Speaker 1: Since nineteen eighty four, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has had
Speaker 1: thirteen thousand projects and affected over eight point nine million
Speaker 1: acres in conservation, habitat for the elk and others. All
Speaker 1: that with Mark Holyoake of Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation right now. Hey,
Speaker 1: I'm kJ, dedicated lifelong hunter.
Speaker 2: Here. If you've got an interest in all things hunting,
Speaker 2: you're in the right spot. Whether chasing quail across the
Speaker 2: plains of Oklahoma or in pursuit of belk in the
Speaker 2: back country of British Columbia, you'll always find me on
Speaker 2: the hunt.
Speaker 1: All right, Welcome in all you gun talk hunters. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, kJ, and we are back for a great
Speaker 1: gun talk hunt podcast.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 1: With Honestly, right now, what we're looking at, guys, is
Speaker 1: it's the heat of the summer. I'm not going to
Speaker 1: not going to sugarcoat in any It's not gonna get
Speaker 1: any better. So while you're sitting here, while you're heating
Speaker 1: up and you're dreaming about those fall seasons, man, I thought,
Speaker 1: you know, it would be a great idea to talk
Speaker 1: about the ability to hunt and where a lot of
Speaker 1: that comes from, and the story of how we hunt
Speaker 1: and why we hunt can't be told without mentioning the
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. And I've got Mark Holyoake from
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain Elk with me today. Mark, welcome in, Hey,
Speaker 1: Thanks great to be with you man, Mark. You know,
Speaker 1: with with hunting seasons like they're going to approach very quickly,
Speaker 1: we talk about, you know, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, what
Speaker 1: is you know? For those who don't know, because we
Speaker 1: get a lot of new hunters in here too, Conservation
Speaker 1: groups like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation are vital, vital to
Speaker 1: our hunting success and being able to see more critters.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know. We we are a conservation organization hunter
Speaker 3: based probably ninety seven ninety eight percent of our members
Speaker 3: are hunters, not everyone, but practically everyone. And our mission
Speaker 3: is to ensure the future of elk, other wildlife, their habitat,
Speaker 3: and our hunting heritage. And when a lot of people
Speaker 3: hear about that mission, they think we're all about elk,
Speaker 3: which we all are, but it's important to talk about
Speaker 3: that other wildlife term as well. I mean what we
Speaker 3: do when we conserve landscapes, when we open public access,
Speaker 3: when we enhance habitat, it helps meal deer, it helps whitetails,
Speaker 3: it helps mountain lions and black bears and antelope and
Speaker 3: on and on and on. So we're an organization that, yes,
Speaker 3: we're known as being elk centric, but the work we
Speaker 3: do benefits and help so many other species, which makes
Speaker 3: it so much more fun for all of us who
Speaker 3: like to get out there on those landscapes and hunt
Speaker 3: and hike and fish and do the things we do.
Speaker 1: Yep, absolutely, and this episode is brought to you by Eotech,
Speaker 1: rossy Ruger, Timney, Trigger's Range Ready Studios, Silence, are Central,
Speaker 1: and Vortex all those like they believe heavily in comfort conservation,
Speaker 1: especially Rocking Mountain Elk Foundation. So let's kind of jump
Speaker 1: into some projects that are kind of near and dear
Speaker 1: to your heart mark and talk about those and what
Speaker 1: it does for the herd size and limits.
Speaker 3: So I guess maybe we could look backwards. Just a
Speaker 3: few months late last year, we had just two giant projects,
Speaker 3: one on each coast. One was in northeast Oregon along
Speaker 3: the Minum River corridor, and basically it was a two
Speaker 3: phase project that over a couple of years we were
Speaker 3: able to conserve, in other words, protect or permanently protect
Speaker 3: the wildlife values and the habitat of fifteen thousand acres.
Speaker 3: We worked with our partners at Manualife Investment and Oregon
Speaker 3: Department of Fish and Wildlife to make it happen, and
Speaker 3: so before it was private land, now it's open. Practically,
Speaker 3: the whole stretch of the Minum River is now conserved.
