Current Issues

Colorado Right to Hunt Constitutional Amendment

Colorado Hunters & Anglers for Sensible Wildlife Conservation Oppose the proposed “right to hunt” Amendment

Colorado Hunters & Anglers for Sensible Wildlife Conservation opposes the Right to Hunt Constitutional Amendment 84 ballot measure. Pushed by out-of-state special interests, Amendment 84 is not about protecting the ability of Colorado families to catch fish or engage in ethical hunting. Access to those activities are a key part of Colorado’s heritage and economy and are NOT in any jeopardy.

Instead, this measure is about overturning past successful efforts by Coloradans to ensure that hunting is done ethically and in keeping with the expectations and sensibilities of the majority of the public.

The amendment explicitly protects “traditional methods” of hunting, while being careful not to define what “traditional methods” means. That intentionally vague language is crafted to overturn the will of Colorado voters who banned some cruel practices decades ago. 

Under this measure, archaic practices like steel-jawed leghold traps, wildlife killing contests, hunting bears through baiting, with hounds, or in the spring when cubs are vulnerable to the loss of their mother could all come back into practice. 

If this amendment passes this November, there will be a rush to the courthouse by proponents of these “traditional methods” to claim that the Right to Hunt ballot measure, now part of the Colorado Constitution, prohibits these existing voter-approved bans on “traditional methods,” and that they must be struck down.

We cannot risk letting out-of-state interests take our treasured traditions and the conservation efforts that ensure them backwards in this way.