Join us on Sportsman of Colorado as we dive into the intricate world of wildlife politics with Dan Gates, a pivotal figure in Colorado’s wildlife management discussions. In this episode, Dan provides insights into the current legislative battles and the persistent challenges faced by advocates of science-based wildlife management. Learn about the delicate balance policymakers must maintain between scientific data and the socio-political influences driving the state’s wildlife conservation efforts.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado’s premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns, and ammo from Colorado’s top outfitters featuring the industry’s leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here’s your host, Scott Watley.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome to Sports from Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, we are going to have a great show for you. And I hope you can just stick around for the hour. I’m just going to tell you right now, whatever you got planned, I hope you can just put a few things on hold and stay tuned for the next hour. Glad to welcome to our airwaves Dan Gates, Colorado’s responsible for wildlife management. And all of you remember Dan through the years, but especially last year with Prop 127. And Dan, of course, led that fight. And we were victorious there. But folks, a lot of things are on the horizon. And I want to mention Dan’s podcast real quick. First of all, Dan, welcome to the show. How are you, bud?
SPEAKER 03 :
Scott, thanks a bunch. We’re doing great. I appreciate the opportunity again, and miss speaking to you, but look forward to the conversation.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I’ll tell you what, instead of me telling about your podcast, you tell about your podcast real quick, and then we’ll get into some things.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and today, I know this is recorded a couple days before your show, but today we’re actually proud to announce that we’re launching our 75th episode for the Through the Gates podcast that we started on January 1st of 2025. Okay, cool. Well, we didn’t intend on ever doing a podcast. I was doing everybody else’s podcast and radio shows. Some of the big names in the industry coaxed and poked and prodded and threatened and shamed and admonished us to do a podcast because there was a space that they thought that was missing when it came to the wildlife politics and talking about science-based wildlife management. And we get off of subject a little bit when we get into those conversations, depending on who the guest is. But we’re excited to continue moving that needle. And without guys like you and Charles and Mike from Howl for Wildlife and Ranellas and Cable Smith with Lone Star Outdoors and Robbie Denning with Rockcast and a plethora of others, we wouldn’t have had the incentive to do what we’re doing on the podcast. And it just helps elevate our position and continue to carry the message.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, like you say, there’s a lot of things from just the outdoor side, but then all the things that you’re able to get into is what we’re going to talk a little bit about today. It’s just from all the battles that’s going on, legislative things that are going on. And, man, and again, I think that’s what I’ve been trying to get done for years is is get this brought to the forefront where we’re educating our sportsmen and where they know what’s going on and it’s real, not just things they’re seeing on social media, you know?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and that’s one of the biggest challenges. And we thought we cracked that nut during the 127 campaign because of the national attention that was brought to Colorado. But a lot of times sportsmen get complacent with mediocrity. And if they don’t pay attention to something being threatened to be taken away… uh, a lot of times they just wait for what they consider to be the devil at the door or the inevitable. And then they rally the troops again. And fortunately, fortunately, they’ve been able to do that, but we need to do it all the time. This fight for conservation and, and science-based wildlife management has become a 365 day a year fight, not a meeting or not an election fight. And, uh, we just need to elevate our stance, enhance our position and, uh, Try to figure out a way for sportsmen and women, not just in Colorado, but around the western part of the United States, to unite the fight.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. Absolutely. All right. Some news last week. Jeff Davis, director, resigned his position, was assigned another position. And I thought we’d do this because, you know, I meet people that haven’t been in Colorado long or… There are like a lot of us that, hey, they’ve hunted here a lot, but just never paid attention to the politics that go on there with CPW. And I did see a recent clip, which we’ll touch on, too, from your podcast about the commission board and all. But for those that don’t know, give us just a snapshot picture of – Of what happens at CPW, I mean, Polis is at the top, correct, as far as overseeing things?