Speaker 3: People can go and they can fish it. They're doing
Speaker 3: it right now. You can go out on it right
Speaker 3: now and you can scout for elk and muldeer and
Speaker 3: other critters. That's happening right now. So it's a benefit
Speaker 3: for wildlife and it helps us as well. On the
Speaker 3: other coast, we had a project completely different, completely different
Speaker 3: approach and landscape. This is in the heart of Kentucky's
Speaker 3: Elk Range, where it's just it's thick, you know, very thick,
Speaker 3: or completely different kind of vegetation and everything. And it's
Speaker 3: also a different project in that the Oregon project is
Speaker 3: now in public hands because it's Oregon Department of Fish
Speaker 3: and Wildlife, it's a wildlife management area. But back in
Speaker 3: Kentucky that one is still known by the Nature Conservancy.
Speaker 3: So we work with them and signed an agreement a
Speaker 3: conservation and access agreement. It's fifty five thousand acres, so
Speaker 3: it's huge. Even though it remains in the private hands.
Speaker 3: Right now, Kentucky Fish and Wildlife is actually managing it
Speaker 3: so they can take part in whatever needs to be
Speaker 3: done as far as habitat work goes finning or burns
Speaker 3: or noxious weed treatments. And yet there's the public access component,
Speaker 3: so it's open to the public forever.
Speaker 4: Wow.
Speaker 3: So two very different types of projects that help animals
Speaker 3: on both coasts and are hugely beneficial for those of
Speaker 3: us who like to hunt.
Speaker 1: Well, it's opening up land that is, I mean to
Speaker 1: be honest with you right now, it's land access is
Speaker 1: hard to come by, and especially like more and more
Speaker 1: public areas, like we have an influx of hunters coming
Speaker 1: into this space that we have all cried out for.
Speaker 1: We asked for this, We asked for more hunters. We
Speaker 1: wanted to maintain them, We wanted to keep them and
Speaker 1: let them go out and hunt. I don't think a
Speaker 1: lot of people really thought that the access issue would
Speaker 1: have been a problem, but it started to become an issue.
Speaker 1: And I mean, what was it, like, I think eight
Speaker 1: point nine million acres or something like that. Since nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty four at Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has had a
Speaker 1: hand in, you know, increasing the value or the conservation
Speaker 1: of those properties.
Speaker 4: Is that sound about right? Am I in the right ballpark?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, we're In fact, this is our fortieth anniversary
Speaker 3: this year. We were founded in nineteen eighty four, so
Speaker 3: it's been forty years. But before the forty years is out,
Speaker 3: we'll roll over that roll'll roll over that nine million
Speaker 3: acre threshold of acreage that we've either conserved or protected,
Speaker 3: going to stay the way it is and open access
Speaker 3: to about one point six million acres of that for
Speaker 3: people to hunt, hike, and fish and float, pick cockle
Speaker 3: berries and do whatever the things they like to do
Speaker 3: on those landscapes.
Speaker 1: That's a good point because in my mindset, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure a lot of guys out there and gals out
Speaker 1: there listening, they think when I hear Rocky Mountain Elk,
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, they're growing those deer herds. They're
Speaker 1: making the land great for me the hunter. But it's
Speaker 1: it's not that it's birders. It's hikers, it's it's fishermen,
Speaker 1: it's voters. It's like you know, it's campers, it's the overlanders,
Speaker 1: it's you guys kind of do it for everybody, not
Speaker 1: just hunters.
Speaker 3: Now we do it. I mean, that's that's the bottom
Speaker 3: line of it all. Yeah, our focus is hunting. Will
Speaker 3: admit that we hunt, Well, yeah, that's what we do.
Speaker 3: But hey, if you can do work to benefit species
Speaker 3: and hunters and yet so many other segments of society,
Speaker 3: why not. And we're open to having anyone and everyone
Speaker 3: support us as we try to carry out our mission
Speaker 3: and just advance it to the best point that we can.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, it's it is amazing how much you guys have done.
