BCJ_WINTER18 Digital Edition

REQUIRED READING FOR CONSERVATIONISTS: 14 BOOKS FOR WINTER. PAGE 38
BACKCOUNTRY
JOURNAL
The Magazine of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Winter 2018
PLUS: REDISCOVERING B.C.’s HORNADAY
WILDERNESS, BACKCOUNTRY ICE FISHING,
YOGA FOR HUNTERS, A CONVERSATION
WITH JIM POSEWITZ AND MORE
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 1

For more information on the most
comprehensive hunting maps available visit:
onXmaps.com/hunt
2 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
WWJPD?
CALLING JIM POSEWITZ TOUGH is an understatement.
The legendary conservationist, biologist and sportsman – who
is a lifelong friend and has a BHA award for ethical hunting and
angling named after him – is famously resilient. Back when he
played football at Montana State University, he was given the first
facemask ever issued by MSU because he was costing the university
too much money on dental bills.
So when I looked in my truck’s rearview mirror one day last
summer and saw Jim in the back seat with a tear in his eye, I was
caught off guard. We had just spent the afternoon on the Blackfoot
River and were on our way home. Had he hurt himself? Not
that I remember. Was it something I said? Not that I could recall.
I asked him if he was all right. Jim’s reply: “Listening to you and
Andrew (Jim’s son) go on about conservation and access policy,
the inherent politics that go with those policies, and the need to
engage the masses warms my heart. My legacy is safe.”
Each and every day those simple words inspire me. They also
haunt me. Folks like Jim, Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold and
countless others have put loads of sweat equity into forging the
public lands and waters legacy we enjoy today. I would be lost
without these wild places. For one, I wouldn’t have a job. But
more fundamentally, I wouldn’t have an identity. I wouldn’t have
a place to test myself or feed my family. I know those of you reading
this can relate.
None of this happened by accident, and none of it will be carried
forward by accident either. Any success enjoyed by BHA isn’t
happening because of our media savvy. It’s not because we have
cool merchandise. And it’s not because we have a cool, inspiring
name. No. While these all help our cause, it’s the people who
make BHA so special.
I’m fortunate to meet and work with folks from all parts of
North America who care deeply about public lands and waters.
I’m fortunate to lead a dedicated staff of leaders and doers. I
wholeheartedly believe that this is our time to do our part to carry
on the public lands legacy central to our communities, our families
– and our identities.
We need to redouble our efforts on behalf of our wild public
lands, waters and wildlife. You can do just that with your time and
money. Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling:
VOLUNTEER. This can be as simple as making a phone call,
sending an email or hosting a pint night. Or step it up further
and volunteer to travel to a public meeting or Washington, D.C.,
to meet with your elected and administrative officials. Author an
op-ed or a letter to the editor, write an article for the Journal, or
contribute a post to the BHA blog. Serve as a chapter leader.
DONATE. BHA amplifies your voice and gives you an opportunity
to engage. We are doing what we can and growing like a
weed but we have so much more to do. Anything you can afford
will make a difference.
GIVE THE GIFT OF BHA MEMBERSHIP. By the time you
read this, we will be more than 16,000 members strong and on
the rise. The majority of our members have joined as a result of
one-on-one conversations, from hearing thought leaders with
big platforms like Steve Rinella and Randy Newberg, and after
attending intimate events and gatherings. We have doubled our
membership every year for the past four – and now we have an
audacious goal of cresting 30,000 members by the end of 2018. I
can think of no better way to continue to grow our membership
than by having our BHA faithful buy a membership for a friend
for Christmas. Unless all of your friends are BHA members already?
Truth is stranger than fiction; this is fertile ground.
Jim’s words that day on the Blackfoot continue to resonate with
me. Every day I ask myself: What would Jim Posewitz do? In my
heart of hearts, I know the answer. This country was built by doers,
and those are the folks who step up and carry the day.
What will you do to advance this legacy? Together we have accomplished
much, but much more remains to be done. As another
of my heroes, Theodore Roosevelt, once said: “Far and away the
best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work
worth doing.”
I’m proud to be here in the arena with each and every one of
you. And I’m looking forward to seeing what we accomplish in
the year to come.
Onward and Upward,
Land Tawney
President & CEO
What we do for wild places today will set the stage for wild boys like Colin
Tawney. Read an interview with Jim Posewitz on page 52.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 3

WHAT IS BHA?
BACKCOUNTRY HUNTERS & ANGLERS
is a North American conservation
nonprofit 501(c)(3) dedicated to the
conservation of backcountry fish and
wildlife habitat, sustaining and expanding
access to important lands and waters, and
upholding the principles of fair chase.
This is our quarterly magazine. We fight to
maintain and enhance the backcountry
values that define our passions: challenge,
solitude and beauty. Join us. Become
part of the sportsmen’s voice for our wild
public lands, waters and wildlife.
Sign up at www.backcountryhunters.org.
THE SPORTSMEN’S VOICE FOR OUR WILD PUBLIC LANDS, WATERS AND WILDLIFE
Ryan Busse (Montana) Chairman
J.R. Young (California) Treasurer
Sean Carriere (Idaho)
Ben O’Brien (Texas)
Michael Beagle (Oregon) President Emeritus
President & CEO
Land Tawney, tawney@backcountryhunters.org
Alberta Public Lands Coordinator
Aliah Adams Knopff, aliah.knopff@gmail.com
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
STAFF
Ben Bulis (Montana) Vice Chairman
Heather Kelly (Alaska)
T. Edward Nickens (North Carolina)
Mike Schoby (Montana)
Backcountry Journal Editor
Sam Lungren, sam@backcountryhunters.org
Operations Director
Frankie McBurney Olson, frankie@backcountryhunters.org
STATE CHAPTERS
BHA HAS MEMBERS across the
continent, with chapters representing
35 states, the District of Columbia and
two provinces. Grassroots public lands
sportsmen and women are the driving
force behind BHA. Learn more about what
BHA is doing in your state on page 26. If
you are looking for ways to get involved,
email your state chapter chair at the
following addresses:
• alaska@backcountryhunters.org
• alberta@backcountryhunters.org
• arizona@backcountryhunters.org
• britishcolumbia@backcountryhunters.org
• california@backcountryhunters.org
• capital@backcountryhunters.org
• colorado@backcountryhunters.org
• idaho@backcountryhunters.org
• michigan@backcountryhunters.org
• minnesota@backcountryhunters.org
• montana@backcountryhunters.org
• nevada@backcountryhunters.org
• newengland@backcountryhunters.org
• newmexico@backcountryhunters.org
• newyork@backcountryhunters.org
• oregon@backcountryhunters.org
• pennsylvania@backcountryhunters.org
• southeast@backcountryhunters.org
• southdakota@backcountryhunters.org
• texas@backcountryhunters.org
• utah@backcountryhunters.org
• washington@backcountryhunters.org
• wisconsin@backcountryhunters.org
4 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018
• wyoming@backcountryhunters.org
Donor and Corporate Relations Manager
Grant Alban, grant@backcountryhunters.org
State Policy Director
Tim Brass, tim@backcountryhunters.org
Campus Outreach Coordinator
Sawyer Connelly, sawyer@backcountryhunters.org
Collegiate Curriculum and Outreach Assistant
Trey Curtiss, trey@backcountryhunters.org
Montana Chapter Coordinator
Kevin Farron, kevin@backcountryhunters.org
Office Manager
Caitlin Frisbie, frisbie@backcountryhunters.org
Conservation Director
John Gale, gale@backcountryhunters.org
Northeast Public Lands Coordinator
Chris Hennessy, chris@backcountryhunters.org
Southeast Chapter Coordinator
Josh Kaywood, josh@backcountryhunters.org
JOURNAL CONTRIBUTORS
Thom Bridge, Ryan Busse, Tovar Cerulli, Joe Friedrichs,
Michael Furtman, Jack Hennessy, Olga Kreimer, Ted
Koch, Ben Long, Emily Madieros, Bill McDavid, Kris
Millgate, T. Edward Nickens, Eric Nuse, Erika Putnam,
David Quinn, Neal Ritter, Tim Romano, Nate Schweber,
Maddie Vincent, Dakota Wharry, J.R. Young, Isaac Zarecki
Cover photo: Michael Furtman
Backcountry Journal is the quarterly membership
publication of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. All
rights reserved. Content may not be reproduced in any
manner without the consent of the publisher. Writing
and photography queries, submissions and advertising
questions contact sam@backcountryhunters.org
Published December 2018. Volume XIII, Issue I
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Central Idaho Coordinator
Mike McConnell, whiteh2omac@gmail.com
Communications Director
Katie McKalip, mckalip@backcountryhunters.org
Social Media and Online Advocacy Coordinator
Nicole Qualtieri, nicole@backcountryhunters.org
Northwest Outreach Coordinator
Jesse Salsberry, jesse@backcountryhunters.org
Membership Coordinator
Ryan Silcox, ryan@backcountryhunters.org
Merchandise and Membership Specialist
Ty Smail, smail@backcountryhunters.org
Chapter Coordinator
Ty Stubblefield, ty@backcountryhunters.org
Interns: Carter Birmingham, Emily Madieros, Dylan Snyder,
Maddie Vincent, Dakota Wharry
BHA LEGACY PARTNERS
The following Legacy Partners have committed
$1000 or more to BHA for the next three years. To
find out how you can become a Legacy Partner,
please contact grant@backcountryhunters.org.
Lou and Lila Bahin, Bendrix Bailey, Mike Beagle,
Kip Carpenter, Sean Carriere, Chris Cholette, Dave
Cline, Todd Debonis, Dan Edwards, Blake Fischer,
Sarah Foreman, Whitehill Fosburgh, Stephen Graf,
Ryan Huckeby, Richard Kacin, Ted Koch, Peter
Lupsha, Robert Magill, Chol McGlynn, Nick Miller,
James Montieth, Paul Moseley, Nick Nichols, Jared
Oakleaf, Doug Okland, John Pollard, William Rahr,
Adam Ratner, Jesse Riggleman, Mike Schmitt, Jason
Stewart, Bob Tammen, David Tawney, Lynda Tucker,
Karl Van Calcar, Barry Whitehill, J.R. and Renee Young
BHA HEADQUARTERS
P.O. Box 9257, Missoula, MT 59807
www.backcountryhunters.org
admin@backcountryhunters.org
(406) 926-1908

YOUR BACKCOUNTRY
PRAIRIE POTHOLE REGION
BY DAKOTA WHARRY
AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS THE NORTH AMERICAN
duck factory, the Prairie Pothole Region covers about 276,000
square miles across three Canadian provinces, Alberta, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba, and five U.S. states, Montana, South Dakota,
North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. The area lies in the heart of
the Central flyway and is a vital breeding and nesting ground for
more than 50 percent of ducks on the continent, according to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The sprawling prairie wetland ecosystem
is home to more than 1,600 species of plants, 300 species
of birds and 100 species of mammals.
Travis Wilebski works closely with BHA in South Dakota, as
well as Wild Dakota Outdoors Television and Keeping Kids in
Outdoor Sports. Wilebski is is one of many sportsmen who rely
on public lands in the PPR for fishing, duck hunting, canoeing,
camping and more. The area is dominated by prairie wetlands,
croplands and rolling hills as far as the eye can see.
“You can look at a little spot on the map and drive up and see a
pothole or lake you’ve never seen before. There’s just so much area
and possibilities out here; it’s not just the hunting and fishing,”
Wilebski said.
The region is under threat as increased agricultural production
results in more wetlands being drained and developed. More recently,
Wilebski has observed fewer sportsmen in these areas.
Ryan Moehring, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service, said a variety of factors in the early 2000s
have caused significant losses of acres enrolled in the Conservation
Reserve Program. High commodity prices for corn and soybeans,
climate change extending grow seasons and the Bakken oil
boom all took a toll on wildlife habitat.
The PPR is a priority for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,
Moehring says. These wetland ecosystems can take thousands
of years to develop and history has shown that once they’re destroyed,
it’s difficult if not impossible to restore them. The region
also works as a sponge, absorbing and filtering large amounts of
rain that would otherwise run off and cause flooding, he says.
“The area is practically a sacred place for waterfowl hunters,
but it’s also a place where a lot of people have been making their
living for generations,” Moehring said. “It’s our responsibility to
protect the wildlife and waterfowl by protecting the landscape,
but we have to make sure conservation is compatible with the
landowner’s ability to make a profit.”
The USFWS does that through wetland easements. A wetland
easement is an agreement between the USFWS and a landowner
where the landowner receives a one-time payment to permanently
protect wetlands on his or her property. But the land can still be
farmed, grazed or hayed if the wetlands naturally dry up.
Many conservation groups are working to protect the area by
encouraging Congress to increase the Conservation Reserve Program
cap in the 2018 Farm Bill to allow more of the area’s grasslands
to be protected. The popular program, which dates back to
the 1950s, pays farmers to preserve native grasslands or convert
arable land from agricultural production to native vegetation to
create wildlife habitat, with incentives in some states for opening
the ground to public access. According to Pheasants Forever,
between 2006 and 2011 the PPR lost 2,000 square miles of
grasslands, some of it CRP land and some of it native prairie.
By increasing the budget cap for CRP payments, conservationists
hope to stem the loss of habitat.
Another pressing concern for the Prairie Pothole ecosystem and
the wildlife it supports is the current legal uncertainty regarding
the extent of federal protections for wetlands under the Clean
Water Act. For decades, confusion has reigned in the application
of the landmark law to wetlands and intermittent, ephemeral or
headwaters streams. In 2015, the Obama Administration’s EPA finalized
the Clean Water Rule, also known as Waters of the United
States, to restore lost water protections and clarify which waterbodies
receive automatic protection while acknowledging important
agricultural exemptions. Restoring coverage for waters with
significant hydrological and ecological connections to traditionally
“navigable” waters is central to these new standards, benefitting
more than 2 million miles of streams and 20 million acres of wetlands
– a boon to the PPR and its constantly fluctuating wetlands.
Hours before the new Clean Water Rule was due to take effect,
a district judge in North Dakota blocked it. The rule has been tied
up in litigation reaching upward to the Supreme Court ever since.
Current EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who sued the EPA over
the Clean Water Rule in his former role as Oklahoma attorney
general, has signaled that his agency is working to repeal the rule
out of concerns it will impede energy and agricultural development
and infringe landowner rights. Uncertainty remains over
Clean Water Act protections for wetlands and funding for CRP
allotments to promote wildlife habitat – both weighing heavily
upon the future of the Prairie Pothole Region as North America’s
duck factory. But with intense dedication from numerous conservation
groups and a local passion for waterfowl and all wetland
wildlife, habitat and hunting opportunities across the entire flyway
will not be diminished without a fight.
Dakota is an intern at Backcountry Journal and a senior journalism
student at the University of Montana.
Michael Furtman photo
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 5

BACKCOUNTRY
JOURNAL
The Magazine of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Winter 2018
Volume XIII, Issue I
Table of Contents
Departments
President’s Message 3
What Would Jim Posewitz Do?
Your Backcountry 5
Prairie Pothole Region
BHA Headquarters News 8
WWTRD?, New Staff, Sabinoso Wilderness Access Achieved,
ANWR Film, Hike to Hunt Winners
Faces of BHA 13
Todd Waldron, New York
Public Land Owner 15
Sage Steppe Ecosystem
Instructional 16
Yoga for Hunters
Backcountry Bounty 18
Beyond Fair Chase 19
To Shoot or Not to Shoot?
Backcountry Bistro 21
Wild Rabbit Juicy Lucy
Kids’ Corner 23
Country Boy
State Chapter Spotlight 25
Habitat Watch Program
Chapter News 26
BHA Chapters: Punchin’ Tags, Pickin’ Trash and Pourin’ Pints
BHA College Clubs 31
Hunting for Sustainability, Tristan Kern remembered
End of the Line 62
Skagit Salvation
Tim Romano photo
6 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

Features
Hornaday Wilderness 32
By David Quinn
Required Reading for Conservationists 38
By BHA Staff, Board and Friends
Pie in the Sky 44
By Neal Ritter
Boundary Waters Backcountry Ice Fishing 48
By Joseph Friedrichs
A Conversation with Jim Posewitz 52
By Sam Lungren
Poem: 36 Hours of Bull 56
By Mahting Putelis
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 7

