By Colin Suszynski, Aspen Times
An apparent loophole in Title 33 of Colorado’s Revised Statutes makes it difficult for Colorado Parks and Wildlife to punish hunters who illegally hunt on county open spaces that are designated as “closed to hunting.”
In a recent legislative update for Pitkin County’s Board of County Commissioners, Levi Borst told commissioners that the loophole has become enough of a problem for neighboring Eagle County that they were seeking legislative changes to close the loophole.
“Apparently, they’ve got a huge problem with that, because somebody will illegally take an animal off of their open space, and they get fined by county code, and they just consider that a pay to play,” Borst told commissioners on Tuesday. “You pay the $500 fine or whatever it is, and you still keep the animal. There are no hunting license violations, and that’s kind of the end of it.”
According to Eagle County’s Strategic Director of Communications Justin Patrick, there have been around eight instances per year of hunters hunting on county open spaces closed to hunting.
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