Going out tomorrow through sat but realize that I'm going to have to knock on doors while in the past I had plenty of choices of public to subliment my limited private access....Wow. I knew that the amount of WIA has dropped over the past few years, but today was the first day I actually took out the atlases from the past four years to compare. While it held fairly steady through 2014, this years WIA has plummeted! While I'm fortunate to have some private land access, it's not enough for more then two days of hunting and I've always mixed my days up with some time spent on good wheat WIA's. Those have ALL disappeared since last year. I understand that our "great minds" in Congress sharply curtailed the CRP incentives (thanks for that ya jackarses), giving farmers incentive to plow and plant, but does anyone know why so many corn, wheat and "other" WIA plots were taken out of the program? Surely they are still being used to raise grain, why not keep the access payments? Did the DOW program get a hit n funding? Was there a change in personnel and a subsequent drop in competency? Did the last few drought years scare the Division out of entering into contracts this year? What gives? Did those that hit the opener notice that folks were competing for the more limited access?
Where oh where has all the WIA gone?
- Thread starter tomt
- Start date
I don't know. Let me know what you find out
Lark Bunting
New member
I was out on opening day and actually found a group of folks ready to do a foot race to a corner property. We were in no hurry and figured we could find other areas...every field had hunters in it EXCEPT the novice fields. There was NOBODY in there at 8:00 opening day and we started our day in the adjoining field and saw nobody in there at sunrise.
We saw some birds but the fields were mostly tall grass and I was not that impressed with the habitat we were hunting.
We saw 5 roosters in shooting distance and a few further out. All in all we had fun but weren't all that impressed this year.
We saw some birds but the fields were mostly tall grass and I was not that impressed with the habitat we were hunting.
We saw 5 roosters in shooting distance and a few further out. All in all we had fun but weren't all that impressed this year.
double trigger
Member
Hi,
I'll give you my .02 from what I know, but I think your question is one that should be directed to the CO Division of Parks and Wildlife - along with telling them you want to see more WIA in the future.
I have observed the same thing over the last several years - the amount of WIA has decreased. Given that overall CRP acreage has and is decreasing nationwide unfortunately it is to be expected that this results in a decrease in WIA areas (this is happening in other states as well). A lot - but not all - if WIA is on CRP land and there is just less of that available.
You are correct that our lawmakers in Washington decreased the overall CRP in the latest Farm Bill. That, and landowners have taken a lot of land out of CRP (i.e., let contracts expire) in favor of row crops like corn and beans because the high commodity prices have made that a good business decision. Environmental and conservation-wise, this certainly hasn't been a good trend. As a pheasant hunter I sure don't like that but that what's happening.
The good news is that commodity prices have declined from their peaks, and the tide may be turning for landowners to put some land back in CRP and other conservation programs. And also good news is there will be a CRP general sign-up starting next month. There has not been a general sign-up for quite a while and this provides an opportunity to get more land back in CRP. If that happens it could be a boon to pheasant hunting over the next several years because CRP in its earlier stages can be especially productive for pheasants. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Hopefully this explains some things, but the fact remains that the Division needs to make it a priority to grow the WIA program. This is kind of tough in state where the priorities are generally elk and trout (and I like them too) :thumbsup:
CRP expiration, high crop prices and everything else certainly has an impact, but the quote above is the main reason, IMO.
I wish CPW would start charging again for the WIA access. $20 was a more or less nominal fee for the access, and that adds up to a lot of dough for them to pay for more, higher quality ground. Even a $10 stamp would be a good step. H*ll, even something as small as a couple dollar fee built into hunting licenses (including big game and fishing) for habitat/access would help (many states with WIA take this approach).
Personally - I noticed some areas where there used to be 5-10 properties are now completely blank on the map. On the flip side, some of my favorites have actually grown in size.
All good feedback but still have that qestion about why more wheat stubble, cut corn etc. fields have been taken out of the program when you know the numbers of these fields have increased. Must be the focus on elk and trout, problem is I have all the access in the world for those two animals 
what I need is more pheasant property. I know, pure selfishness
what I need is more pheasant property. I know, pure selfishness :10sign: I'd be in favor of reinstating the $20 fee, even bumping it to $30. It would reduce the foot traffic (although I think not greatly) and give them a budget to build this program. I've never understood why they did away with the fee in the first place - seemed like a very misguided decision.
double trigger
Member
Totally agree. If funding is an issue, it seems like a no-brainer to charge a fee to help pay for the WIA program. This would enable the Division to pay landowners a competitive rate to enroll more of their land. I would gladly pay a $20-30 fee if that what it takes to build the program.
I do wish the Division would ask us our opinion on these types of things, perhaps as part of the HIP survey we have to do annually. Instead they keep asking if I plan to hunt coots or sandhill cranes
Wia
I have an old atlas from 2009 and yes there WERE many more sites available, maybe 1/3 more. I too am in favor of the $20 WIA fee instead of open access for all. But it takes more man hours to police it also. The novice program is good but took away some of my favorite spots. This year the first atlas didn't show many areas but the late atlas shows more with the novice program also.
