By Keith Mark, Founder & CEO of Hunter Nation
For generations, hunting and fishing have been woven into the fabric of America, and Colorado has been no exception.
Long before hunting became the subject of political debates or ballot initiatives, Colorado families were taking their sons and daughters into the mountains, woods, and fields. They were teaching them how to hunt and fish, how to respect wildlife, how to care for the land, and how to provide food for their families.
Those traditions have been handed down from one generation to the next.
This November, Colorado voters will decide whether those traditions should receive protection in their state constitution.
That question is particularly significant in Colorado. Hunters and anglers have played an essential role in Colorado’s conservation history and continue to provide a substantial share of the funding that supports wildlife conservation and management in the state.
From Hunter Nation’s perspective, that history matters. Hunting and fishing are not simply activities that Coloradans happen to enjoy. They have been part of Colorado’s heritage, its conservation system, and its relationship with wildlife for generations.
WHAT AMENDMENT 83 DOES — AND DOES NOT DO
Amendment 83 would establish a constitutional right for the people of Colorado to hunt, fish, and harvest fish and wildlife using traditional methods. It would also establish hunting and fishing as the preferred means of responsibly managing fish and wildlife populations.
There is an important distinction that sometimes gets lost when hunting issues become political.
A constitutional right to hunt and fish does not mean an unlimited right to hunt anything, anywhere, at any time.
Amendment 83 specifically preserves Colorado’s authority to regulate hunting, fishing, and wildlife management when necessary for sound scientific wildlife conservation and management, public safety, and the preservation of future hunting and fishing opportunities.
It does not create a right to trespass on private property or eliminate existing private-property protections. It also contains exceptions for nongame species, endangered species, and species that are illegal to hunt under federal law.
In other words, the amendment protects the tradition while preserving the responsibility that comes with it.
HUNTERS ARE CONSERVATIONISTS
At Hunter Nation, we believe hunters and anglers should never apologize for the role they have played in American conservation—and particularly for the role generations of sportsmen and sportswomen have played in conserving Colorado’s wildlife and wild places.
Colorado’s own wildlife agency recognizes that hunters and anglers provide the bulk of the funding for wildlife conservation and management through hunting and fishing licenses and federal excise taxes on firearms, ammunition, archery equipment, fishing equipment, and related purchases.
But conservation is about more than writing a check.
Hunters and anglers participate directly in hands-on wildlife management. They support habitat restoration, responsible population management, wildlife research, conservation programs, and the work required to maintain healthy wildlife populations.
And hunters do something else that cannot be measured simply in dollars. We pass it on.
A Dad teaches his daughter to shoot.
A Grandpa takes his grandson fishing.
A mentor takes a new hunter into the field for the first time.
Someone teaches the next generation that harvesting an animal also brings an obligation to respect that animal, use what we take, obey the law, protect habitat, and leave wildlife and wild places better for those who follow us.
This is the hunting tradition all hunters know and respect.
And it is a tradition worth protecting.
THIS IS ABOUT THE NEXT GENERATION
The question before Colorado is bigger than whether people can hunt and fish today. Existing state and federal law already allows hunting and fishing.
The deeper question is what protection those traditions will have tomorrow.
Amendment 83 would place the right to hunt and fish in the Colorado Constitution while expressly preserving sound scientific wildlife management, public safety, future hunting and fishing opportunities, and private-property rights.
That balance matters.
Colorado’s hunters and anglers have helped conserve the wildlife that makes this state extraordinary. They have paid into the system, participated in wildlife management, protected habitat, obeyed seasons and limits, and passed their outdoor traditions from one generation to the next.
Now Colorado is deciding what legal protection that heritage should receive for the generations still to come.
Hunting and fishing are worth protecting in Colorado’s Constitution. They are more than recreation. They are part of Colorado’s heritage, an essential tool of responsible wildlife management, and a tradition that connects families and generations to wildlife and the land. Hunting and fishing also give Colorado families the opportunity to put healthy, nutritious food on their tables.
Amendment 83 recognizes something hunters and anglers have understood for generations: hunting and fishing are not the enemies of conservation. They are an essential part of conservation. Protecting the right to hunt and fish while preserving sound scientific wildlife management, public safety, and private-property rights recognizes both sides of that responsibility.
We inherited this hunting and fishing heritage because generations before us protected it. The question before Colorado now is whether that same heritage will be protected for our children, our grandchildren, and the generations of hunters and anglers who will follow us.
Hunter Nation believes the answer to that question is clear.
Our heritage is worth protecting.
Our wildlife is worth conserving.
And our hunting and fishing traditions are worth passing on.
Hunter Nation strongly supports the constitutional protection of Colorado’s hunting and fishing heritage, and we are asking for your support by making sure you get out and vote YES on Amendment 83.
Keith Mark is the founder and CEO of Hunter Nation, a nonprofit that supports wildlife and conservation.