From the Stone Age to the Digital Age two things that set humans apart from most other species were our combination of superb hunting skills and large brain. Our brain evolved into its present form over about two million years—from the time of Homo habilis to Homo erectus, then Homo sapiens—and slowly the way was opened for gradual development towards organized bands of hunter-gatherers.[1]

Once early humans arrived in the Americas, Native Americans settled and etched their lives out of the North American continent for more than ten millennia, turning places like the Southwest U.S. into a minefield of artifacts. In comparison, the Roman Empire lasted a little over a thousand years; the Inca Empire less than a hundred.[2]

“The numbers vary widely, but historian Donald D. Fixico estimates that there were anywhere from a few million to 15 million Indigenous Americans living in North America upon Columbus’s arrival in 1492,” Clint Smith explains in How The Word Is Passed. “By the late nineteenth century, the population had dropped to approximately 250,000.”[3]

In A Quiet Place of Violence Allen Morris Jones says, “Before Columbus, there were between four and twelve million Indians north of the Rio Grande, speaking 550 languages from nine distinct linguistic groups.”[4] “To the original inhabitants of this continent, the native American Indians, the land and its wildlife comprised a unified natural community of which they were an organic part,” John A. Murray wrote in Wildlife In Peril: The Endangered Mammals Of Colorado.[5]

Tribal Conservation & BHA

“Native Americans [now] make up less than 2% of the U.S. population,” former Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) North American Board co-chair Ben Long notes. “However, tribal resource managers do out-sized work when it comes to recovering wildlife, often working alongside state and federal wildlife managers. There are 573 recognized tribes in the United States, each with unique history, resources, and perspective in conservation.”[6]

Throughout the United States American Indians own and manage some 95 million acres of forest and desert, grassland, and mountain—11 million acres more than the U.S. National Park Service administers.[7] Ephraim Kelley, natural resources director for the 12,000-member Kiowa Tribe in Oklahoma, said, “Being stewards of the environment, of our land, and not taking more than is needed … is embedded in our culture.”[8]

Our goal at BHA must be to work with diverse parties, find common ground, and develop collaborative solutions. Hence, we strive to work with and learn from Native American tribes. “Our success depends on our ability to collaborate,” said Deane Osterman, executive director of natural resources for the Kalispel Tribe in Washington State. “There is no ‘us vs. them’ anymore. There is only us. We are all in the same boat.”[9]

While working in Albuquerque during December 2023 I attended the New Mexico Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Holiday party at Hit or Miss Archery and met some of our BHA brothers and sisters.[10] While in Albuquerque I also visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC), founded in 1976 by the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico. The IPCC is a place to discover Pueblo history, art, and culture.[11]

After spending an afternoon there, I was struck by the similarities between the tribal cultures of Native Americans and BHA. A tribe is a family with ties defined (in part) by blood, but also by the strong bond of shared life experiences. Much like our Native American brethren, BHA is a tribe of North American hunting and angling public lands advocates spread out across the continent bonded by shared life experiences and common purpose.

Public lands, and the inherent freedom therein, unite our BHA tribe. As Ben Long (author of the Hunter & Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell) wrote in the Summer 2014 Backcountry Journal, “Unlike other groups, we are not focused on a particular species like elk, trout, turkeys or ducks. Nor are we focused on a particular method of take, like the fly rod or bow-and-arrow. Our bond is something else: the backcountry.” A bond as strong as blood amongst our BHA tribe.

