Ep. 159 | Elk Conservation

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ep. 159 | Elk Conservation on Live Wild with Remi Warren

Introduction In Episode 159 of Live Wild with Remi Warren, host Remi Warren delves into the critical topic of elk conservation. Joined by Kyle Weaver, President of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF), the episode explores the multifaceted efforts in wildlife habitat protection, public land access, and the various threats facing both hunters and elk populations today.

Conservation Efforts and Habitat Protection Remi opens the discussion by highlighting the significant strides made by the RMEF in conserving elk habitats. Over the past 40 years, the foundation has safeguarded nearly 9 million acres to enhance elk populations. Remi emphasizes, “Without habitat, without a place for these elk to live in, we don't have that elk hunting” (02:10).

Kyle Weaver elaborates on this achievement, noting the rapid expansion from 8 to 9 million acres in less than two years, compared to the gradual increase over four decades. He states, “The acceleration from million to million to million acres... in a quick cycle. So good place to be, right?” (03:35). This expansion not only preserves elk populations but also contributes to broader biodiversity, benefiting various species from insects to birds.

Public Land Access and Its Challenges The conversation shifts to the importance of public land access for hunters. Remi points out that many conservation projects are specifically designed to improve hunter access, a facet often overlooked by the general public. Kyle agrees, highlighting the complexity of balancing habitat conservation with public access needs. He explains, “Access became like a really big buzzword in our industry... It's really about impact. And you can take a very small piece of property in the right place and make a much bigger footprint of impact” (04:27).

Scientific Management and Best Practices A significant portion of the discussion centers on the role of science in managing elk populations. Kyle emphasizes the RMEF’s commitment to research-based strategies, stating, “We're very research and science based... And hunting is probably the number one tool in that balance” (08:54). This approach ensures that elk management remains unbiased and effective, adapting to new findings and ecological shifts.

Unity Among Hunters and Advocacy Remi and Kyle both stress the importance of unity within the hunting community to protect conservation efforts. Kyle notes, “Hunters are, I think, less than 5% of the population now... the resources are being pressed” (11:03). They discuss how differing interests within the community, such as bow hunters versus rifle hunters or private versus public land hunters, can be reconciled through a shared commitment to science-based conservation.

Impact of Hunting on Conservation The dialogue highlights how hunting directly supports conservation initiatives. Remi shares personal anecdotes about successful hunts, underscoring that each hunt contributes to habitat preservation and population management. Kyle adds, “Hunting is the number one tool in that balance, not only from a management standpoint, but from a financial standpoint, to fund all this” (09:32).

Engaging New Hunters and Educational Programs Both hosts emphasize the necessity of mentoring and educating new hunters to sustain conservation efforts. Remi discusses his approach to guiding new hunters, ensuring they appreciate the complexity and responsibility that comes with hunting. Kyle introduces programs like the University of Montana's Wild Sustenance class, aimed at educating individuals with no prior hunting experience—from firearm safety to meat processing (51:30).

Personal Stories and Successes Throughout the episode, Remi and Kyle share personal stories that illustrate the tangible benefits of conservation work. Remi recounts his wife’s successful elk hunt, attributing it to the foundation’s habitat conservation efforts. Kyle shares success stories from RMEF projects, such as the Elk Mountain access project in Idaho, which transformed a small 23-acre plot into a gateway for accessing 13,000 acres of habitat (28:08).

Advocacy and Overcoming Challenges The episode also addresses the challenges posed by political initiatives and misconceptions about hunting. Kyle describes how emotional arguments against hunting can undermine scientific management, using Colorado’s mountain lion management as a case study. He emphasizes the need for hunters to advocate for science-based policies, stating, “This ballot box biology is dangerous” (55:40).

Conclusion and Call to Action As the episode concludes, Remi and Kyle reiterate the essential role hunters play in conservation. Remi encourages listeners to join the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to support ongoing conservation efforts, while also highlighting the foundation’s Bugle magazine as a valuable resource for hunting tips and conservation stories.

Kyle wraps up by promoting his annual 12 Days of Christmas giveaway, offering listeners a chance to win over $20,000 worth of hunting gear and accessories through participation on their website (63:34).

Notable Quotes

• Remi Warren: “Without habitat, without a place for these elk to live in, we don't have that elk hunting.” (02:10)
• Kyle Weaver: “Access became like a really big buzzword in our industry... It's really about impact.” (04:27)
• Remi Warren: “I am an elk hunter, and if there are no elk, I'm no longer an elk hunter.” (41:09)
• Kyle Weaver: “This ballot box biology is dangerous.” (55:40)

Final Thoughts Episode 159 of Live Wild with Remi Warren provides an in-depth exploration of elk conservation, highlighting the intricate balance between habitat protection, hunter access, and scientific management. Through insightful dialogue and personal anecdotes, Remi and Kyle underscore the indispensable role of hunters in preserving wildlife and ensuring sustainable hunting practices for future generations.

Transcript

[Remy Warren]

I'm Remy Warren and I've lived my life in the wild as a professional guide and hunter. I've spent thousands of days perfecting my craft. I want to give that knowledge to you. In this podcast, we relive some of my past adventures as I give you practical hunting tips to make you more successful. Whether you're just getting started or a lifelong hunter, this podcast will bring you along on the hunt and teach you how to live wild.

[Kyle Weaver]

This this podcast is brought to you.

[Remy Warren]

By mountaintuff and Yeti. A lot of the tactics I talk about here require you to be in top physical shape. So I partnered with Mountain Tough to help get you ready for the mountain. With their science based hunter specific training app. You'll get in shape and mentally tough able to tackle any hunt. Because we really believe this will help you be more successful as a listener to this podcast, we're giving you six free weeks to get you started. Just use code livewild. Well, everyone, welcome back to Live Wild podcast. Now this week I'm going to be highlighting some hunting conservation efforts and we're going to be talking about wildlife habitat protection, public land access, and some of the threats that face hunters and wildlife. Today I'm joined by Kyle Weaver, the president of the Rocky Mountain Elk foundation, and we're going to talk about some of the conservation efforts put forth by hunters and the nearly 9 million acres protected to enhance elk habitat over the 40 years of the Elk Foundation. Kyle, thanks for joining me. Today. We're out down here at the Cowboy Christmas and you know, it's a big event for you guys, but also, you know, it's a good way that you're. The Elk foundation has been able to get in front of a lot of people and I assume grow as well. And just every time there's something that the Elk foundation is doing, the elk benefit. You know, one of the things that I talk about or focus a lot about is elk hunting tactics and there are no elk hunting tactics. Well, one of the tactics that I talk about a lot is focusing on habitat.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And without habitat, without a place for these elk to live in Rome, we don't have that elk hunting. We don't have the populations, we don't have the success that we have in the field. And it all boils down to conservation and a lot of conservation efforts that are put forth by Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. So I just appreciate you taking the time to sit down with me because I think one of the things that our listeners will really like is just understanding what the Elk foundation does. And then some of the projects and things that you guys have been up to, it's always fun. One of the things that I look forward to in the Bugle magazine is that section of like the projects. Right. And that's always a lot of the times too. I hate to say this out loud, but you're like, oh, maybe that's a good place to go.

[Unnamed Guest]

Exactly.

[Remy Warren]

But yeah, like looking at some of the projects and the land conserved and the things that you guys are doing, that always strikes me and I think that it'd be a fun thing to talk about a little bit of that today. And then, you know, just talking about elk and habitat and some of the other things that face hunters as well.

[Unnamed Guest]

But for sure, yeah.

[Remy Warren]

You know, I think one of the things I saw, and this is, I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong, it's getting pretty close to about 9 million acres. That's either.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, we, I think we'll. The next project or one of the next two to three will make that hit that number this year. Wow, that's a pretty good. And what. It wasn't that long ago we were celebrating 8 million.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

The acceleration from million to million to million acres. I mean, it's less than two years, going from eight to nine. So you look at a 40 year history to get to eight and then, you know, in a year and a half you get to nine and then 10 is going to happen.

