt with the funds! That would be absolute peanuts in the grand scheme of things in exchange for a significant increase of quality habitat to hunt, particularly when it comes to pheasants. Don't kid yourself, NOTHING will ever come to the masses for free!!!
JUST AN IDEA/FOOD FOR SERIOUS "FORETHOUGHT":
Perhaps the forming of some sort of CO statewide pheasant hunters coalition (and/or fostered by the CO chapter of Pheasants Forever)--whose members all would be willing to pay at least $100-$200 per year or maybe even $300-$500 for an annual membership--might be able to sign contracts/persuade a considerable number of farmers to partner with us keep some of that valuable CRP cover from all being converted over to cropland once the federal contracts have expired??? This could be a real win/win situation for both the landowners & those of us pheasant hunters willing to put some money where the mouth is for serious quality wildlife habitat!!! In the event the CO "walk-in" program were to go totally defunct, the group could even come up with guaranteed access to all properties for dues paying members only & issue it's own statewide atlas/guide??? This would also help hold farmers accountable for promised level of habitat in exchange for the dough!!!
I for one would have no problem pitching a few hundred bucks into the tiller for much better access to real pheasant habitat...true quality pheasant hunting can be a very frustrating experience between limited public access & gaining private access permission!
Regardless, somebody better start considering something now before we find ourselves looking at a massive CRP habitat loss from the hindside, with horrific consequences for pheasant hunting in particular!!!