Honor and Respect

In part because we are hunters and have taken the lives of many game animals, BHA members have great respect for the lives of all animals and other species. Similarly, the 19 Pueblos represented at the IPCC—and other Native American tribes across the continent—remind us to “feel reverence for all animals, from the largest to the smallest. With respect and gratitude, we call attention to their strength, playfulness, and beauty. All animals are a gift … contributing to the balance of nature and our life cycle, and we honor them …”

One of the three pillars of our BHA Issues Triad is “Fair Chase & Restraint.”[12] “We must ensure that the ethical pursuit of fish and game is upheld as dearly as our own obligation to morality and citizenship,” BHA explains in its fair chase statement.[13] As Jim Posewitz wrote in Beyond Fair Chase, “The ethics of hunting deteriorate as machinery and modern technology are substituted for hunter stamina, skill, knowledge, and patience.”[14]

“An animal is a sacred gift. We hunt large game such as buffalo, elk, and deer, and smaller animals such as rabbits, turkey, ducks, pheasants, and grouse,” IPCC adds. “From these animals we get food, shelter, and tools. Deer and elk give us hides to make drums, moccasins, clothing, quivers, and medicine pouches. Bird feathers are used to make blankets and headdresses and play an important role in ceremonies and prayers. In our communities, skillful hunting brings honor and respect.”

“In hunting societies … animals were not merely food, they were seen as blood relatives, spiritual companions, hunting guides, and sources of power and connection to the surrounding world,” John Vaillant explained in The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance And Survival.[15] “Our membership is about traditional methods of hunting and fishing and respect for places where wild processes dominate and old-style woodsmanship still thrives,” Jim Akenson (BHA’s first Executive Director) said.[16]

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers have a shared value of hunting tradition grounded in minimizing motors and gadgets in favor of muscle and mind in pursuit of game. It’s not a new philosophy, explains BHA founder Mike Beagle. “It’s the freedom to hunt and fish in solitude, without urban excesses, and with challenge,” he said. “It’s an old-fashioned way of doing things, that says it’s demeaning to wildlife to use technology to show our mastery over wildlife.”[17]

It’s a philosophy modern Native American tribes embrace too. And although we like to remind our BHA tribe that early American hunters were the first conservationists, Native Americans are descended from the first North American (Homo sapien) hunters. Regardless, we’re all guardians of modern-day wildlands and wildlife. Conservation derives from the Latin conservare, meaning “to keep guard.”[18] A related saying: “We’re Mother Nature’s bodyguards. And yes, we are heavily armed.”

BHA & American Buffalo

From 2007-2015 I was privileged to serve on the BHA North American Board alongside many dedicated public lands advocates/guardians including Mike Beagle (a former U.S. Army field artillery officer), Colorado BHA founder David “Elkheart” Petersen (a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot), Joel Webster (Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership Vice President of Western Conservation), and Ben Long (author of the Hunter & Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell).[19]

Collectively we—along with other BHA board members at the time—developed our mission statement: “The voice for our wild public lands, waters, and wildlife.” It’s the “why” BHA exists. Ben’s book (Hunter & Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell) is a roadmap to “how” we can accomplish our mission.[20] Mike Beagle adds, “We can distinguish ourselves by focusing on our values and standing up to those who would defile them.”[21] Those values encompass efforts to restore native species, including bison.

The 1st annual BHA North American Rendezvous was held at Fort Missoula, Montana, during March 2-4, 2012. The keynote speaker was MeatEater personality Steven Rinella. I recall being impressed by his engaging presentation and easygoing demeanor.[22] Rinella recounted some of his countless hunting and fishing stories and explained “how backcountry turned me into who I am now. There’s a spiritual component to it.”[23]

Later that fall Colorado BHA hosted Rinella for a book signing at the Sportsmen’s Warehouse in Thornton (on Sept. 13).[24] As explained in a related BHA Blog: “Rinella capped-off the evening by sharing the loss he’s experienced as his traditional … hunting grounds have been sold-off for development, prompting a call to sportsmen of all techniques to join together and speak up for the lands we all enjoy, because if we don’t, who else will?”[25]

Steven earned a master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Montana-Missoula in 2000.[26] His first book (2005) was titled, “The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine.” In 2005 he also won one of 24 spots in a lottery for a wild bison hunt in the Alaskan wilderness—and was one of only four hunters to register a kill. The story became his second book (2009), “American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon.” It recounts not only the grueling hunt but reminds readers of the magnificent animal’s place in our national heritage.[27]