Speaker 1: And I think I've read on your website, which, by
Speaker 1: the way, I don't know who's doing your website work,
Speaker 1: but RMEF dot org. Go there, check it out, because
Speaker 1: it's probably one of the best laid out websites I've
Speaker 1: been on in a long time.
Speaker 4: It's easy to navigate. Let's talk about.
Speaker 1: This the work you're doing with kind of other organizations,
Speaker 1: because that's one thing that caught my eye. Actually, and
Speaker 1: this wasn't This is kind of a prop too. I've
Speaker 1: got to apologize to Mark before it, but I saw
Speaker 1: it and I was like, that's interesting, Like because they're
Speaker 1: doing advocacy work for other issues in the wildlife conservation realm,
Speaker 1: And I think the one that actually caught my eye
Speaker 1: was one with the Cats Organization that the Colorado Initiative
Speaker 1: that they're trying to outlaw basically outlaw hunting. Believe it
Speaker 1: or not, they are coming after our hunting, like I mean,
Speaker 1: big shocker there. But talk a little bit about that
Speaker 1: and the advocacy and assisting other organizations, because I'm sure
Speaker 1: like they're all helping you too.
Speaker 3: That's one thing we do really in all of our work,
Speaker 3: our conservation work, our habitat enhancement work, we work with
Speaker 3: a lot of researchers, a lot of universities if we're
Speaker 3: furthering research, So basically everything we do we don't do
Speaker 3: it by ourselves. We look to link arms with other
Speaker 3: folks because there's more power in that, there's more progress
Speaker 3: in that, and there's more bottom line results in that.
Speaker 3: And the same goes for advocacy. So if you look
Speaker 3: at this, if you're not familiar with what's going on
Speaker 3: right now, there is a potential ballot initiative. They turned
Speaker 3: in one hundred and eighty some thousand signatures last week environmentalists,
Speaker 3: animal rights folks. They want to outlaw mountain lion hunting
Speaker 3: and bobcat hunting in Colorado. So before you go too
Speaker 3: much in depth on that, you kind of need to
Speaker 3: realize the history in this state. So it was only
Speaker 3: four years ago that they had another ballot initiative and
Speaker 3: that was to forcibly put wolves on the ground in Colorado.
Speaker 3: And once in Colorado, according to statute, once a ballot
Speaker 3: initiative goes to the people, state employees can say nothing.
Speaker 3: So Colorado parks on my life. You're biologists, your game managers,
Speaker 3: your leadership, and every level. They couldn't say anything. So
Speaker 3: we were pushing out we found out about this about
Speaker 3: three years before, and so we're pushing out the word, hey,
Speaker 3: this could come, this could happen. And so we were
Speaker 3: pushing out the word that there's a possibility this is
Speaker 3: going to happen. And then once it happened, their lips
Speaker 3: are sealed. There's nothing they could do. But they had
Speaker 3: four previous times they had conducted studies and said this
Speaker 3: is a bad idea. If they come here naturally, they
Speaker 3: come here naturally, that's fine, and that's what we agree to.
Speaker 3: But to forcibly put them on the landscape is a
Speaker 3: bad idea, and it happened. They devote passed by less
Speaker 3: than two percent. It's a bit messy right now. And
Speaker 3: the bottom line there is you have uneducated folks who
Speaker 3: go to the polls and they check a box not
Speaker 3: really understanding an issue, or they've only heard emotional please
Speaker 3: and some taglines and some propaganda, and they're avoiding wildlife management,
Speaker 3: the North American wildlife conservation model, the importance of managing
Speaker 3: all species for their overall good predators and prey. So
Speaker 3: that happened four years ago, and so it's not surprising
Speaker 3: that this has happened this time because the door has
Speaker 3: been opened in Colorado. So now the door is open.
