During the meeting I emphasized the importance of roadless areas for big game habitat and backcountry hunting. David thanked me for speaking and later asked if I\u2019d join the Colorado BHA chapter board. On July 22, 2006, I started volunteering as co-chair and have kept at it for approaching 20 years now.<\/p>\n
My first experience chasing gobblers was during May 2008 in Southwest Colorado\u2019s San Juan Mountains, with David. We heard one gobbling tom. It\u2019s an explosive vocalization that David says is \u201cat once high-pitched, deep-throated, melodic and maniacal, with emphasis on the last quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cColorado\u2019s southwest corner is home to some of the highest, wildest public lands wildlife habitat in Colorado and the country,\u201d I wrote in a 2016 Colorado Outdoors <\/em>story (\u201cMountain Merriam\u2019s (Turkey) Hunt\u201d). The San Juans encompass not only the largest designated wilderness area in the southern Rockies, the 500,000-acre Weminuche Wilderness, but also one of the largest roadless areas, the 107,886-acre Hermosa Creek Watershed.<\/p>\n Which is why this region has always been my go-to for both turkey and elk hunting. However, the Trump administration is in the process of rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which has prohibited road construction and timbering on 58.5 million acres of our national forest lands nationwide. Over 99% of the public comments submitted oppose the Trump administration\u2019s plan to rescind the Rule.<\/p>\n \u201cPublic lands \u2026 are under coordinated assault,\u201d I wrote in a September 2025 Durango Herald<\/em> opinion piece. \u201cFrom sweeping executive orders promoting energy \u2018dominance\u2019 to secretive agency directives expanding oil and gas leasing, we\u2019re in the midst of a wholesale attack on public land protections nationwide. The \u2018multiple use\u2019 doctrine has been weaponized to mean one thing: corporate use.\u201d<\/p>\n The San Juan Mountains encompass a place so wild and beautiful that President Theodore Roosevelt protected it in 1905 by creating the 1.8-million-acre San Juan National Forest. \u201cI think Teddy Roosevelt must be tired from rolling over in his grave,\u201d U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said, about Trump administration efforts to open protected public lands to resource extraction.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are seeing the newest wave of attacks \u2013 a systematic dismantling of the mechanisms of protection and funding that safeguard the places we value as public landowners,\u201d BHA President and CEO Ryan \u201cCal\u201d Callaghan said. \u201cThe recession of the Roadless Rule jeopardizes \u2026 our best non-Wilderness backcountry habitats.\u201d<\/p>\n As Heinrich and Cal know well, public lands are not a left or right issue; they\u2019re an American issue. This is our national heritage. Now that spring turkey hunting has started, I\u2019m chasing toms in the San Juan National Forest once again. Over the years I\u2019ve contributed 13 Colorado Outdoors<\/em> stories about turkey hunting that are all available online<\/a>.<\/p>\n For starters, consider Googling: \u201c5 Tips for Hunting Merriam\u2019s Turkeys\u201d and \u201c5 (More) Tips For Hunting Merriam\u2019s Wild Turkey.\u201d However, be aware that backcountry turkey hunting requires stout legs and lungs, as my 2024 and 2025 turkey hunting statistics indicate \u2013 2024: 7 days\/85 miles\/56 hours\/7 close encounters\/1 shot opportunity; 2025: 3 days\/35 miles\/24 hours\/5 close encounters\/2 shot opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cLike most successfully evolved prey species these big birds are survival specialists,\u201d David Petersen explains in his book Going Trad: Out There With Elkheart<\/em>. \u201cTheir bulging, side-set eyes constantly scan for danger in all directions.\u201d Hence, with each close encounter you can flip a coin to determine if the hunter gets the drop on the gobbler or vice versa. Perhaps most important, David adds, \u201cIf you\u2019re not trying to protect habitat and improve it and increase it, then you\u2019re working against yourself as a hunter.\u201d<\/p>\n