BHA HEADQUARTERS
WHAT WOULD THEODORE ROOSEVELT DO?
ON NOV. 9, 2017, EXACTLY ONE YEAR after the 2016 presidential
election, BHA launched a new website, What Would Theodore
Roosevelt Do? (whatwouldtrdo.org) to compare the natural
resource policy related decisions of the Trump administration to
T.R.’s philosophy, attitudes and accomplishments.
Last December, President Trump said his administration would
honor the legacy of Theodore Roosevelt, America’s 26th president
and greatest conservation leader, by also conserving and protecting
our nation’s natural resources for future generations. Roosevelt is
responsible for conserving more than 230 million acres of American
lands and waters, and his conservation achievements haven’t
been matched in the 108 years since he left office. In response,
BHA created the WWTRD website to compare the actions of Interior
Secretary Ryan Zinke, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue
and EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt with T.R.’s values.
“We believe that while some of these actions are commendable
– and are in keeping with the values of Theodore Roosevelt
– others deserve our swift and honest criticism,” BHA President
and CEO Land Tawney said. “By raising our voices together, as
hunters, anglers and citizens, we can stand up for Roosevelt’s legacy
and send a strong message to the president and his cabinet that
they need to do the same.”
The website outlines specific policy decisions and their T.R.
comparison: thumbs up for T.R. approval, thumbs down for
disapproval and a question mark for issues as yet unresolved.
After reading and comparing, viewers can tweet at the administration,
write a letter to the editor of their newspaper or sign
BHA’s WWTRD petition to keep Trump administrators on track
to protect our public lands and waters, like they promised they
would do.
KEVIN FARRON JOINS STAFF AS MONTANA CHAPTER COORDINATOR
AT A YOUNG AGE, Kevin learned to fillet bluegills and chase
whitetails in northern Lower Michigan, but he quickly became
uninterested in hunting, or as he knew it, sitting-in-the-cold-andfreezing-your-butt-off-while-not-seeing-any-deer.
As he got older,
the non-consumptive appeal of the backcountry won out, and
Kevin spent his free time backpacking, hiking and building an
indissoluble appreciation for the natural world.
At the University of Michigan Kevin rekindled his love for
fishing after joining the school’s bass fishing team. An invitation
to his friend’s deer camp uncovered a newfound passion for the
challenge of fair chase hunting.
After earning his B.A. in communications and English from
UM, he headed west and never looked back. An interaction with
a mule deer buck somewhere around 8,000 feet led to a light-bulb
moment when Kevin vowed to never summit a mountain or go
backpacking again unless he had his spotting scope or fishing rod
in tow. Now, fully reformed, Kevin often refers to backcountry
hunting and fishing as “camping with a purpose.”
As a transplant, Kevin refuses to take Montana’s public lands or
our hunting and fishing heritage for granted, and he’s determined
to convince other Montanans to do the same. He’s been an active
member of BHA since 2013, and his passionate involvement led
him to a career in conservation. Most recently, Kevin has been entrenched
in the world of conservation policy as TRCP’s Western
field associate in Missoula. He’s thrilled to finally be joining the
BHA team that stoked the fire.
SABINOSO WILDERNESS ACCESS ACHIEVED
PUBLIC LANDS SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN are celebrating
as a deal was inked that opened the Sabinoso Wilderness in northeastern
New Mexico to the public for the first time.
The Interior Department announced on Nov. 9 its decision to
accept donated lands adjacent to the Sabinoso that include a road
easement enabling hunters, anglers and others to access the wilderness.
The annexation of the 3,595-acre Rimrock Rose Ranch
was brokered by the Wilderness Land Trust and long advocated
for by sportsmen, who had urged Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to
uphold his pledge to pursue public access opportunities and open
the New Mexico wilderness to citizens.
BHA President and CEO Land Tawney, who visited the wilderness
with Sec. Zinke and members of New Mexico’s congressional
delegation in July, commended the diverse efforts that led to success
in the Sabinoso.
“Today was a good day for public access,” said Tawney. “A deal
has been signed to expand and provide access to the Sabinoso Wilderness,
which until today was the only inaccessible wilderness in
the United States. Senator Heinrich and Senator Udall deserve
major kudos for their unwavering doggedness to get this project
across the finish line. Secretary Zinke deserves credit for listening
to hunters and recognizing a good deal for all Americans. The
generous landowner who made possible this victory has set an example
for others to follow. Finally, sportsmen and women deserve
8 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

credit for raising their voices. We have been heard.”
The Sabinoso provides habitat to abundant populations of elk,
deer, turkey and Barbary sheep. Thousands of public lands sportsmen
signed a BHA petition urging Sec. Zinke to accept the donation
of the Rimrock Rose and open access where none existed.
New Mexico BHA Member Brad Jones was the first person to
legally access the wilderness, the day the lock was cut from the
gate. The chapter is planning a group hike in celebration soon.
“I am elated!” said Jesse Deubel, a BHA member from Edgewood,
New Mexico, on the day the annexation was finalized. “As
a lifelong resident of New Mexico I am truly humbled by the tremendous
support for the effort to provide access to Sabinoso from
sportsmen and women from across the country. Senator Martin
Heinrich has once again proven he is a champion for public lands
and access to those lands.
“The bottom line is that tomorrow I can take my children to
explore roughly 20,000 acres of wild, public lands that were not
accessible to us yesterday,” Deubel stated. “The recreational value
of this land is nearly as expansive as the historical value. The only
value greater than these is the contribution this magnificent landscape
will provide to future generations!”
NEW BHA FILM FOLLOWS HUNTERS IN ARCTIC REFUGE
ALASKA’S 19.3 MILLION-ACRE Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge feeds our dreams of the wild, offering sportsmen the opportunity
to hunt and fish vast tracts of wild country on a scale
incomparable to anything found in the Lower 48. Yet, these unparalleled
backcountry hunting and fishing opportunities are
threatened by congressional proposals to develop the area for energy
through the budget resolution process.
To highlight ANWR’s rugged beauty and the mistake that
would be made by opening it to energy development, BHA
teamed up with the media masters at Seacat Creative. to film a
caribou hunt. BHA National Board Member J.R. Young and his
wife, Renee, flew deep into the refuge with veteran Alaskan hunter
and BHA Legacy Partner Barry Whitehill to float and hunt
through the mighty valleys of this special place.
Check it out at backcountryhunters.org/tags/video.
AUGUST 30 MARKED THE END of the 2017 Hike to Hunt
Challenge. What started as a grassroots group of backcountry
hunters and anglers working to maintain their mountain fitness
in the months leading up to hunting season morphed into an a
walk-a-thon on steroids. From Alaska to New York and Alberta to
Texas, hundreds of people jumped in to not only make a difference
for their own fitness, but also to raise money for our cause.
Friends pledged an amount of money per mile hiked and the contestants
competed to hike the most and raise the most.
We’d like to thank all those who participated in the challenge,
raising a total of $12,877 for our wild public lands, waters and
wildlife! What a fun challenge, we hope this made a positive influence
on your physical fitness, the people you encountered on the
trail and your friends and family.
Below are the results of the top three fundraisers. These three
worked diligently the entire competition to stay on top and their
friends and family ponied up in support.
1ST PLACE goes to Scott Coleman of Arizona who raised $1,853
and won the Kimber Mountain Ascent Rifle.
2ND PLACE goes to Sam Nasset of Montana who raised $1,394
and won the Kifaru Sawtooth Shelter.
3RD PLACE goes to D.J. Zor of Arizona who raised $1,155 and
won the Kifaru backpack.
We also gave away a $250 First Lite gift card, a pair of Schnee’s
HIKE TO HUNT WINNERS
boots, Vortex optics, onXmaps premium memberships and select
prizes from Yeti and the BHA store to several lucky winners. This
was fun-filled and exciting challenge and we’re building a community
of hunters and anglers working to be better prepared for the
backcountry, raise awareness of our wild public lands and waters
and educate others about our work. See you out there next year!
Thank you again for your support!
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 9

“
I signed up for a lifetime membership to Backcountry Hunters & Anglers for the same reasons that
inspire me to serve the public by working for the U.S. Forest Service. I know from countless firsthand
experiences that there is no greater asset to our nation than our shared public lands. I care deeply about
clean water, clean air, abundant fish and wildlife, economically vibrant rural communities, and having
plenty of places where we can keep in touch with our roots as wild, ecologically aware human beings.
These values are at the core of BHA’s culture and help make me who I am.
WAYS
YOU CAN
GIVE
EVERY DONATION
COUNTS! $20, $50, $100
BUY A MEMBERSHIP
FOR A FRIEND
BECOME A
LEGACY PARTNER
BECOME A LIFE MEMBER
PLANNED GIVING
BEQUESTS
”
-KARL MALCOLM, Ph.D.
U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Regional Wildlife Ecologist
and BHA’s 500th Life Member
WORKPLACE MATCH
CHARITABLE ANNUITIES
IRA ROLLOVER
LIFE MEMBER
PREMIUMS
KIMBER FIREARMS
SEEK OUTSIDE TENTS
ORVIS FLY RODS
JACKSON KAYAKS
BHA’s 500th Life Member Karl Malcolm and his daughter Clara enjoying their Fourth
of July in the Pecos Wilderness.
WELCOME, NEW BHA LIFE MEMBERS!
Steve Angell
Omid Ashtari
Justin Bauer
Jake Benson
David Bowman
Jared Brown
Tyler Crockett
Lonnie Dale
Erik Dippold
Cory Dukehart
Daniel Flournoy
Jeffrey Hancock
Guy Lightfoot
David Livernash
Ryan McGrew
Benjamin O’Dwyer
Adam Peterson
Brendan Sullivan
Troy Trimble
Nicholas Wagner
Kristina Woessner
Call GRANT ALBAN at 406-926-1908 OR
Visit www.backcountryhunters.org/donate

WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 11

S E V E N T H A N N U A L
RENDEZVOUS
www.backcountryhunters.org
APRIL 12-14, 2018 BOISE, IDAHO
BREWFEST • STORYTELLING • COOKOFF • SEMINARS • LIVE AUCTION
12 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER FALL 20162018

FACES OF BHA
TODD WALDRON: Chestertown, New York
Forestry Consultant, NY Chapter Vice Chair, Hunt to Eat Ambassador
HOW DID YOU GET
STARTED HUNTING AND
FISHING?
WHAT ATTRACTED YOU
TO BHA?
TELL US ABOUT YOUR
WASHINGTON, D.C.,
VISIT WITH ELECTED
OFFICIALS
It was a great opportunity for
me, and it was such a learning
experience. I learned that telling
your story is important and
showing up is important. The
conversation is shaped by those
who show up. As a hunter who
loves solitude and wild places, I
am often introverted and reflective.
As a conservationist, I’ve
learned that it is imperative to
speak up on behalf of those things
that we hold sacred – public
lands, wildlife and future generations
who can’t speak for themselves.
The people that we met
with, the staff members, they’re
all real people. They’re there and
they want to hear your story. If
you’re sincere, you’re telling your
story about why public lands are
important to you, you’re showing
up, and you’re just being involved
– you’re doing a lot. That was the
take-home message for me. I just
felt like it’s important to have a
voice and it’s important to make
that voice heard and to make sure
your representatives are hearing
those concerns and recommendations.
To anyone who might
have an interest in doing something
like that in the future, I
would highly recommend it. For
one, you’ll meet some great people
that you’re inspired by.
WHAT PROBLEMS DO
YOU SEE IN WILDLIFE
MANAGEMENT?
I’m a sixth generation Adirondacker,
so I was introduced to hunting
and fishing at an early age by
my -parents and my grandparents.
I’m a product of my environment.
I grew up in a family that enjoyed
hunting and fishing and enjoyed
the four seasons and being out in
the outdoors throughout the year. I
think by age 4 or 5, the gateway for
me was probably ice fishing with
my parents and my grandfather.
We would go out ice fishing and we
had a handmade chisel and we took
a Coleman stove and made it a big
family affair. Then in the springtime
we would go trout fishing and
in the summer we would camp and
in the fall by age 5 or 6 I was with
my dad and my uncles out there
deer hunting. It’s just always been
a way of life and something that I
still enjoy doing with my family.
Many people don’t know this, but
here in New York, in the Adirondacks,
we have almost 3 million
acres of public lands and hundreds
of ponds and streams and lakes and
they’re right at your fingertips, so
it’s a really cool place to grow up. A
lot of opportunity for exposure to
hunting and fishing. It’s always influenced
my big choices in life. I’m
still living here. After school and
moving away for a while, my wife
and I came back. We want to raise
our daughter here.
For one, I can’t think of another
conservation group out there that
better aligns with my values and my
beliefs. When I think about BHA’s
message and vision and ethos about
public lands and wild places, how
they’re America’s greatest treasures
and how they’re worth protecting
and passing down to future generations,
that just strikes a chord
with me. It’s something that just really
resonates with me. One of my
personal mottos is: “good ideas are
worth doing.” By that I mean it’s
one thing to just think things and
have good ideas, but it’s another
thing to show up and speak up and
stand up. I think BHA does a tremendous
job, when you look at the
public lands debate that’s going on,
you look at the passion and the energy
and the grit of all the members
out there doing things and providing
leadership. That’s important
to me, and I find that appealing
about BHA. I like the fact that we
show up and do things. I’ve met so
many great people through some
of the activities that we’ve done,
like coming to the Rendezvous in
2016, when we did the Washington,
D.C., fly-in, and on a local
level, all the chapter events that we
have. The quality of the membership
is tremendous. It’s inspiring.
Anywhere you go, you meet BHA
members and they share that same
passion and enthusiasm. I really
enjoy being a part of this whole
group.
This privilege we have is conditional
and contingent on certain
things. We have to have good access
to public lands and good habitat,
which can come in different
forms. These are cornerstones of
our North American conservation
model. It started out a few years
ago, this misguided, overt attempt
to transfer public lands. It’s becoming
more nuanced, so recent tactics
like the proposals to weaken protection
on species and management,
proposed rollbacks, reduced funding,
all pose a threat to undermine
conservation policies and tools. A
specific example is the fire funding
for the Forest Service. We’re in this
cycle where wild fires are at their fever
pitch. We’ve been hit with this
very dry season for several years in a
row, and fire spending is taking up,
in some sitautions, half of the Forest
Service’s budget. So if all of that
is just going toward fire protection
and control, then that money is not
going towards other management
for things like habitat and management
planning. I think that that’s a
specific example of things that can
pose threats. I think that funding is
always important. Budgetary processes,
balancing budgets and conservation
funding are the kinds of
things we need to, now more than
ever, make sure are upheld. We
need to hold our ground so that we
have these programs in place and
are able to move things forward to
the next generation.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 13

14 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

Bryan Huskey photo
SAGE STEPPE ECOSYSTEM
BY MADDIE VINCENT
CRISP, FALL MORNINGS hunting pronghorn. A yellow Lab
pup’s first retrieve. The smell of sage everywhere. These are some
of BHA Legacy Partner Ted Koch’s memorable moments from
Nevada’s share of the Great Basin and its sage steppe ecosystem.
“The word my wife uses to describe sagebrush ecosystems on
public land is ‘freedom,’” Koch said. “The sense of awe, the sense
of being small, is tremendous.”
Sagebrush is the most widespread vegetation in the Western
United States, hence why the “sagebrush sea” is an image often
used to define the West. It’s a plant that’s been around for over
10,000 years, known to support more than 350 species of wildlife
and plants, including some that live nowhere else in the world,
like the greater sage grouse. These ecosystems are often stereotyped
as arid and desolate, when in fact they are important to the
wildlife and people of Western states and Canadian provinces.
The sagebrush ecosystem is abundant and widespread, but it
is also in danger. For decades, habitat loss and degradation from
development, invasive species, fire and overgrazing have negatively
impacted these iconic places. Koch lived and worked in Nevada’s
sagebrush ecosystem for five years and, until recently, was
involved in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s policy making
for conserving sage grouse. From 2011 to 2016, Koch worked
with ranchers and conservationists to develop collaborative plans
to minimize these threats. But a new threat emerged this fall that
could jeopardize sagebrush conservation efforts: an Interior Department
review and possible retraction of 98 state sage grouse
conservation initiatives.
Although the entire sage steppe ecosystem is deteriorating, sage
grouse are particularly at risk. The once-abundant game bird’s
numbers have dropped significantly, enough to be evaluated three
times in the last 12 years for protection under the Endangered
Species Act. Conservationists have worked hard to keep sage
grouse off of the list because the Act, meant for dire circumstances,
would severely restrict livelihoods and recreational activities.
In 2015, the most recent ESA decision, USFWS chose not
to add sage grouse to the Endangered Species List, largely because
robust, state-tailored conservation plans were developed to
improve habitat and increase population numbers in what may
be the largest and most innovative landscape-scale collaborative
ever undertaken. The USFWS needed to let these conservation
plans, coupled with other private lands conservation efforts,
come to fruition and evaluate their success before they could decide
whether sage grouse required federal protection. However,
in an October Notice of Intent, the Interior Department said it
will consider amending all, some or none of the 98 management
plans. According to the DOI notice, this review is a result of one
plan’s failure to prepare an environmental impact statement for its
sagebrush focal areas.
PUBLIC LAND OWNER
According to Ed Arnett, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation
Partnership’s senior scientist and BHA’s 2017 Aldo Leopold
Award winner, the states and some stakeholders have expressed
numerous concerns with the federal sage grouse plans to the
Trump administration. Those issues largely center on protection
measures like buffers around leks (sage grouse breeding grounds)
that do not allow surface disturbance from development. Buffer
zones and other protections in the conservation plans are critical
for continued grouse survival. The administration seems to be
looking for ways to reduce or even eliminate restrictions on energy
development. But if these protection zones are reduced or retracted,
it could cause serious harm to sage grouse and potentially
trigger another ESA evaluation. Arnett believes that there is room
for tweaking, but only when the science supports any changes and
the department shouldn’t roll back the plans altogether.
“I’d hate to see the baby thrown out with the bathwater just
because some stakeholders didn’t get everything they wanted,”
Arnett said. “There were many compromises in these plans to balances
uses while conserving sage grouse, and every stakeholder
group gave up something and got something.”
These management plans were the result of massive collaboration
between ranchers, developers, sportsmen, state and federal
agencies, and conservationists to protect sage grouse without
eliminating sagebrush ecosystem uses, like hunting, grazing and
energy development, which is what Arnett says would happen if
sage grouse were listed as endangered. Many of these plans were
implemented only two years ago, which is frustrating to everyone
from Arnett to Wyoming’s Republican governor, Matt Mead.
Mead and the Cowboy State are sage grouse conservation leaders.
Wyoming is home to about 40 percent of the bird’s population,
but is also dependent on energy production. Some states
have mimicked Wyoming’s conservation strategy, which provides
the highest protection within key sage grouse areas and promotes
energy development outside of them. In several public
statements, Mead has stressed the conservation progress made in
Wyoming through collaborative planning and that reopening the
plans could be detrimental to both sage grouse and development.
Arnett says these plans are collectively the greatest landscape-scale
conservation planning effort of modern times. Many
stakeholders worked together to invest in the future, which is why
federal and state plans should both be given a chance, he says. But
these plans have to be implemented now and into the future.
Koch echoes these thoughts: “Many ranchers and miners like
healthy sagebrush ecosystems, just like hunters and anglers do,”
Koch said. “Building those diverse coalitions is a positive, proactive
step that we can take to achieve successful outcomes.”
Maddie is an intern at Backcountry Journal and a journalism
graduate student at the University of Montana.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 15

