“If there was any sage advice to offer Minnesota deer hunters these days it would be simple: Go south,” Duluth News Tribune outdoors reporter John Myers said in the Oct. 27 issue.[1] After fifteen years or so of hunting whitetails in northern Minnesota’s Superior National Forest (in the Grand Marais area), during 2023 I opted to follow John’s advice and hunted the Chippewa National Forest instead, not far from Grand Rapids, where I grew up hiking, hunting, fishing, camping, canoeing, and trapping during the 1980s.[2]

A string of harsh winters has pounded northern Minnesota’s deer herd during recent years, making Superior National Forest buck hunting a long odds roll of the dice. “Following the opening weekend … state DNR officials say the deer kill was 13% off last year’s pace, with a total take of 47,370 deer on Saturday and Sunday,” Outdoor News Editor Tim Spielman reported in the Nov. 10 edition.[3] However, by start of the second week hunters had registered 106,538 deer statewide, down about 5%.[4]

“The DNR calls it ‘site fidelity,’ when hunters don’t want to move. But, until the northeastern herd rebounds, there isn’t much choice,” Myers added. “Unless you don’t mind getting skunked.” “A lot of people want to blame wolves, and, of course, they impact the deer herd, but we had as many wolves and high deer numbers 20 years ago. What we didn’t have was this decade-long string of the snowiest winters,” Todd Froberg, big-game program coordinator for the DNR, said. “Deer just don’t do well with back-to-back-to-back harsh winters. It’s just really hard on them, on production and survival.”[5]

Another reason fewer deer are being shot is there aren’t as many hunters in the field these days. License sales have been declining on average more than 1% per year for two decades, Myers explained. License sales this year (as of Nov. 13) were at 395,582, according to DNR data, down 3% from 2022 and more than 14% from the recent peak of 462,365 at this point of the 2012 season.[6]

Although most deer hunters are loath to change hunting locales—being tied to hunting camps, cabins, and tradition—I have no such hinderances. Like the late northern Minnesota hunter-angler-scribe Shawn Perich said, “To me, deer hunting is about … tracking snows, woodcraft, rifles and ravens. I am … a roamer, and a kindred spirit to the gray wolf that stalks the same woods. I like big, public spaces where you can breathe deep, stretch your legs and let the wild into your soul.”

Given the struggling northern Minnesota deer herd, it just made sense to move south. “Duluth had a record 140 inches of snow last winter, while Two Harbors and Finland were over 150 inches,” Myers said. “Perhaps more damaging to deer, areas from Duluth north had 24 inches of snow on the ground from Dec. 15 to April 10, and as much as 3 feet on the ground in March, making it nearly impossible for deer to move freely in the woods.”[7]

“It becomes very clear where the deep-snow winter dividing line has been over the past decade of heavy snow winters,” Myers added. “While areas just 30 miles north of Duluth have among the lowest harvest rates in the state, areas just 30 miles south rank in the top 50-highest harvest.”[8] Stretching my legs in search of public lands bucks south of that dividing line proved to be a wise choice, despite having no deer hunting experience in the Chippewa National Forest.

 Public Lands Hunt

At the center of Minnesota’s North Country is the Chippewa National Forest, the first national forest to be designated in the eastern United States, in 1908.[9] The forest spans between Bemidji and Grand Rapids and covers more than 1,000 square miles. In the northern part, a short hike passes through a stand of towering pines hundreds of years old at the Lost Forty. On the southern edge, a couple of North Country Trail sections thread their way through wild woodlands, wetlands, lakes, and streams.[10]

After arriving in Grand Rapids (on Nov. 12) during the second weekend of rifle deer season I headed into the Chippewa National Forest. Finding a camping spot was first on the agenda followed by hiking/hunting a forestry road in the vicinity, where there were multiple recent buck scrapes and rubs. I stayed in vicinity until dusk, then returned to camp, having covered 2-3 miles during the afternoon, generally impressed by the amount of buck sign encountered.