At the 10th annual BHA North American Rendezvous, also held at Fort Missoula (June 3-5, 2021), we participated in a ceremonial bison butchering, a “Buffalo Breakdown,” guided by Blackfeet tribal members.[28] Montana state House Rep. (and Blackfeet Tribe member) Tyson Runningwolf initiated the bison butchering partnership.[29]

“At the peak of their existence, the buffalo of the western plains numbered some 40 to 60 million animals,” Steven Rinella explains in The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine. “Thousands of people hunted the buffalo and lived off the meat, and then the animals were wiped out as part of some long-forgotten political and military strategy to civilize the country.”[30]

“Before Backcountry Hunters & Anglers interest in, before public lands, these were native lands and treaty lands,” Runningwolf told MTN News. “I think buffalo would be a great way to have everybody come together.” Runningwolf said the partnership idea came from one hunter to another. Inside a tent, BHA members from all over the continent watched, learned, and participated in the traditional butchering.[31]

Montana BHA member Jack Hudland said he puts in for a bison tag every year but hasn’t yet had an opportunity to hunt one. “It’s incredible to see. Especially starting off with, you know, the prayer and showing the reverence for the animal is really cool to see something that not all hunters do all the time,” Hudland said.[32]

“And then to see all the different ways that I would have never thought of using the head to prop the animal up when you’re butchering it, the different techniques that you can learn from people that have been doing it for thousands and thousands of years,” he added. In Montana, hunters can put in for a drawing to get a tag for bison that migrate out of Yellowstone National Park.[33]

“We’ve built an amazing conservation restoration pyramid in this country,” former BHA President and CEO Land Tawney said. “We’ve brought back waterfowl. We have white-tailed deer. We have turkeys that are back. All these species—grizzly bears, wolves, eagles. We’ve brought them back. But the one species we haven’t brought back is bison in a real way. So, I look at that conservation pyramid and bison being the capstone of that pyramid.”

“Grasslands are the No. 1 imperiled ecosystem in the country and world, so restoring them synchs with bison efforts,” Tawney added.[34] Of the 170 million acres of land that once constituted their grassland habitat, only 4 percent remains.[35] In Iowa, a meager 30,000 acres of native prairie remains of the 23 million acres found in the state in 1780. Half the native prairie in North and South Dakota has vanished.[36]

Fully 40 percent of the entire continent’s declining bird species depend on grasslands.[37] Waterfowl hunters call it “the duck factory.” Roughly 60 percent of North America’s ducks nest in the Prairie Potholes, including gadwalls, pintails, wigeons, wood ducks, canvasbacks, shovelers and teals. “The bottom line for ducks in the prairies is that we need lots of shallow wetlands with abundant grassland nesting cover nearby,” says Johann Walker, director of conservation programs for Ducks Unlimited in the Great Plains.[38]

According to the National Bison Association, nearly 400,000 bison are now living in North America, on private ranches, native reservations, and public lands like Yellowstone National Park. That’s something we can celebrate.[39] However, the next step is to restore more of their native prairie habitat so more bison can roam wild and free and, eventually, more hunters (human and otherwise) can pursue them.

Campfires, Warriors & Freedom

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers started around a campfire during March 2004 thanks to seven hunters and anglers, men and women, the “Gang of Seven.”[40] They were inspired by the political activism of Theodore Roosevelt, the Land Ethic of Aldo Leopold, and the contemporary writings of hunting ethicist and renowned trad bow elk hunter David “Elkheart” Petersen.[41]

“We were formed around a campfire in 2004—the best ideas come from around a campfire,” Land Tawney explained in a January 2018 Outdoor News Q&A. “We aim to make sure we have access to our public lands and the fish and wildlife habitat when you get there.”[42] Some 20 years later tens of thousands of faces continentwide are gathered around that campfire, that idea. It’s a higher calling that motivates our tribe, many of whom have military backgrounds.

