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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2026
Media Contact
s:
Dustin Zvonek, Campaign Manager
Erin Isaac, Communications Director
Erinisaac1@gmail.com
Yes on 83 Launches Statewide Campaign to Protect Colorado’s Right to Hunt and Fish
Colorado-based coalition activates voters to make Colorado the 25th state to constitutionally protect hunting, fishing, and science-based wildlife management
DENVER — Yes on 83, the official campaign to pass Colorado’s Right to Hunt and Fish amendment, launched today and will appear as Amendment 83 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.
The campaign is led by a Colorado-based team prepared to activate millions of voters to protect science-based wildlife management and Colorado’s outdoor heritage for the next generation. Twenty-four states already guarantee a constitutional right to hunt and fish. Colorado will become the 25th.
“Hunting and fishing are part of Colorado’s heritage,” said Luke Hilgemann, CEO of the International Order of T. Roosevelt and ballot committee chairman of Yes on 83. “Coloradans value these long-standing traditions, and Amendment 83 gives them constitutional clarity and long-term protection consistent with science-based wildlife management. This is a proactive measure. It lets us go on offense and protect an amazing place like Colorado from the same threats already targeting hunting and fishing across the country.”
“Yes on 83 is officially underway, and our Colorado team is ready to activate voters in every corner of the state,” said Dustin Zvonek of the 76’ Group, campaign manager for Yes on 83. “This campaign reflects strong, common-sense support for protecting Colorado’s hunting and fishing heritage by putting these time-honored traditions in our constitution and safeguarding them for future generations. Coloradans already showed that energy with more than 180,000 petition signatures. Now we take that same energy to November.”
Amendment 83 would add a right of the people of Colorado to hunt, fish, and harvest fish and wildlife by traditional methods. It would establish hunting and fishing as the preferred means of managing fish and wildlife populations, while preserving the full authority of Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the General Assembly to regulate hunting, fishing, and wildlife management when necessary for sound scientific conservation, public safety, or to preserve future hunting and fishing opportunities. The measure does not authorize trespass, does not apply to endangered, nongame, or federally protected species, and does not repeal existing voter-approved restrictions.
Colorado’s 300,000-plus hunters and 950,000-plus anglers generate $3.25 billion in annual economic activity and support more than 25,000 jobs. Roughly 40 percent of the state’s registered voters have a personal connection to hunting or fishing. License fees, tags, and related revenue fund the majority of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s conservation work.
“The people of Colorado have spoken with their signatures,” said Dan Gates, executive director of Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management. “This amendment safeguards science-based wildlife management and ensures hunting and fishing remain the preferred means of responsibly managing our fish and wildlife. We have a Colorado team ready to take this from the petition drive to the ballot box and protect what generations of Coloradans have always enjoyed.”
“Colorado has become a warning shot for the rest of the country,” said Charles Whitwam, founder of Howl for Wildlife. “When science-based wildlife management is constantly targeted by political campaigns and well-funded anti-hunting activism, the public deserves lasting protections. This amendment is about securing the right to hunt and fish, defending conservation, and keeping wildlife management in the hands of sound science for generations to come. The opportunity to hunt and fish should not have to survive one political crisis at a time.”
Yes on 83 is backed by a coalition of more than 60 state and national conservation, hunting, angling, agricultural, and outdoor organizations, including Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Howl for Wildlife, the International Order of T. Roosevelt, Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, Delta Waterfowl, Ducks Unlimited, Safari Club International, and partners across the Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project network.
The Secretary of State certified the measure after proponents submitted 184,097 petition signatures, of which 145,299 were valid — exceeding the statewide threshold and the distribution requirement in every state Senate district. As a constitutional amendment, Amendment 83 requires 55 percent voter approval.
Yes on 83 will run a statewide voter-education and get-out-the-vote campaign grounded in Colorado values: science over politics, heritage over ideology, and conservation funded by the people who hunt and fish.
Coloradans who want to volunteer, donate, or learn more can visit YesOn83CO.org.
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