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Yeah, I mean, the process is that you’ve got Colorado Parks and Wildlife is one of five divisions under the Colorado Department of Natural Resources where you have Executive Director Dan Gibbs that oversees the umbrella of those five other divisions. And then Governor Polis is on top of all of that. The thing that we’ve had a hard time dealing with is that it’s not just Governor Polis that’s in the business of wildlife. It’s his spouse, First Gentleman Marlon Reese. And from the best of my knowledge, Marlon Reese was never on a ballot the last two elections, but he has a tremendous amount of input and say when it comes to wildlife management. A lot of other things dealing with our natural resources, but particularly what I’m interested in is on the wildlife management. And Marlon is a staunch animal activist, an anti-hunting extremist. And I would err on the side of caution for anybody that thinks otherwise. But it plays into a lot of our oppositional efforts when people are approaching the commission and trying to degrade and erode the science-based side of a management agency that’s been doing as good as what it could have done over the course of the last 125 years, given a population of now 5.9 million people and 84 million visitors and 961 species of wildlife. And, you know, it
SPEAKER 04 :
It just kills. When we were going through all this stuff with Prop 127 and the more conversations we got in with different things, it’s just so insane, man, that, again, the whole deal we’re about is science-based wildlife management instead of emotions and different things like that. And I know that’s all you’ve been dealing with, you know, seems like your whole lifetime here. But, man, can we ever get, you think, to that science-based wildlife management?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well – I think that judging from what the facts and the data and the statistics and the knowledge and expertise and background of the people that are driven as a lifestyle and a livelihood within game agencies, fishing game agencies, which more often than not have become parks and wildlife agencies or parks and game agencies, which I don’t have a problem with that except for there’s a tremendous amount of crossover that when you manage parks, you’re managing people more than you are the wildlife or the natural resource side. And when you’re managing wildlife, you’re managing wildlife with people and agriculture and the landscape and public and private and a variety of things that go into it. And so I think, you know, when you merge two groups like what have been merged under the Hickenlooper administration, It starts to muddy the waters on many levels about what is science and what is not and what is of personal benefit and what is not and what is of the best interest of the cause and what is not. And I think that Colorado Parks and Wildlife has done as good as what they have been able to do given the fact that they don’t make the final decisions on a tremendous amount of stuff, especially the confrontational type stuff, or when authoritative superiors look at things from a different perspective. I mean, with all due respect, I mean, I don’t agree with everything that every game agency or Parks and Wildlife does. But I damn sure don’t agree with undermining manipulation of non-experts or individuals, whether they’re elected or appointed, to have agendas that turn around and can suppress and shut down experts in the field, people that go out and study black-footed ferrets or people that go out and study wolves or people that go out and study bald eagles or cutthroat trout or whatever it is, and come up with this data and this science and this statistics, and somebody else just wants to turn around and throw that stuff aside because I don’t want you to do it or we don’t want you to do it, or you shouldn’t do it like that, just because it’s an opinion and a perspective. And I’m hoping that CPW can, at one point in time in the near future, survive the onslaught of what has happened over the course of the last seven-plus years, which is going to continue to happen, that we’re going to talk about. But, you know, there’s a tremendous amount of good people in CPW fishing game agencies and parks and wildlife agencies sure and there’s a tremendous amount of people that treat it like a job and not a career or a lifestyle and then there’s a people on the outside that want to play armchair quarterback on every single thing because they have an agenda in their mind of how it should be done
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. Dan Gates is with us once again. Colorado is responsible for wildlife management and also Save the Hunt, colorado.com. All right, let’s talk about some things that are going on. You know, you and I talked last week, like four or five days ago, and you said there was a whole lot of things that have already happened then. So fill us in kind of what the landscape is right now, what’s going on and what you’re up to.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, one of the things that people need to pay attention to, and if they have the time to go back and listen to the first day of the November commission meeting in Sterling, Colorado, and then go watch it on YouTube, just go back and watch the first hour and a half. You can see some of the things that we’re having to deal with. The things that happened just during the commission comment period and how commissioners were kind of at each other’s throats on different levels, but there was motions made and seconds made and motions withdrawn and a complete disregard for process and procedure. But the only accountable and transparent side of the whole deal was to see who had what agenda from a commission position and how they were going to end up butting heads on different things moving forward on citizens’ petitions dealt to them over the course of the last year and how they want to address them it’s probably one of the most frustrating meetings that i’ve been to and one thing that was interesting is that senator byron pelton had conjured some of his northeast individual members you know to those constituents to come to that meeting so there was county commissioners and other elected officials and so forth that came they all got up and spoke at different points of the meeting but to see the blatant disregard for process of procedure and not allowing things to happen in accordance with what was intended to happen. And the reason I say that is because last week we just received the 125-page Beaver statewide management plan that had been drafted. that is now looking for public comment all the way up until December 17th. And they can go to the CPW website to provide comments on the beaver management plan. And I encourage each one of your listeners to at least pay attention to this, because even if they don’t care about beavers, this is the way that this administration and these commissioners want to turn around and move the needle, not just on beavers, but a variety of other species. On Sunday night, I also received the 87-page furbearer management focus group plan that I was part of, and I was part of the Beaver one too. But to see that those had not even been fully completed and that some commissioners wanted to erode and degrade the entire process and circumvent the process and hear citizens’ petitions at the November or maybe at the latest, the January commission meeting, when those documents had not been completed and the focus groups had not been completed And it almost was just throwing out the entire stakeholder process with blatant disregard and trying to get their agenda filed sooner than later with no public notice, nonetheless. I mean, Commissioner Jessica Beaulieu wanted to have that petition on the commercialization of fur-bearing animals, which means that you couldn’t go out and harvest the coyote and then sell the pelts. or you couldn’t do anything with the skull or the claws. You couldn’t do anything with a bobcat. You couldn’t do anything with a skunk. If you found it on the road, you couldn’t do anything with it. So the citizen’s petition that was filed in the middle of this year, in June, was up for review in March. But Commissioner Beaulieu wanted it to be heard in November with no public notice. And when they couldn’t get that done, they wanted to be heard in January with no public notice. And I think the only thing that really stopped it was the fact that Jeff Davis had made some comments to help prolong the process, at least to the completion of the two working groups, the Furbearer Group and the Beaver Group. But then Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff even got up and said, with all due respect, you guys kind of blindsided us. You’re asking for something that was not on the agenda. It was not public noticed. There was no opportunity for comment. There was no opportunity for us to prepare because we were told in March, or we were told that we were going to do this in March. And it got back into this knuckle-dragging Neanderthal, he said, she said, woulda, shoulda, coulda finger-pointing session to the point where you just sat there and went, if they’re talking about things in this manner, with things that we have good knowledge and data on, How the hell are they going to turn that and deal with further wolf introduction, or we get into another big cat discussion, or they want to bring up bears if there’ll be a bear bill in the legislative session. They brought up bighorn sheep in some of these conversations. I know I’m going on here, but people need to listen and watch to the first hour and a half of that meeting, and it’ll tell them and confirm to them some of the things that we’re going to have to deal with in January, March, and May at the commission, and likely January, February, March, and April at the legislature.