Speaker 3: It's up to the Secretary of State to determine if
Speaker 3: they have enough ballot signatures to put it on the
Speaker 3: ballot later this year. If it does, it will go
Speaker 3: on the ballot. You know, we've put well over six
Speaker 3: figures on the ground and money donations. We're linked up
Speaker 3: with lots of other like minded groups as well as
Speaker 3: cattleman groups and just other folks who are concerned in
Speaker 3: Colorado to try and stop this from happening. So we
Speaker 3: wait right now and see what the Secretary of State says.
Speaker 3: If it doesn't pass, we're good for now, but they'll
Speaker 3: regroup and try again. If it does pass, we will
Speaker 3: dive in like we did four years ago. We'll use resources,
Speaker 3: outreach everything we can and say hey, can we have
Speaker 3: some common sense here. Let's not turn our back on
Speaker 3: wildlife management regulations and using hunting as part of that.
Speaker 3: And hunting is key and this people may say, oh,
Speaker 3: it's this is just a mountain lion hunt. This is
Speaker 3: it's not like they're talking elk or deer. Well, that
Speaker 3: will be next. I mean the writing's on the wall.
Speaker 3: We've seen it from four years ago. This is another
Speaker 3: step in that direction. So are we involved? Yes? Do
Speaker 3: we put resoarch on the ground, yes? Do E our
Speaker 3: members involved? Yes? Do we want everyone involved? Yes?
Speaker 1: And that's what I love about the website and making
Speaker 1: it easy because you can go in and it's under
Speaker 1: key issues and advocacy. It's a drop down menu. You
Speaker 1: go down, you go to that, and you can go
Speaker 1: in and you can look at all the state issues
Speaker 1: that Rocky Mountain Milk is trying to get involved and
Speaker 1: bring to light.
Speaker 4: And you they allow.
Speaker 1: You to go in, you can go down, you can
Speaker 1: take action, and it'll take you to a screenshot. I've
Speaker 1: already done it and you basically, I mean, it is
Speaker 1: pretty simple to send your state legislators or those state
Speaker 1: legislatures a message from like that's well typed out, it's
Speaker 1: well documented that you reached out, and that's one way
Speaker 1: you can actually take action. And I love that you
Speaker 1: guys are doing. That's that's amazing work mark.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, it doesn't matter if you're a recurved
Speaker 3: bow hunter, a compound bow hunter, late season rifle guy
Speaker 3: or girl, doesn't matter. We need to recognize these efforts
Speaker 3: for what they are, and they threaten, you know, our
Speaker 3: way of life. And not only that, they threatened funding
Speaker 3: for conservation. I mean those of us who hunt understand,
Speaker 3: and if we don't understand, we should figure it out.
Speaker 3: But we supply so much funding that makes conservation work happen.
Speaker 3: I mean, when you look at the taxes that are
Speaker 3: on our ammunition and our rifles, archery equipment, all those
Speaker 3: recreational shooters as well, they have exercise taxes on that
Speaker 3: that funding goes toward conservation. It's earmark that way, it's
Speaker 3: set up. Federally that way, and they've raised over seventeen
Speaker 3: billion dollars in almost the last century, in the last
Speaker 3: ninety years. That go specifically for that. You do away
Speaker 3: with hunting, you take away your ment, your chief management
Speaker 3: of species, and a huge funding for the wildlife that's
Speaker 3: out there, and then that would be a terrific, terrifically
Speaker 3: bad impact on our wildlife publications.
Speaker 1: It'd be devastating, absolutely devastating. We're going to jump back
Speaker 1: in here from here in a second. We're going to
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Speaker 1: Mark Holyoake of Rocky Mountain ELK Foundation, and okay, let's
Speaker 1: we've kind of got a little bit of the background
Speaker 1: and some projects that you guys are working on, and
Speaker 1: we jumped a little bit into the advocacy part but
Speaker 1: let's talk a little bit about the wolves impact on
Speaker 1: how Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation operates, because man, they just
Speaker 1: they're hunters. They're hunters and they're killers. I mean they
Speaker 1: will drive an elk hurt out and decimate it. So
Speaker 1: what's what's Rocky Mountains Elk kind of stance on that
Speaker 1: and what do you guys do along those lines?
