The Colorado chapter of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) recently appointed Ryan McSparran to serve as the chapter’s Social Media/Instagram Coordinator.

Ryan was born and raised in Colorado, growing up exploring local creeks and ponds out his back door, and later the vast public lands of the Rocky Mountains. He learned to fly fish on a neighborhood pond that was full of bass and began hunting with his grandfather in Texas when he was 4 years old. Later, he joined his dad and granddad on elk and mule deer hunting trips.

“My grandfather was my hunting mentor,” Ryan says. “He ‘retired’ from elk hunting a few years ago, but at 92 years old he continues to hunt deer every year near his home in Texas. Now I usually hunt with my dad and with a few good hunting buddies.” Ryan went to Seattle Pacific University where he studied journalism and found a job writing for Fish & Fly Magazine. After college he went into corporate communications and his career eventually evolved toward PR and marketing. In 2013 he launched a business serving hunting and fly fishing outfitters, Peak Outfitter Marketing.

Today Ryan primarily hunts Colorado’s vast public lands, but has also been on hunting trips in Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana and British Columbia. He hunts big game—primarily elk, mule deer and antelope—and drew a Colorado bighorn tag in 2010, harvesting a nice ram. “I’ve hunted big game with a rifle, a muzzleloader and a compound bow,” he says. “My perfect season is hunting bugling elk with a bow or muzzleloader in September, spot-and-stalk antelope in October, and then mule deer with a rifle in November.”

Ryan also does some waterfowl hunting, along with small and upland game, but says, “With two small kids at home, I have to be more selective about my hobbies these days!” And one of the perfect hobbies for kids is fishing. “I fish for everything,” he adds, “from bass and carp in the Denver area, to cutthroat trout at remote lakes above timberline, and everything in between. But my favorite fishing now is on remote rivers and lakes. I love exploring wilderness waters where a little bit of distance removes most of the fishing pressure.”

Ryan lives in Littleton with his wife, Kelly. They have a six-year-old son, Nolan, and a four-year-old daughter, Clara. “With a vegetable garden and a freezer full of wild game, we enjoy hosting friends for meals, being involved at our church, and living the field-to-table lifestyle as much as we can,” he says.

Chapter chairman, David Lien (a U.S. Air Force veteran), said: “Ryan’s lifelong commitment to public lands hunting and angling, combined with his unique perspective of promoting hunting and angling via his Peak Outfitter Marketing business, provides a breadth and depth of boots-on-the-ground hunting-angling savvy that few others can match. We look forward to his contributions to BHA’s work in the wildlands and wildlife conservation arena. We need many more like him.” Ryan can be contacted directly at: [email protected].

Formed around an Oregon campfire in 2004, BHA is the sportsmen’s voice for our nation’s wild public lands, waters and wildlife. With over 15,000 members spread out across all 50 states and Canada, including 24 chapters in 35 states and two international chapters, in Alberta and British Columbia, BHA brings an authentic, informed, boots-on-the-ground voice to the conservation of public lands. Since the Colorado BHA chapter was founded by David Petersen (a U.S. Marine Corps veteran) in 2005 (the first official BHA chapter), they’ve grown their boots-on-the-ground presence to over 1,000 dedicated hunters and anglers.

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers is the sportsmen’s voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife