Colorado voters reject making hunting and fishing a constitutional right

Colorado voters Tuesday rejected a ballot measure brought by conservatives and backed by national hunting groups that would have enshrined a right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife in the state constitution and establish those activities as the preferred means of managing wildlife populations.    

The Associated Press projected at 1:21 p.m. that Amendment 83 would fail, when 55.2% of the counted votes were opposed and 44.9% were in favor of the measure. The initiative required the support of 55% of voters to pass because it would add language to the state constitution.

Creating a new constitutional right to hunt and fish could have affected how the legislature or Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission made policies about hunting and fishing. It could have led to changes depending on how courts interpreted the language of the measure when reviewing existing or future policies. How the preferred means provision would have affected future policies was undefined. 

CPW is the state agency responsible for fish and wildlife management in Colorado. It administers regulations for hunting and fishing, as adopted by the CPW Commission, a citizen board whose members are appointed by the governor. State law requires wildlife and their environment to be protected, preserved, enhanced and managed for the use, benefit and enjoyment of the people and visitors of Colorado. 

Amendment 83 was brought by a conservative law firm in Colorado but largely funded by the International Order of T. Roosevelt, a hunting advocacy group based in Marshfield, Wisconsin. It came amid growing debate about who should have influence over decisions the state makes when managing Colorado wildlife. The nonprofit Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership also supported it. 

In total, about $3.5 million was spent in support of Amendment 83. The T Roosevelt Conservation Alliance, a nonprofit also based out of Marshfield, Wisconsin, accounted for $1.7 million of that spending. The GOPAC Election Fund, a conservative federal PAC, gave nearly $1 million to a state committee backing the measure. 

Other major donors to the effort to pass Amendment 83 included the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, the Concord Fund, the Safari Club International Colorado Chapter, Colordans for Responsible Wildlife Management and Rocky Mountain Elk. 

Twenty-four states across the country already have a right to hunt in their constitutions. The modern political movement to enshrine the rights started in 1996, when Alabama voters approved the “Sportsperson’s Bill of Rights.” The National Rifle Association has backed right-to-hunt-and-fish constitutional amendments across the country. 

The right applies to traditional hunting and fishing methods, not to species typically not hunted or fished, endangered species or any species it is illegal to hunt under federal law. It allows the state to regulate hunting, fishing and wildlife management if necessary for sound scientific reasons, public safety or to preserve future hunting and fishing opportunities. It does not change existing laws related to trespassing on private property. 

Backers of the amendment say it would have prevented the legislature or future ballot measures from restricting hunting and fishing in Colorado. 

The issue has heated up in Colorado since voters in 2020 passed Proposition 114, which ordered the state to reintroduce wolves, by 1.2 percentage points. 

Supporters of Amendment 83 argued that instead of relying on the expertise of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which manages more than 960 species across the state, animal rights and welfare groups have increasingly used the ballot and legislative changes to force wildlife management decisions.  

Opponents, including wildlife advocates, said the state’s animals are an asset that must be managed for everyone, not just for fee- and permit-paying hunters and anglers, and that it explicitly protects “traditional methods” of hunting, without defining what “traditional methods” means. 

The issue committee Colorado Hunters and Anglers for Sensible Wildlife Conservation spent about $150,000 against Amendment 83. Its major donors included the Center for a Humane Economy, the Sierra Club and Boldly Forward Colorado, a nonprofit linked to Gov. Jared Polis that doesn’t disclose its donors.

Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.