SPEAKER 04 :
Gotcha. Dan Gates is with us. You’re listening to Sportsman of Colorado. Dan, I’ve got to hit a quick break real quick. And when we come back, though, Dan’s going to fill us in a lot more on some legislative things. We’re going to talk about some raffles. Hey, we’ve got a new calendar out for 2026. So a lot more to come back with Dan Gates right after this.
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SPEAKER 14 :
You’re listening to KLZ 560, your home station.
SPEAKER 04 :
Welcome back to Sportsman of Colorado. If you’re just joining us, Dan Gates is with us. Colorado is responsible for wildlife management. And, hey, pay attention to Dan’s podcast. It is Through the Gates. And he just mentioned earlier, hey, they just finished up their 75th podcast. I tell you, you will get a lot of knowledge of what’s going on around the country even, but especially here in Colorado and not just about the hunting aspect, fishing aspect, but also a lot of things that’s going on legislatively. And Dan’s going to fill us in on some of that here shortly, too. So, Dan, again, we appreciate your time today. So let’s help people that say, you know, I always hear about these meetings and different things. Most of those are done by Zoom, correct?
SPEAKER 03 :
A lot of them are hybrid. There’s a fair amount that are Zoom, depending on what sort of format has been established. But when you get into any of the government meetings, they’ve actually, since the COVID era, been able to up their game and there’ll be an in-person component to it and a Zoom component or virtual. And if people can’t make either one and they still want to stay apprised, they can go back to the legislative side of things or to the Parks and Wildlife Commission side and and either watch or listen to it on their websites or on their YouTube live streams, which then are recorded. So it’s not like that. I don’t expect anybody, unless you’re dumb like me and a few of our counterparts, to go to these for 12 or 14 hours over two days and take the time away from your family and your job and your recreational opportunities. But they need to be apprised of a lot of what is going on, and the best way to do that is either listen while it’s going on or… Listen after hours when the recordings are available. And you can kind of go through the agenda, even though they don’t always stay on track. You can kind of go through the agenda and look and see what’s there. You can also follow the Kyle Evans for Responsible Wildlife Management and get some sound bites to direct you to some other components of information gathering, like follow us on Instagram or follow us on Facebook. And there’s a plethora of other organizations out there that are doing at least distribution of information, whether it’s the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Colorado Farm Bureau, we’ve got a good a good track record of community orientation. But if they don’t know what’s being talked about, or what’s going on, it’s kind of hard to prepare for when they need to actually engage as opposed to when they just need to prepare to engage.
SPEAKER 04 :
Sure, sure. So what would be on the next few calendar dates that people need to be aware of that maybe they want to, you know, come in person or get on with zoom and things?
SPEAKER 03 :
January 14th and 15th, I believe, in Denver at 6060 Broadway. That’s a week after the start of the legislative session. And so the 14th and 15th will be the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting. There will be a bunch of stuff discussed, and there will be a beaver presentation, and they’ll be talking about mountain lions. And obviously, if anybody listened or watched or does listen or watch to the November meeting, I’m sure that big orange sheep will be brought up again. And there was comments in the audience at the last two meetings, why are we harvesting our state animals? Why are we chasing down things that they say that aren’t up to population par for what the agency says? Now, granted, there’s a lot of things that go into managing big horn sheep and mountain goats and moose. I’m not a biologist. I know that certain areas do better than others. But when non-consumptive animal rights extremists make these comments… People should take it seriously because they talk about the low-hanging fruit, and if there’s only 300 and some odd big orange seed licenses or 300 and some odd mountain goat licenses or 400 moose licenses, to them, that’s a small amount of the population that is engaging in that opportunity. We should just get rid of it. We should let those populations go, and those people should not have the chance to pursue it. That’s the same message that they’re pushing on mountain lions and on fur bearers the one decides to use cave traps or whether they want to go pursue them in a predator hunting opportunity. These individuals do not want us doing anything. And for people on our side to be blindsided, they need to figure out a way to educate themselves, pay attention, sign up for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife newsletters and releases. It’ll tell you when the commission meetings are. It’ll tell you when something’s happening in the news. If you’re not signed up for that, you need to. And if you want to get deeper into it, like I say, figure out a way to either attend, listen to, or follow up on the recorded aspects of what CPW has done from the virtual standpoint on their meetings. And the same with the General Assembly when it comes to committees and floor operations when votes are coming up. And we know that we’re going to have a bunch of gun stuff coming down the pike. Sure.
SPEAKER 04 :
Hell yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Senate Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell has indicated that we are going to probably, our backs will be against the wall on the gun side, but the wildlife side is stuff that they’re trying to really just, not just restrict, they’re trying to take it away.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. So when you look at this commission, Dylan, and we’ll move on here, when you look at this commission board, very few of those folks are what we would consider outdoor people, correct?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, if they are, they haven’t expressed themselves in that manner. And by the way that some of them talk, you can kind of get an idea on what sort of background or lifestyle that they, that they lead and what they believe in. And, uh, you know, everybody, everybody has their own opinion, but we need to be cognizant as a community that those opinions turn into actions and those actions turn into decisions and those decisions turn into restrictions and prohibitions more often than not. Um, and I, and I think that, um, You know, while I appreciate people’s willingness to provide and sacrifice some time out of their lives in government agencies or elected positions or appointed positions, I significantly disagree with the opportunity for individuals to stack the deck and create intended consequences when science and experts deemed that those opinions and perspectives are just that, opinions and perspectives, and they don’t go along with what the staff recommends, or they don’t go along with what is needed for the wildlife or the resource, and they don’t go along with the people that have been putting time and effort and opportunity and participation and engagement in over the course of the last 20, 30, 40, 50, or 100 years.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. Yep, very true. If you’re just joining us, Dan Gates is with us. Once again, as Coloradans, we’re responsible for wildlife management. You can also check out SaveTheHuntColorado.com. Also, Dan’s podcast, and it is Through the Gates. And if you’re not familiar with it, I’m telling you, go back and just check it out. take some time and just listen to some of the past shows and you’ll see why we really want to encourage if you’re into the outdoors at all in any level and you know what any if you’re not Dan and I think this is one thing again I think we talked about this a lot you know with prop 127 where and I hate to use the word educate the folks that don’t hunt because I’m not talking down but I think that was a big part of the win we had of getting to be getting some people that you know never will hunt in their life to understand what that decision, had it gone the other way, would have meant for us. And I think that meant a lot. So I think it is good to encourage people to listen to your podcast.
SPEAKER 03 :
I appreciate that. We’ve got some tremendous guests. We try to get people that are adversely affected by things, the decision-making process of wildlife and natural resource management, who are engaged in the actual process. the livelihood and the career. We get game wardens, we get scientists, we get biologists, we get ranchers and farmers, we get gubernatorial candidates, we get hunters and outfitters and sportsmen and women and a variety of different people. We’ve gotten kudos and praise on the diversity that we’ve actually been able to bring in as far as guests. And after watching what other people have done on their podcasts or their radio shows, I felt compelled and empowered to be able to do exactly that and not just talk about the same thing over and over and over. But everything that we’re involved in has that tone and that narrative about why people should constantly pay attention to a lot of the things that are happening. Because if we don’t tell them and somebody else doesn’t tell them, where are they going to get that information? And maybe they still don’t listen to us or somebody else, but at least it’s out there and you can share and distribute it. And I’ll give an example, Scott. We did a social piece on Governor Polis about three weeks ago, I guess. And that piece has gotten somewhere around 210,000 or 215,000 views on Instagram. But it started the conversation with like 1,300 or 1,400 comments on the social media side because it’s of the governor being at the Capitol during Sportsman’s Day at the Capitol, I believe in 2022, and saying, The actions that he has done since then do not align with what he has stated during that specific clip that we recorded. That’s virtual. But those are the type of things that incite people to engage and pay attention. And, you know… People call me out all the time for what I do. I don’t think it’s unfair for us to call other people out for what they do. And when you turn around and go back and see what they’ve done or what they’ve said since then, the biggest concern I think that we have is, as I mentioned this before, the complacency with mediocrity and thinking that just because you don’t pay attention to it, that it’s not going to happen. And I say this frequently, the amount of people that are elected in the state of Colorado who 100 legislators and how many, God knows how many commissioners out of 64 counties. And if you’ve got treasurers and you’ve got Secretary of State and you’ve got new governors, these people are acting on your behalf whether you put them in there or not. And if they don’t know who you are or where you come from and what your lifestyle or your belief system is, how do they even know that you exist, let alone attempt to act on your behalf? And I think that education… is probably one of the biggest things that we need to have. And as long as people will get out and vote and pay attention to stuff, I don’t care what side they are on, because if they all want to turn around and do one thing one way, that’s fine. But when we get 15 or 20 or 25 or 30 percent of the population that doesn’t vote and then gripes about the results, then I have a problem with this so-called republic or democracy that we’re trying to engage in, because we’re busting our butts to make sure that we uphold the North American model of wildlife conservation and responsible wildlife management. And that doesn’t happen by accident. And we need people to be able to be educated and engaged to make that continue.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, absolutely. And once again, through the Gates podcast, we’ll help that as well, help you understand what’s going on and keep you up to date. All right, we got some raffles going on. As I mentioned, we got a new calendar, which I am holding in my hand here. Tell us what’s happening.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m going to the calendar first, and I’m really proud to speak about that because there’s 14 young women that have dedicated their time and effort. There was probably over 100 in totality for the Proposition 127 campaign, but we didn’t have 127 months.