“On the night in 2004 that Backcountry Hunters & Anglers came to life … two of the faces glowing orange and red in the flickering light of a campfire belonged to veterans of military service,” Russell Worth Parker (a U.S. Marine Corps veteran) wrote in the Fall 2023 Backcountry Journal. “Almost 20 years later, 20% of BHA’s members are active duty or veterans of military service, a rate more than twice that found amongst the remainder of our citizenry.”[43]

“It’s not a surprise people drawn to protect national security are also drawn to protect the lands held in common by all North Americans,” Parker added.[44] Our BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) mission statement sums it up: “To instill within the Military Community a knowledge of conservation theory, a love of wild places, and a desire to elevate America’s wild lands as fundamental components of American Freedom.”

During the fall hunters across the country spend days and weeks stalking, hiking, and climbing amongst the vast public lands estate that Americans all own, which is a byproduct of our democratic system of government and the resulting freedoms it guarantees.[45] For us, public lands are the embodiment of those freedoms.[46] As explained by BHA Podcast & Blast host Hal Herring, “The future of the American public lands is as important to our nation as the Bill of Rights or the Constitution itself.”[47]

Like the 19 Pueblos of New Mexico and other tribes across the continent, BHA pitches a broad tent of conservation-minded hunters and anglers—with chapters in 48 states, two Canadian provinces and one territory, and Washington, D.C.—joined by the strong bonds of life lived in the backcountry. “Think about what we leave for our children,” BHA founder Mike Beagle said. “That’s enough motivation for me. Let’s make it happen.”[48]

Featured prominently outside the IPCC in Albuquerque is a striking “Warriors In Battle” sculpture that depicts a Native American soldier with his warrior spirit by his side. Much like our Native American brethren, BHA is a tribe of wilderness warriors, fighting for our public lands and freedom.[49] In the words of our AFI leaders, “Public Lands = Freedom.”[50]

David Lien is a former Air Force officer and co-chairman of the Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. He’s the author of six books including “Hunting for Experience: Tales of Hunting & Habitat Conservation.” During 2019 he was the recipient of BHA’s Mike Beagle-Chairman’s Award “for outstanding effort on behalf of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.”[51]

Additional/Related Information.

-BHA Top 10 Wins (2023). “Being Good Stewards of Our Public Lands, Waters, and Wildlife.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 12/5/23.

-Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (5/24/23). “2023 Campfire Stories–former BHA President & CEO Land Tawney On Bison Restoration.”

-David A. Lien. “It’s All About The Meat.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 2/17/22.

-David A. Lien. “Hunting For Experience: At BHA’s North American Rendezvous.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 7/9/21.

-KPAX Western Montana. “‘Buffalo Breakdown’ showcases ceremonial bison butchering.” Yahoo News: 6/6/21.

-Geneva Zoltek. “‘Buffalo Breakdown’ features traditional Blackfeet bison butchering: Backcountry Hunter & Anglers gathering hosts educational showcase.” KPAX Western Montana: 6/6/21.

-PBS Terra (1/14/21): “How Bison Are Saving America’s Lost Prairie.”

Armed Forces Initiative (AFI)

-Our Mission: “To instill within the Military Community a knowledge of conservation theory, a love of wild places, and a desire to elevate America’s wild lands as fundamental components of American Freedom.” “The BHA mission is all of ours.”[52]

-“Giving Veterans A New Mission In Conservation”

-“Public lands = Freedom”

-“We don’t offer once in a lifetime experiences but the knowledge and skills for a lifetime of experiences.”

-“Armed Forces Initiative Helps Veterans Hunt … And More.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 8/17/22.

-“The Armed Forces initiative has state-based volunteer leaders in forty-six states (we need help in  Hawaii, Iowa, Indiana, and New Jersey) with twenty-six active-duty installation clubs teaching veterans and active-duty military members to recreate outdoors at over 130 events annually … The BHA mission is all of ours.” -Trevor Hubbs, BHA AFI Coordinator[53]

-“23% of our members are either active-duty military or veterans.”[54]

-Travis Bradford. “2023 BHA Membership Survey Results.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 9/29/23.

-BHA’s Armed Forces Initiative. “Armed Forces Initiative-Get Involved.”

