By DAVE BUCHANAN
Dave.Buchanan@gjsentinel.com
Anytime you stand next to Denny Behrens and Billy Johnson, it's near impossible not to talk about mule deer hunting and teaching the same. The two sportsmen are avid deer hunters and not coincidentally chairman and youth education director, respectively, for the Colorado Mule Deer Association.
Among the main thrusts of the CMDA are maintaining mule deer habitat and preserving and passing on the hunting tradition. There also are the very important matters of keeping a sharp eye on current mule deer and wildlife habitat management along with funding mule deer research, but for now we'll focus on the first two.
The Colorado Mule Deer Association stumbled a bit in the past couple of years, the recession and other factors hitting conservation and sportsmen groups just as surely as it hit international banking operations. But the CMDA has recovered, just like Colorado deer herds are starting to recover from a decade of drought, and now the Grand Junction-based organization is as lively as a spotted fawn.
"We had a few tough years," Behrens admitted last week as he stood watching a track hoe turn full-grown pinyon and juniper trees to mulch. “"But we're back to about 380 members now and we're getting stronger."
The track hoe, part of a habitat project backed by the Colorado Mule Deer Association, was operating on the ranch of Tony and Lori Elkins of Molina, who already have promised to host a couple of mule deer hunts for young hunters later this fall. As you might expect, the Huntmasters will be members of the Colorado Mule Deer Association, working closely with the Colorado Division of Wildlife's hunter outreach program.
"This is building for the future, just like opening up this habitat is working for the future of mule deer," Johnson said. “"We understand that it's our responsibility to pass on these traditions and skills to a younger generation."
Standing nearby and listening intently was Tom Kenyon, vice chair of the Colorado Mule Deer Association and currently a Grand Junction City Council member. "The Division of Wildlife can't do any more without the help of non-profit conservation and sportsmen's groups," said Kenyon, formerly the deputy director for Colorado State Parks. “"The current era of tight budgets and revenue shortfalls has seen to that. The Division truly needs the cooperation of landowners such as the Elkins and sportsmen's groups to help do the work."
That key role played by sportsmen's groups will be highlighted Monday and Tuesday at two free hunting seminars designed for novice hunters. The first seminar is at 7 p.m. on Monday when the Colorado Mule Deer Association teams with the Division of Wildlife to present - Mule Deer Hunting 101 Seminar - at the Division's Northwest Region Hunter Education Building, 711 Independent Ave. Topics to be covered include mule deer biology and deer habits, hunting strategies, choosing the right equipment and local hunting opportunities.
A similar seminar for elk, titled - Elk Hunting 101, - will be offered Tuesday night, same time and same place, featuring members of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. The big-game seminars are modeled after a - Turkey Hunting 101 - seminar offered earlier this spring by the National Wild Turkey Federation. That seminar was packed and the clinics this week are limited to 40 people, so pre-registration is required.
Information and registration is available at the Northwest Region's Education Office, 255-6181.
Will fewer hunters harvest more elk? That's what landowners in the Gunnison Basin (game management units 54, 55 and 551) are arguing in their efforts to have the entire basin turned into limited-license units. The Colorado Wildlife Commission will decide that question and others pertaining to the 2010-2014 big-game season structure at the commission meeting Sept. 10 in Colorado Springs.
Landowners argue hunters in limited-license units achieve higher success rates than hunters in over-the-counter units because there is less pressure to move around wildlife. Which in the Gunnison Basin often winds up on private ranches, anyway, where hunting is tightly controlled.
Although landowners appear sincere in their efforts to reduce elk herds and cut down on game conflicts with domestic livestock, hunters are saying it's merely a money grab, with landowners looking to reap big rewards from selling their landowner vouchers to deep-pocketed hunters.