SPEAKER 04 :
You didn’t want to put out a nine-year calendar, huh?
SPEAKER 03 :
No, so we’re going to do it again next year. But the calendar is the Women of Conservation calendar. And the interesting thing about it, and I’ll say this tongue-in-cheek, but there’s no nudes and no bikinis. This is tasteful, and it’s with women of Colorado that hung their hat on the hook of CRWM to create the message about women in the outdoors. These are sportswomen in Colorado. These are mothers. These are single gals. These are houndswomen. They’re rodeo gals. They’re social media gals. They’re professional trainers. There’s a variety of them. But they all hunt and pursue the consumptive use opportunities in the state of Colorado. And we felt compelled to be able to highlight them because they were talking to a tremendous amount of the front-range women between the ages of 18 and 44 that I believe helped sway Proposition 127 and Ordinance 308, the fur ban in the city, county, and Denver. And this calendar has sponsors like Shields. and Women Hunt, and the Wild Sheep Foundation, and Davis Tent, Wilmore Corps, you know, and Denver, and the Rocky Mountain Bighorn Society, and Safari Club International, and Gunworks, and I’ll leave somebody out here, but, oh, Iron Will Outfitters, and Fierce Firearms, and Slide of Gun Shop, they all sponsored this calendar. But the dates that we put in the calendar… are significant dates that people can hang on the refrigerator, on the shop wall, or behind the workbench or whatever. And it tells you when the commission meetings are, and it tells you when the legislative meetings are, and it tells you when banquets and fundraisers and conventions are, and draw deadlines and season dates. And we felt compelled to provide an infotainment-type deal with the women of conservation in there. And there’s a bio on the women, and there’s a QR code for the sponsors and We’re excited about it. You could purchase that at SaveTheHuntColorado.com, and I know that you’ve got a handful of them there that you’re going to figure out something to do.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, sir.
SPEAKER 03 :
But you can go to SaveTheHuntColorado.com. You can go to the shopping cart on there. You can buy a calendar for $24.95. We’ve got other people in and around the Denver area. Davis Tent, Will McCore has them available. You’ve got some. We’ve got a bunch of other individual businesses. Men Turn Anglers is a sponsor and has it down in the Littleton area. If people want to support the cause and get something out of it for the next 12 months anyway, 13 months now, this is an opportunity to be able to do so. And it’s exposure and saturation that will actually remind you of things in front of you. You open it up to May, you can see what’s going on in the month of May when it gets into our wheelhouse.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, man, it’s awesome. I mean, I’m flipping through now. And, of course, it’s got the Denver ISC dates, like you said. It’s got our Mahi Hunting Fish Expo, March 20th through the 22nd. And I say all the different meetings. So, yeah, it’s absolutely very cool.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s cool. It’s cool. And we just appreciate you highlighting that. And in addition to that, as I keep saying, we need money to be able to survive. We’re the only organization that’s got full-time sportsman representation at the state capitol. That doesn’t come cheap. And we are the only organization that is partnering with all the other organizations. We as a 501c4 that allows us to do political advocacy in a manner that other organizations have trouble navigating because of their 501c3 status. That being said, our fundraising efforts have continued to build with Safari Club Internationals, the Colorado chapter. And we’ve got two raffles that are going on right now. Brett Axson, who’s the president down there, is a great partner, as you well know. Absolutely. Rocky Mountain Roosters as well. But we’ve got a buffalo hunt in South Park for December and January, this December and January of 26. And all the processing… that is included, and the tickets for that are $50 a piece or three for $100. And we’ve also got a mountain lion hunt with the Whitaker Brothers Hunting Service. Josh and Jason Whitaker, they did the mountain lion hunt for us before. That hunt will take place in December, January, February, or March. You’ll work out the schedule with the outfitter. But they have been so supportive of what we’ve been doing since September of 23 on Proposition 127 and after. Those tickets are also $50 a piece for three for $100. Two of the people that won our raffles last year are in Colorado. The other two were out of state, but they come to Colorado. But I want to emphasize the fact that when you kick money into the pot for these and everybody sees them all over the place from every other conservation organization, it gives you a chance to win something. But you’re also putting every single dime back into the effort, whether it’s sheep conservation for the Rocky Mountain Big Horn Society, or it’s elk conservation for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, or it’s political advocacy on the fight level in Colorado for the Colorado’s Responsible Wildlife Management. You can go to SCIColorado.org to get those tickets. And the drawing for that closes on the 10th, and the drawing will be held the 12th. So you’ve just got a short time to be able to get on it. If you go to SCIColorado.org, you can get that done, buy a couple tickets, support the cause, support the industry, and support our efforts to continually try to save the hunt.
SPEAKER 04 :
Absolutely. All right. SCIColorado.org. I’ll tell you, a great buffalo hunt and a mountain lion hunt. And if you’ve never done either of those, which I’m sure the larger population has not, I’ve only done one, the mountain lion. So I’ve definitely got my tickets already for the buffalo hunt. But I’m telling you, this is a great opportunity. to get a chance to win, but as Dan just clearly stated, hey, a chance to really help out with the fight. Dan, when you look back at the dollars spent from everybody, man, it was quite extensive last year, wasn’t it?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, and I just don’t think, Scott, that people really understand or realize just how expensive running a ballot initiative is, and at the same time, trying to run things that we had to deal with at the Parks and Wildlife Commission and the legislature. We were fighting three fronts at the same time in 2024. And, you know, that didn’t change in 25 because we had Initiative 98 that surfaced, which, as you’re well aware of, has not been pulled off the plate yet. It’s not on the ballot yet. But we fought through that whole process of the legislative council and eventually trying to wait to see if it was going to go to the title board. This is not a cheap endeavor, and it’s damn sure not for the faint of heart. When you start dealing on three different levels of government and public input, like ballots, the commission, and the General Assembly, it’s trying, and it’s expensive as heck to be able to turn around and do it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Well, Dan, hey, man, I know you’re busy, and I appreciate your time. And I’ll tell you, every time I look in my closet and see a shirt or a hoodie with your picture on it, you know, it makes me warmer.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, let me throw something else out real quick. You know, we talked about Jeff Davis, but the sportsman’s rep, Murphy Robinson, from our understanding, is stepping down as well. And if that’s the case, we’re going to need people that are willing to dedicate some time and apply for that open position. And we need that to come out as soon as possible. If they’re interested, they can go to the CPW Commission website or go to the Secretary of State website, the Governor’s Commissions and Boards website, and put their name in. If they need to, they can contact you or contact me through SaveTheHopColorado.com, but we need other people to get engaged, and this is an opportunity for them to do so, because it’s going to get more contentious over the course of the next 14 or 15 months, and we just have to figure out a way to get people to stand up and support the cause and hold the flag and make sure that we’re all lockstep to unite the
SPEAKER 04 :
Sure, yeah, and Murphy, great guy, by the way. Just throw that in there. He was a good man.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, for sure. Well, Dan, hey, man, we appreciate it. You’re always welcome, of course. Anything else comes up, let us know, and we appreciate your time.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thank you very much, Scott. You tell Charlie hi, and happy holidays to everybody. Merry Christmas, and aim small, miss small.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, buddy. That’s Dan Gates. Colorado is responsible for wildlife management. Get your raffle tickets now for the Buffalo Hunt, Mountain Lion Hunt, SCIColorado.org. This is Sportsman of Colorado. We’ll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 10 :
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SPEAKER 04 :
Here’s your Water Talk Minute with Paul the Waterman, brought to you by Water Pros.
SPEAKER 12 :
So one of the things that we’ve learned, and you can check this out factually information for yourself by going to the EPA.gov. The EPA has a laundry list of unregulated contaminants. And what that means, folks, is that your municipality does not have to test for these contaminants. And so they’re not reported in your annually water quality report. This is something that has to change. We have a false sense of security about the quality of our drinking water, from pharmaceuticals to the levels of PFAS and Gen X chemicals, which was recently removed from the EPA contamination list. And for example, there’s a contaminant on the unregulated list called 1,4-Dioxin. 1,4-Dioxin has been in our water supply since the early 1900s. Check out my podcast on Spotify, Paul the Waterman, or waterpros.net.
SPEAKER 02 :
Riding an e-bike will make you feel like a kid again. Just try it. Hi, I’m Randy Crancy, founder of e-bike of Colorado. E-bikes are a fun way to ride the trails. Pedal assist technology flattens the steepest hills. We have 14 major brands to choose from and our expert staff will find you the perfect bike. Come take a free test ride at e-bike of Colorado in downtown Louisville next to the historic grain elevator. Open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Learn more at ebikeofcolorado.com. Just try it.
SPEAKER 13 :
They’re the first on call and the first on scene. But did you know the suicide rate for first responders is one and a half times higher than the general public? At Hometown Hero Outdoors, we help to provide healing for veterans, law enforcement, and first responders by creating memorable outdoor experiences designed to focus on camaraderie and mental health. Our mission is to serve those who have served us. Help us make a difference. To join Hometown Hero Outdoors or to help by donating, visit hometownherooutdoors.org.
SPEAKER 14 :
560-KLZ, your home station.