-Become An AFI Volunteer; Armed Forces Initiative Leadership.

-Upcoming BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) Events: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/events_afi

Why BHA?

-“This is a group that gives voice. It amplifies voice and action. We have found a way to leverage our relationship … I’ve never been involved in an organization that this this kind of ground up punching power.” -Eddie Nickens, journalist, BHA North American board member[55]

-“This is the most youthful organization, and it is a big tent—everyone is allowed to participate … that is generational (conservation) leadership.” -Col. Mike Abell, BHA Kentucky chapter board[56]

-Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (9/26/22) video. “Why BHA? [Colonel] Mike Abell.”

-“BHA is people-driven. That’s why I was attracted to it … You get this instant feeling that you’re with your people.” –Josh Mills, Washington BHA[57]

-“The BHA community feels like family. We’re all united by a passion for hunting, fishing, and conservation of our public lands, and I’m proud to be a part of this organization.” -Brandon Dale, New York BHA board/Hunters of Color ambassador[58]

-“I was there because I hunt, because hunting is an unbroken link in my genetic heritage and because I refuse to shield myself from the certainty that death sustains life … Hunting is not an end in itself; it’s part of a natural process … As a predator in the natural world, my life revolves around hunting.” –Scott Stouder, Backcountry Journal (Winter 2014)[59]

-“The future of the American public lands is as important to our nation as the Bill of Rights or the Constitution itself.” –Hal Herring, Field & Stream contributing editor, host of BHA’s Podcast & Blast and recipient of BHA’s 2016 Ted Trueblood Award[60]

-“A long time ago, I figured something out: human beings who love the natural world and are willing to make a stand for what they believe in tend to be the very best people.” –Hal Herring, Field & Stream contributing editor, recipient of BHA’s 2016 Ted Trueblood Award and host of BHA’s Podcast & Blast[61]

-“2021 Rendezvous Recap-Campfire Stories: Hal Herring.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 9/1/21.

-“People talk about … getting in touch with your feelings. I’d rather go hunting. This is my church. There are times you come home from a hunt and weep because your existence is so flat and incongruent with life out here.” –Teo Biele, elk hunter[62]

Bad Ideas

-Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF). “New attacks on public lands emerge in Congress.” CLF: 11/17/23.

-Kaden McArthur. “New HOUSES Act Still a Threat to Our Public Lands.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/30/23.

-Katie McKalip. “House Appropriations Makes Drastic, Reckless Funding Cuts to Public Lands Management.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 7/20/23.

-David A. Lien “Selling off our public lands is a bad idea that won’t die.” VailDaily: 1/29/23.

-For more about the ongoing efforts by some legislators in Congress (and others) to privatize our public lands estate see the “Bad Ideas” section in: “A Hunter-Angler (Hell-Raisin’ & Habitat Savin’) Guide To Winning: Colorado BHA Examples (Browns Canyon & Camp Hale).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/23/23.

Books/Resources

-Ben Long’s Hunter & Angler Field Guide to Raising Hell: https://www.scottpublishingcompany.com/fieldguide

-BHA Podcast & Blast, Ep. 162. “Ben Long, The Hunter & Angler Guide to Raising Hell.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 8/15/23.

-“Ben Long is a hardcore hunter and hardcore conservationist.” -Steven Rinella, The MeatEater

-David Petersen (founder of the first BHA state chapter, in Colorado, and a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot) books: https://davidpetersenbooks.com/

-PJ DelHomme. “The Top 20 Books for Hunters and Anglers.” Outdoor Life: 12/21/11 (featuring two BHA stalwarts—David Petersen and Jim Posewitz).