[Remy Warren]

Wow.

[Unnamed Guest]

In a quick cycle. So good place to be, right?

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

Bigger impact is what we're trying to make for sure.

[Remy Warren]

I know one of the things that I think is important about that is in that 9 million acres, you know, that's wildlife habitat improving also. Not just the habitat or conserving the habitat as well, but also improving access to public land for hunters as well, which I think a lot of people don't recognize or realize that. There's a lot of projects that I've seen pop up that actually are, you know, primarily hunter access projects. And then there's ones that are larger, you know, habitat projects as well. It kind of seems like. Is that.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, you know, you hit it off with like, what does the Elk foundation do? And that, that elevator speech is something we talk about all the time, is like, how many floors are we riding? Is it five floors or is it 40? Because it's a total different depth that you get into. And when you look at the pillars of our mission, you know, habitat has been and where it's not safest, but almost one of the most Necessary. And it's this chicken and egg thing a little bit with us is like, does the money create mission or does mission create the support?

[Remy Warren]

Right, right.

[Unnamed Guest]

And its answers like yes, now you know, that cycle that we have in our business, then it happens also in the mission delivery. Because in the end that's the return to what I say is the investor. Right. Whether that's a member, a donor, a person that buys our hat or a T shirt online, they're all supporters.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

But that return is that mission delivery. And you know, habitat has probably been the most challenging in the last, say 10, 15 years. Just because the change in our culture, administration's change, bring total different aspects to what they're looking for to happen. Habitat, you know. Yeah, there's been these long term fights on getting in and being able to do the work, how long it takes to get in to do this work. So I think that's one of the hardest pieces and then you always have to flip. So if that's getting kind of bogged down, what do we do? And that's where access came in. You know this, the big changes in access and the non residents coming out east or west from east specifically, and the demand got to be bigger. In the east, where I'm from, it's all private land. And so the access thing is kind of new to a lot of people. And then they get out here and they see all this stuff and they're like, and if this little five acre piece keeps somebody from getting in, now you get this bigger aspect of people. Oh, okay. Now I understand it because I think access became like a really big buzzword in our industry five or seven years ago. But I don't know if anyone really understood what it meant. And so I think we talked about 9 million acres and we don't use that as big a scorecard as we used to because it's really about impact. And you can take a very small piece of property in the right place and make a much more bigger footprint of impact. But the impact isn't really acres, it's people as well. You know, I think one of the things we always have prided ourselves on is we're a hunting group. You know, 97% of our members, 98% hunt, all support hunting. But we are a multi use organization. We don't go in and just say no. We only want to create this access for the hunter. We understand that it's for everyone to use, whatever that may be. And you know, for the state, the fed to management. And I think that Separates us a little bit that it's kind of the same way with our wildlife. We do all this work for elk and there's this huge impact across all wildlife. Kind of the same on the human impact. Right. When we go in and do these, these, these projects and convey this land, whether it be the state or fed or open up these, these access pieces, it's for all to use, no matter what it is. And it kind of puts the elk foundation a little different spot, I think.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, that's really cool. And that's one of the things, you know, people that don't hunt, don't necessarily realize. Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

As you go, oh, well, they just, they want to kill elks. Yeah. It's like, well, we're conserving habitat which creates more biodiversity, which benefits everything from the bugs in the ground to the birds in the air to the elk on the mountain.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

You know, it's not just what, you can't just fix one thing when you're looking at the mega, like the big animals, they need big habitat. When you manage that big habitat, everything else.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, I mean they're, they're, they're kind of the top of the.

[Remy Warren]

Exactly.

[Unnamed Guest]

If an elk want to go in somewhere and eat, they're going to get in there. If they're hungry, they're going to knock a fence down. And they're very intuitive compared to like mule deer. Right. I mean they're, they are, they adapt and make these changes which makes them a little bit bigger of a management issue. It's harder for states then you've got this whole attraction to this big monarch animal that people want to go and chase in all this great wild country. And so it just, it has a different piece. But I call it all these collateral gains that happen because of that focus on elk. There's all these collateral gains that happen. We probably should brag about it more than we do. But it really comes down to balance. Right. I mean there's this ecology and there's science and we're very research and science based and we're getting much deeper into leading some of that research and science and some of our initiatives that are coming up. Because science isn't. It needs to be non biased. Right?

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

It can't have the political twist or it can't feed this political endeavor. And so we're feeling like we need to jump into that more. But that ecology, that balance goes through. You know, we're very big into the predator issues, especially the wolf and the mountain lion. We've been heavy into because it has to have a balance, you know, and our members get it, you know, and some are on the fringes, some want us to do more one way or less the other way. But in the end, the science leads the balance. And that's a challenge we all have. And hunting is probably the number one tool in that balance, not only from a management standpoint, but from a financial standpoint, to feed all this for sure.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah. That's the one thing. You know, as hunters, we always fall back on that science. And sometimes it's like you almost have to. You have to go with the science. If that's your stance, you got to go with the science, but you also need to have the science to back it up. Right, Exactly. You have to do the studies, you have to pay attention to it. And if the science says something different, then, okay, that's the direction we go because. And that's gonna be our biggest tool. And like the thing that we can always fall back on. I mean, you can show the benefit that we have for the habitat and the animals, the populations and all the other things and then fall back on that science of like, this is why we need to be here. This is why we need to do this. Because it helps when ballot box initiatives come up, like happened in Colorado very recently, and it's like what they're trying to do is make it emotional based.

[Unnamed Guest]

Absolutely.

[Remy Warren]

Not science based. And when we go, when we allow that to happen, then as hunters, we start to lose our opportunities, our rights. A lot of things start to shift and it's like, it can't be managed.

[Unnamed Guest]

No. And you know, the one things that you've been in this industry, I've been in this almost 30 years now, and it's getting hunters more united that the bow hunter versus the rifle hunter, the non resident versus the resident, the private versus the public, the big game versus the small game, the waterfowl, like. But in the end, when it comes down to all these issues, we got to unite better and understand that those rights that we're talking about, like, is it a God given right? Is it a state given right? How do you see that? Right. But we all got to protect it together. You know, hunters are, I think, less than 5% of the population now.

[Remy Warren]

Yep.

[Unnamed Guest]

And I think we're seeing the resources pretty pressed with that 5% or less. I mean, in Montana this year, you talk to everybody. There's more people at trailheads than they've ever seen. Yeah, I think it's, you know, it's not that much more sales of license is people are actually like, I'm the one everybody loves. I buy all the tags and never go hunting.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, that's very.

[Unnamed Guest]

All the money and never get out there. But people are getting out in the woods more. And I mean, the COVID definitely changed the game on that and got people active. But the resources are being pressed. Access is a huge issue. And as you know, we talk about all the time is a stroll in the woods you can do anytime you want. We're actually going to hopefully see an animal and hunt them. So it's not just going to walk in the woods with a rifle and go, well, that was a fun day. You want good habitat, you want good opportunity. But then that balance is so different from state to state and from animal to animal. And we did about three years ago, maybe we did a deep dive into capturing the status of ELK across all 28, 29 states that have elk and get the numbers and then those where they hunt them, figuring out, you know, where are the harvests happening, how are they happening, by who, at what time of year, as much data as we can, because that's got to be a basis of the science. And every state has all their different challenges and different approaches is there. What we try to develop is what we would call as best practices. I mean, we want to be the leader in elk. There's always variances right by state, by culture, by all kinds of things affect that. But we want to have the best practices around. If this is your issue around managing elk, this is what we have found through our research and science to be a best practice, you should at least look at and not challenge anyone to say you have to do it this way, but have that basis because it's a constant twist and change. And, you know, and the spatial issue is a huge issue now. The amount of time people are in the woods and active. And, you know, the scientists know it better than me. But elker are very. I don't know what the word would be, but maybe tender. You know, it when. When certain things are happening at the wrong time in the wrong place. You know, a cow may not. She may not calf that year. She may just skip a year, skip a season, Things like that, that there's some good science on what is the effect on the other animals when they're cycling up and down. And that's the kind of thing we're looking at and getting into and follow that science. And, you know, hopefully it leads us in a place of all these positions. The things we have are true, stand true. To what that science says. But if it doesn't, then we may have to adapt a little bit if it comes up with something different.