Speaker 3: You know, we have just like we're in favor of
Speaker 3: management for prey species, I mean, we're in favor of
Speaker 3: management of elk. There are places where elk are well
Speaker 3: over objective and that's not a good thing. That's not
Speaker 3: a good thing for the available habitat that's out there.
Speaker 3: And so some people will label us as you know,
Speaker 3: you're anti wolf. Well, we're not anti elk, but we
Speaker 3: very much agree with managing elk and getting them up
Speaker 3: where they need to be and getting them down to
Speaker 3: where they need to be depending on where those locations are.
Speaker 3: Same thing those for wolves and other predators. We're pro
Speaker 3: management of wolves and mountain lions, black bears as well
Speaker 3: those of us who live in our neck of the woods.
Speaker 3: I mean I live west of missoulm about fifteen miles Okay,
Speaker 3: I was out picking Huckleberry's last year up in the
Speaker 3: mountains in a favorite spot. Got home the next day
Speaker 3: and saw a word from Montana Fish Wilife Parks that grizzlies.
Speaker 3: Grizzly was spotted right there. Grizzlies are pushing down, they're
Speaker 3: getting really close to us. That's an exploding not exploding.
Speaker 3: But it's definitely a growing population and there's need of
Speaker 3: management there as well. So are we in favor of
Speaker 3: managing all species? Yes? Does that include predators yes? Do
Speaker 3: they have an impact on elk another wildlife? Yes?
Speaker 4: All right?
Speaker 1: I just I just I hear so many stories of
Speaker 1: you know, we'll like, you know, hunters going out to
Speaker 1: their favorite spots and they won't hear a bugle at all,
Speaker 1: they won't see an elk, they won't see a track,
Speaker 1: and they know wolves or that have been through that area,
Speaker 1: and they just they keep pushing them and it's just
Speaker 1: it's just it's unfortunate.
Speaker 4: They some states.
Speaker 1: I naturally absolutely like there's gonna be there's got to
Speaker 1: be a balance. But come on, come on, And I
Speaker 1: was wondering, is that a wolf that you took out
Speaker 1: in Montana the hide?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Now that was actually sent in from a member who
Speaker 3: took it legally and it ended up in my office
Speaker 3: because I think it's cool looking.
Speaker 4: It is cool, it's absolutely cool.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like a good wolf hide, but yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's absolutely amazing. Talk a little bit more about, you know,
Speaker 1: future projects and where where Rocky Mountain Elk is really
Speaker 1: focused on, and and key areas.
Speaker 4: I know, I know you guys are out west.
Speaker 1: You guys do a lot of work out west, But
Speaker 1: I mean you've done work in both my states. You've
Speaker 1: done work in Oklahoma, You've done work in Louisiana. In fact,
Speaker 1: I don't know if there's a state that you guys
Speaker 1: haven't touched.
Speaker 3: You know, I should point out that you and I
Speaker 3: have a lot in common because I work at the
Speaker 3: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and you're from Elk City, Oklahoma,
Speaker 3: So right there we have that going. But yeah, wherever
Speaker 3: elk are, and I think there are twenty eight states
Speaker 3: where there are wild, free ranging elk. Wherever elk are,
Speaker 3: we're involved. Having said that, though, we have just under
Speaker 3: five hundred chapters nationwide, and a lot of those chapters
Speaker 3: are in states that don't have elk populations. You know,
Speaker 3: Iowa Ohio, you know, whatever, Florida. You go on and on.