INSTRUCTIONAL
Bill McDavid photo
YOGA FOR HUNTERS
BY DR. ERIKA PUTNAM
16 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018
IT TOOK ME 16 DAYS TO TAG A DALL SHEEP in Alaska last
year. If it weren’t for my yoga practice, I don’t think I could have
stayed mentally strong or returned home injury free. I’m 49 years
old, so my yoga doesn’t look like sitting cross-legged under a tree
and my goal is not to do a photo-worthy backbend. I practice a
combination of meditation, yoga poses, balance poses, controlled
breathing and mindfulness. My practice benefits me mentally and
emotionally as much as it does physically.
We all hunt for different reasons but nobody hunts to come
home emptyhanded or with a trophy of a sprained ankle. You
want your body and mind dialed in when your hunt date arrives.
If your boot gets caught behind a rock and you end up in the
downhill splits, you want your hamstrings flexible and your core
strong. If your partner says “breathe,” you must be able to calm
down, focus and make a clean shot. An injury can cut your hunt
short and impatience can lead to mistakes you may regret later.
A regular yoga practice incorporates physical challenges that require
strength, flexibility and balance. It is also a practice in pursuing
a particular state of mind. Yoga is slow paced. It allows time
to pay attention to body mechanics, and it develops patience and
precision of both thoughts and emotions – muich like archery. It
builds physical and mental endurance. This can help you develop
the stamina to crouch for 30 minutes, waiting for a buck to present
a shot, or dig deep to find the determination to keep glassing
a promising mountainside all day. Success in the field depends on
strength and agility, both physical and mental.
You might be surprised how a yoga practice affects your hunting.
Not only will it help you prevent injuries but it will give you
a keen appreciation for the entire experience. Consider these five
benefits and add yoga to your training regimen to enhance time
in the field.
Erika is a chiropractic physician who recently relocated her practice
from Nampa, Idaho to Whitefish, Montana to seek adventure and
sanctity in the mountains and rivers. Erika is an avid outdoors enthusiast
who teaches yoga, hunts big game and volunteers her time and
expertise to non-profits like the Wild Sheep Foundation and BHA.

1
FLEXIBILITY
Falls and unexpected quick movements result in
sprains, strains and fractures. The more flexible a
person is, the more shock they can absorb. Lengthening
the soft tissues and improving pliability
makes muscles and ligaments less prone to injury. It
takes time, dedication and a certain amount of mental
letting-go to hold uncomfortable positions. Going
through a series of yoga poses may help the less
flexible or busy-minded person take on a structured
stretching program.
2
STRENGTH
We anticipate heavy lifting and carrying but don’t
want to throw out our backs. Weight lifting helps
prepare for those big lifts but small muscles need
attention too. Many yoga poses are held for long
periods of time, thereby recruiting the smaller intrinsic
muscles around joints to strengthen and protect
them. Hiking, squatting, bending forward and
carrying a pack are all activities related to sustained
postures. Strength training should include endurance,
not just max weight or repetitions.
3
BALANCE
Standing on one leg with eyes open and eyes
closed for at least one minute each and every day
is a good start to practicing balance. If you can’t do
this don’t even think about crossing shale or jumping
from one boulder to another. Good balance can
save you from a bad fall and teach your body to correct
more quickly when you find yourself off center.
Practicing balance also increases postural awareness.
Imagine the difference you would feel carrying a rifle
for an eight-hour hike if you were slouching forward,
leading with your head rather than holding
your shoulders back and your neck up long and tall.
Balance, posture and body awareness work together
to keep you in the best positions possible with the
lowest risk of injury.
4
BREATH CONTOL
Controlled slowing of your breath when you are
excited or worried calms the fight-or-flight chemistry
to a state where you can act with clarity. Conscious
breathing also improves awareness of your
other senses. You more readily notice details like
sitting posture, wind direction and what is present in
your surroundings. More practically, breath control
increases the chances that you will shoot straight and
that you won’t get hit in the face by your scope.
5
FOCUSED INTENTION
A yoga practice focuses your physical and emotional
energy. It improves and directs your desired
intention. The ability to set an intention and focus
your mind and skills towards that end broaden and
deepen your entire hunting experience. It benefits
the community and culture of hunting to be conscious.
While body awareness prevents injury, intentional
hunting practices secure future hunting
opportunities. Collectively, the mindset to leave no
trace, observe and respect property lines, take ethical
shots, remove all possible meat, work together as
a team and appreciate the opportunity and gift of
hunting are the extended benefits of a yogic mind.
There is no shame in training the mind and heart
with the same dedication and precision with which
you prepare your gear and practice shooting.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 17

BACKCOUNTRY BOUNTY
1 4
2
3
1
2
3
4
5
6
Hunter: Cody McMillan, BHA Member Species: Black
Bear Province: British Columbia Method: Rifle Distance
from nearest road: Six kilometers Transportation: Foot
Hunters: Eric Lindquist, BHA Member
Species: Spruce Grouse State: Montana Method:
Compound bow Distance from nearest road: 1.5 miles
Transportation: Foot
Hunters: Jack Hennessy and Mark Norquist, BHA
Members Species: Ruffed Grouse State: Minnesota
Method: Shotgun Distance from nearest road: Six
miles Transportation: Canoe/Foot
Hunter: Josh Brown, BHA Member Species: Elk State:
Oregon Method: Rifle Distance from nearest road: Two
miles Transportation: Foot
Hunter: Jeff Muratore, BHA Member Species: Mule Deer
State: Wyoming Method: Rifle Distance from nearest
road: Two miles Transportation: Foot
Hunter: River Haskell (10), BHA Member Species:
Pronghorn State: South Dakota Method: Rifle Distance
from nearest road: One mile Transportation: Foot
Send submissions to sam@backcountryhunters.org
5
6
18 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

BEYOND FAIR CHASE
Tim Romano photo
TO SHOOT OR NOT TO SHOOT
HOW ETHICAL HUNTING BUILDS CHARACTER
BY ERIC NUSE
TIME: Dark, early and cold
DATE: Last days of goose season
HUNTER: Just me
WITNESSES: None for miles
The truck is hidden a half mile away, the decoys are set and a
brisk west wind is at my back. Legal light is still 10 minutes away
and life is good. Yesterday morning I hear the murmur of geese
from my deer stand a good hour after sunrise so plenty of time to
sip some coffee, stretch out and enjoy the solitude.
The good thing about Canada Geese is they usually announce
their arrival with a honk or two. So I figured a little shut eye
wouldn’t hurt. I’d been up early deer hunting for a week and the
old body was starting to feel it.
By the time my brain registered the sound of wings and my eyes
focused, the ducks were landing in the corn stubble on the far side
of my decoys. With a slight tilt of my head from the layout blind
I could see three beautiful greenheads. I love to eat mallard and
hadn’t had any time to hunt them this fall.
Shoot or don’t shoot?
My stomach said go for it. But a little voice in my head said not
so fast, buddy.
Whatever I decide I know it’s legal and it’s safe – OK so far.
Can I make a clean kill? I’ve got double 00s in the gun, full
and modified chokes., the distance I’m guessing is 35 yards. I’ve
killed plenty of geese at this range, but ducks are smaller and even
cripples are hard to swat on the ground. Flush them? They would
be at least 5 yards further away before I could shoot and that is the
edge of my ability and range for a clean kill.
They are moving further away - it’s decision time.
As hunters we face tough ambiguous decisions all the time.
Most of the time we are going to be the only ones who know what
we do - no witnesses and no referees. Everything you have experienced,
read, talked about and thought about coalesces into a little
voice that whispers the answer. For me it was clear – don’t shoot.
As they walked away, I ran the event through my ethical hunter
matrix and came up with two bottom line reasons not to shoot:
(1) marginal odds for a clean kill, (2) poor fit with why I hunt.
I hunt waterfowl for the enjoyment and satisfaction of bringing
them in close and making a skillful wingshot. The eating is important
but only a bonus.
“The true test of character is when you do the right thing even
though you know no one will ever know.” (From an old hunter
education16mm movie)
An hour later the goose Gods smile on me when 23 beautiful
Canadas worked my decoys and on the third pass came right in.
Two shots and two geese were dead in the air. Preparation and
skill met with opportunity and challenge.
Now that’s hunting!
Eric is a retired game warden from Vermont. He is on the board
of Orion – The Hunter’s Institute and the New England Chapter of
BHA and is the former executive director of the International Hunter
Education Association.
This Backcountry Journal department is brought to you by Orion
– The Hunter’s Institute, a nonprofit and BHA partner dedicated
to advancing hunting ethics and wildlife conservation. To learn
more, visit orionhunters.org. To discuss this article and others, go to
backcountryhunters.org/fair_chase and follow to Facebook post.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 19

20 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

BACKCOUNTRY BISTRO
WILD RABBIT JUICY LUCY
BY JACK HENNESSY
I’LL ADMIT IT: I nearly cried seconds after shooting my first
rabbit. Every youngster cutting his or her teeth on upland game
hunting must come to terms with the sport and everything it entails.
Tears are expected. However, I was 33 years old.
It’s a paradox for hunters: truly loving and admiring the natural
beauty of the creatures we kill as we choose to confront the reality
of living as carnivores. There is no convenient detachment from
an animal’s death throes and what ends up on our plate.
Since moving to Minnesota in 2015, rabbit has become my
fallback plan whenever I head afield. Still not too familiar with
the area and the people who live here, I exclusively hunt state and
public lands. I don’t own a dog and rarely hunt with folks who
do, so I work slowly and whenever I catch sight of a cottontail or
snowshoe hare, I am more than happy to add it to my bag.
I was stalking ruffed grouse in the the Cuyuna Country State
Recreation Area when I took my first rabbit. A tuft of white appeared
in the corner of my eye, and I expected a flush but instead
saw a large snowshoe. I was disappointed to return to camp with
rabbit instead of grouse until I tasted the animal. My father-inlaw
and I fried the heart in bacon grease left over from breakfast.
That simple meal remains one of my favorites to this day.
A good-sized cottontail or snowshoe can provide a lot of meat.
While many rabbit recipes call for braising, I also like to debone
my rabbits and grind their meat into burger. A tasty burger is a
great way to introduce wild game skeptics to all the flavors they
have been missing out on. A good burger may serve as the gateway
to other dishes, bolstering both the confidence and curiosity of
the formerly finicky eater.
Also, as far as burgers go, Minnesota is famously known as the
home of the “Juicy Lucy,” essentially a burger with a center of
gooey cheese. Two bars in south Minneapolis both claim credit
for inventing the burger: Matt’s Bar and the 5-8 Club. Minnesotan
and even Wisconsinites go nuts for this type of burger. It only
made sense to me that I should meld a public lands harvest with
a regional delicacy.
RABBIT JUICY LUCY
Makes two servings.
10 to 12 ounces ground rabbit
4 ounces hard cheese, preferably cheddar, finely minced
Hamburger buns
Special mayonnaise:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 ounces pink pickled ginger
1 clove fresh garlic, peeled
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon Sambal chili paste
Toppings:
Shredded carrots
Sliced red onions
Green leaf lettuce
To prepare and grind wild rabbit: Make certain to field dress a
wild rabbit nearly immediately after kill since they sour quickly.
Thoroughly rinse rabbit. Using a good deboning knife, separate
meat from bones and remove bones of thighs and arms. Carefully
cut loins away from lower spine and excess meat from ribs. Thoroughly
grind meat through coarse plate.
To form burger patties: Take 2.5 to 3 ounces of rabbit meat and
form into a ball. Make four balls. Place each ball on 6-by-6-inch
piece of wax paper. Form into thin, flat patties, void of cracks.
Any cracks will cause meat to split when cooking. Try to make
two of four patties slightly wider. On small two patties, sprinkle
finely minced hard cheese. Place a larger patty over each small patty
with cheese and use overlapping edges to connect patties and
seal in cheese. Ideally, the rim of completed patties should have no
holes; otherwise cheese will ooze out when cooking.
To make special mayonnaise: Add all ingredients to food processor.
Blend thoroughly. Mayonnaise should have slight pink
color. Place in refrigerator until ready to serve.
To grill burgers: Heat a flat skillet on medium heat on stove.
Caution: Burgers with rabbit meat may fall apart on an open grill,
especially if grill grate isn’t clean or at high enough temperature.
Spray both sides of burgers with canola oil spray and place in
skillet. Lightly salt and pepper top sides. Cover with lid and cook
for approximately 4 minutes, until underside is brown and liquids
start to bubble. Flip, cover and cook another 4 minutes. While
burgers cook, thinly slice red onion circles.
To serve: Toast buns. Spread special mayonnaise inside buns.
Place a piece of green leaf on bottom along with red onion slices.
Once burgers are thoroughly cooked, place on buns and top with
shredded carrots.
Jack is an outdoor writer for Brothers and Company advertising
agency and the author of the blog “Braising the Wild.”
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 21

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KIDS’ CORNER
COUNTRY
BOY
By Kris Millgate
Seeking Fish and Game with 11-year-old Lafe
I’m Lafe.
I’m 11.
I like snakes and summer.
I live in the country where the river is close.
The mountains are close too.
I spend time in both.
I like rods and rifles.
I caught a state record grayling with my rod.
All I had to do was catch it, measure it and throw it back.
It was really cool because a lot of people don’t get the opportunity to
hold a record for anything.
Using a rifle is harder.
I took hunter ed and my dad taught me.
I shot my first elk with my dad and he was really proud of me.
It was the lead cow.
I knew if I missed, the whole herd would know and they would all
run off.
I didn’t miss.
It was a lot of work to climb up where the elk were.
It was a lot of work to bring the elk down.
The lead cow is a lot of meat.
I made jerky.
It tastes really good.
There’s a lot of other good stuff outside, too.
Go outside. You have a better chance of having fun.
Kris is an outdoor journalist based in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
See more of her work at www.tightlinemedia.com.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 23

