Your chance to shoot an elk at the Great Sand Dunes NP. Are you a good enough shot?

[newracer]

Colorado Parks and Wildlife seeks sharpshooters to kill elk
Miles Blumhardt
Fort Collins Coloradoan

More than a decade after Rocky Mountain National Park used marksmen to kill elk to protect the park from an overpopulation of the iconic animal, another national park in Colorado is using the same strategy.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it is seeking qualified sharpshooters to cull elk in Great Sand Dunes National Park and National Wildlife Refuges in the San Luis Valley as part of an elk dispersal project set to go through February 2023.

Rocky Mountain National Park used trained volunteers to shoot 52 elk in the park from 2009 to 2011 as part of its 20-year Elk and Vegetation Management Plan launched in 2009, according to park spokesperson Kyle Patterson. The plan also implemented other methods of reducing elk's impact on the landscape.

Patterson said culling elk via shooting was discontinued in February 2011 because the park reached its population objective and has been "at or below the wintering elk population objective since that time.'' She said approximately 100 elk overwinter in the park, 200 overwinter in Estes Park and 300 to 500 elk overwinter in the Estes Valley. Some of those elk migrate to lower elevations in winter, especially west of Loveland.

Colorado has the largest elk herd in the world with around 300,000 animals.

Great Sand Dunes shooting qualifications 'difficult for even the most seasoned elk hunters'

Colorado Parks and Wildlife isn't looking for just any hunter; the agency said it is looking for exceptional shooters.

Those hoping to be selected must complete an application process, and those selected from this pool will be required to pass a shooting test. The shooting part requires hitting targets 12 inches by 14 inches, the size of an elk's vital organs, at 200 and 300 yards three times in a row without a miss within a three-minute period.

"This qualification has proven to be difficult for even the most seasoned elk hunters,'' Rick Basagoitia, the state wildlife agency's area wildlife manager, said in a news release. "This standard is likely the minimum allowable standard given the difficulty of the work we need volunteers to do.''

Applicants must be at least 18 years old and are required to pass a background check and sign volunteer agreements. They will operate under a dispersal coordinator. Volunteers will be contacted about scheduling the shooting qualification after they submit their application.

Those selected will have a volunteer commitment of as much as two days. Volunteers who take an antlerless elk are allowed to possess the carcass.

For more information, contact the wildlife agency's Monte Vista office at 719-587-6900.


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[Little Dutch]

Those hoping to be selected must complete an application process, and those selected from this pool will be required to pass a shooting test. The shooting part requires hitting targets 12 inches by 14 inches, the size of an elk's vital organs, at 200 and 300 yards three times in a row without a miss within a three-minute period.

Under what conditions? Because I expect most anyone on this forum could do that any day of the week...

[VolksDragon]

A kill box shot on an Elk at 200 and 300 yards qualifies one as an "exceptional" marksman? With what caliber, 9mm?

This should get filled pretty quickly.

[mb504]

A kill box shot on an Elk at 200 and 300 yards qualifies one as an "exceptional" marksman? With what caliber, 9mm?

This should get filled pretty quickly.

It's full now.

https://cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/Page...px?NewsID=3689


https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNkZTM5i02fJpezCSiPbxITugvmI9VtQdSpA-yD-8CikItOA/closedform


Video of the qual: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_2exv31mJw

[def90]

A kill box shot on an Elk at 200 and 300 yards qualifies one as an "exceptional" marksman? With what caliber, 9mm?

This should get filled pretty quickly.

Based on what I have seen online this year a lot of hunters are finding dead unclaimed elk in the woods this year.

But looking at CPWs requirements.. 3 hits in a row on a 12x14 target at both 200 and 300 yds in a 3 minute period without a miss.. I suspect fewer people can do this than you think.

[Great-Kazoo]

I suspect fewer people can do this than you think.[/B]

True, true.

In order for people to shoot our steel @ 200 yds. They must show they can hit paper @ 100. More than 1-2-3x people have said. How's this for 100 yds, i can shoot steel @ 200, RIGHT! Umm no. You have 5 rds on paper, showing approx 12" -14" between holes. BUT I HIT IT. Yes you did. Just not accurately.

While that's the minority of shooters. Believing one can, as to actually doing it, eh

[VolksDragon]

Based on what I have seen online this year a lot of hunters are finding dead unclaimed elk in the woods this year.

But looking at CPWs requirements.. 3 hits in a row on a 12x14 target at both 200 and 300 yds in a 3 minute period without a miss.. I suspect fewer people can do this than you think.

You might be right. I was envisioning shooting from a bench with my squeeze bag like a normal range day, where 200-300 yards is totally doable with minimal effort and halfway decent wind calls. That's a different game in the woods.

[hollohas]

It's a shame that the majority of the applications are probably filled up with people who can't qual.

Wish I had seen this earlier. Darn.

[Hummer]

It's a shame that the majority of the applications are probably filled up with people who can't qual.

Wish I had seen this earlier. Darn.

I'd gotten the CPW e-mail on the 7th but had questions before applying and was busy with after elk season chores and driving down and across the state. I'm disappointed the applications are closed and don't think this was managed well.

Did qualifying require driving to the San Luis Valley for the qual shoot and another trip later for the project? Was there any other CPW range open for qualification, like Cameo or somewhere north Front Range? Or were applicants required to travel to San Luis Valley and then find they couldn't qualify at 200 & 300? I'd like to hear feedback on what looks like a real mess for the volunteers.

[leightoncash]

I'm surprised CPW doesn't have their own people who can fill this role. What a hassle to set up online registration, schedule and put on a qualification event, and then have to go out into the field with a total stranger hoping he or she will deliver. Especially since, like was mentioned earlier, you might have a bunch of yahoos signing up that can't shoot reliably, and the ones that can shoot might be weirdos or have a heart attack from the hiking. Hopefully they'll at least have all the shooters walk up a steep hill before they get their 3 minutes to shoot the targets.