[Remy Warren]

No, that's very interesting. You know, I think one of the things like you mentioned, you know, you might see more people out and then certain areas getting hit harder and other things. And that's actually where that access issue, in my opinion, comes in to play. Because there's so many land locked acres out there, millions of landlocked acres that, you know, could be places to spread hunter congestion out and other things or, you know, in some ways too, that private property does provide refuge, like good refuges for wildlife too. So I think that that's one of the things of like a good mix of having places that they're, you know, refuged in than other places where they can be hunted and other places where you can access that and the guys that want to walk in, you know, it's like a little bit less pressure than maybe those big road system systems and other things, you know, and I think that that's all. It's all a really interesting mix when it comes to elk. But when you think of elk, you think of big mountains, big country. But then that's not always the case because there's like, I, I think I remember, I guess it probably would have been, what is it, Pennsylvania. I mean, some of those eastern states where when elk were released, you know, and then you start to see the populations growing and then you start to see like giant bulls. And it's like a western hunter. You're kind of like, I'd have, I'd guide guys like, oh, why are these elk and Montana so small? We've got giant elk around where we're at. I'm like, yeah, yeah. Well, those elker have a pretty easy life compared to what they do. They don't have grizzly bears, they don't have wolves, they don't have harsh winters. Like.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

They've got, they don't. Migraines. Like they don't have to walk 500 miles in a migration.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

You know, it's. It's just funny because some of the classic stuff that you think of, well, you look at like elk and where they used to be.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And then kind of gone from the landscape and then now back there and how they're flourishing in a way.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

You know, and then you probably run into a lot of other problems with that where it's like a lot of private property and damage on, you know, property and other things, like issues that you might not Even run into.

[Unnamed Guest]

Most people don't even realize how much, you know, depredation money gets spent to help on this stuff. And we do it, you know, I know like in North Carolina, we've paid for fencing to keep them out of, like, cemeteries. El could go on a great grass in there. They're in there, you know, so we, we always jump in and try to be in the community helping do that stuff. And one of the hardest things for us is when an issue pits our membership, I would say, against each other. So the private rancher, beef rancher who leases land and tries to, you know, still working hard to make a dollar gets pushed against the public land hunter. Right. And we're in the. Here we are in the middle and like. Well, we support both.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And so the, you know, the answer is always in that balance and that issue. And as you said, you know, these elk will seek that refuge and they need that time off. And it's just, it's a. It's probably one of the more challenging animals, I think, to, to balance out and manage. There's no doubt about it. But populations are great. And I think more and more states are starting to find ways to manage geographically within the state instead of still managing state as a whole. I know, you know, Wyoming had the unlimited areas this year on Cal down there. And I've heard it's actually going pretty well. And of course, hunters love it. You can go in there and get that freezer full for the year and get out. Right. It's. So I think there's more creative ways coming out about that that help that we've had the whole corner crossing issue again, pits our membership against each other. Non resident versus resident. It's a big one. And that's not what we're here to do.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

That's not what the Elk foundation was, was built to do. But it's a subset we have to get involved in and try to balance out. But I think those parts, some of that human factor is actually getting harder to manage than the animal itself. But it's part of the deal. You know, it's. I always make the joke at work. I haven't seen an elk walk up and write a check yet at the door. Yeah, it's people, you know, part of that return. The elk is a, is a result, but it is to the hunter. So we work hard to try to get involved in those issues the best we can and fight those things and help, but it's not going to get easier anytime soon because the as we've Seen the desire to chase elk is growing. Yeah, there's no doubt about that.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah. And that's one of the things. I mean, there is nothing like elk hunting. It's like September elk hunting, chasing bugling elk, or even late season, like, you know, elk. I mean, as a professional elk guide for over 20 some odd years now, you know, it is the allure of western big game hunting is hunting and chasing elk. And it, and it's a, it can be a very difficult feat. And there's a lot of things that people that aren't around elk, you know, might not know. And, you know, there's that challenge of that. And I think that, like, there's just that for western hunting, you think of, you think of coming out west and going hunting, what are you thinking of? Elk, you know. Yeah, maybe mule deer. But elk is the big one. That's on kind of the top of everyone's list. Everyone wants to do it or have done it and be successful as well, you know, and they're just partially because they're such a cool animal, such a big animal. Just, I think it's like that iconic western big game animal.

[Unnamed Guest]

I had, I had a friend from the east hunt two weeks ago in Montana. We had that pretty good little snow speed piece, came up and hit through like twin bridges and up through that, you know, and that's where he was hunting. And so he sent me a nice picture of a pretty decent mule deer he got. And it's, you know, two foot of snow and he's all. And it's like, well, how did it go? And he brought a couple buddies with him. And one of the guys is, they out of North Carolina down there. And he texts his buddies, he goes, man, we're really hunting. He's like, this ain't like eastern hunting. Get out of the truck and shoot some ducks in the pond. Or he's like, man, we're hunting. This is hard. But in the end, neither one got an elk, had a snowstorm come through, it got really cold, windy. They get close and they bust and they go. And all the things that, you know, as we hunt out west, you know, about, well, that's, that's normal. And he's like, I was not. I thought I was in good shape, you know, but he's like, I can't wait to come back. Yeah, right. But there in his mind, it was like, well, now I'm really hunting, you know? Yeah, not that, that's not. But it, it's that lure of like, well, now it's More than just taking the animal, it's this, you know, the challenge of Mother Nature and all the other things that they're fighting. Understanding. No, sitting in a tree stand is one thing with wind, but, you know, you see the elk at 1200 yards and the wind swirls and they're gone. Like, wow.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, yeah, I know.

[Unnamed Guest]

They could smell that good ago. Yeah, they can get you. And it was just interesting to hear his story. But then it was like, I can't wait to come back. Yeah, it was miserable, and I can't wait to do it again.

[Remy Warren]

And that's. I think that's, you know, the biggest thing is, like, the country and the habitat and just being in the mountains, hunting. Like, there's no. It can be very unpredictable in ways, and, you know, you just get, like, it's a big adventure. You know, that's really what. What it boils down to is it's. It's a. It's an awesome hunt and very enjoyable. And I think that, you know, anytime that, you know, as hunters were out there, and I always think about that, I'm like, okay. When I'm on a good hunter, I mean, you know, I'm like, okay, well, there's a lot of the places that I hunt or a lot of places that most people hunt, there is a pretty good conservation story behind why they're actually even being able to hunt there.

[Unnamed Guest]

That's right.

[Remy Warren]

My wife had a Nevada elk tag this past year without transplanted elk, without, you know, elk foundation support, you know, like. Like, the habitat wouldn't be what it is. There's, you know, a lot of clearings and chainings, even just, you know, like, creating better elk habitat. Even elk just being there, you know, has to do with hunters and the conservation around elk. You, like, go on this incredible hunt and you go, this is only possible because someone was like, yeah, we need. And, you know, growing up, there wasn't even as many elk as there are now. Like, it's in the state of Nevada. You know, it's just a completely different game. And then you look at other places and you go, okay, well, like, there's. There's a conservation success story kind of everywhere that you go, you know, and it's good to see, like, I think right now elk are doing a lot better than a lot of, like, mule deer, for, for example.

[Unnamed Guest]

Exactly.

