DENVER — For the second time in the last four years, Coloradans can vote on a ballot initiative related to apex predators.
Proposition 127 seeks to ban the hunting and trapping of mountain lions, bobcats and lynx.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) estimates there are anywhere from 3,800 to 4,400 mountain lions living throughout much of the state. Currently, hunters can purchase a license to harvest one lion a year.
Bobcats have an unlimited bag and possession limit between December 2024 and February 2025, according to CPW.
Since 1976, lynx have been listed as a state-endangered species. They were federally listed as a threatened species in 2000. In the 1990s, CPW began reintroducing them back into the San Juan Mountains.
Denver7 sat down with two hunters who have very different views on this ballot initiative.
Dave Ruane is a member of Cats Aren't Trophies, an organization that helped start the campaign that led to Prop 127. He began fishing as a young child and started hunting in college.
“Before I hunted, I thought, 'Oh, that's the worst thing a person could do.' But then when I tried it, it was like, 'Oh, this is actually pretty challenging and rewarding, as well,'” Ruane said.
He has never hunted a mountain lion but said he has seen the hunts in progress before. Ruane said they are typically hunted using dogs, making it hard to miss.
“I'm not saying that people don't eat mountain lions, but that's not why they're hunting mountain lions. I mean, it's not the reason," Ruane said. “It's an ego trip there. It's a trophy for the wall... It's just a bucket list item.”
Ruane supports Prop 127, saying it will "clean house" on the hunting community.
“It's not saying that CPW can't manage the population. It just removes the recreational hunting portion of their management," said Ruane. “[Proponents are] not out there to take away elk hunting and take away deer hunting. There's a lot of the opposition that will say that's what they're after. They're taking my guns next, you know. But it's not the case.”
Ruane said the issue is a "no-brainer" when it comes to bobcat trapping.
"That's just commercialization, commodification of our wildlife that should have been done away with a long time ago," said Ruane.
He believes trophy hunting is the main motivation for hunting mountain lions, and that it's not a large percentage of hunters who participate.
“It is a very tiny part of the population that does this activity. And again, as a hunter, I don't feel like we're really impacting very many people with this initiative," said Ruane.
In a letter signed by about two dozen wildlife specialists in September, Proposition 127 supporters said they do not believe that the recreational killing of mountain lions keeps the population stable or manages the animals in any way. Supporters say if voters ban mountain lion hunting, the animals' population will stabilize and not increase.
On the other side of the issue is Luke Weidel, another hunter and a member of Colorado's Wildlife Deserve Better, which opposes Proposition 127.
“I got into [hunting] when I was 13 years old with my dad and my brothers just as a tradition in the family. Something that we use to put to put food in the freezer and on the table and make memories with the family," said Weidel about his history with hunting. “It's really powerful to be a part of, to really immerse yourself into nature."
He's hunted a mountain lion once.
"Believe it or not, mountain lion is one of the best game meats that there is in the state of Colorado," said Weidel. "I harvested a lion. We ate the entire lion, and the pursuit of it was incredibly challenging.”
Weidel sees the initiative as an attack on CPW and the way it manages the animals.
“The problem we have is with ballot box biology. You and I shouldn't even be able to vote on this," said Weidel. “It's emotion-based, you know, and our wildlife should not be managed by a sound bite or an emotional kind of charge. It should be managed scientifically, in a data-driven way, and in a way that makes sense for all the people that live here and all the 961 species of wildlife.”
Weidel pointed to the requirements already in place by CPW for anyone who wants to hunt a mountain lion, saying those are sufficient for the current population numbers.
“If you had your hunter certification — which you have to get to get a big game license — you would have to take a mountain lion certification course, which tells you how to sex an animal, how to tell its age, the certain laws that are associated with it," Weidel explained. "You have to prepare all the meat for human consumption.”
According to an estimation by Weidel, around 2,500 mountain lions are sold to hunters every year in Colorado.
"The success rate is, I think, roughly around 19%, and so it's relatively low, but it's one of the most, if not the most, regulated game species of wildlife in our state," said Weidel. “A lot of the reason we have robust lion populations and wildlife populations in general is because of hunting and fishing.”
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As a state agency, CPW cannot take an official stance on Proposition 127.
In a statement, a CPW spokesperson said, "Colorado state agencies, like Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources, are prohibited by Colorado law from having positions/opinions or using state resources in support of or against ballot initiatives. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is neutral, which means we take no position for or against Proposition 127 and will diligently implement all laws duly passed by the legislature, the Governor, or Colorado voters."
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