It’s not just federal workers feeling the impact of the continued shutdown of the federal government. Licensed hunters looking to take their shot at Fort Carson and the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in Southern Colorado may have to wait another year as the bases deal with the closure.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced at the beginning of October when the government shutdown began that all hunting on the Mountain Post and its training site south of La Junta would be suspended. Both sites are run by the Department of Defense.
Initially that suspension was related to pronghorn rifle hunting. On Oct. 10, that suspension extended to mule deer hunting with a muzzleloading gun.
"Each license is specific for a method of take and for a particular area and species," said CPW spokesman Dean Miller. "So what happened was the federal government shutdown has impacted two unique hunting opportunities in our area."
Miller said the shutdown has impacted the personnel at each location, so "they've had to close those areas for hunting."
Other game hunting may be at risk depending on the length of the shutdown.
"What's significant is every couple of weeks there's a different hunting season and method of take for a different species," he said. "But no decision has been made (on the upcoming archery season) because we don't know if the government shutdown will continue during that timeframe."
Miller said as of now, there's a maximum of 95 licenses that are potentially affected by these closures – 65 for the pronghorn closure and 30 for the mule deer hunt – adding that these are the only areas in Colorado currently impacted by the government shutdown for hunting.
CPW is offering a full refund to affected license holders.
"People plan an entire season to go hunting," Miller said. "They prepare, there's a lot of work and effort to go into it… So this is quite disappointing for a lot of people and we fully understand that."
Licenses can be returned to a CPW office in person or through an online application.