STATE SPOTLIGHT
Don Holmstrom, Scott Dolles (USFS), Ian DuClos, Jeff Finn, Steve Choromanski, Trish Choromanski (left to right) with their freshly installed OHV sign in the Pike NF.
HABITAT WATCH PROGRAM
BY DAKOTA WHARRY
IN 2009, David Lien, chairman of the Colorado BHA Chapter,
saw an opportunity. The chapter was growing fast with more than
100 members at the time, many of them expressing interest in becoming
more involved. He decided to harness that grassroots energy
by assigning members to monitor a national forest near them
and serve as BHA spokespeople for that forest’s management.
Now, other BHA chapters are following Colorado’s example.
The Habitat Watch Program was born and within two months,
13 volunteers were keeping watchful eye over eight of the 11 national
forests within Colorado. There are now 25 Habitat Watch
Volunteers, covering 10 national forests. The CO Chapter now
has 1,053 members. Then and now, the Habitat Watch Program
had one simple goal: put more boots on the ground, David said.
Once assigned to a forest or segment of one, volunteers are responsible
for keeping up with any developments in their zone.
The Habitat Watch Volunteer becomes BHA’s resident expert on
their local public lands. They have also been called upon to represent
backcountry interests for their forests in legislative hearings.
Volunteers help give the organization a local perspective backed
by the hours they dedicate to staying informed and actively participating
in conservation efforts.
David said he pioneered the program to help keep BHA rooted.
By getting more boots on the ground, the organization is able to
be more involved in what’s happening on an intimate, local scale
as well as in the grand scheme. The program also helps spread the
leadership workload by providing BHA members an avenue to
take an active role in their communities.
“It’s really helped us accomplish a lot more than [the chapter
leadership] ever could on our own here in Colorado,” David said.
Don Holmstrom, the Colorado Chapter Habitat Watch volunteer
coordinator, has been working with the watch program since
its inception and has been an active BHA member since 2005. He
started implementing training programs to improve the knowledge
and overall effectiveness of the Watch Volunteers. He’s hosted
two training seminars and plans to hold periodic conference
calls to keep the watchmen and women organizing and learning
from one another.
“I think to be an effective conservation group you have to have
boots on the ground,” Don said. “The role of the watchmen is to
give the organization credibility by providing a group of knowledgeable
volunteers to help fight issues from the ground up.”
The California and Idaho BHA chapters have recently started
their own Habitat Watch Programs and New England is in
the process of developing one as well. Craig Grother, an active
member of Colorado’s Watch Program and BHA member since
2007, worked for the U.S. Forest Service for 33 years, the last 20
in Colorado. For him, becoming a watchman was a way to stay
involved.
“I had a lot of energy involved in the wildlife program and I
wanted to follow through on that by keeping an eye on what was
going on and participating from the other side of the table after I
retired,” Craig said.
For Craig, being a watchman alows him to have a voice and
maintain dialogues with the Forest Service and Bureau of Land
Management. Craig regularly attends meetings and sits on a
vairiety of local boards to help advise resource management planning
efforts. He also keeps up with Colorado’s trail management
program to ensure there’s consideration for effect on wildlife, not
just enhancement of OHV and other trail recreation.
BHA member Jennifer Durban is the coordinator for the California
Chapter’s Watch Program, which she initiated in July,
2017. She started the program as a way to connect and engage
with members across the state. She are nowh has 15 volunteers
across nine of California’s 18 national forests.
Jennifer works directly with the Mendocino National Forest,
where she has been focusing her efforts on shaping OHV regulations
and helping monitor illegal marijuana growing operations.
“The watch program serves as a great opportunity to get involved
and not only serve BHA, but serve the land that’s right
outside your door,” Jennifer said.
Many who have seen its effects believe the Habitat Watch Program
could be a positive step anywhere BHA has chapters. If
you’re interested in becoming a Habitat Watch Volunteer, contact
your chapter chair for more information. If you’re interested in
starting a Habitat Watch Program in your area contact BHA State
Policy Director Tim Brass at tim@backcountryhunters.org.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 25

CHAPTER NEWS
BHA CHAPTERS:
Punchin’ tags, pickin’ trash
and pourin’ pints
ALBERTA
Winter came early to many parts
of Alberta with cold temperatures and significant
snowfall at the beginning of November.
It was great timing for the deer
rut, which begins around the second week
of the month.
The winter is shaping up to be busy for
our chapter. The Alberta government has
proposed a North Central Native Trout
Recovery Plan that calls for five-year fishing
closures on certain rivers. It does not
appear to take into account the other causes
of trout mortality, such as habitat destruction.
We established an angling committee
to represent Alberta BHA at policy
meetings and have requested a meeting
with Alberta Environment and Parks in
regard to this plan.
We sent a letter to the AEP and agriculture
ministers requesting the government
adjust its approach to public land use, especially
with regard to the proposed logging
in the Highwood River Valley that
would fragment crucial habitat. Board
members met with the AEP minister to
discuss the Castle Wildland parks with regard
to the use of off-highway vehicles to
retrieve game. We are requesting members
and other hunters to assist the University
of Alberta in its Chronic Wasting Disease
research by submitting DNA samples from
white-tailed and mule deer, as well as antelope.
Finally, students at the University
of Lethbridge have formed the first BHA
collegiate chapter in Canada. Welcome
aboard! -Don Meredith
26 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018
ARIZONA
We have had a very successful
year to date with both membership and
fundraising. Our membership has more
than doubled in the past few months and
we continue to find new avenues to raise
funds for the chapter.
We are still working on our OHV signage
program to help encourage proper
use of ATVs. We were able to begin installation
on the Arizona strip with the help of
the BLM and look forward to finishing up
the program next year.
Our pint nights continue to be a great
success and a way for new and seasoned
members to get together and share what
they have been working on. Be sure to
check our newsletter and Facebook page to
see when we have these nights scheduled!
We look forward to a full schedule in
2018 and hope to meet new people who
share our common goals. -Justin Nelson
BRITISH COLUMBIA
We have achieved our goal of surpassing
100 members! As of now,
BC has grown to 121 members. Additionally,
our Facebook page has 895 followers
and our new Instagram account has 338
followers. Thank you to our social media
coordinator James Demchuk for the great
job of managing these accounts. Our goal
for 2018 is to create regional tables across
our province that operate in conjunction
with the established Kootenay region table.
A series of pint nights are scheduled
for this winter in the West Kootenay,
Okanagan, Caribou-Chilcotin, Lower
Mainland and the Peace Region.
Some of the provincial issues BCBHA is
engaged in include the recently announced
ban on trophy hunting of grizzly bears,
which sets a dangerous precedent of managing
wildlife by emotion and politics and
contradicts science-based wildlife management
principles. BCBHA is encouraging
our government to manage all wildlife by
the North American Model of Wildlife
Conservation and the sustainable utilization
of our wildlife resources. Another
issue we are following closely is a Canadian
version of a public lands tranfer – the
potential loss of what is known as Skook’s
Landing, located at mile 552 of the Alaska
Highway along the Ketchika River. Skook’s
Landing is the entry and removal access for
all river users on the Ketchika, Turnagain,
Dall, Gataga and Frog rivers and presently
protects recreation and enjoyment of over
700 km of waterways. A Section 16 Use,
Recreation and Enjoyment of the Public
Reserve presently protects this 180 ha parcel
of land. The BC government is presently
considering awarding this parcel of land
to the Kaska Dena First Nations as part
of their Incremental Treaty Agreement.
BCBHA is not against land settlement
agreements with First Nations. We are,
however, petitioning government to honor
these reserves that were established to
protect access for all. Thank you to Robin
Rutledge, our northeast BC representative,
for taking initiative on this issue and making
decision makers aware of our concerns.
I wish I could mention the many other
dedicated members of BCBHA who consistently
get involved in issues that threaten
our wild places and wildlife. Thank you
for keeping up the good fight.
The BC Chapter, Kootenay region,
meets every second Tuesday of each month
at 7 p.m. at the Heritage Inn in Cranbrook.
New members are encouraged to
attend and get involved. -Bill Hanlon
CAPITAL CHAPTER
The Capital Chapter hosted a
cleanup day in early August. The Maryland
DNR requested that we clean up
litter around a public fishing area inside
of Myrtle Grove WMA Wildlife Management
Area. Myrtle Grove WMA is located
in La Plata, Maryland, not far from Washington,
D.C. Sincere thanks to all who attended
and helped!
Land Tawney hosted a Pint Night at
the Hawk ‘n’ Dove in Washington, D.C.,
during his trip to town in mid September.
The turnout was excellent. Many great
stories were shared over a few beers, and
it was highlighted by a Q&A with Land.
-Tom Hartland
COLORADO
Ian DuClos and Travis Cashion
have been appointed to serve as

Members from the Capital Chapter with a good haul of trash after their cleanup day.
Denver Group leaders. Southeast Colorado
Group leaders are Ty Woodward and
Ben Montgomery.
Assistant Central West Slope Regional
Director Adam Gall was appointed to
serve on the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre
Gunnison Resource Advisory Committee.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife Front Range
Liaison Brad Nicol tabled at the CPW
Outdoor Adventure Expo at Cherry Creek
State Park in September. Colorado BHA
Habitat Watch Volunteer Paul Vertrees
was featured in the October 2017 issue of
Outdoor Life.
BHA Life Member Steven Choromanski
and several other chapter members worked
with the U.S. Forest Service-Pike National
Forest South Platte Field Office to post
ATV/OHV enforcement signage on trails
where the Forest Service has detected illegal
motorized access. Southwest Colorado
Regional Director Dan Parkinson initiated
a volunteer signage and bighorn observation
program on the Weminuche Wilderness
this summer. The program will continue
in 2018.
The Colorado State University club put
on a packing seminar to learn decker and
sawbuck packing techniques. The course
was taught by George Wallace and Rick
Knight, BHA members and CSU emeritus
professors.
The Western State Colorado University
chapter held a recruitment barbecue that
was free for students and held in conjunction
with the local Gunnison Sockeyes
Fishing Club and Wildlife Society Club. It
included live music, dry fly casting, pulled
goose sandwiches and grilled goose jalapeño
poppers. -David Lien
IDAHO
Idaho Chapter members continue
to lead the charge in our state as
dedicated sportsmen with a shared love for
public lands. Our advocacy work is helping
to fight land grabs, protect our treasured
sage steppe ecosystems, curb illegal
OHV use and promote recreation-based
economic growth in Idaho. While we see
many conservation battles being won,
it seems a new attack on our public land
looms around every corner and, in the
spirit of BHA, we will not sit idly by and
let special interests strip us of our American
heritage that is public lands.
We’ve renewed our seat on the Idaho
Sportsman’s Alliance Board of Directors,
we participated in collaborative groups to
develop and drive the Idaho Sportsman’s
Gubernatorial Forum. We helped craft
long-term and durable conservation solutions
for Idaho’s High Divide and continue
to stand strong with our allies to defeat
land management and policy decisions
that could dismantle our public lands. Our
Nov. 7 membership meeting and our December
state leadership meeting showed
positive growth in terms of membership
and fundraising, a testament to the value
of our organization and the efforts of
our dedicated members hosting successful
events and spreading our message across
the state.
The sun is slipping across the southern
horizon a little lower each day, and with
it big game seasons are wrapping up, but
that’s no reason to stop enjoying our public
lands. Our members are shifting focus
to hunting with our bird dogs, fishing for
steelhead, gearing up for ski season and eagerly
planning for the 2018 BHA Rendezvous.
We’re excited for y’all to come join
us in the Gem State and promise to make
#Rende2018 the biggest and best so far!
-Mike McConnell
MICHIGAN
The Michigan Chapter mixed
chapter development, concrete public
lands and waters advocacy and continued
media presence in the past quarter.
In late September, we held a chapter
rendezvous at Buckley’s Mountainside
Canoes near Mt. Pleasant, owned by
board member Bob Busch. The Michigan
Rendezvous featured presentations on
fly-fishing, game processing, public lands
advocacy and planning an out-of-state
backcountry adventure by Alex Cerveniak,
Jason Meekhof, Drew YoungeDyke and
Mark Kenyon. Legendary public land deer
hunter John Eberhart even showed up and
showed us some of his techniques. A week
later, we teamed up with the Great Lakes
Region of the Quality Deer Management
Association for a joint pint night at Block
Brewing Company in Howell, Mich.
We have a Public Lands Christmas Bash
planned for mid-December at Big Boiler
Brewing Company in Lowell, Michigan.
On the policy front, we issued an action
alert to protect the Deward Tract
from being opened up to ORV traffic on
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 27

Members from the Michigan Chapter at their state rendezvous, showing off their BHA pride.
forest roads within it. The Deward Tract
is a 4,700-acre piece of state public lands
surrounding the upper Manistee River, a
famed trout river in the northern Lower
Peninsula. The tract has been a designated
non-motorized area since 1980. Chapter
Chair Jason Meekhof and Secretary Drew
YoungeDyke provided public comment at
the November Natural Resources Commission
meeting, after which they had a
productive discussion with Department
of Natural Resources staff about keeping
forest roads on blocks of traditionally
quiet public land closed to ORV traffic.
We also submitted a letter in support of
a public land acquisition for the Pigeon
River Country State Forest through the
Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund,
which could provide critical public lands
elk habitat, and we signed on to a letter
supporting the Army Corps of Engineers
plan to keep Asian carp out of the Great
Lakes watershed.
In media, the Michigan Chapter of
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers was represented
on the Wired To Hunt, Hunt-
2Fish and Deer Hunter podcasts, as well
as in Woods’N’Water News. -Drew Younge-
Dyke
MINNESOTA
Minnesota Chapter members put
their legs to work this fall traveling,
hunting elk, pronghorn and mule deer out
West and chasing upland birds, waterfowl
and whitetails closer to home. We utilized
our public lands and promoted BHA on
many platforms along the way. Members
John Hennessy, Lukas Leaf, Rob Drieslein,
Miles Nolte and Mark Norquist went on a
media trip grouse hunting in the BWCAW
to raise awareness about the threats to
this pristine wilderness by international
mining interests.
In late October, three BHA members,
Ben Peña, Neal Jacobsen and Rita Juran,
acted as “Hunter Hosts” in the DNR’s
annual Learn to Hunt program. Fourteen
new hunters saw eagles, watched a wolf
pack chase a buck and had shooting opportunities.
At the end of the day, four
deer had been taken, including a two deer
tag-out by Ben’s mentee and new BHA
member, Sarah Fischer!
Erik Packard took over as treasurer for
Brent Rivard, who has stepped away to
focus on his family’s newest Public Land
Owner, Howard Roy! Congrats Brent and
Hannah!
Minnesota BHA held its second BHA
Bonfire/Campout on Dec. 2, where we
dined on the season’s spoils, shared stories
and drinks around the fire, and made plans
for the year ahead. MNBHA plans to hold
a special pint night after the New Year to
welcome the new Great Lakes coordinator
to the position. Details to come. The 2018
MN Rendezvous has been scheduled for
Sept. 28-30 at Sand Dunes State Forest.
-Aaron Hebeisen
NEW ENGLAND
Vermont members of NEBHA
made sure that hunting and angling
voices were heard by submitting comments
and attending meetings with the Vermont
Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative.
In the face of trail-based recreation,
members wanted the steering committee
to know that dispersed experiences in the
woods and along the streams need to remain
viable.
NEBHA submitted comments opposed
to development of a transmission line
project named Northern Pass. This project
poses a long term threat to wildlife by
degrading habitat integrity across a large
portion of the remote northern NH landscape,
especially in sensitive mountainous
areas. There are also serious water quality
concerns related to the construction and
ongoing maintenance of 132 miles of
overhead lines and 500 miles of new roads.
-Matt Breton
NEVADA
The Nevada BHA Chapter has
been working hard despite all of our
fall hunts. We have prioritized a focus on
membership recruitment and retention
while continuing our dedicated issues advocacy
at the Board of Wildlife Commissioners
and our public land agencies.
Our chapter has submitted comments
on potential oil and gas development in
the Ruby Mountains, as well as proposals
to pipe groundwater out of eastern Nevada
and to regulate shed antler collecting and
trail cameras. We are submitting comments
for the current sage grouse plan review. We
were quoted in the media on that issue as
well as on the oil and gas exploration. We
will also be advocating for a regulation to
outlaw “smart rifles” for hunting at the
next state legislative commission meeting
and hope it will finally be adopted.
On the membership front, our monthly
pint nights in Reno have remained strong
with the partnership of our University of
Nevada, Reno club and our venue, IMBĪB
28 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