SPEAKER 04 :
You’re listening to Sportsman of Colorado. We appreciate you being with us. Just a quick reminder now, you miss our live show here on Saturdays. Catch us twice on Sundays. That’s 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. And then the following Thursday, I had a guy call me and go, I didn’t know you were on in the mornings. Yeah, Thursday mornings from 9 to 10 right here on KLC 560. Well, so far we have been able to do this, and you never know how schedules work out. But first of every month we get our friends on at LT Arms on the show with us. And once again, we came over to record the show here today. So if you haven’t been to the showroom, it is 8130 Schaefer Parkway. And a great store, super good staff, and some really, really cool guns. We’ll get into some of those things in a minute. But Kyle Wiley joins us. How are you, bud?
SPEAKER 11 :
I’m doing good. How are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Good to see you. And the man that always seems to be here for radio, Brandon. How are you doing today, Scott? How are you doing, man? Good. Saw you at the Avs game.
SPEAKER 05 :
I was, yeah. The other night, yeah, the Battle of Quebec is what they called it. It was, yeah, the Canadians versus the Avs, and the Avs did a good job. They won 7-2. It was a nice high-scoring game.
SPEAKER 04 :
Who would you guys – Of course, when the Avs first came here to Denver, it was the Red Wings. Man, that was the rivalry of rivalries. Who’s their top couple of rivalry teams right now?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, the Red Wings have kind of fallen off. They used to be number one. But, yeah, who’s their biggest rivalry right now? I mean, the game you and I went to was – who were they playing? That’s kind of like their big rivalry now.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. I mean, I would say Montreal or – Probably the Jays.
SPEAKER 05 :
Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. The Red Wings thing has kind of died out. It was going hard there for a good 15 years.
SPEAKER 04 :
But everything’s going pretty good, man. I know this is a gun show, but real quick. Nuggets are good. Broncos are good. And Avs. We won’t talk about the Rockies. Now if we just had a Major League Baseball team, we’d be okay. Yeah. Well, Kyle, you haven’t been able to be on every show with us, but as the owner, man, when you look, this has been a fast year, hasn’t it?
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s been a very fast year. It definitely has. We’ve grown and changed a lot in the last six months alone. Yeah, so it’s always moving.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. I’ll tell you, when I first met you guys, you were across the street, and then when you told me you were going to be moving, I thought, oh, man, that’s going to take a while. It seemed like in like… 36 hours you guys are across the street and everything’s all set up, Brandon. So what was that like?
SPEAKER 05 :
It went fast, yeah. We had gunsmiths turn into floor and wall guys. And, yeah, we had to repurpose some tradesmen. But they made it happen quick. Once all the floors and everything were in, we got all the showroom kind of moved over in about an afternoon. And forklifts running back and forth across the street. And it’s lucky we didn’t have too far to go.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER 11 :
no but i’m telling you it did turn out beautiful man but when you walk around kyle you got to be happy with it oh yeah i’m ecstatic i mean from when i started back when i was piping drapes in the back of a warehouse to now i mean it’s a night and day difference just i mean we i built the entire company off of customer service and friendly you know face when you come through the door and so that’s
SPEAKER 04 :
But you still hired Brandon. Yeah. We keep him locked in his office. But, you know, that does bring up a point because – and we were kind of talking before we started the show today. But, man, there’s no – there’s nothing that replaces just a nice welcome when you walk into a place of business. And me as a sales guy and sales trainer for years and all the things, man, I noticed that. And it’s just like you’ll see two employees over in a corner talking, you know, and you’re walking right beside them. You could be picking up something, really looking at it good, probably even telling whoever you’re with, man, I really liked it. And they don’t even pay attention to you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, definitely. You don’t have to know everything about products and all that. You walk into a gun shop, you hope the person is a little knowledgeable. But just a friendly face and being willing to answer questions or help them out with whatever they have makes a world of a difference. Just being friendly.
SPEAKER 04 :
And you guys get a pretty good mix of clients from the hunting world, shooting world, collector world. I mean, you get quite a different array of customers, don’t you?
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah, we’ve been getting a lot of competition guys that shoot pistol competitions and three-gun stuff and everything from building custom guns for these guys to restoring older guns that have been passed down. We do a lot of restoration work recently. We’re doing custom guns for… All kinds of banquets. I mean, we get a really nice, well-rounded customer base in here. It’s not just one thing, so it’s good. Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Custom guns have come to a new level. I mean, these last several years. I mean, it really has. But you know what? It doesn’t have to be $30,000 to be a nice custom rifle, does it?
SPEAKER 11 :
No, not at all. And that’s the big thing is with our custom rifles, we wanted you to be able to get a super high-end custom rifle for the price of a high-end factory rifle.
SPEAKER 06 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 11 :
And so we’ve accomplished that and been able to, you know, make it feasible for people to get into that market to where they can have that, you know, five pound backpacking sheep gun that they want. Or we can make that, you know, 15 pound lead sled, you know, target shooting rifle that someone wants.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
And that’s. But we’re not breaking $10,000 to make this gun for people. And so that’s what makes it nice for them. And we can put the most premium stuff in it and still be affordable. You don’t have to take a loan out to buy a gun from us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, right. Now, where we’re recording today, we’re kind of in their, I don’t know, kind of library type room. Got some really cool guns in here. But when you walk around the store, you will see a great selection of really… I mean, everything, I can’t think of any kind of period you’re missing, so to speak. I mean, you seem to have everything.