Speaker 3: But the members that we have in those states recognize
Speaker 3: the importance of elk. A lot of them go to
Speaker 3: other states to hunt them. But at the same time,
Speaker 3: a lot of that funding that they raise is put
Speaker 3: on the ground in their home states to promote you know,
Speaker 3: youth outdoor camps and conservation education, national archeries and the
Speaker 3: schools program for a shooting, all those things, on and
Speaker 3: on and on. So it's a grand it's a larger
Speaker 3: approach to Yes, we're elk centric, but there's so much
Speaker 3: more that we can. We have members that support that
Speaker 3: all around the country and especially in states where elk
Speaker 3: are and that ranges from the southeast of Pennsylvania to
Speaker 3: Arizona to Washington and up into Alaska.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like literally everywhere. So do you have any
Speaker 1: kind of cool stories about volunteers that have any good
Speaker 1: personal stories or anything like that. I know I didn't
Speaker 1: ask you that, but I'm thinking, like, with all the volunteers,
Speaker 1: you've got to have some great stories of just the
Speaker 1: passion that runs through RMEF.
Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing is we have. We have thousands
Speaker 3: and thousands of volunteers, and yes, their main focus is
Speaker 3: really fundraising banquets, but we also do all sorts of
Speaker 3: boots on the ground projects. We had one a couple
Speaker 3: of weeks ago that is west of here, about an hour.
Speaker 3: It's up in the mountains. It's right on the Montana
Speaker 3: Idaho border, and it's a place called Hiawatha Trail. Now
Speaker 3: that's a really well known regionally and for some nationally,
Speaker 3: a rails to trail trail they have, they have they
Speaker 3: have bikes that go on it. So it's a fifteen
Speaker 3: mile loop that used to run on the old Milwaukee
Speaker 3: rail line up there. So back in the day they
Speaker 3: had the old Milwaukee rail line and then they wanted
Speaker 3: to electrify it. So they brought in posts and each
Speaker 3: of those posts that lined the trail, which are actually
Speaker 3: it's super steep. I don't know how they did it,
Speaker 3: but super thick and super steep. They put up all
Speaker 3: these posts and they had eight electric wires and all
Speaker 3: of them that ran the length of that trail. Well,
Speaker 3: electric railways went out years ago, and that trail has
Speaker 3: since been converted that the tracks are removed and now
Speaker 3: it's a popular bike trail. It's beautiful, but the wires
Speaker 3: are still up there. So it was about five or
Speaker 3: six years ago that there was a couple of RMBF
Speaker 3: hunters who were up there hunting. I don't know why
Speaker 3: because it's thicker than anything and it's ridiculously steep and
Speaker 3: I'm up there working, going this is crazy. But they
Speaker 3: were up there and they came across a mature dead
Speaker 3: elk that had the wires totally wrapped up in its
Speaker 3: antlers and that's how it died. They got up there
Speaker 3: probably during the rut thrashing around, got stuck, got wound up,
Speaker 3: and that's how it died. It was stuck, it couldn't move.
Speaker 3: And so we've gone up there for four years in
Speaker 3: a row. I took my grandson up there a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago and we went and helped. And as
Speaker 3: we were up there two years ago, we came across
Speaker 3: another one. This time it was an elk that wasn't
Speaker 3: fully mature. I think it was more of a raghorn,
Speaker 3: but it not only didn't have wires around its antlers,
Speaker 3: but had wires around a small tree and that's where
Speaker 3: it died, and that's how it died. And its bones
Speaker 3: were scattered, so you could see that the predators had
Speaker 3: come across it, and they're like, you know, hey, there's
Speaker 3: an easy deal. So we've had volunteers go up there
Speaker 3: every year for the last four years, including a week
Speaker 3: and a half ago, with their wire cutters and their
Speaker 3: bolt cutters and on those steep inclines and tearing that
Speaker 3: wire out of there. And it was hot work. When
Speaker 3: I was there two years ago, it was really hot day.
Speaker 3: But boy, to get thrashed up and to know that
Speaker 3: you're making a difference and to pull the oils and
Speaker 3: coils of wire off the landscape, it's just good. It
Speaker 3: was a great feeling. We had people that came from
Speaker 3: Arkansas and Georgia and you know, Idaho and Montana. They
Speaker 3: came from all over for that's just one of hundreds
Speaker 3: of projects that were involved with every year.