-“Reading Petersen’s books led me to BHA.” -Colorado BHA Co-Chair Don Holmstrom (4/27/22)

Founded by Mike Beagle, a former U.S. Army field artillery officer, and formed around an Oregon campfire, in 2004, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the voice for our nation’s wild public lands, waters and wildlife. With members spread out across all 50 states and 13 Canadian provinces and territories—including chapters in 48 states, two Canadian provinces and one territory, and Washington, D.C.—BHA brings an authentic, informed, boots-on-the-ground voice to the conservation of public lands. The Colorado BHA chapter was founded by David Petersen (a former U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot) in 2005 (the first official BHA chapter)

[1] Shane P. Mahoney, Wild Harvest Initiative. “Exploring The Modern Relevance of Natural Foraging.” Backcountry Journal: Winter 2021.

[2] National Geographic Adventure (NGA). “In Search of the Ancients.” NGA: March 2007, p. 68.

[3] Clint Smith. How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group, 2021, p. 214.

[4] Allen Morris Jones. A Quiet Place of Violence: Hunting and Ethics in the Missouri River Breaks. Bozeman, Montana: Bangtail Press, 1997, p. 56.

[5] John A. Murray. Wildlife In Peril: The Endangered Mammals Of Colorado. Boulder, Colorado: Roberts Rinehart, Inc. Publishers, 1987, p. 14.

[6] Ben Long. “Tribal Conservation: Recognizing the Contributions of Native Communities.” MeatEater: 4/30/19.

[7] National Wildlife Federation. “Maintaining Tribal Connections.” National Wildlife: February/March 2013, p. 44.

[8] David Montgomery. “Solar energy and its cheaper bills are coming to more disadvantaged communities: The federal Inflation Reduction Act includes $7 billion for projects big and small.” West Virginia Watch: 1/1/24.

[9] Ben Long. “Tribal Conservation: Recognizing the Contributions of Native Communities.” MeatEater: 4/30/19.

[10] https://www.hitormissarchery.com/; https://www.backcountryhunters.org/nmbha_holiday_party_at_hit_or_miss_archery

[11] https://indianpueblo.org/

[12] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/our_issues; David A. Lien. “Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: Mission, Issues & Actions (Triads).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 8/17/23

[13] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/fair_chase

[14] Jim Posewitz. Beyond Fair Chase. Helena, Montana: Falcon Publishing, Inc., 1994, p. 40.

[15] John Vaillant. The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance And Survival. New York: Random House, Inc., 2010, p. 164.

[16] E. Donnall Thomas Jr. “An Interview with … Jim Akenson.” Traditional Bowhunter magazine: October/November 2012, p. 49.

[17] Ken Wright. “Sportsmen Unite to Protect Wild Country.” NewWest: 5/27/06.

[18] Douglas S. Barasch. “Saying the ‘C-Word’: Conservation, finally, comes into vogue.” Onearth: Spring 2006, p. 3.

[19] David A. Lien. “A Hunter-Angler (Hell-Raisin’ & Habitat Savin’) Guide To Winning: Colorado BHA Examples (Browns Canyon & Camp Hale).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/23/23.

[20] David A. Lien. “Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: Mission, Issues & Actions (Triads).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 8/17/23.

[21] Mike Beagle, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Chairman. “Reasons or Results.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2006, p. 1.

[22] David A. Lien. “Where Hope Lives: A Brief BHA History.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/30/20.

[23] Vince Devlin. “Outdoors author, ‘Meateater TV host comes back to Missoula to share adventures.” The Missoulian: 3/3/12; David A. Lien. “It’s All About The Meat.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 2/17/22.

[24] David A. Lien. “It’s All About The Meat.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 2/17/22.

[25] Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA). “Steven Rinella and CO BHA Team Up to Protect Wild Public Lands!” BHA: 9/20/12.

[26] Patrick Durkin. “A quick chat with … Steven Rinella.” Outdoor News: 1/28/22, p. 6.

[27] Vince Devlin. “Outdoors author, ‘Meateater TV host comes back to Missoula to share adventures.” The Missoulian: 3/3/12.

[28] David A. Lien. “Hunting For Experience: At BHA’s North American Rendezvous.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 7/9/21.

[29] Geneva Zoltek. “‘Buffalo Breakdown’ features traditional Blackfeet bison butchering: Backcountry Hunter & Anglers gathering hosts educational showcase.” KPAX Western Montana: 6/6/21.