[Remy Warren]

You know, and which is. Which is great because it is something that people want to chase, and it's good that they're. They're doing good. But when you go on those hunts, you kind of think back to like, okay, well, you know what? You go on the hunt and you've got the tag in your pocket and you see the animals there, and it's all right here. But there's, like, years of things in the background that led to that kind of moment, and that's always kind of something I was thinking about. This year, I had the opportunity to chase Tule elk, and that's like.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

You know, is like, they're doing pretty well where they're at. We saw a lot of elk, and, you know, those populations are doing great compared to what they were even 10, 15, 20 years ago, you know, and like, man, what a conservation success story with tule elk. And then you, you know, same thing. Rocky Mountain elk across the country.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. By the way, that was a. I loved your wife's hunt. I thought that was cool.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, yeah. I mean, that's like, everybody's asking, what was your. Your top hunt this year? And I had. I drew some once in a lifetime tags this year, and that hunt was definitely the best hunt that I like. It just doesn't work out any better.

[Unnamed Guest]

Than, what a great shot.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

But like. But just the emotion you had to, like, you got how many elk in your life. But it's just, you know, that. I mean, that's what it's about, and that's what I think. It's hard for people till they go experience it. Then they can start to put all these puzzle pieces together. You're talking about. Right. Then when you have the conversation about how did that happen? Well, let's go way back, right? How did this end up happening? From the habitat to the animal itself, to the access to the right to do it, to all those type of things. Like, then they. It's kind of like anything. We. We never pay that much attention till it hits us.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And that's part of getting people outdoors to just experience. And I've been in this a long time, and some. I know a lot of people that in their mind, like, I just couldn't shoot an animal. And it's like, I get that. But, you know, 87% of America, when you look at stuff, is okay with hunting.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

They're okay with. They get it. They understand what it's about. But once they experience it and get out in the outdoors, then they kind of get like, okay, I may not live the same lifestyle with you, but I understand why you do. Right. It's just. It's not about the harvest or the kill. It's just, it's not. Yeah, it's just a piece, one small piece of it. But it's the, it's the top of that pyramid when it does happen, you know, for sure. And I'm sure, you know, it was probably hard. It was a lot harder work than people figure out when they watch the film. Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

100% a lot more. Everything always is, you know, I think that's one of those things where it's. For me, I like, I like taking new hunters out because I think that there's people that might see it or you know, now you can, you can observe hunting without hunting via like videos or social media or whatever. Right. In a way that maybe you couldn't, you know, however long ago. And I think that there's like this misconception. One of the things that my wife and I or whoever, like new hunter taking out, always laugh about is like when an anti hunters, oh, you just go out and shoot a poor defenseless little animal. How hard could that be? And half the time, like in a general unit elk hunt or something like that, I'm like, you know, I'd probably, I bet you a million dollars you couldn't do it.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

You know, like it's not that easy. And there's, there's so much to learn. And so when it does go right and you kind of, you know, have that, that success and things work out right. Like it's, it's just an incredible, incredible experience. And like that hunt for me this year was with my wife was. It was just one of those. She's like, I'm pretty calm, cool and collected and I never am like, you got it. Like, you know, I'm never that person that like blurts that like I'm just always. And I pretty much lost it. She's like, she looks at me like, you never said that in your entire life. And I was like, I know, but like, this was probably the most excited I've ever been.

[Unnamed Guest]

I don't think you quite understand yet what just happened.

[Remy Warren]

Right? Yeah, exactly. Everything just worked out.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. I mean, you shoot an elk, I don't care what it is. It's an accomplishment. No level. Like, I love bow hunting and I think that, you know, Bruce Pettit and I, CEO Loophole, we did a hunt last year together and both got elk. And it was nice. I think that was the first elk I killed with a rifle in like 12 years.

[Remy Warren]

Really.

[Unnamed Guest]

I just, you know, I love the bow side of it. And it wasn't that I thought it was easy, but once I Did the rifle again. I'm going, this is hard, too. Like, I kind of forgot how hard that still is.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Unnamed Guest]

Especially that time of year, and you got 30, you know, you got one bull and all these cows, and everybody's running all around you. Try. Not like, it's still always challenging, no matter what it is.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And that was probably about as easy as it gets. And it was still hard.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, exactly. No, that's. That's the one thing about hunting that I think, you know, is, like, that challenge aspect of it, and it draws people to it and continues, like, you know, I think if it was always easy, I don't know if I would be that interested in it personally. But, you know, I think that that's one of the things that, like, draws people to elk as well, is, like, it's that added challenge. And where they live is the big factor in that added challenge of. Yeah, they live in the mountains. They live in big country, sometimes wilderness areas. And those kind of hunts. Yeah, can be. Can be definitely challenging.

[Unnamed Guest]

Just how smart they are and how fast they disappear. Like, you saw them, they're gone. Never see them again.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah. The thing that cracks me up about elk is, like, you'll be calling, and they can get so close without ever hearing such a large animal with big antlers coming in or whatever. You're like, wow, how'd that get there?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, it's fun. One of the things, you know, I want to. I did. I was kind of looking at some of the projects that the Elk foundation has done over the last. I guess, probably pretty much this year, there's a few of them. You know, one of the ones that I thought was interesting, and I'm sure you probably have, because I do want to talk about maybe some of your favorite projects. One of the ones that I kind of thought was pretty interesting was the Elk Mountain one in Idaho, where it was, like, essentially 23 acres. And that was just more of an access project. Right. Where it's like, here's 23 acres. That could open up all this other habitat. Two hunters, and that one I thought was like. Because seeing a few more of the access projects. We're used to seeing a lot of the habitat projects, but seeing some of those access projects is always definitely interesting to me.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, that was a really cool one from a couple of different angles. One, you know, Eric Siegfried, we all know that kind of. He hates to say he was a founder of Onx, but more than that, he's a great conservationist and huge rmf Supporter. But he, you know, he's worked hard to identify these little nuggets of land like that. And you know, there's a good story out, but Eric had purchased that land and we bought it from him and made all that happen. But that goes back to. I was saying, here's this. I think it was 23 or 25 acres, little piece that opened up like 13,000 acres.

[Remy Warren]

Wow.

[Unnamed Guest]

So without Eric, I don't know that we ever identified this piece. And then for years there were local people working on this thing and it finally just all came together. But I kind of, if I remember it right, when it all kind of came together and we started building like a parking lot and all this stuff to make it happen and some bridge work to cross the stream there to get path to just make sure people stayed on the. Because 23 acres isn't very big, trying to get through and make sure there was no trespassing issues. All that work there ended up being like this gap in money. And we had a staff member that got involved and said, well, wait a minute, we don't need to just write another big check. Let's look at this. How do we get the community involved and do all this? And there's a great army of film on it out there. Steel chainsaws got involved and this whole project happened. But that's what we're talking about. It's not just going out, buying 13 or 15,000 acres. Go through all the process and then convey it over. Here's this 23, 23 or 25 acres that one of our best partners Onx, is involved in. All of our other partners got involved in and opened up this access and people are hunting it now. There were people hunting it while we're still building a parking lot. Yeah, because they heard about it. So that is kind of like that's, that's that impact one. Right. That has a better story than just. The numbers can become numbing sometimes, you know. But there's a great story of that piece and a great integrated area that had huge impact on elk and mule deer both. What was also interesting was even though it looked like it came together, all this last minute piece, it had a long, it had 10 years of everybody in the local community wanting to figure out a way to make this happen. But in, in the end, what it comes down to is I don't remember the landowner Eric got it from, but in the end it, it all comes down to a good landowner who looks at something that says I'm not just about making as Much money I can, I want to protect this long term. Then you find your other partners to come in. But that landowner is so key. And Eric was that landowner.

[Remy Warren]

That's cool. That's what's so like of the last some of the projects this past year. What are some of your, I don't know, favorites or is there some stories behind some of these projects that you really like?