Speaker 1: That's that's incredible, that's a good that's a that's a
Speaker 1: cool story on you know, seeing a problem, fixing a
Speaker 1: problem because it seems like so much. You know, when
Speaker 1: when someone signs up for an organization, they think, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm just going to send my money in and man,
Speaker 1: it's like this is an active organization. They're not an
Speaker 1: organization that just rests on its laurels.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, we like to follow through in all that
Speaker 3: we do, and so at the same time, you know,
Speaker 3: it's a lot of fun. Oh yeah. The woman that
Speaker 3: I met from Iowa, she's not a hunter. She said,
Speaker 3: you know, I heard about this, I signed up, I
Speaker 3: planned a vacation around it, and she's been back every
Speaker 3: year since then. Someone who just says she wants to
Speaker 3: give back. And so there's a lot of that same
Speaker 3: type of mentality in our organization. Whether you hunt or.
Speaker 1: Don't, see we can all get along like this, Like
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountain out is like joining everybody together.
Speaker 4: That's what it is.
Speaker 3: Hey, let me throw one other just down the road project.
Speaker 3: A lot of times we don't talk about future projects
Speaker 3: because there's so much I mean, there's legal land work
Speaker 3: involved in hoops and red tape and all that. But
Speaker 3: there's there's one that we'll close out we're looking to
Speaker 3: shoot for later this fall. It's down in south central Idaho.
Speaker 3: And you know, we mentioned the challenges earlier about public access, right,
Speaker 3: so this is a part of the country and we
Speaker 3: have a lot of public land out here west, which
Speaker 3: is awesome, it's so great, but there are huge swaths
Speaker 3: of public land that you can't get to because they're landlocked,
Speaker 3: because there's public ownership all the way around. So we
Speaker 3: found out about just a forty acre piece of land
Speaker 3: that's it small, that went on the market, and we
Speaker 3: swooped in and purchased it, and we're working with the
Speaker 3: Bureau of Land Management to convey it to them. When
Speaker 3: we're done here, people will be able to drive directly
Speaker 3: up to this land park their rigs, either walk in
Speaker 3: or bring their horses and go to the back of
Speaker 3: that land and there will be thirteen thousand acres of
Speaker 3: public land that was previously off limits and landlocked that'll
Speaker 3: be open for business for those of us who like hunt.
Speaker 3: So we have a number of projects that are like that.
Speaker 3: This is a future one one that we say is
Speaker 3: going to happen. We're really excited about that. And it's
Speaker 3: a again, it's a benefit because hunters can get in
Speaker 3: that acreage can be managed Idaho fish and game. At
Speaker 3: the same time, those of us who like el kunning
Speaker 3: can try to get an elk out of there.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, Well to open up that much and it's
Speaker 1: just a small sliver of land, a forty acres little
Speaker 1: plot can open up that much, and it's nice to
Speaker 1: see that Rocky Mountain ELK is really looking at opportunities
Speaker 1: where they can open it up for more people. Like
Speaker 1: that's now I'm telling you right now, Like if I
Speaker 1: had it, like I was like, man, I'd be like
Speaker 1: I just bought thirteen forty acres.
Speaker 3: Yeah. We were talking to a local landowner there and
Speaker 3: he said he used to grow up hunting there and
Speaker 3: the previous owner, the owner before the current one, did
Speaker 3: have an access agreement to let everybody go in if
Speaker 3: they'd like to. Well, you know, yeah, lands, you know,
Speaker 3: transactions happened, things over over time, there's changes, and a
Speaker 3: new owner came in and that agreement went away. But
Speaker 3: then when this piece of property came available, then were
Speaker 3: able to open it up. And so, like I said,
Speaker 3: we've done similar projects with that, similar to that in
Speaker 3: Utah and Montana and other places where it's not a
Speaker 3: matter of just conserving the land that's out there, but
Speaker 3: opening access to it because that gives people the opportunity
Speaker 3: to walk out and go right. They can actually feel
Speaker 3: it what it's like, as opposed to just you know,
Speaker 3: reading it on a website or in a magazine or something,
Speaker 3: but to actually experience it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: Mark, tell them where they can go find out more
Speaker 1: about Rocky Mountain ELK Foundation, And what what advice would
Speaker 1: you give someone who is not a member, who is
Speaker 1: kind of on the fringe of like, well, I don't
Speaker 1: what would be your selling point to them to get
Speaker 1: them to go to RMEF dot org to explore their
Speaker 1: website and to commit to supporting this organization.