[30] Steven Rinella. The Scavenger’s Guide to Haute Cuisine. Hyperion, New York: Miramax Books, 2005, p. 313.

[31] Geneva Zoltek. “‘Buffalo Breakdown’ features traditional Blackfeet bison butchering: Backcountry Hunter & Anglers gathering hosts educational showcase.” KPAX Western Montana: 6/6/21.

[32] Ibid.

[33] Ibid.

[34] Brian Mozey. “Bison conservation the focus of DNR webinar session.” Outdoor News: 3/31/23.

[35] Morgan Heim. “Prairie Solitaire.” National Parks: Summer 2012.

[36] T. Edward Nickens. “Vanishing Voices.” National Wildlife: October/November 2010.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Paul Tolme. “Breaking the Prairie: Wildlife habitat in the Prairie Pothole Region is falling to the plow as the United States expands production of corn and soybeans—much of it to help fill our gas tanks.” National Wildlife: October-November 2018.

[39] Youssef Rddad. “North Dakota author details comeback of American buffalo.” Minneapolis-St. Paul (Minn.) Star Tribune: 6/17/18.

[40] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/about

[41] David A. Lien. “Hunting’s Roughrider.” AmmoLand.com: 5/31/12.

[42] Rob Drieslein. “A Q&A with Backcountry Hunters & Anglers’ Land Tawney.” Outdoor News: 1/12/18, p. 8.

[43] Russell Worth Parker. “Military To Public Lands Protector.” Backcountry Journal: Fall 2023, p. 34.

[44] Ibid.

[45] David A. Lien. “Fight for freedom and democracy in the United States and Ukraine: Ukrainians have liberated much Russian-occupied territory. Let’s give them the resources they need to finish the job.” Colorado Newsline: 12/12/23.

[46] David A. Lien. “Guest opinion: Selling off our public lands is a bad idea that won’t die.” VailDaily: 1/29/23.

[47] Will Bostwick. “The New Documentary ‘Public Trust’ Is a Call to Action: By highlighting three potent public-lands battles, the film asks audiences to take a stand in a political moment that threatens the future of American conservation.” Outside: 2/19/20.

[48] Mike Beagle, BHA Chairman. “Nothing breeds success like success.” Backcountry Journal: Spring 2007, p. 1.

[49] David A. Lien. “Fight for freedom and democracy in the United States and Ukraine: Ukrainians have liberated much Russian-occupied territory. Let’s give them the resources they need to finish the job.” Colorado Newsline: 12/12/23.

[50] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/armed_forces

[51] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/co_bha_award_winners

[52] Trevor Hubbs, BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) Coordinator. “Lethal Minds Journal Volume 13.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 8/17/23.

[53] Ibid.

[54] Travis Bradford. “2023 BHA Membership Survey Results.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 9/29/23.

[55] Editor(s). “Why BHA?” Backcountry Journal: Winter 2023, p. 18.

[56] Ibid.

[57] Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA). “Faces of BHA: Josh Mills (Spokane, Washington).” Backcountry Journal: Winter 2016, p. 9.

[58] Jeff Benda. “A Story Of Optimism On The Bitterroot.” Backcountry Journal: Winter 2023, p. 17.

[59] Scott Stouder lives on the edge of the Rapid River Roadless Area in central Idaho adjacent to the Hells Canyon Wilderness and is an avid hunter and horse/mule packer. “Tracking Through Time.” Backcountry Journal: Winter 2014, p. 25.

[60] Will Bostwick. “The New Documentary ‘Public Trust’ Is a Call to Action: By highlighting three potent public-lands battles, the film asks audiences to take a stand in a political moment that threatens the future of American conservation.” Outside: 2/19/20.

[61] Editor. “An Interview with Podcast Host Hal Herring.” Backcountry Journal: Winter 2020, p. 24.

[62] Aaron Gulley. “This Massage Therapist Hunts by Bike With His Pet Poodle. Really.” Bicycling: January/February 2017.