Maybe they should up the payment to farmers to promote more WIA as a farmer told me "It isn't worth the trouble for what we get in payment" and he dropped out years ago.
I have an old atlas from 2009 and yes there WERE many more sites available, maybe 1/3 more. I too am in favor of the $20 WIA fee instead of open access for all. But it takes more man hours to police it also. The novice program is good but took away some of my favorite spots. This year the first atlas didn't show many areas but the late atlas shows more with the novice program also.
Maybe they should up the payment to farmers to promote more WIA as a farmer told me "It isn't worth the trouble for what we get in payment" and he dropped out years ago.
This comes up every year and all of us would gladly pay an additional fee to pay for walk in like Kansas has. The fact is that DOW never gave a shit about pheasant hunting and DPW cares even less. It's sad because we all know that Colorado COULD have some very good pheasant hunting if the state would recognize us. It's just sad
When Gov Chickenpooper merged DOW with Parks and didn't keep on DOW Dir Tom Remington, we were screwed! He was/is a bird hunter. Heck he earned his PhD studying blue grouse
And the current Wildlife Commission aint all that bird friendly with the exception of Dean Wingert. Its all about Big game and privatizing big game tags anymore
And the current Wildlife Commission aint all that bird friendly with the exception of Dean Wingert. Its all about Big game and privatizing big game tags anymore
shorthairs4life
New member
To put things into perspective, any day I see 5 roosters in shooting distance, is a great day.
I sure hope they don't reinstate the walk in fee. None of it would be used for new walk in areas. They already have our habitat stamp fees that we pay so non hunters an access the same properties an swas for free.
they had plenty of money before, they just dicided to use it on parks rather then fields
they had plenty of money before, they just dicided to use it on parks rather then fields
Maybe because Remington lost track of $32 million? That money could have bought a lot of WIA now couldn't it...?
PairOfLabs
Active member
According to CPW folks at one of our Denver Pheasants Forever meetings, they dropped the $20 WIA fee to try to stimulate more license sales and get more hunters involved in the sport and to buy repeat licenses. Their data from Hunter Ed classes showed a large drop-off in license sales after the first year.
We advised that they should reinstate the fee to try to get a bigger pot of $$ to invest in WIA.
Regards,
P.O.L.
We advised that they should reinstate the fee to try to get a bigger pot of $$ to invest in WIA.
Regards,
P.O.L.
double trigger
Member
POL - thanks for the info and for speaking up at your Pheasants Forever meeting. I can understand CPW's concern for stimulating more license sales and getting more hunters involved in the sport. IMHO, the best way to do that is by having more quality habitat and better wild bird populations available. And they are not moving in that direction, apparently.
Dropping the WIA fee may have a short-term impact of increasing license sales and hunter recruitment (although that itself may be questionable), but those newly-recruited hunters won't stick with it if they go out and find a shrinking inventory of WIA lands and few birds.
Maybe its just me but I don't get why people would balk at paying the $20 WIA fee IF that could result in better quality hunting for an entire season. That $20 is a drop in the bucket compared to what a lot of these same people pay for meals out, $120 tennis shoes, or a pricey cell phone and plan.
POL - thanks for the info and for speaking up at your Pheasants Forever meeting. I can understand CPW's concern for stimulating more license sales and getting more hunters involved in the sport. IMHO, the best way to do that is by having more quality habitat and better wild bird populations available. And they are not moving in that direction, apparently.
Dropping the WIA fee may have a short-term impact of increasing license sales and hunter recruitment (although that itself may be questionable), but those newly-recruited hunters won't stick with it if they go out and find a shrinking inventory of WIA lands and few birds.
Maybe its just me but I don't get why people would balk at paying the $20 WIA fee IF that could result in better quality hunting for an entire season. That $20 is a drop in the bucket compared to what a lot of these same people pay for meals out, $120 tennis shoes, or a pricey cell phone and plan.
its a trust factor, fear they will piss away your money once they start collecting it each year......i understand.
BleuBijou
Active member
I don't belive this is totally true... When I asked about it years ago when they took it away I was told that the Feds gave them a grant that was to be used for Public Rec and in taking that grant they had to drop the stamp program.... You may get several different answers before the truth comes out, but I know other States also got this grant and it was talked about on this forum before.
dead pheasants forever
Member
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/sd/home/?cid=stelprdb1242739
VPA-HIP and CRP are both part of the farm bill. VPA-HIP funds walk in hunting in pretty much all the states that offer it, including CO, KS, and ND. I'm sure that the CPW leases up as much land as it can until it uses up whatever funds it gets from VPA-HIP. I have no confidence that the CPW wouldn't add the revenue to its general fund for misguided projects if the CPW charged for a walk in stamp.
The bigger problem that I see is the lack of CRP acreage. The walk in program primarily targets CRP. I hunt with pointing dogs and am not as interested in harvested wheat fields. I don't see much CRP out there that isn't in the walk in program. We really need a strong sign up for the general CRP sign up that's going on right now. Then we can figure out where the money will come from to get all those new CRP plots into the walk in program.