While hunting in the same area Tuesday morning no bucks showed up. Hence, by mid-morning I set off cross-country, eventually finding another overgrown logging road with multiple scrapes and rubs, then bushwhacked back to the main road, covering 5-6 miles during the day. By now I was thoroughly impressed by the number of active rubs and scrapes in the vicinity. It seemed that every logging road and game trail was dotted with them.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one noticing lots of buck activity in northcentral Minnesota. “Russ Reisz, DNR area wildlife manager in Aitkin, said he heard a fair share of good deer hunting reports,” Tim Spielman reported in the Nov. 10 Outdoor News. “‘We had really good weather, and deer were moving, bucks were running does. The action was good,’ he said.”[11]

From the get-go Wednesday morning things looked promising. A doe trailed by a large buck (10 points or more with a wide rack) passed by around 8 a.m. but spotted me and spooked. As my friend David “Elkheart” Petersen explained in A Man Made of Elk, “To get within striking range of any species of deer, predators must defeat a truly remarkable eye-ear-nose defense strategy.”[12]

“The white-tailed deer is one beautiful, smart, and super-tough critter,” another friend, Stuart Osthoff, wrote in the Winter 2015 Boundary Waters Journal. “Dominant breeder bucks become ultra-aware of anything out of place in their bailiwick and can vanish into thin air when they sense danger approaching. A more exciting and challenging big game animal does not exist anywhere on the planet.”[13]

Although this big buck shot opportunity didn’t pan out, not long after another buck showed up and three shots pierced the chilly morning air. A half hour of tracking followed, and I was standing beside a nice 8-pointer. While quartering him a doe trotted by—followed by an enthusiastically gruntin’ nubbin buck—and I could hear other deer breaking brush nearby. This place, it seemed, was crawling with deer.

Later, at a local gas station, I picked up a flyer about an upcoming “Wolf Predation Meeting.” The flyer stated/asked (in part): “How do we control the predator problem that is destroying our deer population?” Although wolves, for as long as I can remember, have been a polarizing subject amongst deer hunters in northern Minnesota, if the habitat is healthy and the winters aren’t too severe, the deer herd will rebound.[14] Unfortunately, some of our best northern Minnesota public lands habitat is threatened by proposed foreign-owned sulfide mining operations.

Sulfide Mines

In October, Twin Metals (a subsidiary of Chilean-owned mining company Antofagasta) received state approval to pursue exploratory sulfide-ore drilling under Birch Lake, just upstream of the Boundary Waters.[15] In Washington D.C., Minn. Rep. Pete Stauber is pushing to reinstate federal mineral leases that were canceled in 2022 and to reverse the Public Land Order made earlier this year, banning sulfide mining for 20 years on federal land in the Boundary Waters watershed.[16]

As explained in a November BHA Federal Policy Update, the U.S. House Interior Appropriations bill (H.R. 4821) would (if enacted) eliminate the Superior National Forest mineral withdrawal aimed at protecting the Boundary Waters from the threat of sulfide mining and require the reinstatement of mineral leases held by Twin Metals in the Rainy River watershed, upstream of the Boundary Waters.[17] For additional information see the BHA statement from when the bill was advanced by the Appropriations Committee here.[18]

More reminders that greed never sleeps. These foreign-owned mining company executives, and the misguided politicians in their pockets, will stop at nothing to strip Minnesota of our natural resources, polluting the Boundary Waters watershed with acid mine drainage (a slurry of sulfuric acid and toxic heavy metals) in the process while also shipping the sulfide ore to our most dangerous adversary, China, as I explained in an Oct. 21 Duluth News Tribune op-ed (“Saying no to sulfide mining a no-brainer for veterans”).[19]

Since 1776, the United States has fought in nearly a dozen major wars—and intervened militarily in many others—with every generation of Americans witnessing combat in one form or another. Over the years, tens of millions of Americans have worn the uniform of our nation’s armed forces, including some 16 million during World War II. And given that our next war may well be with China, we should not be providing them with natural resources they need to make more weapons.[20]

“Our message was clear, we are not anti-mining and if there was one example of a mine of this type working without a catastrophic failure to the landscape it was built on, perhaps we could consider it,” BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) Coordinator Trevor Hubbs said in an October post. “Unfortunately, the proximity to the watershed and the likelihood of failure make this mine an impossible risk for the Boundary Waters and Superior National Forrest.”[21]

 Nearly six years ago, Minnesota BHA posted a report with the “Top 10 Reasons To Stop Twin Metal’s Sulfide Mining Proposal (Help Protect Northern Minnestoa’s Waterways, Watersheds and Wildlife From Twin Metal’s Proposed Sulfide-Ore Mine).” We also posted a report detailing “100-Plus Reasons.” All of those reasons (and many more) are still valid today.

