By more than a quarter million votes, Colorado voters decisively rejected a ballot initiative in November that sought to ban the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats and lynx. Fifty-five percent of voters, including those in 59 of 64 Colorado counties, voted down Proposition 127. The official tally showed 1,671,710 voted against it versus 1,382,048 in favor.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation spent upwards of $400,000 and staff put in hundreds of hours to help defeat the initiative, warning voters repeatedly that it would remove the key role hunters play in wildlife management in the nation’s largest elk state, which for decades has maintained and managed one of the most abundant mountain lion populations in the country.
The antihunting group Cats Aren’t Trophies (CAT), funded in large part by the Humane Society of the United States and Friends of Animals, paid signature gatherers as much as $7 per signee to get Proposition 127 on the November ballot. The measure asked voters to declare that “any trophy hunting of mountain lions, bobcats or lynx is inhumane, serves no socially acceptable or ecologically beneficial purpose, and fails to further public safety.” It would have banned all hunting or trapping of cougars and bobcats as well as lynx, though as a protected species, lynx have not been hunted in Colorado since the species was reintroduced to the state in 1997.
It closely follows the path of another ballot initiative passed by Colorado voters five years ago that mandated the release of wolves in the state in December 2023 — the first major release in the West in almost three decades.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) estimates 3,800 to 4,400 mountain lions occupy all available habitat across the state. Managed lion hunting began for the species in 1965, and Colorado hunters now take around 500 cougars each season using a quota system calculated to maintain a statewide mortality rate of 16 to 17 percent. Decades of data show that rate is not just sustainable but has allowed Puma concolor to prosper. Lions typically eat around one deer or elk per week, and with just over 300,000 elk and more than 400,000 mule deer at last count, Colorado’s abundance of prey allows it to host one of America’s largest cougar populations. It’s also America’s top spot for elk and deer hunting.
RMEF stayed actively engaged with the issue for almost two years, working with a coalition of partners. In February 2022, RMEF staff and volunteers provided testimony before the Colorado Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee in opposition to a state legislator bill that looked to ban the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats. Hundreds of RMEF members rallied to successfully convince their legislators to defeat it by a 4-1 committee vote.
RMEF also supported input before Colorado Legislative Council staff that issued an eight-page memo highlighting problems after the initiative first surfaced. State attorneys pointed out the discrepancies in the description of “trophy hunting” within the initiative and the proposed statutory definition, suggesting the petitioners drop the term “trophy” or specifically allow hunting to continue if hunters harvest the meat from lions (which was already required and remains so under existing game laws). Council staff accepted that argument.
In February 2024, RMEF distributed a CPW document highlighting the positive impact wildlife management and hunting have on building and maintaining mountain lion and bobcat populations and hosted a news conference about what was at stake.
This past fall, RMEF representatives addressed hundreds of supporters in October on the steps of the Capitol in Denver at a rally RMEF helped organize. RMEF also distributed a nationwide news release as well as videos and social media posts about the dangers of Proposition 127.
In late September, RMEF worked with partners to develop additional messaging targeted to key demographics. Johnny Morris of Bass Pro Shops led an industry-based support team and biologist and outdoor media leader Chris Dorsey and consulting firm Cap 6 advisors assisted RMEF and other partners on messaging specifically speaking to people in metro areas. RMEF’s exit polling shows this messaging produced significant results.
RMEF President and CEO Kyle Weaver also spelled out the organization’s position against the initiative on Randy Newberg’s podcast and sent frequent communications to its membership base and banquet goers asking Coloradans to get informed, be engaged and help others become educated about the issue.
As election day neared, opposition swelled, with major newspapers, former CPW commissioners and employees, county commissions, former Colorado state leaders and scores of everyday citizens writing letters to the editors or op-eds against Proposition 127.
Then on November 5, as sportsmen and women nationwide held their collective breath, Colorado voters showed that hunter-based conservation still garners broad support even when it comes to hunting predators such as mountain lions in a state where urbanites vastly outnumber hunters.
Weaver said he was deeply grateful to all the members and supporters who contributed their time and financial resources to help defeat Proposition 127 in Colorado. “RMEF invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in a targeted campaign designed to tell the truth about Prop 127. Our members have invested thousands of volunteer hours educating the voters on the importance of science-based wildlife management and the dangers of ballot box biology. I want to say thank you to everyone who came together to help defeat this misguided initiative and produce this victory for wildlife management.”
