Legalities of Wildlife Management
Trapping, Small Game, Fur Harvesting, Wildlife and Pest Control laws and regulations have become more and more complicated over the years and are continually changing. It truly takes a professional to stay up-to-date with them. We endeavor to always remain current on these rules.
For example, Amendment 14 voted into the Colorado Constitution in 1996 by ballot initiative did serious damage to the ability of individual property owners to legally protect their property against nuisance wildlife in the most efficient, humane and cost effective manner. Therefore, more expensive equipment which is touted as more humane (but is actually less humane) and also more labor intensive is often required for the same end result. It's a rather complicated matter which we can explain further depending on your situation.
We are extremely well acquainted with these laws. Part of our experience in the industry includes when Amendment 14 passed during the 6 years Trapper was President of the Colorado Trappers Association. Fae was then the fund raiser for 4 years in an effort that took cases to the Colorado Supreme Court to try to overturn it in the belief that it is an inhumane law.
Ballot Box Wildlife Management
We agree with various professionals in our industry that managing wildlife through the ballot box is NOT effective wildlife management. Although we are ardent supporters of our right to vote and fully appreciate what a privilege voting is, we propose that the general public, as a whole, cannot possibly understand the intricacies of science-based wildlife management. That would require that every member of the general public be a wildlife management professional and that is not feasible – especially because we each have different interests and areas of expertise which may or may not include any knowledge of wildlife management. Instead, ballot box wildlife management reduces it to an emotional issue which does not take into account various not-so-obvious factors, produces unintended consequences which sometimes even hurt the cause professed and so is usually not an effective means to manage much of anything. Therefore,
WE STRONGLY DISCOURAGE putting wildlife issues on any ballot!!!