“Hardrock mining is the most polluting industry in the United States, with, as its calling card, Superfund sites, polluted waterways, and lakes so toxic birds die when they land on them,” Boundary Waters advocates JT Haines and Pete Marshall said in a January 19 Duluth News Tribune op-ed.[22] “Over the past five years, opportunities for public input on proposed sulfide-ore copper mining near the Boundary Waters have resulted in Americans submitting more than 675,000 comments supporting protections for the Boundary Waters Watershed,” I added in an Aug. 31 News Tribune op-ed.[23]

Conservation derives from the Latin conservare, meaning “to keep guard.” As America’s first conservationists, hunters have a century-old tradition of protecting public lands habitat and fighting those driven by myopic greed. Although greed never sleeps, neither do we when it comes to the protection of our wild public lands, waters, and wildlife. There will be no sulfide mines here. Not on our watch. Not a chance.

Public Lands Democracy

There are roughly 51 million acres of land in Minnesota. About 25% of it is in government ownership (i.e., public land) while 75% is in private ownership.[24] Minnesota’s more than 12 million acres of public lands encompass the BWCAW and surrounding Superior National Forest, the Chippewa National Forest, state parks and wildlife refuges, wildlife management areas, scientific and natural areas, aquatic management areas, national parks, national wild and scenic rivers, and more.

In 2008, during the Great Recession when times were tough across the country, Minnesotans overwhelmingly passed the Clean Water, Land and Legacy constitutional amendment. That’s right, we voted to increase the state sales tax on ourselves to raise nearly $300 million a year for fish and wildlife habitat, parks, trails and the arts. “This is who we are. We love the outdoors,” former Duluth News Tribune columnist Sam Cook said. “We bust our behinds all week, and then we get outside.”[25]

On the other hand, there are those who are hellbent on keeping us from accessing, protecting, and perpetuating our public lands estate, with the ultimate goal of privatizing public lands.[26] “Not only are those lands important to backcountry enthusiasts but also to … [an] expanding outdoor industry and population growth,” said Brien Webster, a former BHA state chapters coordinator. “Public lands are there for you. They belong to you. It’s one of the most democratic things we got in in this country.”[27]

Despite the many threats facing hunting and public lands, America’s hunters and anglers are among the luckiest in the world. We enjoy millions of public land acres in Minnesota and across the country where we are free to roam. But we cannot take one acre of it for granted. It can all be taken away, one “No Trespassing” or “Sold” sign at a time. In the words of our BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI), “Public Lands = Freedom.”[28]

As Jim Harrison wrote (in The Beast God Forgot to Invent), “The danger of civilization, of course, is that you will piss away your life on nonsense.” And in the words of BHA North American Board member T. Edward Nickens, “BHA is here to make sure that we’re not the Americans who pissed away the greatest heritage of public lands the world has ever known.”[29] Wise words, but let’s give Stu Osthoff the last word(s).

“Nothing created by man has come close to captivating me like a big whitetail buck. Such is the power of these deer,” Stu wrote in the Winter 2015 Boundary Waters Journal. Ultimately, the rationale for protecting and perpetuating Minnesota’s public lands and deer hunting legacy can be boiled down to some more of Stu’s words of wisdom. “Deer hunting is not really about venison in the freezer or antlers on the wall,” he said. “It is about a timeless and priceless love of the wild.”[30]

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

David Lien is a Grand Rapids (Minn.) native, former Air Force officer and founder/former chairman of the Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. He’s the author of six books including “Hunting for Experience II: Tales of Hunting & Habitat Conservation.[31]

Additional/Related Information

Deer Hunting

-A photo of David’s “Chippewa National Forest 8-pointer” included in the Minnesota DNR’s “Hunting season photos” (scroll down).

-Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). “Hunting season photos!” MN DNR: 12/1/23. https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MNDNR/bulletins/37d6cb9

-John Myers. “Minnesota firearms deer registrations down 5% statewide.” Duluth News Tribune: 11/14/23.