[Unnamed Guest]

You know, like the, the minum one in Oregon was just. It started in the 1960s, you know, and it finally finished in 2024. They've been working on that project that long. It was a three phase piece. So it was one of those huge monumental pieces that took, you know, from the federal government all the way down to make this happen. And we've done a lot of those. You know, the. In the east we're getting much more active. Some of that, you know, the one in Pennsylvania out there, 1700 acres, not big in the west, pretty big deal back east.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

And what it impacted there from that standpoint because it got into hunting and fishing and all kinds of other things that is very different the way that happens in the East. But I think, you know, two that were in my mind, this east canyon in Utah was one that it's kind of a. It shows, I wouldn't say weakness, but some of our challenges within our organization is it was a big, I think it was like $18 million project. And our staff had been in touch with Utah and thought that's just nothing. We can't get involved in that. So it kind of went to the wayside. Well, they raised, I believe it was like 17, 16.7, whatever it was. In the end there was about $1.3 million short. And this project was coming to the end and it's one of the number one migration corridors from mule deer in the state of Utah and one of the number one in the country. And then backing up, we found out we had 10 years ago, paid for collars and all this stuff to test this migration. And somehow someone stumbled onto it with our land project manager that this was out there. And I was like, whoa, whoa. I know it's a big check, but let's look at it. So it was like one day we were done with it, got the story, talked to the agency, how much you need 1.3, called a board meeting, we'll write the check. Done. It was that fast.

[Remy Warren]

Wow. And this area too, for those that aren't familiar, that was, I think was that the one that was slated for like a big high end development. So and that's one of the. I think, like, the biggest factors in a lot of areas in the west is winter range.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And what is happening is winter range is often where the best places to live are down out of. Down out of the mountains. It's the flat land, it's the whatever. It's the habitat that these animals need to survive the winters. And then what also happens is those are often private, and they're often places that are desirable to build. And so what ends up happening is we see this nearly ever in nearly everywhere. There's, you know, good animal populations around, you know, urban areas is that winter range gets turned into housing developments. It gets turned into shopping centers. I mean, it's like, you know, there's a lot of places where I live in Nevada that's like. I just continually see things being built on winter range. Winter range, winter range. And it's just going away, you know, and you just see the populations just plummeting around there.

[Unnamed Guest]

Well, this piece, I think it's 15 or 20 miles outside of Salt Lake.

[Remy Warren]

It's right there. And that is critical winter range and. Yeah. So, I mean, and then, you know, for those that aren't familiar, a lot of these projects are. It's essentially getting this, like the private land turned into or conveyed to. Was it federal, like BLM or Forest Service or state land or something that.

[Unnamed Guest]

And it could be a mix of all three sometimes in the takeout, you know.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

Whichever partner at that point makes the most sense. Some of it's about what makes the best contiguous management piece and how that plays out with the other pieces around it. So they're all three great partners to us.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

I don't remember the exact takeout on this, and I think the state was involved as well, if I remember right. But, you know, the coolest thing for this one that was exciting to me was in a normal. You look at this, it was like a thousand percent more of a mule der issue than an elk issue.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

And that as an organization, we're a big game organization now. Elk is top of the. As we talked about. That's the top. And everything happens there. But, you know, we're focused on all these things that can help all big game because it's the same, you know, investors, the same member in most cases. If you take chase elk, you probably chase mule deer, you probably chase antelope, probably hope you can get a moose tag one day, get a goat tag, get a sheep tag, but it's the same person.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And so, you know, we Kind of pride ourselves on that. Yeah, Elk. Elk is the fancy piece of it, but, boy, the collateral gains and all this work that happens out of it. And when we get project like this, being in a position to write a $1.3 million check is, man, what a blessing that our members have supported us to the level. Another big thing, and it's important in a piece like that is when it comes up, if I remember right, they kind of hit everybody up, and nobody had the building, didn't have money, didn't have matching grant funds, whatever it may be. We did, and we're like, done. Let's do it. We'll write the check. And, like, really? That easy? He's like, yeah, let's do it. And being able to have the funding where you can react fast like that, when those windows open, they close really fast as well. Sometimes, you know, especially when that willing landowner. This wasn't that case here, but a willing landowner who says, yeah, I want to do it. And then in two months, they can say, I changed my mind.

[Remy Warren]

Right?

[Unnamed Guest]

And then that window's closed. So part of our ability and our funding is having that ability to react quick like that.

[Remy Warren]

That's awesome.

[Unnamed Guest]

You know, and another one I think that was probably my favorite is very similar to Mule Creek down in Wyoming was one where we had lost one of the number one pieces of land in Mussel Shell up in Montana. And again, the administrative challenges that happened. BLM had changed how they do their appraisal processes. And they call it a yellow book appraisal. Well, we're bound by some rules and stuff of how much we can pay for land. Well, when the appraisal all got said and done, they were not giving the same amount of value to recreational value to land. Well, I'll tell you, in Montana, yeah, recreational value is a big deal. Well, all of a sudden, overnight, this. We almost had this deal done. I want to say it was 15 or 16 million. We had to come up with another 6, 5 or 6 million dollars to get it done. And we're like, well, that was like almost our whole fund. And so we did. We were like. We ended up passing, and this piece gone. It was a huge. Again on a federal list. It was in, like, the top 10 projects in the country. Fast forward, like a year later, in a better financial situation. This piece in Mule Creek comes up down in Wyoming. Landowner says, I want to convey this. I want to work with the Elk Foundation. I want this protected. I don't want to take it. And this was post Covid and it had been appraised in 2019. Well, he didn't reappraise it. He kept it at that value. Now, if he'd reappraised, it probably would have been 30% more valuable, less Covid. He didn't. He stayed at the 19. We wrote a check for five point almost six million dollars and bought it. And then this one we held. There was no takeout. We didn't have the takeout partners. We didn't have any matching funding. We just wrote a check and went, well, there went about 70% of the funds in the bank. Let's see what happens. But we're like, that's okay. We think this is so important of a piece of property. We can't let, we can't lose it like we just did the other one. We gotta take a little more risk here. But because of that landowner, we held it for about two and a half years, which holding land is expensive. There's a lot of cost risk. We had trespassing right away, we had fires on the property. Everything you can think of happened. And here, you know, are trying to manage it from Montana. But in the end, it was a neat takeout because we ended up working with a local farmer, next door rancher that wanted it, couldn't afford all of it. He, he bought it, put an easement, put an access on it. We worked with the state on it and we worked with the feds on it. So it had three different levels of takeout in it. And because when we were all said and done, because a landowner stayed at this lower appraisal, we actually made money, which is not our goal. We went in at thinking we were going to leave a couple million dollars on the ground. We actually made more money to go further with. And that's a, that's just a neat project because most of the time we own it for about as long as it takes one person to sign the paper and the other person sign the paper.

[Remy Warren]

Gotcha. Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. Because of all the risk, but this one, we had to go in and do that. And it's a model that we're positioning ourselves to say we may have to do that more often, you know. And so as we try to build our mission, fund up more and have more money, that's why when these things happen that, you know, we had like a couple weeks to make a decision, you want to do this or not. We couldn't raise $6 million in a couple of weeks.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

So it's something I, when I came in and took over, you know, Managing this, this great organization. I, you know, you sit back and you look and you go, you know, we have. I called it a secret sauce. Right. This process, we have no one else from beginning to end is what kind of separates us in that ability. And just being able to resource it more and grow it has been pretty cool. And so it's kind of like, you know, as you make more money, your toys get more expensive. It's. As we get more money in the bank, the projects just get bigger and they get more expensive, but it's a good place to be.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah. And that's one of the things that, you know, hunters know well and I think has always been another kind of, we've got the science, and then we also, as hunters kind of put our money where our mouth is. Right. Like, if hunters go away, the funding for this kind of stuff stops. And we can always say, like, this is how much hunters have spent in conservation. And this is what they get. They get the, you know, more land that's conserved for the wildlife, more habitat, more projects, more going back to wildlife than anyone else.

[Unnamed Guest]

That's right.

