The Colorado fur ban fight is moving fast. The CPW Commission already advanced the petition on a 6-4 vote in March. The public comment window closed last week. The Commission meets in Grand Junction May 6–7, and the actual draft rule hits the table in July. If you hunt, trap, or just care about how wildlife decisions get made in this state, you need to be paying attention.
This isn’t another ballot initiative. It’s a citizen petition that’s already past its first hurdle — and it’s grinding through the rulemaking pipeline right now.
What the Colorado Fur Ban Petition Actually Says
The petition was filed by Samantha Miller of the Center for Biological Diversity. On its face, it’s narrow: it would ban the commercial sale of pelts, hides, claws, and other parts from Colorado’s 17 native furbearer species. That list includes coyote, beaver, bobcat, mink, pine marten, badger, all three foxes (red, gray, swift), raccoon, ring-tailed cat, both skunks, both weasels, opossum, and muskrat.
It does NOT ban hunting or trapping outright. You could still pursue a coyote, harvest a bobcat, or run a beaver line. You just couldn’t legally sell what you took.
That sounds reasonable in a press release. In practice, it guts the economic model that supports legal trapping in Colorado, and it sets a precedent that politically-appointed commissioners can override their own biologists whenever activists show up loud enough.
Why Sportsmen Showed Up 5-to-1 — And the Commission Voted Anyway
On March 4, roughly 400 people packed into a DoubleTree in Westminster — so many that CPW had to add extra security to the meeting. By the Sportsmen’s Alliance’s count, hunters, trappers, and ranchers outnumbered fur-ban supporters about 5-to-1 in the room.
CPW Acting Director Laura Clellan recommended denying the petition. So did her biologists and game managers. Their reasoning was simple: regulated trapping isn’t hurting Colorado’s furbearer populations, and the petition itself was vague enough to invite years of legal fights.
The Commission voted 6-4 to advance it anyway.
If that sequence sounds familiar, it should. Colorado voters rejected Prop 127 — the mountain lion and bobcat hunting ban — in November 2024. The same coalition pushing that ballot measure is now using a different lever: the Commission instead of the ballot box. Same goal, different path. The fur sales angle is the foot in the door, not the destination.
What Happens Next
Public comment from the April 7 – May 3 window is being folded into an issue paper that goes back to the Commission for initial consideration on July 16–17 (Step 1 of the rulemaking process). Final approval is scheduled for September 2–3. That’s the timeline. Two more bites at the apple, then it’s a rule.
If you missed the comment window, you didn’t miss the fight. The July meeting is where the actual rule language gets debated, and there’s still time to make calls, write letters, and show up. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Sportsmen’s Alliance, and Howl For Wildlife have all been organizing comment campaigns. If you’re not already on those lists, get on them. More than 1,000 RMEF members submitted comments before the March vote. We need that number to be a lot bigger by July.
This Matters Even If You Never Trap
Most of us aren’t trappers. So why care?
Because the principle on the table is whether wildlife management gets made by biologists with data, or by commissioners with politics. That principle decides a lot more than fur. It decides elk seasons, mule deer tags, predator quotas, and every other rule that shapes our hunts.
We hunt Colorado hard at Western Obsession — it’s home country. Our Southwest Colorado private land elk hunts, our trophy mule deer trips, and our Southern Colorado pronghorn camps all run on a healthy, scientifically-managed wildlife system. That system is what’s being chipped at right now.
The fur ban won’t change your elk season this fall. But the precedent it sets absolutely could change the next one.
Where to Go From Here
Bookmark the Commission’s July 16–17 agenda — that’s the meeting that matters most. Get on the email list for whichever sportsmen’s group fits your style — RMEF, Sportsmen’s Alliance, or Howl For Wildlife. And when the call goes out for July comments, don’t sit it out.
If you want to see Colorado the way it should be hunted while it’s still managed by science, browse our Colorado hunts or reach out to our team about putting a trip together.
Hunting is not a hobby. It’s an obsession. And right now, it needs us paying attention.