Brewing. We have upcoming pint night
events in Elko and Las Vegas. We had a
table at Trout-tober-fest, an event to celebrate
our native Lahontan cutthroat trout
in October. Finally, we are working to
make sure our upcoming Full Draw Film
Tour is well attended and attracts enthusiastic
new members. -Kyle Davis
NEW MEXICO
After a long, long wait, New Mexico
hunters finally got legal access to
the Sabinoso Wilderness, 16,000 acres in
the high plains east of Santa Fe that had
been designated by Congress in 2009
but was blocked to the public by the surrounding
landowners. In 2016, another
4,000 acres was donated by the Wilderness
Land Trust to the BLM with the goal of
providing public access. But while New
Mexico’s U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and
Tom Udall worked tirelessly to get the donation
approved, it took Interior Secretary
Ryan Zinke a year to decide whether it was
a good thing. He finally made the right
choice and officially accepted the donation
in November.
NM BHA member Brad Jones, of Albuquerque,
was the only member of the public
standing at the gate when BLM staff cut
the lock. “There was no media frenzy, there
were no crowds or protesters, there was no
pomp or circumstance. Just a sole hunter
and his dog,” Brad wrote on the NM
BHA Facebook page. “With as little effort
and ceremony as the lock was placed on
the gate preventing public access, the lock
came off. And just like that, the Sabinoso
was open to her rightful owners.”
NMBHA also held our first pint night
in the Four Corners region, co-hosted by
Farmington BHA member Drew Alcorn.
More than a dozen local hunters showed
up to talk about potential changes in New
Mexico’s unfair antelope hunting program
under consideration now by the State
Game Commission. -Joel Gay
NEW YORK
It’s an exciting time of change for the
New York Chapter! We have recently
elected a full suite of officers according
to our recently adopted bylaws and are
accepting nominations to fill board
seats vacated by members moving
out of state. I’m happy to welcome
the following new officers: Todd Waldron,
vice chair; Jack Wilson, secretary;
and Garrett Burback, treasurer. I’m proud
of our team and I look forward to great
things in the coming years. This infusion
of new talent, however, is bittersweet, as
we say “goodbye for now” to Dave Colavito.
Dave is a founding member of the NY-
BHA Chapter and until recently served as
its only secretary/treasurer. Dave has been
a driving force within our chapter and his
competent, jovial presence will be very
much missed. We wish him the best as he
prowls the Catskill Mountains with stick
and string.
Also, we are pleased to welcome Chris
Hennessey as the new Northeast public
lands coordinator. Chris is already providing
great assistance and we look forward to
working with him in the coming year.
In other news, we congratulate Todd
Waldron on his terrific job in representing
BHA and being a voice for conservation
on Tom Pandolfi’s Red Hill View podcast,
where Todd talked about the importance
of public lands and deer hunting in the
Adirondack Mountains. He’s also featured
on page 13 of this publication. Great work,
Todd! -Ron Rohrbaugh Jr.
OREGON
As Oregon’s general seasons draw
to a close, we turn our direction
from filling freezers back to the circus of
initiatives, policies, plans and politicians
with their sights set on our shared resources.
Recently our members made their voices
heard in Crook County as the Board of
County Commissioners made moves to
implement a natural resource plan under a
federal provision known as “coordination.”
The plan was introduced by a PAC led by
Wyoming attorney and notorious subverter
of federal public lands management,
Karen Budd-Falen.
We should start by saying that when
it comes to Crook County’s natural resource
plan, we are all stakeholders. Crook
County is home to vast and rich swaths of
BLM and national forest lands, beloved
by Oregonians for deer, elk, antelope and
birds, not to mention popular hiking destinations,
mountain bike trails and great
camping and fishing.
Put simply, Crook County has pursued
this plan to tip the scales toward extractive
industry benefitting locals, seemingly in
spite of the fact that the overwhelming
majority of comments at the hearings were
dubious of the commission’s timeline, and
at worst claimed diametric opposition to
the intentions of the plan and its authors.
We share an immense wealth and, regardless
of how each individual connects
to them, they are mandated to be managed
for the equal benefit of every American.
Thankfully, we have been vitalized by a
couple months in the field, and the memory
of hunts and harvests reminds us that
it’s all worth fighting for. -Tristan Henry
PENNSYLVANIA
First I’d like to welcome Chris
Hennessey, recently hired as BHA’s
Northeast public lands coordinator. Chris
has hit the ground running in his new position,
the duties of which include working
with the NY and PA chapters. Currently he
is coordinating the appointment of a new
and expanded PA Chapter Board. Over
the last two years our membership has ballooned
more than ten-fold, currently exceeding
300. With this dramatic increase,
we have surpassed a critical mass necessary
to have our voice heard in the Keystone
State. After announcing the planned expansion
in late October, 19 members have
stepped forward to offer their service, and
we plan to have these positions filled by
the end of 2017. Thank you to all who
have volunteered! On the legislative front,
currently there is a bill in Harrisburg, HB
1483, that seeks to remove control of wildlife
management (primarily of deer) from
the Pennsylvania Game Commission and
to put it under the control of a panel populated
by various special interests. This
goes against the North American Model
of Wildlife Conservation that is based on
science-based management by government
agencies entrusted with the stewardship
of our fish and wildlife. A statement has
been drafted outlining PA BHA’s position
against this bill, and PA members will be
encouraged to share this with their state
representatives. Finally, as our new officers
and board take their seats, I will be stepping
down as co-chair of the PA Chapter,
a position I’ve held since the chapter was
chartered in 2014. I have supported a number
of national-level, conservation-minded
organizations over the years and have personally
participated in the cause for a few.
However, none of them have come close
to BHA when it comes to dedication and
simply getting the job done. Thank you all
for your service! -Jeff Sample
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 29

SOUTHEAST CHAPTER
The Southeast Chapter continued
to experience membership growth
throughout the fall across social media
platforms and new memberships, including
a month-long membership drive resulting
in an increase of almost 25 percent.
After the Ridgeland, Miss. pint night,
our members made the most of our local
public lands, racoon hunting on the Homochitto
National Forest near Brookhaven,
Miss. Coon hunting at night on public
lands is a favorite pastime within the
Southeast region, and we are looking forward
to additional opportunities to highlight
this unique experience.
We were happy to host Land Tawney
in Louisiana recently, bringing him up to
speed on the Catahoula Lake access issues
currently brewing there. Catahoula Lake
is under threat via legal jockeying to steal
the public’s access to a lake that has historically
been in public hands dating back to
the 1800s. A group of landowners formed
a class action lawsuit, arguing in court to
reclassify the body of water from a lake to
a river. In an unprecedented and legally
unjustifiable move, the district court judge
ruled in favor of reclassifying the body of
water from a lake to a river. BHA has submitted
a friendly motion to the court, addressing
our concerns of the reclassification
and its implications for sportsmen and the
irreplaceable habitat. This position marks
BHA’s first stance on behalf of sportsmen
in Louisiana, a state that is wrestling with
several legal issues that threaten its strong
hunting and fishing culture.
Finally we would like to highlight the
exceptional service of Chad Rischar, a
Southeast Chapter board member, to the
veteran community in Florida through the
Operation Outdoor Freedom program.
Chad has organized and hosted nine events
since 2015, including both deer and turkey
hunts.Well done, Chad! -Jeffrey Jones
SOUTH DAKOTA
Private landowner groups have
petitioned to close some of South
Dakota’s non-meandered waters, which
was denied at the latest SDGFP commission
meeting. A big thank you to those
who responded to the action alerts and to
the South Dakota Wildlife Federation for
sending their lawyer to testify at the hearing.
We are excited about an upcoming
video project on non-meandered waters
30 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018
that will be used to educate and promote
keeping these waters public.
Mark your calendars our Total Archery
Challenge BHA After-Party set for Saturday,
June 23. You can expect raffles, awesome
giveaways, live music, good food and
more! This party has quickly become our
No. 1 fundraiser. Some project ideas in the
works include a youth scholarship for a
SD conservation camp and adopting several
Forest Service trails to include BHA
signage at the trail heads.
Look for a pint nights after the first of
the year. -Ashley and Jesse Kurtenbach
UTAH
The Utah BHA Chapter has been
engaged this quarter to promote
greater awareness for what the organization
stands for here in Utah. We encourage
local members to apply for regional
board positions as we are losing several
key individuals who have been active in
chapter leadership. The chapter is hosting
a wild game potluck dinner for our annual
Christmas party at the Mountain Dell
Golf Course. We are also gauging interest
in hosting a “Beer, Deer and Gear” event
to swap stories, gear and suds with fellow
members and the general public. Finally,
BHA Utah attended a recreation hotspots
meeting where the Utah Department of
Transportation, Utah Transit Authority,
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Save Our
Canyons, and former Salt Lake City Mayor
Ralph Becker were present, among others,
to discuss public lands usage in the central
Wasatch Mountains. As a chapter, we want
to make sure that sportsmen’s interests are
discussed in the planning process.
Our chapter is also excited to announce
two new local collaborations. The first will
provide both physical and monetary support
to a local youth who is working on a
“Hornaday Award” in the Boy Scouts of
America. This award was created to recognize
those who have made significant
contributions to conservation; only 1,100
awards have been given since its inception
80 years ago. This scout is coordinating
with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
to plant 1,000 shrubs to help re-establish
native vegetation on winter range
in the Timpanogos Wildlife Management
Area outside Provo, Utah. The Utah BHA
chapter has committed $500 to help fund
the project and will provide manpower for
the planting event. -Michael Scott
WASHINGTON
The Washington chapter board
and our members enjoyed a busy fall pursuing
elk, deer, salmon, ducks, chanterelle
mushrooms and other bounty the Pacific
Northwest offers during the autumn
months.
While the Evergreen State may not
boast the hunter success of the Rockies or
Midwest, few places match the diversity
of environments and outdoor opportunities
found in our region. From chasing
mule deer in the sage steppe and blacktails
in the craggy Cascades, to bugling with
Roosevelt elk in the rainforest and catching
salmon, crab and squid within sight of
Seattle, our state offers a lifetime of adventures
for those willing to work for them. If
recent photos and trip reports are any indication,
Washington BHA members made
the most of it this season.
Our board made a few organizational
changes recently as well, with Andres
Orams stepping down from the Western
Washington co-chair position due to family
obligations. Thank you for your leadership,
Andres! Board Secretary Max Cole
was nominated to fill the opening. As Max
recently ran a 30-mile mountain race and
killed a six-point bull with his bow in the
same trip, we’re confident his tenacity and
organizational skills will be valuable assets
as co-chair. Bart George remains our Eastern
Washington co-chair.
Education Committee Chair Aaron
Hansen and board member Brian O’Dell
co-hosted a free clinic on hunting public
lands at Joint Base Lewis-McChord along
with the Washington Department of Fish
and Wildlife, and we look forward to future
opportunities to engage with servicemen
and women in our area. Board and
chapter members are hosting pint nights
on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Vancouver
and Bellingham areas. Stay tuned
to our Washington Chapter of Backcountry
Hunters & Anglers Facebook group
for details on these and other upcoming
events. -Chase Gunnell

COLLEGE CLUBS
BY OLGA KREIMER
IF IT WASN’T THE FOOD, maybe it was the rifle practice.
Or maybe the late-night butchering. Or perhaps it was learning
to navigate with a compass or the expansive view of the Rocky
Mountain Front or the rumors of a grizzly sighting that left me
feeling like the world of hunters didn’t have to be as foreign as it
always had been. A lifelong city-dweller, I could figure out any
urban subway system but felt lost in the woods. After more than a
year in Montana, I hated feeling like such an outsider to a hobby
so deeply ingrained in the local culture. I signed up for BHA’s
Hunting For Sustainability course in September hoping to shake
off some of my ignorance and lose my novice nerves.
That first step toward knowledge – beginning to know how
much I didn’t know yet – was the hardest. It wasn’t only about admitting
ignorance or resisting a shift in perspective; it was about
being a stranger all over again and not knowing quite how to fit
in. I was one of a couple dozen UM and MSU students enrolled
in the free weekend class at the Boone & Crockett Thoedore Roosevelt
Memorial Ranch, which promised to give us a crash course
in the methods and philosophy of conservation-minded hunting.
Beginners were expressly welcomed, but it felt like everybody already
knew more than I did. This turned out to be mostly true
IN MEMORIAM
TRISTAN KERN, 21, of Newberg, OR and Seattle, WA was a
young but passionate member of BHA. He passed away November
10, 2017 while hiking on Mt. Storm King in Olympic National
Park. An angler since a small boy and a hunter since his
early teens, Tristan found a voice for his passions in BHA. He
was a student at Seattle Pacific University, preparing for a career
in outdoor gear and sportswear design. Tristan had many conversations
with friends and family about how any threat to public
access on public lands was a threat to access everywhere. A proud
Oregonian, he witnessed in his own state that citizen ownership
and public access issues were far from dormant or irrelevant or
trivial. His family and friends are dedicated to honoring his memory
by fully endorsing the noble causes he believed in.
-Suzanne Kern, Tristan’s mom
HUNTING
FOR
SUSTAINABILITY
Richard Hutton and Seth Morris photo
– but 48 hours later, after a weekend of many questions and even
more thoughtful discussions, I was laughing about being the only
one who’d never used a firearm.
I wish I could say that I left the ranch that weekend ready to
buy a license and a rifle, but the truth is, I left thinking that hunting
might not be for me after all. I didn’t mind the gross factor
of hacking apart a dead deer, and I found the field-to-fork meals
delicious. I left fully convinced that the role of hunting in wildlife
conservation and public land activism is an important one. But I
also understood how much a hunter needs not only to understand
the process but to love it, to honor the lives they take by doing
so skillfully and mindfully and in celebration, not in sadness. I’m
not there yet; maybe I never will be. But the gift of being able to
follow my hunter friends’ conversations – to feel a little more a
part of my current community, full of people who, unlike me, are
at ease in the woods regardless of how they feel on the subway –
was an opportunity to feel a little more at home.
Olga is a freelance writer and columnist currently based in Missoula,
Montana, where she’s working on a master’s degree in environmental
science and natural resource journalism. She once won a fight
with a rooster using only her words.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 31

THE HORNADAY
WILDNERNESS
Exploring the last true, unprotected
wilderness of British Columbia’s
Elk Valley
Text and photos by David Quinn
32 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

OUR GROUP OF EIGHT KIDS AND TWO ADULTS, knees
locked and shoulders bowed under the unfamiliar weight of packs
full of gear and food for a week in the wilderness, stood staring at
the muddy trail before us. Our boot tracks would soon join the
fresh moose, grizzly, black bear, deer and wolf tracks heading off
the end of the road into the Hornaday Wilderness Area near Elkford,
British Columbia. We were here to explore some of the last,
best, unprotected wilderness in the Southern Canadian Rockies,
an area first documented by big game hunter and conservationist
William T. Hornaday more than a century before.
The East Kootenay region is well-known as a wildlife and wilderness
lovers’ paradise. It has been called the “Serengeti of the
North” and is home to an exceptional diversity and abundance of
large mammals. Although modern industry’s removal of the region’s
original forests has pushed the old growth-reliant mountain
caribou to local extinction in these parts, elk, moose, whitetail
and mule deer all thrive in the sea of young forests. These support
abundant cougar, bobcat, lynx, wolf, coyote, black bear and
grizzly populations, the latter bolstered by rich huckleberry fields
found in the mosaic of forest types. Ten weasel species, from least
weasel to badgers and wolverine, fill the varied ecosystems, and
Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and mountain goats claim the
skylines.
The region has always drawn big game hunters and wilderness
connoisseurs. One of the most famous adventures in the region
was documented in the iconic Camp-Fires in the Canadian Rockies,
written by conservation legend William T. Hornaday, about a
month-long hunt in the vicinity of the Elk and Bull rivers in the
fall of 1905. Along with photographer, Pennsylvania State Game
Commissioner and founder of the Lewis and Clark Club John M.
Phillips, Hornaday explored the upper Elk and Bull watersheds
with the support of guides Charlie Smith and John and Mack
Norboe, brothers who trapped and hunted the region.
Hornaday fell in love with the Canadian Rockies, and his introduction
to the 1906 classic included the prescient comment:
“We dread the day of the ranch, the road, the railway, and the
coal-mine, anywhere near the Elk and Bull Rivers.”
He’d roll over in his grave to know of today’s entire lower Elk
River Valley carved into sprawling ranchlands, roads reaching to
the back of nearly every drainage, a major highway and rail line
bisecting the valley, and five of the world’s largest open-pit coal
mines slowly moving the mountains of the Elk River to China
by rail.
In addition to the extensive mining activity, the region is also
suffering from motorized abuse. Incredibly lax land use protection
laws, contrasted by neighbouring jurisdictions (Alberta and
WINTER 2018 2017 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 33