-John Myers. “Want to shoot a deer in Minnesota? Head south.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/27/23. 

-David A. Lien. “Whitetails, Wolves, Moose & Grizz.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 3/14/22.

-David A. Lien. “Veterans Day Buck Hunt.” American Hunter: November 2015, p. 80.

-BHA North American Policy Statement: Science-Based Fish And Wildlife Management (2014).

-David A. Lien. “Challenge By Choice: BWCAW Buck Hunt (Whitetales magazine, Winter 2010).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 1/19/12.

Sulfide Mining

-“Saying no to sulfide mining a no-brainer for veterans.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/21/23.

-“Local View: Don't buy 'alternative facts' on mining near BWCAW.” Duluth News Tribune: 8/31/23.

-“Bad ideas, like selling ore to China, never die.” Duluth News Tribune: 7/29/23.

-“Local View: Fighting proposed mines spans more than a decade—of winning.” Duluth News Tribune: 2/20/23.

-“Boundary Waters Ruffed Grouse & Sulfide-Ore Mines Don’t Mix.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 1/9/23.

-“Conservationist’s View: Allowing copper-nickel mining close to BWCAW 'not responsible.'” Duluth News Tribune: 1/6/23.

-Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers. “Top 10 Reasons To Stop Twin Metal’s Sulfide Mining Proposal (Help Protect Northern Minnesota’s Waterways, Watersheds and Wildlife From Twin Metal’s Proposed Sulfide-Ore Mine).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 1/18/18.

-“Minnesota Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Report: 100-Plus Reasons To Protect Northern Minnesota’s Waterways, Watersheds and Wildlife From Proposed Sulfide-Ore Mining.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 5/24/17.

-“Boundary Waters Whitetails, Watersheds & Sulfide Mining.” HuntingLife.com: 12/22/16.

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.

-“Guest opinion: 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

-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)

Armed Forces Initiative (AFI)

-“Giving Veterans a New Mission in Conservation”

-“Public lands = Freedom”

-“On the night in 2004 that Backcountry Hunters & Anglers came to life, at least two of the faces glowing orange and red in the flickering light of a campfire belonged to veterans of military service. 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. 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.” -Russell Worth Parker. Backcountry Journal: Fall 2023[32]

-“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[33]

-“23% of our members are either active-duty military or veterans.”[34]

-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

Issues Triad (PAF)[35]

1. Public Lands & Waters (Public Lands = Freedom). Our public lands make each of us land-rich. Protecting and perpetuating public lands and waters is paramount. “Public lands personify this idea we call America—which is freedom. The human animal—the human spirit—is not intended to be confined to a cage.”[36] We are, “The voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife.” BHA Armed Forces Initiative (AFI) Coordinator Trevor Hubbs adds, “The BHA mission is all of ours.”[37]
2. Access & Opportunity. We are intent on keeping public lands in public hands.[38] Access has emerged as a priority issue for North American hunters and anglers, and lack of access is cited by sportsmen and women as the No. 1 reason why we stop pursuing our passions. Access to the more than 600 million acres of public land is part of being American. However, opportunity is diminished when “access becomes excess.”[39]
3. Fair Chase & Restraint. “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.[40] 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.”[41] Conservation derives from the Latin conservare, meaning “to keep guard.”[42] As America’s first conservationists, hunters have a century-old tradition of protecting habitat and policing our own ranks.[43]

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 Minnesota chapter was the third official BHA state chapter, after Colorado and Alaska.

[1] John Myers. “Want to shoot a deer in Minnesota? Head south.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/27/23.

[2] David A. Lien. “Minnesota’s Public Lands And Deer Hunting Legacy.” Whitetales: Spring 2021, p. 44.

[3] Tim Spielman, Editor. “Deer harvest is down 13% after opening weekend.” Outdoor News: 11/10/23, p. 1.

[4] John Myers. “Minnesota firearms deer registrations down 5% statewide: Registrations in Northeastern Minnesota are down another 17% from a dismal 2022; statewide license sales down 3%.” Duluth News Tribune: 11/14/23.