Speaker 3: You know, I guess I would say that if you
Speaker 3: want to have an opportunity to make a difference, even
Speaker 3: if you think it's a small difference, every effort counts.
Speaker 3: And you know, we have different membership levels are least
Speaker 3: expensive as thirty five dollars a year, which really isn't
Speaker 3: very much. But then when you can say, hey, my
Speaker 3: dollars go toward an organization that helps in this particular circumstance,
Speaker 3: purchase forty acres that opens it up to thirteen thousand
Speaker 3: or fifty five thousand acres back in Kentucky from last
Speaker 3: year that remains private but it's open for public access,
Speaker 3: or fifteen thousand acres in Oregon, you know last year
Speaker 3: that's now in the public hands, and those are lands
Speaker 3: that can be overseen by wildlife managers, which will improve
Speaker 3: the habitat, which will improve wildlife populations and hunter opportunity
Speaker 3: at the same time. And not only that, if you
Speaker 3: look at these both of those projects Kentucky, Oregon, there's
Speaker 3: water waves involved, so that benefits anglers and fishing and
Speaker 3: people who like to get on the landscape for other
Speaker 3: reasons as well. So are we one hunter based organization, Yes,
Speaker 3: we are, but to support r and EF supports more
Speaker 3: than ELK, supports lots of different wildlife species and gives
Speaker 3: you a sense of belonging to a cause doing some
Speaker 3: greater good. And if you want to take a step
Speaker 3: further and be a volunteer and help out at fundraising
Speaker 3: fundraising banquets, do so. And if you want to get
Speaker 3: out there and be involved in forced inning projects or
Speaker 3: pulling pulling the wire off the mountain side at Hiawatha Trail,
Speaker 3: I mean, there's those opportunities as well. So it just
Speaker 3: kind of depends on how much you'd like to be involved.
Speaker 3: And we just appreciate everyone's support, sportsmen and women and
Speaker 3: our different organizations. We work with state agencies, federal agencies,
Speaker 3: and just regular folks as well.
Speaker 1: And I will tell you this, if you do sign
Speaker 1: up for a membership, you get the joy of once
Speaker 1: a month you get a Bugle magazine. And I'm going
Speaker 1: to tell you what. They've got amazing recipes in there
Speaker 1: every month, which I do appreciate when cooking wild game.
Speaker 1: And there's a lot of great stories in those magazines.
Speaker 1: So the Bugle magazine is absolutely one of my favorite to.
Speaker 4: Get in the mail.
Speaker 3: It is the number one number. Benefit is you to
Speaker 3: get six issues a year, and it's it's not a
Speaker 3: it's not a skinny magazine. It's a no. I don't
Speaker 3: know how many pages earned this one, one hundred and
Speaker 3: one hundred and sixty three. So yeah, there's there's a
Speaker 3: lot of great tales in there. And we also have
Speaker 3: just so many, so many good folks who submit hunt
Speaker 3: hunting stories, hunting out, chasing out, and all things hunting
Speaker 3: related that. But I don't know, it's a feel to
Speaker 3: me that the RMF is a feeling that you get. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's an organization, but it's it's part of a feel
Speaker 3: and part of a conservation movement we've grown over the years.
Speaker 3: We appreciate every step along the way and we look
Speaker 3: to take more steps in the future.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Mark, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 3: Man Hey, thank you.
Speaker 4: All right, you gunn talk hunters. You know the drill.
Speaker 1: Keep those muzzles point in a safe direction and always
Speaker 1: be on the hunt.