1905
Montana) with stiff off-road vehicle controls, has resulted in local
and visitor OHV users abusing this beautiful land. Coupled with
backwards, volume-driven forestry management where tenure
holders are obligated to provide unsustainable volumes of wood
from a limited area, this has resulted in a rapid erosion of what,
until recently, was a region blessed with incredible wilderness access
everywhere you looked. Today, true two-legs-and-a-heartbeat
wilderness areas are getting harder and harder to come by.
One of the last, best examples of wilderness still recognizable
to Hornaday 112 years after his adventure is known today as the
Hornaday Wilderness Area. A spectacular complex of unroaded
drainages feeding the Elk River to the east and the Bull River to
the west (both tributaries to the Kootenay River) the Hornaday
Wilderness is as good as it gets. Brule Creek is the last completely
unroaded drainage in the entire Elk Valley outside of the Height
of the Rockies Provincial Park to the north, a fact that highlights
the dramatic and unsustainable road densities in this region.
Dr. William Temple Hornaday was an exceptional man. After
an early career as a taxidermist, with stints travelling the world
collecting museum samples, Hornaday became the chief taxidermist
for the National Museum at the Smithsonian in Washington,
D.C. After undertaking a plains bison census that documented
the beast’s imminent extinction, he went West in 1887 to secure
museum specimens of the disappearing plains icon so future generations
could know the magnificent animal. His mounted bison
display was the inspiration for the National Parks Service logo
and is still on display over a century later at the Museum of the
Great Northern Plains in Fort Benton, Montana. Hornaday also
brought back live specimens. These animals became the first residents
of the New York Zoological Park, which Hornaday helped
Photo courtesy of the Boone & Crockett Club
establish in 1889. He was director of the park, curator of mammals
and general curator for more than 20 years.
Hornaday had a deep interest in cultivating the youth of America’s
interest in wildlife conservation. He penned articles for Boy’s
Life and wrote sections of the Boy Scout Handbook. In 1914, he
created the Wildlife Protection Medal, an honor bestowed upon
Americans who worked for the protection of wildlife habitat and
wildlife conservation. Upon his death in 1937 it became a Boy
Scouts of America accolade, renamed the William T. Hornaday
Award.
Given his dedication to youth, wildlife and wilderness, I imagine
Hornaday would have been pleased to learn about a group of
boys and girls retracing his footsteps 112 years later. Wildsight,
Southeastern British Columbia’s nonprofit voice for conservation
and wilderness, runs Go Wild, an annual summer adventure and
youth leadership hike for 14- to 18-year-olds. Wildsight is known
for science-driven advocacy work. One of the many groups they
often work with is the Hornaday Wilderness Society.
Elk Valley wilderness advocate Bill Hanlon is the chair of the
Hornaday Wilderness Society as well as the chair of the British
Columbia Chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. An avid
hunter and horseman, Hanlon is also well known for discovering
Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi, or “Long Ago Person Found,” on a 1999
Dall sheep hunt in B.C.’s Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness
Park. Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi, also known as the Canadian
Iceman, was carbon dated to be more than 500 years old. With
his woven spruce root hat and Arctic ground squirrel robe, he is
the oldest organically preserved body ever found in the Americas,
offering unprecedented insight into pre-contact First People’s lifestyles
in the region.
Hanlon, who has spent more than 150 days hiking, hunting,
34 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

2017
camping and horsepacking in the Hornaday Wilderness over the
past 27 years, is one of the loudest voices calling for the official
protection of the area – and one of the inspirations for the youth’s
adventure.
“This is the largest, most significant, unprotected, de facto wilderness
left in the Southern Canadian Rockies,” Bill said. “It is in
the same state it was in when Hornaday was here back in 1905.
It hasn’t been logged, mined, dammed, burned – it’s intact. It is
approximately 125,000 acres, give or take, of true wilderness with
a significant barrier of effort to get into it.”
With extensive clearcuts and roads creeping in from every direction,
the Hornaday Wilderness needs protection, fast. What
better way to understand an issue and a wilderness area than to get
out and backpack through it? Our team of eight kids from across
the Kootenay Region, Montana, and as far away as Saskatchewan,
came together with two guides, the author included, to undertake
a six-day trek through the Hornaday Wilderness. We set camp
at the same campsites used by Hornaday and Phillips 112 years
ago, climbed some of the same peaks, and even re-created some
of the historic photos Phillips captured on that month-long hunt
in September 1905.
The group met in Sparwood before heading north up Highway
43 towards Elkford. The Brule Creek Trailhead takes off a
few miles up a new logging road that seems to be straining at
the chance to get into the Hornaday Wilderness. Here, a sudden,
swirling wind during a bear spray demo drove home just how
effective the stuff is and provided extra motivation for us to get
moving quickly.
We encountered grizzly tracks almost immediately, alongside
moose, wolf and deer tracks in the muddy trail. That first day
with heavy packs is always a beast, especially for first-time backpackers.
We stopped regularly to admire tracks, rub trees and the
spectacular, intact spruce forest of lower Brule Creek. Between
extensive forest fires of the last century and the unsustainable rate
of clearcut logging in the region, large stands of older forests like
this are rare indeed.
At last after five hot, afternoon miles we threw down our packs
at Camp Necessity. Under the visage of the stunning Cyclorama
Ridge, this was the site of John M. Phillip’s climactic sheep hunt,
in which he killed three “bungers,” or bighorns with extra large
horns, in a single afternoon, the legal bag limit in 1905, and one
more than he had intended to kill.
Where Hornaday passed a miserable, sleepless night in a fierce
storm, trees snapping and root balls swaying, we passed a fine,
cloudless, warm summer evening. Around camp, entire avalanche
paths covered in wild onion and other edibles were crisscrossed
with animal paths, and a short hike up one revealed the telltale
rub trees from last year’s elk rut.
The next morning we woke and hit the trail early, trying to
beat some of the heat as we moved deeper into the Hornaday
Wilderness. Crystal clear springs welled up from the foot of dry,
limestone slopes peppered with ancient, gnarled Douglas firs
and whitebark pines. The seemingly endless cliff bands and scree
slopes offered excellent sheep and goat habitat in all directions.
Finally, after trending west for nine miles, the valley doglegged
north just below Hornaday Pass, which leads west to Norboe
Creek and the incredible Bull River. Norboe Creek is one of the
few roadless drainages left along the Bull’s entire 60-mile length.
Here the Brule Creek drainage becomes Avalanche Creek,
and even in late July we walked much of the rest of the way to
Camp Hornaday on last winter’s avalanche snow deposits. Piles of
snapped timber more than 50 feet deep attested to the violence of
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 35

the snow slides, and the cleared paths through the old forest offered
a veritable salad bar for the large ungulates of the region. By
the time we reached the head of Avalanche Creek, we had crossed
some 30 large avalanche paths.
At Camp Hornaday we gladly dumped the packs, set up camp
and settled in for a long afternoon rest. Tucked into the shelter
of towering spruce trees at the edge of a massive slide coming off
the summit of Mount Vanbuskirk, the camp offered excellent and
endless glassing for game on the open slopes and ridges above,
although not much was moving on a hot July afternoon.
A few keeners still had energy to burn, so we followed an old
horse trail into a high meadow to the west then up a steep, treed
slope to a ridge overlooking the Bull River. An endless sea of remote
Rocky Mountain peaks marched off in all directions. The
entire valley below seemed shaved almost to treeline with recent
and older clearcuts, a stark contrast to the wilderness we were
camped in just over ridge.
Along the mellow ridge, not one but three main game highways
were worn like deep ruts along the skyline, testament to the
abundant populations of goat, sheep, elk and mule deer that call
this area home.
The next day, a steep climb gained us the pass into Culvert
Creek. We dropped packs for another climb along a spectacular
ridge before dropping into the new basin below. Storm clouds on
the horizon changed our plans for trying to reach Goat Pass that
day, and we wisely opted to camp lower in the shelter of the trees.
Severe lightning and rain storms all night long convinced us it was
a good decision.
The next day we followed the steep horsetrail to finally reach
fabled Goat Pass, one of Hornaday’s favoured basecamps. Here,
a spring right at the pass and a flat, sheltered bench in the alpine
larch offered an unlikely high camp.
Seven goats spooked from the neighbouring ridge as we
dropped into the pass to camp, and the slopes in all directions
were zigzagged with the lines of game trails along the bottom of
cliff bands, up to small passes and along every ridge.
Waking early to see what might be moving around, we were
rewarded with a goat family cresting the ridge and dropping towards
camp. In front of them, a pair of bighorn ewes crossed the
pass, heading the other way. Four more goats clambered up the
adjacent ridge as the first three wandered right into camp before
they scented us and disappeared around the ridge, following fresh
mule deer tracks from the night before.
Hornaday had a similar experience here 112 years before. After
spotting 53 goats on his first day in what he called “Goatland,” he
witnessed three goats running right through camp.
We had one final goal before descending back to the valley.
Using Goat Pass as a basecamp to climb nearby Bird Peak, we
re-created the Camp-Fires in the Canadian Rockies’ classic 1905
photo of a seated Hornaday and a standing Phillips looking out
over Goat Pass, south towards Phillips Peak.
Standing on Bird Peak, the value of this hike and the value of
the Hornaday Wilderness crystallized into the timeless truth that
wilderness like this is crucial to our identities as adventurers. And
it is worth protecting.
Wildlife biologist, outdoor educator, freelance writer and photographer,
Dave spends his time in the wild Rockies and Purcell mountains
of Southern British Columbia. He joined the BC Chapter of BHA
soon after its creation and does what he can to connect youth to our
dwindling wilderness areas and to lend his voice to the protection of
leg-powered recreation.
36 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 37

REQUIRED READING
FOR CONSERVATIONISTS
38 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

After the chaos and excitement of fall hunting seasons draws to a close, winter provides a well-earned
respite to reflect on recent adventures and learn about the leaders and circumstances that created the
hunting and fishing opportunities we enjoy today. Whether you’re reading in front of the fire or in the
duck blind, here’s 14 great books for your edification and enjoyment. This is by no means an exhaustive
list, and BHA welcomes your recommendations for our new conservation library.
Rifle in Hand by Jim Posewitz
In 2016, BHA, along with Orion – The Hunter’s Institute, established the Jim Posewitz Award for
Ethical Hunting and Fishing and honored Randy Newberg as the first recipient. Establishing this award
in Jim’s name just made sense as he is the premier author on hunting ethics and our sporting heritage. If
you have ever been around Jim, his prose is natural and doesn’t waste a word. I re-read and enjoy all of
Jim’s books often: Inherit the Hunt, Beyond Fair Chase and Taking a Bullet for Conservation. But I chose
to single out Rifle in Hand. In this book, Jim does a masterful job of telling the American conservation
story with those we know well, like Theodore Roosevelt, as well as others I had never heard of. He tells
the story of individual actions combined with great leadership that led us to the spoils we enjoy today.
Like all of Jim’s books, Rifle in Hand is an easy read but offers much in return. In order to protect and
promote what we have today it helps to see, through the eyes of a hunter, how we got here.
-LAND TAWNEY, BHA President & CEO
Wilderness Warrior by Douglas Brinkley
Where do you turn today to learn the truth about Theodore Roosevelt? To his heir as president,
Donald Trump, whose secretary of the interior, Ryan Zinke, asserts that Roosevelt protected public
lands then so they can be exploited now? Or to a source who seems better read on the subject, Miley
Cyrus, who flashes a Roosevelt quote tattooed on her forearm in a music video?
Trust a historian. Douglas Brinkley’s epic 2009 biography The Wilderness Warrior is the best book
about the crusade that vaulted Roosevelt onto Mount Rushmore – conservation. Brinkley puts Roosevelt’s
life into the historical, political and cultural context that led him to conclude, “There can be no
greater issue than that of conservation.”
We meet Roosevelt as a deathly asthmatic young bookworm who builds muscle chasing songbirds.
He grows into a buffalo hunter, rancher and soldier who grasps that the vanishing wilderness honed the
American character but had come to need the protection of the American government. He becomes
the inspirational president who fights every “man who skins the land,” and saves 230 million acres.
He triples our national forests, founds our wildlife refuges and, with the Antiquities Act, creates the
first national monuments, including what would become Olympic and Grand Canyon national parks.
This book, despite occasionally uncombed prose, taught me that conservation can transcend partisan
sinkholes and be simultaneously patriotic, adventurous, populist, moral and fun. It’s abridged, amazingly, at 960 pages, but you’ll
wish it went on. The story and the deeds.
-NATE SCHWEBER, Freelance journalist (NY Times, Preservation Magazine), author of Fly Fishing
Yellowstone National Park, BHA Member
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 39

Heart and Blood by Richard Nelson
When I first read Heart and Blood more than 15 years ago, I was still a vegetarian. It fundamentally
changed my understanding of hunting and wildlife conservation, opening my eyes to the profound
historical and ecological interconnection between deer and humans. What impressed me most was
the nuance and respect with which Nelson explores the viewpoints of diverse groups – from farmers
to anti-hunting activists to suburban gardeners to high-fence trophy hunters – while staying rooted in
his own perspective as a dedicated conservationist who grew up in a non-hunting family but learned to
hunt among the Koyukon in Alaska.
-TOVAR CERULLI, Author of The Mindful Carnivore and New England BHA
Chapter Co-chair
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Walden is a seminal text of the Transcendentalism movement in the mid 1800s that explores man’s
relationship with nature and questions our values as a society. Thoreau’s experiment over the course
of two years took place in a cabin he built on Walden Pond in forest owned by his mentor, friend and
fellow transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau’s writings were some of the first to address
issues that began to shift America’s values toward our conservation heritage as we know it today.
While there are many subjects of discussion prevalent in Thoreau’s writing, perhaps two of the most
important are the ideas of self-reliance and simplicity, illustrated by the famous line, “I went to the
woods because I wished to live deliberately.” Any hunter or angler can relate to these virtues, whether
on a few acre plot of woods in the Northeast or a vast wilderness in the West. These are qualities we
seek within the respite of our public lands and waters.
Furthermore, Thoreau’s relationship with nature and animals throughout his experiment at Walden
Pond is not through the lens of a naturalist, though he does recount the habits of some creatures, but
rather as a man looking to learn aspects of morality from the natural world and its inhabitants.
-SAWYER CONNELLY, BHA Campus Outreach Coordinator
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
When I think of Desert Solitaire I remember a little riverside camp I scraped out of the grass and
brush by the Colorado, not far from Moab, Utah, near the mouth of a canyon that’s since been renamed
Grandstaff. I was a year out of college and living on public lands: national forests in South
Dakota and Wyoming, national monuments in Arizona, BLM lands in Utah, for seasons at a time.
Edward Abbey woke me to the rare and piercing beauty of remote Western landscapes – and the
looming threat of their dissolution. Desert Solitaire tells those tales but is also rowdy and profane,
funny and sexy. For me the book was the gateway drug to Abbey’s other works, novels like The Brave
Cowboy and The Monkey Wrench Gang, essays like Blood Sport, Snow Canyon and Death Valley. I’d be
lying if I said that the writing of Edward Abbey had nothing to do with my young and growing conviction
that these lands and waters – places owned in common by us American people – represent
our most valuable possession, impossible to replace, easily lost … and worth fighting for.
For how can any reasonable individual remain unmoved by Abbey’s call to action?
“This is not a travel guide but an elegy. A memorial. You’re holding a tombstone in your hands. A bloody rock. Don’t drop it
on your foot – throw it at something big and glassy. What do you have to lose?”
-KATIE McKALIP, BHA Communications Director
The Big Burn by Timothy Egan
Through the smoke of the Big Burn and heated politics of 1910, Egan artfully weaves the story of
Teddy Roosevelt and the giants of conservation as they laid down the markers by which conservationists
still navigate. Parallels to current public lands battles are unmistakable. So too is the courage and
foresight which arose in Roosevelt as he battled the forces of rising industrialization. This is a riveting
must-read for all public land owners.
-RYAN BUSSE, BHA Chairman of the Board, Catcher of Fish,
Chaser of Elk
40 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

American Sportsmen and the Origins of Conservation
by John F. Reiger
Reiger’s American Sportsmen is an expanded look into the entwined history of sportsmen, ethics
and policy that shaped what we now know as conservation and sustainable management.
Many sportsmen, and even historians, are quick to stop at George Bird Grinnell and Theodore
Roosevelt – obvious pillars in the Progressive era of the late 1800s and early 1900s – when mapping
the lineage of modern American conservation. Though it cannot be denied that Grinnell and
Roosevelt, as well as their renowned contemporaries, deserve every bit of our reverence for their
leadership; Reiger also points to the fraternity of “gentlemen sportsmen” as the first to formalize
the ideals of game and habitat conservation. It was this sportsman’s code, coupled with an early,
un-articulated version of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, on which Grinnell
and Roosevelt founded the Boone & Crockett Club in 1887. That began to cement the sportsman’s
role as conservationist and, with the power of Roosevelt’s presidency, created wildlife national policy.
-JESSE SALSBERRY, BHA Northwest Chapter Coordinator
Wildlife in America by Peter Matthiessen
Before The Snow Leopard and At Play in the Fields of the Lord – and before the environmental
movement gained national traction – Peter Matthiessen brought a novelist’s sense of pace and drama
to the already shattering losses of wildlife in the country. For me, reading the book in my early 20s,
two decades after it was published, first brought to light how the written word has a powerful role in
the saving of the wild places.
-T. EDWARD NICKENS, BHA National Board Member,
Field & Stream Editor-at-Large
A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
Published posthumously in 1949, Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac is as close to a bible for
conservationists as any work can be. In it he discusses things like a “land ethic,” which simply says:
“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community.
It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
He reflects on predator control in service of better deer hunting and the moment earlier in his life
when he killed one of the last Mexican wolves in the Southwest, coming upon her body in time to
watch “a fierce green fire dying in her eyes.”
With constant gems of wisdom like these, one feels compelled to read this book over and over
again. Whether you’re an environmentalist, passionate hunter, third generation rancher or all of
the above, you’ll find a lot to like about the unifying philosophies Leopold explores. Using adroit
storytelling, Leopold involves you in his thoughts like few others have. He worked tirelessly on
every word in this book, ensuring a compelling narrative that stands the test of time. This was and
is as formative of a book as any in my life. I can feel his presence every time my wife and I walk our
yellow Lab along the Aldo Leopold Trail in the Rio Grande State Park in downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, with one of the
largest cottonwood galleries in the West – an area he helped protect.
-TED KOCH, BHA Life Member and Legacy Partner
Last Stand: George Bird Grinnell, the Battle to Save the Buffalo
and the Birth of the New West by Michael Punke
This book lays out so much of the history that then spawned the North American Model of Wildlife
Conservation and how Grinnell, with his pen (at Forest & Stream) and a bit of luck, worked to save the
last of the buffalo. I think it would be a shock to many to learn that we deployed the 7th Calvary to
Yellowstone to protect the wildlife and resources. Far too many hunters, anglers and conservationists
lack the understanding of our history, challenges and triumphs at the prior turn of the century.
- J.R. YOUNG, BHA National Board Member and Legacy Partner
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 41