[5] John Myers. “Want to shoot a deer in Minnesota? Head south.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/27/23.

[6] John Myers. “Minnesota firearms deer registrations down 5% statewide: Registrations in Northeastern Minnesota are down another 17% from a dismal 2022; statewide license sales down 3%.” Duluth News Tribune: 11/14/23.

[7] John Myers. “Want to shoot a deer in Minnesota? Head south.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/27/23.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Editor(s). “Things to do.” Grand Rapids (Minn.) Herald-Review/Manney’s Shopper Fall & Winter Events Guide: 9/25/19, p. 3.

[10] John Pukite. Hiking Minnesota. Helena, Montana: Falcon Press, 1998, p.107.

[11] Tim Spielman, Editor. “Deer harvest is down 13% after opening weekend.” Outdoor News: 11/10/23, p. 20.

[12] David Petersen. A Man Made of Elk. Eagle, Idaho: TBM, Inc., 2007, p. 166.

[13] Stuart Osthoff. “The Back Forty.” The Boundary Waters Journal: Winter 2015, p. 81.

[14] David A. Lien. “Whitetails, Wolves, Moose & Grizz.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 3/14/22.

[15] Jimmy Lovrien. “DNR approves Twin Metals exploration plan along Birch Lake.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/31/23.

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

[17] Kaden McArthur, Government Relations Manager. “BHA Federal Policy Update: Week of November 13.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 11/13/23.

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

[19] David A. Lien. “Saying no to sulfide mining a no-brainer for veterans.” Duluth News Tribune: 10/21/23.

[20] Hal Brands and Michael Beckley. “The Coming War Over Taiwan: With its global power at a peak and domestic problems mounting, China is likelier than ever before to make good on its threats.” The Wall Street Journal: 8/4/22.

[21] Trevor Hubbs. “AFI Boundary Waters 2022: As seen in Oct-Dec issue of FlyFisherman Magazine.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 10/2/23.

[22] JT Haines and Pete Marshall. “In Response: The problem with PolyMet is actually PolyMet.” Duluth News Tribune: 1/19/23.

[23] David A. Lien. “Local View: Don't buy 'alternative facts' on mining near BWCAW.” Duluth News Tribune: 8/31/23.

[24] Wayne Enger.  “H.U.N.T. Your Way to Private Land Deer Management.” Whitetales: Summer 2008, p. 42.

[25] Sam Cook. “Legislature showing little inclination to increase outdoors funding.” Duluth News Tribune: 4/30/17.

[26] David A. Lien. “Bad ideas never die.” Aspen Daily News: 1/25/23.

[27] Elise Schmelzer. “Large swaths of federal public land in Colorado are inaccessible. Here’s why: Of the 269,000 acres, the largest landlocked parcel in Colorado is 5,286 acres.” The Denver Post: 11/27/18.

[28] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/armed_forces_initiative_get_involved

[29] Backcountry Hunters & Angers Headquarters. “Rendezvous Recap.” Backcountry Journal: Summer 2018, p. 12.

[30] Stuart Osthoff. “The Back Forty.” The Boundary Waters Journal: Winter 2015, p. 82.

[31] For additional information see: “David A. Lien Recognized by Field & Stream as ‘Hero of Conservation.’” AmmoLand.com: 7/2/14.

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

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

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

[35] https://www.backcountryhunters.org/our_issues

[36] Ron Spomer is a hunting writer, conservationist, and photographer.

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

[38] David A. Lien. “Fighting to keep public lands in public hands.” Grand Junction (Colo.) Daily Sentinel: 1/26/23.

[39] David A. Lien. “Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Increase Reward For Illegal Trail Construction (Help Stop Trail Building ‘Free-For-All’).” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 4/10/23; Kris Hess/Brien Webster. “CO BHA Publishes Memo on Illegal Trails.” Backcountry Hunters & Anglers: 8/24/22; David A. Lien. “More trails a slippery slope to less hunting.” Grand Junction (Colo.) Daily Sentinel: 12/9/21.

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

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

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

[43] Colorado BHA Co-Chair David A. Lien quoted in/by: Dennis Anderson. “Opinions vary on using drones for hunting.” Minneapolis-St. Paul (Minn.) StarTribune: 3/17/14.