[Remy Warren]

Right. And. And it's like, it's a good footing to stand on as hunters. You know, we go, okay, this is. This is what we love to do. This is where our. Any kind of fundraiser for RMEF or any conservation organization that does something similar. It's like, this is where it's going. And we can stand on that as hunters and say, look what we do for wildlife. Nobody else is doing that because we put more value on what we're hunting than the average casual person that's like, yeah, I don't like hunting. I like animals. They aren't really ascribing a certain value to it. And unfortunately, well, fortunately, when those animals become valuable, then it gives us a better footing to stand on. Like, they're valuable to us and we're the ones actually protecting it.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. No, and it's, you know, I always kind of say, as a per se animal lover, you don't own the monopoly on that. I love animals, too.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

You know, sometimes I might challenge you that I love them more because maybe we put more money on the ground, do more work and work projects and fences and water and all the stuff we do. Fire, where are you? Right? So don't say we're not animal lovers.

[Remy Warren]

I think that's like, hunters are the ones that I like as a hunter and somebody that hunts all, you know, like, that's what I do. I love animals first and foremost.

[Unnamed Guest]

Absolutely.

[Remy Warren]

You know, it's like, I am an elk hunter, and if there are no elk, I'm no longer an elk hunter. Like, you want to talk about how I identify as an elk hunter, right?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And if there are no elk and there's no elk to hunt, I cannot be an elk hunter. So I do everything in my power to make sure that I can continue to be an elk hunter. That means make sure that we can do what we can for the elk.

[Unnamed Guest]

I just think there's. There's a lot more similarity there between the person who may not hunt, that's an animal lover and the hunter. Yeah, a lot more like, than. If we'll sit down and talk a little bit, you'll probably find out, wow, we're really not that different.

[Remy Warren]

100%. Yeah. You know, the other thing, you know, you talk about, I think, with anything when it comes to conservation is there's that money aspect, but then there's also that boots on the ground aspect, the volunteers. And I think that that's also a huge, you know, factor as well in doing certain things. I mean, you know, the. The projects that, you know, take volunteer hours and man hours, and, you know, it's like somebody can help out in. In various different ways, whether it's volunteering time, volunteering money, volunteering, you know, their knowledge of something that all benefit the system. And I think they all kind of definitely work in. In concert as well.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. I mean, all of our groups, we all say the same thing. We all think we have the greatest volunteers, and we all do.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

I mean, a lot of them are the same to go across, and they have all their passions to different stuff. You know, the one thing that's unique, I think, about the Elk foundation volunteer that I haven't seen in other groups that I've worked with and for is, you know, they're. They run the chapter. They're involved in the grants. They come to every meeting you do, they donate, they go work the project, they show up, they write a big check. Like, it's. You know, sometimes a person has a bunch of time to give you, and that's not the same person that maybe writes the $10,000 check or shows up at a banquet. And everybody has their pockets. So many of our people do it all.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

They're just so engaged in everything, and I'm like, how do you. I don't think I could do it. I don't know how they do it. They're just amazing people. And, you know, for us, it's about 15,000, and they are the community. And it's. You know, I talked with this. With our board, sometimes getting to make sure we don't lose sight of this, is that, yeah, we do these banquets and we raise this money and these events in these towns, and we bring that money back and we do all these grants and all this merchandise, and it involves industry and it does all these great things. But for us, it's more than the event. Our membership comes out of there, our branding in local community, the grants on the ground, all the work they do. I think I've said it before. It's like, any company would love to have 15,000 free people selling your brand every day for you, for just what we talked about, protect this lifestyle they love. Unbelievable. Like, it doesn't really exist anywhere else that I've seen on that level. And it's. It is the foundation of who we are and what we do. And just. It's just so much more than this event in a local town that it provides back for the organization. And it's always cool when you travel and, you know, we all travel a lot, and you go through airports and you see the T shirt or the RMF hat or maybe and you walk up and say, thanks. And it's amazing, you know, 250,000 members, but, boy, we got a lot more supporters than those of the membership. And you see the impact all over. It's pretty neat.

[Remy Warren]

It is really cool. You know, it's funny because when I first started guiding, a lot of the guys that I would guide would be. Would come from somewhere else, like, I don't know, Wisconsin, Minnesota, who knows? Like, Maine. Right?

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And they're like, guys that were, you know, chairman of their Rocky Mountain Elk foundation chapter in some small town. I was like. And it always baffled me. I was like, there's not even elk there. I was like, what do you guys do? Well, there was an elk there then. Now a lot of those places have elk. And it's like. Well, it's because those guys were. So many of them had never even hunted elk. Yeah, they just had the desire to hunt elk and started. They went to a banquet dinner one time, like, this is cool, you know, and they're like, oh, we're doing something good. And then started, you know, volunteering. And then it's like. And it's, you know, seeing some of these guys over the years, and it's like, yeah, now we've got elk in our state, and we've got this and we've got that. And it's just all these Volunteers, you know, kind of doing their part. And that's. That's one of the cool things, I think, about the hunting community. And. And like you said, there's. There's more similarities, whether you're a guy that's a duck hunter, you're a guy that's an elk hunter.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

Like, it's all. We're all hunters. And I think that, you know, the. The. When we get together and do things like, you know, the. Most of those guys were not elk hunters.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

But they were guys that were volunteering their time to help elk in a place that's like, one day, I want to go do that.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And I just thought that was, like, the coolest thing. And that's. I think that that's one thing that's very unique about the Elk foundation is RMEF is like, there's people all over that are in that kind of common goal that may not even have experienced it like I experienced.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And that. That's like. That's a. That's a cool membership.

[Unnamed Guest]

I think we have, if I know the number, right, it's, you know, 80 to 85,000 members east of the Mississippi. And we know all 85,000 have never hunted elk. Most of them probably never will. But that pinnacle desire to do it one day is there. And. And. And, you know, there's a. I grew up. I love turkey hunting. Right. I mean, chasing bulls in September and. And chasing a gobbler in April, very similar. You know, it's just what I always say. It's. It's turkey hunting on steroids, Right?

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's that next level. And. And I know a lot of friends that are that way is like, they're unbelievable turkey hunters, but they still love that elk hunting, to go on top of it. And, you know, that's part of our success, I think, is just that the story of the impact the organization has been able to make over time and the reputation it's earned. And, you know, nowadays we're very successful in the advocacy world and fighting to keep these things in place. The power of that outreach you're talking about, you know, the mountain lion issues. We got heavily involved in Colorado. Great win to protect hunting. We did a piece out, and I remember right from our staff, we got responses from 49 to 50 states.

[Remy Warren]

Wow.

[Unnamed Guest]

The only state we can get a response from was Hawaii, which that's the only state we're not active in. So our membership, it's in Colorado. But how many people hunt Colorado from other states? Ton.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

Probably the number One state for many years for non resident coming and hunting, got involved and sent messages and impact. So it goes beyond just the dollars on the ground and you know, it's all. As you compare it to the mission side, there's this well balanced piece. It's the same with this side. It takes the volunteers, it takes the money, it take the partnerships, it takes all that stuff to kind of make these machines work. And it can get complicated at times. You know, it can be challenging. But in the end, you know, all of the groups, we all work together to, to the, to provide this same kind of result. And we, we've had these conversations with the board is like mule deer or pheasants or ducks or. They're not competition. Our competitions is the anti. That hates what we do. Yeah, you know, they're. We're all, we're all in this battle together and people. Oh, really? It's like, no, we, we all want to see us all succeed. You know, we all work together, same partners. We're all a lot of times the same members, same volunteers.

[Remy Warren]

Yep.

[Unnamed Guest]

That's not the competition, you know, and that, that joining that, you know, that, that voice in the middle that we've got to continue to stay united as hunters to protect this because we're going to continue to be less and less of the total percentage of the population as population grows. It's not the easiest thing to get into. You know, like you say it's not go. You're gonna, you're gonna drive out west and chase elk.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

Where do I start? Right?