A Fine and Pleasant Misery by Patrick F. McManus
There is a time for reflection, philosophy and politics. And there is a time to lighten up. The cure
for solemn self-importance is Pat McManus. No one can wring more laughs out of a hunting, fishing
or camping trip that the Idaho-born journalism professor who cranked out essays month after month
for Field & Stream and Outdoor Life magazines. His essays are nostalgic and farcical. Their wry jokes,
colorful characters and madcap hijinks hold up perfectly. The entire point of hunting and fishing is joy.
If we forget that, then we’ve lost it all anyway. McManus reminds us to smile.
- BEN LONG, Former BHA Board Chair, Outdoor Life Contributor,
Backcountry Journal Founding Editor
A Hunter’s Heart: Honest Essays on Blood Sport by David Peterson
Approximately 10 years ago I picked up this book after a reading a magazine interview with the
author, David Petersen, in which he nobly described hunters as the type of hunter we all strive to
be – thoughtful, hardworking and conservation-minded. This book includes a carefully selected
ensemble of personal essays that dive deep into the motivations and ethics of hunters from different
walks of life.
-TIM BRASS, BHA State Policy Director
A River Never Sleeps by Roderick Haig-Brown
I had difficulty choosing the aquatic addition to this list. The obvious, Norman Maclean’s A
River Runs Through It? The essential, David James Duncan’s The River Why? The classic short, Ernest
Hemingway’s Big Two-Hearted River? Ultimately, I had to select the seminal work, the most critical
to fisheries conservation, the benchmark for all angling literature to follow: Roderick Haig-Brown’s
1946 masterpiece, A River Never Sleeps.
Haig-Brown traveled as a young man from the chalk streams and brown trout of Sussex, England,
to the glacial flows and steelhead of my native Western Washington, before eventually finding his way
to Campbell River, B.C., where he would spend the rest of his life alternately as a logger, magistrate,
university chancellor, powerful conservationist, author and, above all else, angler. He fought many
battles in his later years against wanton logging, unsustainable fishing and hydroelectricity. Throughout,
Haig-Brown advanced the ideals of conservation in a region still in the throes of manifest
destiny. He also popularized river snorkeling to understand fish ecology. Though wandering broadly across North America and
Western Europe, A River Never Sleeps tracks the passage of the seasons with a chapter for each month and dives into infinitesimal
detail on the concurrent happenings within rivers, especially the Campbell and her salmonids.
Like with A River Runs Through It, I’ll often flip to the last page of A River Never Sleeps just to read a master’s finale of his
masterwork. I’ll let Rod show you why: “I still don’t know why I fish or why other men fish, except that we like it and it makes
us think and feel. But I do know that if it were not for the strong, quick life of rivers…I should fish less often. Perhaps fishing is,
for me, only an excuse to be near rivers. If so, I’m glad I thought of it.”
-SAM LUNGREN, Backcountry Journal Editor
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
A professor assigned my class Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” the book credited with launching the
modern environmental movement, my senior year of college. I hadn’t heard much about the classic
then, but I was intrigued enough by Carson’s concern for the future, and the promise of a good grade.
I quickly understood why it is a critical read for conservationists and how it popularized the field of
ecology. The book details the deadly impacts of DDT and other pesticides on American ecosystems,
successfully putting together numerous case studies into an unprecedented summary and call to action.
What I think is most remarkable about the 55-year-old book is its first section, “A Fable for Tomorrow,”
and its eery relevance to today’s climate change-stricken world. In this section’s few hundred words
describing the robust environment of a hypothetical American town and its sudden lack of vibrance,
Carson comes to the same conclusion politicians deny and conservationists preach, the same conclusion
that deserves to be repeated until it clicks with the masses: “No witchcraft, no enemy action had snuffed
out life in this stricken world. The people had done it to themselves.”
-MADDIE VINCENT, Backcountry Journal Intern
42 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 43

PIE
IN THE
SKY
Illustration by Christian Storey

BY NEAL RITTER
THE FIELD WAS BARE, its lack of features compressed 120
acres into a single postcard. After exploring the one tree, we
pushed on, the rabbit scat suggesting some small presence of life.
After flushing three grasshoppers (admittedly trophy sized), we
spent half our shells shooting at cow pies. Trading the antique
double barrel 12 gauge, we took turns tossing crusty fecal matter
in the air. After 20-some rounds, we clipped one pie and with this
success in hand called it a day.
Above is a hunting misadventure, the culmination of two years
of planning and preparation with my father-in-law, Raffaele. It
began as a dream, as many undertakings do: our goal was to bring
wild game to our respective tables.
My father-in-law is Italian. Many other Americans claim this
heritage the distinction is that he is Italian. Born at the end of
WWII outside of Bologna in northern Italy, he has a thick, offthe-boat
accent that belies the three decades he
has made Colorado home.
I married into a family that is obsessed with
food. Gardening, canning and preserving are
major aspects of our life; trips and vacations
revolve around the garden’s schedule. So naturally,
as I decided I wanted to get into hunting
(with no background, mine was a decidedly urban
family), I touted the flavor and nutrition
that wild game would add to our already rich
lives.
Raffaele decided we would go bird hunting.
In his youth in Italy, he hunted a handful of times with a Franchi
semi-auto, and he thought that going out with my neighbor,
Steve, who is an experienced pheasant hunter, would be a good
start.
To begin with, we needed firepower. I am chronically in a low
cash-flow situation of my own devising, so I borrowed an ancient
double barrel from a friend. Two summers ago, Raffaele and I
decided to go shopping for his gun. Entering Cabela’s was somewhat
overwhelming, decoding the lingo on firearms even more so.
After perusing a rack of shotguns in our price range, we happened
upon a goldmine: a Franchi semi-auto 20ga, the gun of Raffaele’s
youth.
There are two things that are important to know about my
father-in-law: first, he explores an idea from every angle before
making up his mind. Second, once his mind is made up, he is
unswerving in his course.
Though the gun was perfect, exactly what he wanted, we needed
to think about it (never mind that Cabela’s is forty-five minutes
drive away). So, our hunting project went on hold for a year.
My neighbor Steve has known Raffaele for a couple of decades.
He has trained dogs and he dedicates a solid portion of his fall to
hunting. He has been our impetus for getting into bird hunting.
We see him a couple of times each summer at our local farmer’s
market, and we always talk hunting, shotguns and dogs.
After a year had passed, we ran into Steve at the farmer’s market
on a Saturday morning. Raffaele was mortified. He realized that
we had been in a holding pattern for a year, so he decided it was
WITH OUR POSITIVE
ATTITUDES BARELY
INTACT, WE DECIDED
TO EMBARK ON
OUR INCREASINGLY
LESS AUSPICIOUS
INAUGURAL HUNT
time to make a move. We found a gun shop locally with the same
Franchi shotgun, so later that same week we went to buy it.
I have purchased a couple of firearms, and it seems like a simple
enough process, with a photo id, in and out in a day. Confident
in our decision, we went to the gun shop to pick up a shotgun.
At the end of the paperwork were a couple of densely worded
questions about citizenship, permanent residency and firearms.
We realized that Raffaele, living in the U.S. with a green card,
needed the card to buy a gun. So, after finally getting ready to pull
the trigger, so to speak, we couldn’t buy the gun.
Now Raffaele was determined. After my family finished dinner
the following evening, he rolled up in his eco-friendly red car and
showed off his new acquisition. Honestly, compared to the relic
double barrel I have been using, it was a smooth, shiny toy. We
were excited to go make some meat.
I did some research and found some state land within an hour’s
drive. Our goal was to see what we could find,
hopefully a variety of small game. Along the way,
we chatted about hunting, recipes, our hopes and
dreams.
We arrived at the state land only to realize it was
not open for the season. My careful research had
not paid off. Reading through all of the descriptions
of various areas, I had become mixed up.
Luckily, there was another area close by. Though
smaller, we thought it was worth a shot.
We arrived to a small grassy parking lot, with
a gate leading to a bare field. No cover, no water,
conditions looked bleak. With our positive attitudes barely intact,
we decided to embark on our increasingly less auspicious inaugural
hunt. I stepped out of the car, grabbed some water, shells, blaze
orange, and sauntered into the field.
A couple of minutes later, I realized that Raffaele had not joined
me. I looked back, and he was kneeling by the car, fiddling with
his gun. I walked over, looking at his shiny new firearm, fully
loaded bandolier, and asked, “What’s going on?”
He was struggling to load shells into his gun. We looked at it
carefully for a moment, tried a number of approaches, but the
shells wouldn’t fit. After about fifteen minutes of bilingual cursing
and sweating, I glanced at the shells. When I saw the “12ga”
clearly stamped on the bottom, I started laughing. There was no
way we were going to fit 12 gauge shells in a 20 gauge shotgun!
So the brand new Franchi was returned to the car. Still adorned
with his loaded bandolier, Raffaele and I tromped through the
field. After spooking some insects, we resigned ourselves to the
underappreciated sport of cowpie shooting.
It turns out, it was just as well we didn’t see any wild game.
Those cowpies sure gave us a run for our money.
Neal Ritter is one of the co-founders of the Laughing Coyote Project,
a nonprofit dedicated to passing on the traditions of earth living
skills. Even while not teaching, he continues to practice and live the
skills of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. A relative newcomer to BHA,
he is excited to be involved with a group so passionate about wildlife
and the adventures to be had in wildlands.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 45

If You’re
not first
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WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 47

BOUNDARY WATERS
BACKCOUNTRY
ICE FISHING
BY JOE FRIEDRICHS
JONATHAN HAUN IS USED TO CUTTING HIS ICE fishing
holes with a chainsaw. That’s how they do it on his home waters
in Montana. Here, in a remote reach of northeastern Minnesota
known as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, motors of
any sort are not allowed.
“Get used to it,” I say, handing him a manual auger.
Haun is 35 years old. He’s a towering outdoorsman who’s spent
a great deal of his life roaming the Rocky Mountains. A Montana
resident for his entire life, he’s worked as a hunting guide, wildland
firefighter, taxidermist and a trail groomer at Big Sky Resort
near Bozeman. He’s also a cancer survivor.
I first met Haun in 2000, during our freshmen year at the University
of Montana in Missoula. I was the curious student from
Iowa who knew little about life in Big Sky Country. Haun grew
up hunting elk near the small town of Thompson Falls. Haun’s
family home is located on the banks of the Clark Fork River,
where he learned to fly fish at the age of five. His father, Dean,
runs an outfitter camp specializing in most big game species that
roam the Rockies. Haun has summited some of Montana’s tallest
peaks, spent the accumulation of months inside Glacier National
Park and battled wildfires that made national headlines.
It took cancer to finally slow him down for a few years. After his
diagnosis with metastatic melanoma in 2009, medical professionals
at various points gave Haun a slim chance of survival. Rather
than retire from fishing, outdoor adventure and, quite frankly,
life, he took on the fight. To date, he is winning.
Despite his love for Montana, when he was cancer free, one of
the first places Haun wanted to visit was the Boundary Waters.
But we would not be paddling a canoe; that will come on later
adventures. For the initial run, Haun wanted to experience this
remote wilderness during winter.
During his January visit, Haun, our mutual friend Michael Determan
and I set out to travel across a collection of lakes. The
federally designated wilderness sits just west of Lake Superior
along the crest of the Minnesota-Ontario border. It is a rugged
area boasting a seemingly endless number of lakes, bogs, streams
and rivers. The region is home to all manner of wildlife, including
moose, wolves and lynx. These creatures roam the boreal forest
free from exhaust-saturated air and the sounds of grinding metal.
And then there is the fishing. Lake trout, smallmouth bass,
northern pike, walleye and brook trout are the prized game fish.
They dwell in the deep, clear waters of the more than 1,000 lakes
within the vast Boundary Waters Wilderness.
Connecting many of the lakes are portage trails. Not unlike
many hiking trails in the West by appearance, these paths are
different in that have been used for centuries by people
carrying watercraft from one lake to the next. Highlighting
their uniqueness, portages are measured
in rods rather than feet or meters, with one
rod equivalent to the approximate length of
a canoe, about 17 feet. Most portages are
about 75 rods, though a collection are
more than 300. No matter their distance,
you likely won’t find them unless
you have an excellent map. In the
Boundary Waters there are no signs
pointing where to go. Anywhere.
Meanwhile, a sign many outdoor
enthusiasts hope to never see near
the edge of the Boundary Waters
is one pointing in the direction of
copper-nickel mines. Sportsmen for
the Boundary Waters, BHA and many
other organizations are particularly concerned
about proposed mining projects that
have the potential to release acidic runoff into
the Boundary Waters’ expansive watershed. Antofagasta,
a Chilean-owned company, wants to build a large
underground copper-nickel mine along the Kawishiwi River, on
the edge of the wilderness. There is currently a moratorium on
mining on federal land near the Boundary Waters. But talk from
elected officials at both the state and
federal level puts the moratorium
and the future of clean
water in the Boundary
Waters at risk.
Tim Romano photo
48 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

For our trip, the playground
is up the Gunflint
Trail, a 60-mile stretch of
road that starts near the
vacation community of
Grand Marais. We set
out to fish remote lakes
by portaging our gear on
sleds and hiking through
thick stands of white pine.
We’d weave our way over
heavy snow on the tiny trails
that were pathed generations
back, perhaps by the fur-trading
voyageurs.
The first day of the trip opens
with the temperature at 26 below
zero. After a 1,100-mile flight and riding
shotgun in Determan’s silver truck up
the North Shore of Lake Superior from Duluth, Haun is greeted
by a temperature that makes it uncomfortable to blink.
By the time we snowshoe in the dark across West Bearskin
Lake, Haun’s eyelids are literally freezing shut.
The mist from his breath freezes to his face before
it can evaporate. I turn around to gauge how the
weather is treating him. Oddly enough, he’s
smiling. Or, at least as much of a smile as he
can muster with his cheeks frozen in a stationary
position.
On average, more than 150,000 people
venture each year into the Boundary
Waters, making it the most visited wilderness
area in the nation. However, a much
smaller number, around 3,500 people, just
more than 2 percent of the overall visitors,
explore the lakes and trails in their winter
coating.
Embracing that solitude, we reach the portage
for Duncan Lake. Haun is about to cross
into the Boundary Waters for the first time. Without
much pause for celebration, we move forward.
“I made it,” he says quietly.
To me, the words are more emblematic than simply crossing
the wilderness border. After all, it was less than 10 years ago
that I drove to Montana to
a lonely road trip. At the
time I was a resident of
Bend, Oregon. The
trip came not long
after his cancer
diagnosis.
Haun was in
rough shape.
visit Haun on
He’d shaved his head in preparation for what was
to come. He was pale. His contagious, bellowing
laugh was replaced by a timid chuckle. We didn’t
talk about the upcoming fall hunt. We didn’t fire
up the grill and toss on Haun’s famous elk steaks.
At the end of the visit, I drove back to Oregon
thinking that would be the last time I’d shake my
friend’s hand.
Haun stands 6 feet and 7 inches above the earth’s
surface. But portaging is not basketball; height offers
no advantage. Our first portage of the trip is 75
rods. Haun insists on hauling the heaviest sled up and
over the portage, crossing the Caribou Rock Trail and
then gradually descending to Duncan. There are several
feet of untouched snow lining both sides of the trail. Every
tree in sight is coated with sparkling white powder. We
reach the ice of Haun’s first Boundary Waters lake not long
after the day’s first light crests the pines. And then, it’s time to
drill.
Haun carves through 20 inches of ice as though he’s angry with
its solid form. There’s some stomping and swearing involved, but
it’s all part of the show. Before we have time to bait one hook, a
half-dozen holes are drilled.
I arrived to the Boundary Waters area to work as a canoe outfitter
at Rockwood Lodge & Canoe Outfitters. I kept my journalism
career alive by writing for regional magazines and learning how to
produce content for the community radio station in Grand Marais.
I married my wife, Maggie. These days we live near the shores
of Lake Superior, with the Boundary Waters region providing the
most expansive backyard playground we could ever imagine. Like
many who call the area home, we’ve cataloged dozens of stories
that involve moose, bears, wolves and enchanting campsites.
I’m reflecting on the many good things about life in canoe
country when the fish come through.
“Tip up!” Haun yells.
Seconds later, a 22-inch lake trout flops on the ice.
“Well, I can go home happy,” Haun says with matter-of-fact
pride. Not long after he issues the statement, another tip-up raises
its hand in question. We stand safely on the ice with huge grins
and wild eyes.
By 11 a.m. on Duncan Lake, the temperature manages to reach
18 below zero. It’s a lofty enterprise given the circumstances, and
the fact 20 below just sounds colder than 18 below. So in a sense,
we take comfort in the negative teens.
Regardless of the temperature or the season, for Haun, the
mountains are home. The rivers in Montana represent something
familiar, a flowing form that makes sense in his soul. It was there
he battled cancer. Here, the lakes in the Boundary Waters represent
something different. Something not yet known.
Joe is a freelance journalist who lives in small cabin on the shores of
Lake Superior. He is also the news director for WTIP, the community
radio station in Grand Marais, Minnesota. He graduated from the
University of Montana School of Journalism in 2005.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 49

