Denver -- When people think of the tourist industry in Colorado, they think of skiing as king. But the time the last elk season ends in January, big game hunting will inject more than $530 million into the state's economy.
According to a Colorado State University economic report commissioned by the Division of Wildlife, much of it will be spent in rural areas on the Western Slope.
The overall economic benefits to the state by hunters and anglers are far greater than the $44 million generated by hunting license sales, the most of any state.
The annual economic report shows hunters and anglers annually inject $1.7 billion in direct and secondary expenditures into the economy when they purchase equipment, gas, lodging and other materials in pursuit of their sport.
Wildlife viewing and photography add more than $1 billion more each year.
With more than 200,000 elk roaming in the state -- the most of any state or Canadian province -- the Division of Wildlife is projecting that 250,000 hunters will hold elk licenses this year.
[Image] "Colorado's elk herds are healthy and abundant," said DOW big game manager John Ellenberger. "We should see a really healthy elk harvest. At least, we hope so."
Ellenberger hopes that hunting, the primary big game management tool used by the Division, will help reduce the herd size. Because of the large elk population, the Wildlife Commission approved issuing thousands of cow elk licenses throughout game management units in western Colorado for the second and third rifle seasons.
In 1996, Colorado big game hunters killed more than 54,000 elk, the largest annual harvest in North America this century. But the 1997 elk harvest of 42,504 was well below the Division's management objectives because of poor hunting conditions, and resulted in an elk herd much larger than the habitat can support.
In 1998, when either-sex elk licenses were available, hunters harvested 51,500 elk including 26,000 cows, the most ever.
Colorado's big game season is expected to attract more than 100,000 out-of-state hunters. In 1996, Division records show out-of-state hunters comprised 37 percent of the 349,491 people who hunted big game in Colorado.
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