[Remy Warren]

That's, you know, that is one of the things that I've kind of. I always kind of suggest to guys that say, hey, I'm new. Because there's a lot of people go like, hey, I'm new and done. The guy that got into it from their family or had like a direct mentor. It's so much easier. Yeah, but you kind of don't know what, you don't know. You're like, I want to get into hunting, but I don't really have that mentor person or someone to take me out getting into it later in life. And one of the things that I've said for a long time, they're like, well, what's. Like, what's a step that I can take? And obviously, you know, getting your hunter's safety and that other thing. But I always suggested to people, find a Rocky Mountain Elk foundation chapter and you start volunteering with those because you're surrounding yourself with hunters that are people that care about the wildlife and they're going to do it in the right way. And you're just, just you're kind of putting yourself in a position to interact with people that know about hunting and know what. Like those are the people that you need to kind of like connect with in a way, you know, is like, I know a lot of people are like, yeah, I did that. I got involved in projects and other things and then on those projects, you know, I started picking up things and met people to like hunt with and other stuff. And I'm like, those people you like kind of cut a little bit of a learning curve in a way.

[Unnamed Guest]

Oh, for sure.

[Remy Warren]

You know, because it was like that was just a, a strategy. Like that's what I would do if I didn't know how to hunt. That's how I would do it. Because I think that, you know, you're around those people that understand it and then it just kind of perpetuates. Yeah, you know, it's.

[Unnamed Guest]

And I think that's where you identify the person you're looking for. A lot of cases, you know, like I, if I never harvest any animal, any other type, I'm fine with that. But I enjoyed if I could help someone get involved. Now I've been lucky and done a lot of things, you know, that, that most people would never be able to do just being in the industry and doing those things. But man, my daughters love it, other kids. And so when you get involved, that's most of our volunteers that are at a point in life where they're volunteering, spending all this time, they love to grab someone who's never done it and get them involved in it. We have this neat program with the University of Montana. Wild Sustenance, it's called, that we sponsor with them and it's a class accredited class at the University of Montana. You have to have never hunted before ever to take the class.

[Remy Warren]

Wow.

[Unnamed Guest]

And they take them from hunter's ed, firearm safety all the way to prepping and cooking the meal and everything in between. And it's a pretty neat. It's. We get some feedback from the university on it and it's expanded into New York and some other universities are looking at it. And you know, it's pretty interesting when you watch these kids who like, like you said, they grew up, no one in their family ever hunted, do nothing about it, never shot a gun. They're, they're harvesting animal, they're vacuum sealing, packing the meat, they're putting all in and they're cooking the meat and fitting to all their friends at school.

[Remy Warren]

That's cool.

[Unnamed Guest]

It's pretty neat.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, that's right.

[Unnamed Guest]

And it's one of the number one classes people want to get in at the university.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, I imagine. Yeah. That's cool. That's really cool.

[Unnamed Guest]

But that's really what it's about, you know, an outdoor class. Like, you're involved with us. Right. That. That was the whole thing. There is this. How can we help in the education of people want to get involved.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

In the outdoors. Like, that's also part of the. The hunting heritage, part of our membership. Yeah. It's protecting, but it's also. How are we promoting it further down the road? And there's a lot more people coming from. You know, if you come from a broken home situation, there's pretty good chance you're not getting the mentor that, like, for me, it was my grandfather. Right. That.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

That got me into it and was like my mentor and hero. But if you don't have that, where do you go? And you're seeing it more and more as people a little later in life, they get into college and their buddies, hunting college or whatever it may be. And that was our whole endeavor into that world, is how can we develop these best practice, sound practices and measurements for people that want to go out and get involved and be safe and learn more and all the management that goes with it. And I think you've been probably our number one influencer on that deal, so we appreciate that.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, yeah. No, I think one of the things that I like to do is, well, even with this podcast, is just teaching people so when they get out there, they can make that time more valuable. Right. Because there's just so much to learn, so much to know, and it just makes that kind of process smoother. And I think that that's like, one of the things I feel very fortunate to get to have hunted so much, whether it's through guiding or my own personal hunting. So then in kind of be able to share that. And then even with, like, outdoor class breaking down, this is how I do it, and be able to visually see that a little bit better. I'm. Whether you're a new hunter or somebody that's your entire life, like, there's. There's stuff. There's a lot of people that I know that have hunted their entire life, but, you know, maybe it's a week, a year.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, yeah.

[Remy Warren]

And it's like. It's like. Yeah. And I'm like, you know, my biggest year is 323 days in the Field. That's a lot like, that's multiple lifetimes of hunting in one year. Yeah. You know what I mean? So getting that kind of time and then getting to share that with people, you know, I think that, like, I'm appreciative that I've been had that ability to be able to do that. And the other thing that, you know, kind of bring it back to another point that you mentioned about the unity thing, I think is big. And one of the things that I think you're starting to see more of now that we might have not seen in the past is the fact that, like, as hunters, the guy that lives somewhere else. Right. Well, why is a mountain lion hunting ban in Colorado a big deal? I don't hunt mountain lions. I don't go to Colorado. Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah.

[Remy Warren]

But as hunters, we kind of see, well, this is the trend. That's their tactic for sure, is, okay, we're going to. We're going to go after one species and then we're going to. It gets our foot in the door and we're going to essentially create a path for this ballot box wildlife management. And so I think one of the cool things that you can see now is. And the awesome part about, you know, RMEF and just being able to mobilize a base of people and say, look, this is going on over here, everybody pay attention. Because that could happen anywhere, you know, and having not just those, you know, those people in one little area trying to fight something that's going on where you live, having, you know, the entire group of army of members saying, oh, look what's going on over here. We don't. That's not okay because we're all kind of uniting. And underneath this, this one front of saying, look, we got to go with the science. We got to go with, you know, the North American model of conservation. These are proven systems that are working and we don't need to, you know, deviate from that.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, like you hit early on on that is, you know, it became this emotional thing which is very dangerous. When the motion, when you're making that decision, anything from a voting standpoint, but specifically into wildlife, which is all biology and science and management. And, you know, in Colorado, parks is probably one of the best that's ever done it. If you look at the history of hunting game in Colorado, they've been successful to everything. But it's hard to win that battle if you just take the science base. It just when one side's all emotional and I get it.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Unnamed Guest]

You could look at that Stuff and go, well, man, that's a beautiful animal. It absolutely is. But it's also a killer.

[Remy Warren]

Oh, yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And it better be balanced or it ends up what's happening. And, you know, in that deal, when you looked at it, I think there was something around 6,000 mountain lions in Colorado, highest population there's ever been, and been hunting them the whole time. So it kind of shows you that all of that absolutely works, as you say, that the North American model, the biologist, the hunter, all that connected works. No one's trying to hunt this animal down to the point that it becomes endangered, actually trying to keep it within the balances of the ecology we're talking about. And here's another side that comes in with this emotional message with people who've never hunted, don't understand anything about it. And that's where we jumped in heavy. You know, we put a lot of money, a lot of time and. And worked with some great partners on that deal to make sure the message was out there. Both sides of it. You know, the scientific side understand there is science here that says what's happening works. This ballot box biology is dangerous. And then we had to also jump in the emotional side to make people understand, hey, this isn't your little backdoor kitty. And when you looked at the number of tax and the things that happen out there, it's, like, better. And it worked. I mean, when we started that deal, I want to say Napoleon was behind by 13% and we won by 11%.

[Remy Warren]

Wow.

[Unnamed Guest]

So something worked. And the most danger in that piece, honestly, it wasn't really like you say about mountain lion. Was that how it defined trophy hunting, which we all hate that word. Right. Of how it's trying to be defined. A trophy is whatever someone makes it to be. As we say, it's all about the experience. But it defined trophy hunting in a way that if you had anything other than the meat, it was a trophy. If you had an ivory out of an elk, you had an antler, you had fur, you had a claw, you had anything. If you took that along with the meat, it was now trophy hunting. So imagine that model becoming the standard for hunting. And it's like, yeah, I don't. We don't hunt for the antlers on the wall, per se. It's just a memory of what went on. It's for the meat, but there's nothing wrong with that as well. And they tried to. That's how they were trying to define it. That model would have got copied, and it would have got infiltrated through Everything. And that's why we had to jump in so hard is like, on the surface, it looks. It's the iceberg, right?