50 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 51
© 2017 YETI Coolers, LLC

A Conversation With
JIM POSEWITZ
Thom Bridge photo
Author, biologist, ethicist, historian and legendary
conservationist, Jim Posewitz is the foremost expert
on conservation history and fair chase hunting. He
founded Orion – The Hunter’s Institute and has penned
five books: Beyond Fair Chase, Inherit the Hunt, Rifle in
Hand, Taking a Bullet for Conservation and his
soon-to-be-released memoir, My Best Shot.
INTERVIEW BY SAM LUNGREN
COMPILED BY ISAAC ZARECKI
BCJ: Tell us about your background.
JIM: I was born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, in 1935. I grew up in
a place totally depleted of wildlife. The county I lived in had no
deer. When I was young, I turned to the Boy Scouts to get close
to nature. Growing up, I was interested in the outdoors. There
wasn’t a lot of game around, and nobody in my immediate family
hunted or fished.
I was recruited to play football for Montana State University.
In the 50s, Montana had an overpopulation of deer. I shot my
first deer six months after I moved here. After studying wildlife
biology in college, I got drafted and spent two years in Germany.
When I came back I went to graduate school.
I started with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in 1961
and stayed until 1993. The 60s and 70s were some of the most
environmentally progressive times this nation has ever seen. Both
sides of the aisle were working together for wildlife. During that
time we accomplished a lot: prohibited trout stream channelization,
passed multiple stream preservation acts, passed the Major
Facility Siting Act and passed one of the toughest mine land reclamation
laws at the time.
Two of our greatest victories were the opposition of an open pit
mine in 1969 and the rejection of 40-some coal power plants in
1978. The mine would have dammed the head of the Blackfoot
River. The power plants would have required enough cooling water
to dry up the Yellowstone River. We defeated the power plants
by reserving, for the first time in Montana state history, in-stream
water for fish, wildlife and recreation.
52 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

What allowed the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation
to take hold?
I believe it’s our democratic institutions. It’s hard to treat natural
resources casually when you know that generations have
fought for them. There are a lot of distractions. We tend to forget
how unique this relationship between humans, wildlife and the
environment is in North America. You cannot find it anywhere
else. The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and
restoration allows everyone to participate, not just the privileged.
Wildlife belongs to everyone.
States like Montana led the charge. In 1864, the territorial legislature
of Montana voted to restrict fishing to a hook and line
because market fishing was destroying the fisheries. In 1872, there
were attempts to put closed seasons on big game.
What role should the outdoors media play in conservation?
The entire story has to be told. Recently, I was hunting a national
forest. Right before light, a father hunting with his two
sons walked up the trail behind me. He came up and said he
didn’t want to get in front of me. We were on public land. At
that moment, a quote from T.R. came into my head: “We do
these things for the generations within the womb of time.” I told
them to go ahead of me. There were three generations on that
mountain all participating in the pursuit of a restored deer and
elk population.
Knowing the story and knowing how the wildlife got there
gives you enough context to not behave badly. You won’t take a
bad shot. You’ll understand why another hunter is there when you
see him. It makes you want to be better.
What inspired you to found Orion – The Hunter’s Institute?
I was in D.C. once in 1988 when Montana’s Yellowstone buffalo
policy came up. Montana law, at the time, mandated that every
buffalo that came out of Yellowstone be shot. As soon as herds
migrated out of the park they would be slaughtered. The policy
was giving hunting a bad rap. When I asked around the fish and
game department, no one thought it was doing any good. We
changed the law so Montana stopped killing buffalo as they came
out of the park. In return, Yellowstone started efforts to keep the
buffalo in the park.
Montana’s buffalo policy at the time was giving a lot of fuel to
anti-hunter sentiment. We organized the governor’s symposium
on the North American hunting heritage. We wanted to start
teaching the conservation and restoration history of wildlife. After
the first conference, we realized that hunters need to lead the
conservation conversation or risk becoming irrelevant.
In 1993, I, Phil Tawney and other members of the Teller Wildlife
Refuge board started Orion. For 10 years I was the executive
director of Orion and built stories around conservation history.
We wrote Beyond Fair Chase as a concise guide to hunting ethics.
I spoke as a representative of Orion in 41 states. I always started
with that state’s conservation history. People never knew it, but
they always wanted to learn it.
How do you think Theodore Roosevelt would view our current
political climate in regard to conservation?
Throughout American history, the pendulum swings. T.R. built
up a conservation movement and Taft worked to tear it down.
The 1970s were great for conservation. Afterward, environmental
advocates were billed as extremist.
As each generation passes, pieces get lost. That’s why I started
the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame: to recognize those who
made a difference.
How do you approach the concept of fair chase in the face of
new technology?
Like I approach every question, historically. Commerce destroyed
wildlife, but when the restoration was happening, the industry
came on the conservation side with the Pittman-Robertson
Act. Hunters and fishers have funded wildlife since we took it out
of the trash heap until now. It would be good if all companies
associated with hunting and fishing knew that history. A lot of
people seem to be in it just to make bucks. I think a reformation
needs to occur on the commercial side. They need to see a greater
beauty instead of the bottom line in a ledger.
Fair chase depends on developing a personal association with
the game you are pursuing. The more you appreciate the animals,
the less likely you will engage in something that’s unfair.
How do you feel public lands feature in the American conservation
movement?
It was one of the smartest things we’ve ever done. Setting up
the national forests was instrumental. A decade later, Roosevelt
and Pinchot expanded the system from 40 million acres to 190
million. Then Roosevelt went on to create 51 wildlife refuges. In
1907, a bill was passed that would prevent T.R. from putting any
more land into the forest reserves in Washington, Oregon, Idaho,
Montana, Wyoming and Colorado. The bill was going to pass and
would have overridden a veto. He had seven days to sign or veto
the bill. By the seventh night, he’d set aside 16 million more acres
of land, created 21 new national forests. He then signed the bill
to prevent him from ever putting any more land aside. That was a
gift. We need to teach it to everyone.
Hunter numbers are on the decline. Why is this happening and
how can we fix it?
We are eating up wildlife habitat. This leads to less opportunity.
There is an access issue as well. Private landowners seem to
be more reluctant to allow hunters on their property. There is
also the constant threat to monetize public lands. The growth of
NGOs, like BHA, helps to balance that out.
You’ve been instructing BHA President and CEO Land Tawney
on conservation issues for a long time.
I actually drove his mother to the hospital the day he was born.
I’ve known Land his whole life. Our families crossed paths frequently.
Land found himself constantly right smack-dab in the
middle of conservation issues growing up. His father, Phil, helped
start the Cinnabar Foundation and was there at the beginning of
the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
How is BHA fitting into the larger picture?
I think it’s the perfect model. It starts with a respect for wild
places. There has to be a backcountry for there to be a backcountry
hunter or angler.
WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 53

54 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 55

Jared Lampton photo
36 HOURS OF BULL
BY MAHTING PUTELIS
My alarm sounds, it’s 3 a.m.
Gear loaded last night, coffee in hand, I’m off.
I could drive to the trailhead in my sleep
But the road, dodging mountains, keeps me awake.
This hunt covers familiar ground.
Yet darkness obscures, blurs my knowing.
I listen, when he talked, he was whispering to me.
Or was it to the elk? But I listened, learned.
If you can hear your feet, breathe, step, wonder.
You’re too fast, too eager, slow down.
They are here.
In rolling country, you always smell their musk first.
Peek up and Boo!
Twelve eyes looking at me, past me, through me.
Slooooooowwwwwwly kneel down.
Cows! Hour 4. I need a bull.
A nice walk in the morning air.
Mule deer share my path.
Off to glass new country
After a big breakfast of chicken fried steak and eggs.
Through the looking glass
You don’t always find what you’re looking for.
What are you looking for?
The bulls have gone away from the cows to feed and hide.
Deep timber, next to water and forage.
The Honeyhole! It’s Hour 8.
Let’s go on an adventure, I say out loud
To no one but the mountains.
Up, up, up rocky roads
Toward some place to park the truck and camp.
Read the country and your maps
It’s all the information you need.
This spot is flat and secluded, perfect.
Get geared up.
2 p.m., the bulls are in the deep timber, covered.
I’d best go walk the deep timber.
Old logging roads split the the forest like a snake.
Quiet and easy, rambling downhill.
Milkduds, nope, poop!
Pick it up, shiny, wet, soft; he is here.
56 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

ABCs - Always Be hunting
C - See, look, up ahead.
A creek runs down the tight meadow
Aspens flank its borders.
Take a seat, enjoy the show.
A curious jay flies right up and ponders my being there.
Get comfortable, snugged up next to a downed aspen.
Check yardage, place rifle, take a nap.
A slight shiver. Sun’s fading, layer up.
The dying hour is upon me. Hour 14.
Squirrels and jays are the most common elk.
No symphony louder, no child more obnoxious.
Step out, he surveys his domain, he’s hungry,
Thirsty, head down, head up.
To the aspens, his happy place, my safe place, safety off.
Through the looking glass, it’s my shot.
As if on a string, pulled in like laundry between two buildings,
Across the creek and up. My scope is too magnified.
Hour 15, 30 feet away he stands,
Never broadside, he’s bearing down on me.
Blauksh!.............thump.
Breathe.
Look, listen, feel, be wary of the beast.
His dying will come.
With darkness he battles the leaving.
With darkness comes the reaper.
I pray for his passing, over and over, I speak to God.
I give the elk my thanks and his last meal.
To work. Bloody work. Back-creaking work.
Tonight part of him will stay and part will come with me.
Back to camp, the easy way.
Up 1,500 feet with 100 pounds.
There is no easy way.
At the truck, a shot of whiskey and a beer, then sleep.
Deeply tired, it’s coffee time. Hour 29.
Two more trips down and up the hill.
The daylight brings clarity to my path.
But the stereo still has to jam.
Hour 35, perfect Colorado fall.
Rallying the truck towards a hot shower and amazing wife.
Thirty-six hours of bull!
As co-founder of Hunt to Eat, Mahting strives to create awesome
apparel, with a portion of the proceeds supporting BHA.
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WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 57

Conservation
BHA memberships and merchandise make great gifts for friends and family.
58 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018
Head to www.backcountryhunters.org to get them involved today!

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WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 61

END OF THE LINE
SKAGIT SALVATION
THE GUY WAS CLEARLY DRUNK, either off the Olympias
strewn about the jet sled hull or the five large, native winter-run
steelhead he claimed to have landed that day. Probably a bit of
both, and why not? He’d been teaching a boondogging doctoral
course from the bow – not running the outboard tiller. Paul and
I watched him wrangle two of said steelhead, each 15 pounds or
better, in the few times we were in eyesight of the other boat, so it
was tough to dismiss his story. He hooked one chromer in a run
we had just fished diligently.
After holding forth to us 17-year-old, greenhorn steelheaders
about his day on the Skagit River and our shortcomings, the professor
made a sharp segue to love and relationships. Paul and I
haven’t followed the advice he lay before us like it was gold, but
we still laugh about it a decade later. It’s a vulgar thread strangely
tied to brighter, more vivid memories, like smelling the pad of my
right thumb literally melting off against the friction of a rapidly
unwinding monofilament spool on my Abu Garcia Ambassaduer
reel earlier that day, as I tried to slow the flight of my first
winter-run steelhead – a seven-pound, red-striped buck above the
Sauk Confluence (pictured). A few miles downstream, we watched
a 20-plus-pounder throw Paul’s hook merely 10 feet away.
That was March of 2007, our senior year of high school. Only
two months later, on May 11, all Puget Sound native steelhead
populations were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species
Act. In 2010, WDFW shut off the late winter steelhead sport
fishery in the Skagit, like all of the region’s other rivers, closing
the entire basin after the hatchery runs at the end of January to
protect what few native steelhead still returned to spawn.
While arguably necessary, that closure was a huge blow to the
fishermen of Western Washington and the broader American angling
culture. It was that river, that fishery, which led the likes of
Ed Ward, Dec Hogan and others to start using 12-weight fly lines
with short, modified Spey rods, eventually coming to be known
as the Skagit style of Spey casting and tackle. Today there’s only
three generally accepted styles: Traditional/Scottish, Scandinavian
and Skagit. Those guys created a new segment of the sport and
industry of fly fishing trying to throw enormous flies and heavy
sinking lines in order to reach and entice winter steelhead within
the Skagit’s glacial, torrential depths.
From the highrises of Pioneer Square to the rainforested wilderness
of the Quinault Valley, fishing is deeply imbued in the culture
of Western Washington. For generations, there was perhaps no
watershed nor fish more famous than the Skagit and her steelhead.
And Seattle was the fastest growing metropolis in the country for
several decades running, so Concrete and Marblemount, just a few
hours from the big city, could see enormous fishing pressure.
Some may have stopped fishing, but true steelheaders are notoriously
difficult to discourage. They – we – have gone in droves to
the Olympic Peninsula, the state’s last opportunity to swing for native
winter-runs beneath Sitka spruce and a crisp, March sunrise.
Predictably, those fisheries have tanked, too. It may not be long before
they also face listing decisions and the attendant regulations.
Fishermen, casting flies and lures without hooks, have staged
demonstrations at the Howard Miller Steelhead Park every April
since 2012, during the closed late winter season. They call it “Occupy
Skagit” and advocate for reopening a tightly managed, catchand-release
steelhead season. The Skagit’s native populations have
been on the rebound since the court-mandated ban on releasing
hatchery-raised steelhead and the sport fishery closure. In 2016,
7,918 native steelhead returned to the Skagit and its tributaries,
up from a gutter below 3,000 fish in 2009 and well above the 20-
year average.
With the help of Patagonia’s World Trout Fund, BHA has waded
into the muddy waters of Evergreen State steelhead policy to
advocate for science-based management, native species, fair chase
fishing and public angling opportunity. In 2012, WDFW designated
the Sol Duc River as its first Wild Steelhead Gene Bank,
a measure that precludes planting detrimental, hatchery-raised
fish in the stream. Fourteen rivers have now been given the same
protection. Many conservationist anglers believe the Skagit, with
intensive habitat restoration and a rebounding native population,
would be a perfect candidate. Gene bank designation, coupled
with a reopening of the late winter catch-and-release season,
would help alleviate some of the incredible fishing pressure occurring
on the Olympic Peninsula while allowing the anglers who
restore habitat and advocate for steelhead to engage once again
with their favorite fish.
“The Skagit is the epicenter of Pacific Northwest steelheading,
especially with a fly rod. It’s where our sport began,” said Chase
Gunnell, conservation chair for Washington BHA. “It’s living
proof that wild fish can recover given the chance. It’s our best hope
for a new paradigm in fisheries management, one that balances
sustainable angling with conservation oriented management.”
The Skagit, Sauk, Samish, Stillaguamish, Skykomish, Snohomish,
Snoqualmie – even some rivers that don’t start with the letter
S – made me who I am. That thumb-melting little steelhead, that
March morning playing hooky, helped form twin passions that
would come to define my life. Fishing for native steelhead, one of
the most imperiled sportfish in the country, is a pursuit marked
by dedication – not only to standing waist deep in surging, glacial
torrents for the duration of a sleet-ridden winter day but also to
conserve the utterly singular trout that drive us to do it.
-Sam Lungren, editor
62 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018

WINTER 2018 BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL | 63

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64 | BACKCOUNTRY JOURNAL WINTER 2018