RBC I Colorado U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet has introduced an amendment to provide bow hunters with access to some of the country’s prime hunting lands. The measure would allow bow hunters with sheathed archery equipment to cross national park lands along established trails or corridors to access adjacent hunting lands.
“Bow hunters have been denied access to cross our national parks as other hunters do all the time,” Bennet said. “This commonsense amendment would fix this oversight in our laws and allow bow hunters to carry their bows when traveling to and from some of the best and most scenic hunting areas.”
Currently, bow hunters do not enjoy the same rights to cross national park lands as those with firearms, who may cross these lands to access adjacent hunting lands. This amendment would give the same rights to bow hunters that other hunters already have.
Bennet’s provision was already included in the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act of 2015 (H.R. 2406) that passed the House Natural Resources Committee in December 2015.
“We tip our hats to Sen. Bennet for his leadership on behalf of archery hunters here in Colorado,” said John W. Gale, the conservation director for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.
“For decades, sportsmen and women in the West have struggled with hunting access issues where game management units neighbor National Park Service lands. Thanks to Senator Bennet, we hope that overlooked archery hunters will have equal access as we work with Congress to bestow the same rights and privileges afforded to those who hunt with firearms.”