SPEAKER 05 :
Not really. I mean, we have a lot of vintage revolvers. We have newer, you know, polymer striker-fired guns. We just finished a set of, it’s a custom James Bond pair of Walther PPKs. One of them is, they both come with suppressors. They’re in presentation boxes. One of them does come with an Omega Seamaster 60th Anniversary Edition James Bond watch. So it’s for sale if anybody wants to come and, you know, spend their Christmas money on something really nice. I mean, that is for sale. And that’s another thing. There’s a lot of stuff that doesn’t have a price tag. Everything’s for sale.
SPEAKER 11 :
Everything’s for sale. I’ll sell you Brandon if you want.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, yeah. Just no return. No exchanges, no returns. It’s LT Arms, 8130 Schaefer Parkway. And, again, great, great store. What are your hours?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, Monday through Friday is 10 to 730. And then Saturday is 10 to 4. 10 to 4. Okay, great.
SPEAKER 04 :
All right, now another thing they do, of course, they can handle transfers for you. You guys do consignment. A lot of times people maybe have a gun collection. Maybe they’re just not into it anymore. They’re just getting to that age. You guys can help them out with that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, definitely, and we’ve been doing a lot of consignment guns for a lot of widows and stuff like that. We have partnered with a lot of the big auction sites and everything, so we can get you pretty much top dollar for whatever you have. And so that’s the nice part is you’re not taking the stuff to a pawn shop hoping to get a few bucks off of it. We’re going to actually get you what it’s worth.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, right. And transfers and all kind of explain different things. If people, first of all, they should just come here to see if you can get it first before they buy it somewhere else, but then see if you can get it. And then if not, they can order things in and then go through the background here. You can do all that. Or if it’s a person to person transfer, you handle all that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, definitely. And, yeah, as far as transfers, with the state of Colorado the way it is, you’re legally required to do a background check on any firearms transfer. So person-to-person, online sales or anything, you have to have a background check done. And it has to be held for three days. And so that’s the big part is… a lot of people come in thinking hey i bought this gun from you know joe blow off the street i want to do a background check and i was going to take it well we have to hold it for three days and so that that that’s one thing that people don’t understand is regardless there’s a three three day waiting period or cool down period in order to buy a firearm. But as far as that, we’re more than happy to facilitate any of that process for people. We try to make it a super easy, streamlined process. We try not to waste too much of anyone’s time. That way they can get in and out go about their day quickly and as smoothly as possible. And if there’s any hiccups in the process, we help them through that process as well as far as giving them everything they need so that they can appeal the denial or that if anything else comes up, we can help them throughout that process.
SPEAKER 04 :
Some people…
SPEAKER 11 :
anti-gun oh there should be checks and they don’t realize gun shows you got to check everywhere you got to check yeah legally yeah i mean what percentage would you say declines in a month how many would there be one per i mean yeah very rarely yeah really yeah it is very rarely so when i first started it was you know that awkward time where uh marijuana just became legal and a bunch of people had medical marijuana cards and all that And so people that had medical marijuana cards would get denied instantly because use of a substance is federal. Buying a firearm is federal crime and all that. And so regardless of viewpoints on that, they would fail the background check because of medical marijuana card. And so as far as that,
SPEAKER 05 :
sense that we very rarely ever have denials come through yeah uh and if you had some where it was denied then they the customer took it and then got it turned reversed yeah because some of them we’ve had people get denied because they were 19 and they got a a dui or they got you know gotten to a fight on a weekend when they’re you know 20 years ago and they they’ll appeal that and usually they always get get approved they just have to go through cbi and get it get that rejection approved the the medical marijuana thing is funny because we yeah we recently had a person that actually wanted to get one and they want to forfeit their firearms to us to be able to get that so really yeah it still factors in not as often but occasionally that’s it’s a thing so
SPEAKER 04 :
wow yeah that’s crazy i can be the forfeit department yeah help them out yeah but really hey you guys do a lot of classes you know and and so get in touch with the store just come by and see them but but they do some great classes they do some things with reloading We’ll cover that more in the new year. But I mean, just a great store. And once again, Kyle said it, but I will say it just from a customer standpoint, super, super, super staff, very knowledgeable. They know what they’re doing over here. They got a great gunsmithing area. So, really, it’s your one-stop shop for all you need. Hey, you got some guns you’re not using anymore and you want to turn those into cash or you want to just put some on consignment, whatever. They can help you out over here at LT Arms, 8130 Schaefer Parkway. So, guys, we appreciate it. And before long, we’ll be saying Happy New Year and getting after it again in 2026. Probably more battles are on the horizon for us in the gun world too, right? That is the sad part, yes. Yeah, for sure. This is Sportsman of Colorado. Hey, we appreciate you being with us today. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend. And come on by and see them at LT Arms, 8130 Schaefer Parkway. Thanks for being with us today. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend.
SPEAKER 07 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
