https://www.9news.com/article/...03-940a-26111db7113c


LINK HAS APPLICATION LINK IN ARTICLE AND QUALIFICATION SHOOT VIDEO.



Sharpshooting volunteers needed to help cull elk

CPW said it is not a hunting or recreational opportunity, but an intensive elk management effort.



Author: Alexander Kirk
Published: 5:04 AM MST November 8, 2022
Updated: 6:07 AM MST November 8, 2022

MONTE VISTA, Colo. — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is looking for qualified volunteers to help with an elk dispersal project in southern Colorado.

For a second year, CPW said it is working with National Park Service (NPS) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to disperse elk in Great Sand Dunes National Park and National Wildlife Refuges in the San Luis Valley.


CPW said actions to disperse the elk include culling. The project will take place through February 2023.

"This is not a hunting or recreational opportunity – it is an intensive elk management effort," CPW said in a press release.



Interested volunteers must complete an application that outlines strict requirements and those under 18 are ineligible, according to CPW.

Those who advance through the application process then must complete a shooting qualification hitting small targets the size of an elk’s vitals at 200 and 300 yards. CPW said those attending the qualifying shoot must hit each target three times in a row without a miss within a three minute time period.

Volunteers who take an antlerless elk are allowed to possess the carcass.


Applicants also must pass a background check, sign volunteer agreements and will operate under a dispersal coordinator.

"This qualification has proven to be difficult for even the most seasoned elk hunters," CPW Area Wildlife Manager Rick Basagoitia said. "This standard is likely the minimum allowable standard given the difficulty of the work we need volunteers to do."

quote:

"This qualification has proven to be difficult for even the most seasoned elk hunters," CPW Area Wildlife Manager Rick Basagoitia said. "This standard is likely the minimum allowable standard given the difficulty of the work we need volunteers to do."

Sounds like they really don't want people to come and shoot their elk.

small?
I could understand it if they wanted them all shot in the head [brain] at 300yds.
but an Elk's chest isn't small.

Several years ago, we had an opportunity to do this at the Roosevelt ranch in N. Dakota. Same kind of rules. Had plenty of applicants. Had to shoot shots at a target, think 12" circle at 200 yds, and keep them inside the black. You could shoot from prone.

Moat Elk were seen, to my knowledge, at under a 100 yds. A shooter got to keep One for themselves, if they got any. So plenty of opportunity.

Also might note, MOST "hunters" I've met out here in MD could not hit the 12" bull at 200 yards. This should be a slam dunk for anyone who can shoot. Our competitive shooters would easily do so OFF HAND, standing up, NO support.

The test is quite reasonable. The target is a 12" X 14" oval. You have three minutes to hit it six times, three shots at 200 yards standing or kneeling supported and three shots at 300 yards from any position. Most hunters are a legend in their own mind when it comes to marksmanship.

I hunted that area (82) and saw only a few elk. A fellow hunter said there were all around the Sand Dunes.

I went through the test (and was one of the 6 out of 17 who passed) and thought folks here might be interested in what I remember.

First of all, the test is set up to be deliberately stressful, because they are trying to make sure that the shooters can shoot under pressure. Some of the culling takes place in the national park and the last thing they need is for someone to wound an elk and have it get away. Therefore, while you are shooting, the other hopefuls are watching and the range master either calls "Hit! shoot again." or "Miss, open your bolt and clear the line." The target is a 12" X 14" oval steel plate. You have three minutes to hit it six times, three shots at 200 yards standing or kneeling supported or unsupported, then shift to the 300-yard target and take three shots from any position. You start the test from a standing position with an empty rifle, and do not load until the range master says "begin." (Three minutes is a long time, if you know what you are doing.) They have you start with an unloaded rifle because in the field, there will be the volunteer who is doing the shooting, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) warden and a CPW wildlife manager, and if in the national park, a federal park coordinator. They don't know the shooter or how careful/aware the shooter is so they are extra cautious and the shooter will only load when an elk is spotted and the shooter in position for the shot.

(Disclaimer: My memory is far from perfect, so take the following as impressions rather than facts.)


Of the 30 people who signed up for the shooting session I was in, only 17 showed up. I was the only one shooting a wood stocked gun and had the only rifle that also had backup iron sights. I only remember four of us having rifles with conventional sporter-style stocks, the rest being the "tactical hunter" style rifle that the media insists you now need if you expect to hit game. All but one shooter had a bolt action rifle, the exception being a .308 Winchester on an AR platform. I believe I had the lowest power scope with a 2.5-8 variable, and I only remember two other guys that had conventional hunting scopes on their rifles, with the rest using the high magnification "tactical" scopes with all of the various adjustment knobs. Those scope give no advantage for this because the shooter is not allowed to adjust their scope during the test. They have found that too many shooting opportunities were being lost because shooters were busy messing around with scope adjustments. As best I could tell, calibers used ranged from 6.5 Creedmor to .300 Winchester Magnum, with the most common rounds being the 6.5 Creedmor and the .308 Winchester. Other rounds that I could see being used included at least one 6.5 PRC, one .270 Weatherby, one 7mm Remington Magnum, and several .30-06s. Ammunition was inspected prior to shooting, as the ammo you qualified with is what you have to do the culling with. Some culling will occur in areas where lead-free ammo has to be used, so that was also noted, as applicable. As best I could tell, seven shooters were using hand loads and the rest used factory fodder. The conditions during the test were temperatures in the mid-30s and an 8 to 12 mile per hour direct cross wind. Shooting started at 3:00 PM and the last shooter (me) shot at 4:23 PM.

The rifle I was shooting was built for me by Duane Wiebe in about 2001, and is a .300 Winchester built on a Mauser 98 action with a medium sporter contour McGowen barrel, and topped with a Leupold 2.5-8 Vari-X III scope. I was shooting hand loads with Hornady 180-grain CX lead-free bullets. The load I am shooting will consistently group 1-1/4-inch 3-shoot groups at 200 yards.

The range master said our group had the highest pass rate of any of the groups he could remember, and he has had at least one group where no one passed. From what I can remember, of the six of us who passed three were shooting conventionally stocked rifles, and four were shooting hand loaded ammo. When watching some of the shooters, you were pretty sure that they were not going to pass before they took their first shot by their obvious lack of familiarity with shooting their rifle from anything other than a bench. Those guys generally missed on their first or second shot. Most people who dropped a shot did so at the 300 yard target and it was also obvious by the misses that most shooters did not understand drop or wind drift for the round they were shooting.