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

But under, you know, that. Know the game that's going on and huge win for all of hunters and outdoorsmen that got involved in that.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah. That's awesome. Well, I just want to say thank you so much. You know, it's been awesome to be able to sit down and talk about some of this stuff. And like, I, you know, primarily it's a tips and tactics podcast. But I think that one of the things that is extremely important is just understanding the conservation and hunters role behind that. Especially, you know, when there's a lot of new hunters and other people that might even be listening and they go, oh, I didn't really even understand that. Like, I didn't understand what's the Elk foundation do? What's. What's rmef do? Like, the whole behind the scenes of what goes on in these conservation projects and, like, getting this. This land conveyed and habitat and just, like, working for the elk and then not only that, but even just for hunters, hunter access and all this other stuff, I think it's just good to talk about that kind of stuff. And it really kind of, in a lot of ways, too, especially postseason, kind of ignites everybody's passion for, like, okay, cool, what's next. Next season? And then, okay, what are some of the things that I can do along the way to help out and do that? So I think it's awesome to be able to sit down with you and just hear some of that. I think people are going to really appreciate that.

[Unnamed Guest]

So thank you, and thank you, Remy, for, you know, everything you do for hunters and hunting and conservation and, you know, I don't think people quite understand. Yeah, you hunt, right, and you do all this stuff, but the impact you make across all of this and helping normalize who we are and what we do a little bit, that it's not a bunch of crazy people, you know, hunters or they're pretty good guys.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah.

[Unnamed Guest]

And gals that are out there chasing elk and love animals and love the landscape. And again, there's a. There's a lot more similarity than we all think. If we would get in a room and talk sometimes. But we appreciate. And your involvement with us at the Elk foundation here lately has been great. We look forward to continue to build on that relationship and keep pushing hunting and conservation forward, you know?

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. And I think, too, for those that aren't members, you know, you can always go Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Website Join Be a member. If you're already a member, be a life member. You know, that was one of the things that I think was kind of important to me. And you know, I, it's like, you know, I think, what, what did I do? It was like every time I, you know, something, I was like, I wanted to be a life member for a long time. So every time I killed an elk, I think I put like a hundred dollars away or whatever and it was like, okay, you know, not, you know, it's like, whatever. And like, you know, it's like, okay, cool. And it's like, this is my life member fund. You know, I do that with a bunch of different organizations of like, okay, like I'm, you know, saving and then doing that like as a, as a bigger donation or whatever. Just. And then, you know, even just going to an event or whatever it is, you know, helping raise funds and jumping in on projects and other stuff. So if you guys out there aren't members, that's the first step, I think, just become a member. And also if you are a member, you'll get, you know, you get the benefits of being a member. And I think one of those is Bugle magazine. I'll have some article. I have, I think I've had a couple articles in there recently. So, yeah, if you like my podcast, you see you can read some more tips and tactics that are shared there, some other in depth stories and some other stuff. It's been fun to be able to do that. So just kind of a another thing, you know, you get as a member, you kind of get part of that plugged into the community of Elk foundation members. But also, you know, you're conserving habitat and helping out elk as well. So.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, one of the neatest stories on Bugle we had happen was at a convention like this. I think we were in Fort Worth and it was during COVID and you know, you hired the security people to sit and this, this gentleman was sitting and all he did was just sit in a chair all day. Nobody ever came his way. Nothing happened. And he grabbed our beauty. He said, can I have one of these magazines? He's. I was like, yeah. And so he read the thing cover to cover and not a hunter, nothing. He goes, as one of the best magazines I ever read in my life. He said, is there any way you got more copies? I go, better than that. And I signed him up and I go, you're going to get, you're going to get the next ones. And when you need more, let me know. But it was just that, the quality of that magazine. Oh, yeah, it's pretty neat.

[Remy Warren]

Yeah, I know. It's. There's just so many different types of. I mean, it covers everything from the conservation projects, cooking, hunting, tactics, stories, the gamut. You know, it's like. I mean, it is the. I mean, it's been the gold standard since I can remember of hunting magazines for elk. Like, it's specific for elk, so it's got everything in there, plus, plus, more. So if you guys are, you know, aren't members, I suggest signing up. And. Yeah, it's. It's a. It's an awesome organization, and it's just part of being a hunter. You know, conservation and hunting go hand in hand, and this is kind of the way that we do it and. And can get involved. So thank you so much.

[Unnamed Guest]

Yeah, thank you, Remy.

[Remy Warren]

All right. And I'm just going to say I like to do in a little awkward goodbye until next week. Bugle on.

[Unnamed Guest]

That's right.

[Remy Warren]

Bugle on, guys.

[Kyle Weaver]

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed that podcast. I know it was awesome for me to be able to sit down with Kyle and talk conservation, especially when it.

[Remy Warren]

Comes to elk hunting.

[Kyle Weaver]

You know, a lot of the hunts that I go on every year and take people on are elk hunts. So it's awesome to be able to put forth some of the ways to give back to elk and elk conservation in front of you guys. Another thing I want to mention, Christmas is coming up. You know, I like to go big when it comes to Christmas, and I am bringing back my annual 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. This is my way to give back to you guys for the listeners, for those that follow and watch videos and do all this stuff. I really do appreciate it. And so throughout the year, I always try to find a way to give back to you guys. The twelve days of Christmas is a fun one for me. So I've gathered up, oh, I don't even know, over $10,000 or more, maybe closer to $20,000 worth of prizes. And each day, starting on the 14th, I give a prize away until Christmas Day. This year, I tried to simplify it. In the past, there's been. You go on every day and whatever. So all you have to do, just go to my website now, it'll be up, you can sign up, and then there's just different things you can do to gain more entries. It's like visit my website, go to my YouTube channel. It's just to get people active and to do these other Things. It's not like a. I don't know, it's pretty simple.

[Remy Warren]

I just.

[Kyle Weaver]

It's the way that this program does it because I just want to make it fair. So I use a program that does the drawing and then there's just multiple.

[Remy Warren]

Ways that you can get. Get more entries.

[Kyle Weaver]

So that way you can go in once and if you want to do these different things, you can get more entries. Subscribe to the podcast is one of them.

[Remy Warren]

Right.

[Kyle Weaver]

And so. And then each day we'll pick a new winner. There's some incredible prizes, stuff from pretty much every company I work with, including, like, there's a Matthews bow, Yeti Cooler, Vortex optics. I've even got some RMEF memberships in there. What else do we got? I mean, literally everything. A decked truck system. I mean, just thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Chenae's boots, Day six arrows.

[Remy Warren]

Matthews bow.

[Kyle Weaver]

If I didn't want to mention that. But just a whole list of incredible gear. Stuff you guys won't want to miss out on. Some full first light kit. Like, we've just got everything on there. So go to the website, check it out. 12 Days of Christmas for those of you that have played before. It's a lot of fun. And you know, some of the past winners are probably definitely listening to this again. So get in there. It's some awesome gear to be had. Some made with meat, meat processing stuff. Montana Knife Company. I got one of my elkhorns left. I think it's the last one in existence. So that's like, I think that's going to be Saturday's prize. So jump in there, sign up if you guys are interested. And then as a reminder, as always, you can use outdoor class, use code livewild and get a discount for outdoor class if you don't have outdoor class. Or maybe it's some of you listening to this and like, hey, I got a buddy and I don't know what to get him. It's a gift that keeps on giving. You get the subscription for the entire year. They can use all the courses. They can visit my courses, any future courses. Some great stuff in there. It's. It's an awesome.

[Remy Warren]

If you like this podcast, like the.

[Kyle Weaver]

Knowledge that it gives you, that's just a bonus. Some incredible content on there. So something to think about. And I'm just going to say until next week, bugle on, we'll catch you guys later.