2/1/25: Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management with Dan Gates-Celebrating our VICTORY on the Win for NO on Proposition 127 & much more! Today’s Guests: Dan Gates with Coloradans For Responsible Wildlife Management is with us for the hour to provide a recap of all the amazing work that was done to defeat Colorado’s Proposition 127 in our recent election. Dan also provides an in depth look on what’s in store for 2025 and beyond with the various activist groups and how they are organized to continue fighting hunters, anglers and outdoorsmen and women of their rights. The mission of
SPEAKER 08 :
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 13 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for being with us today. All right, we are about to wrap up some of the previous interviews that we did about three weeks ago now at the International Sportsman’s Expo. Today’s show we wanted to bring to you in its entirety, and so it is the entire show with Dan Gates. Dan is with Coloradans for Responsible for Wildlife Management and really helped us spearhead our victory on Prop 127 now several months ago. But Dan, He sat down with Kevin Flesch and myself at the International Sportsman’s Expo, and we just got to visit and reflect back on that win with Prop 127 and then some of the battles we already know we’re going to be facing here in 2025 on more threats on our hunting rights here in Colorado. So I hope you’ll enjoy this conversation once again. It was about three weeks ago we sat down with Dan Gates at the International Sportsman’s Expo. Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Hey, real quick, we’ve been playing some interviews for you that we recorded at the recent Denver International Sportsman’s Expo and glad we could grab ahold of our good buddy Dan Gates. Coloradans responsible for wildlife management. and became very familiar with Dan over these last few years, but especially over the last year as we were fighting this Prop 127. And, again, hey, it’s always nice to have a victory. And, Dan, welcome, first of all. How are you?
SPEAKER 11 :
Good, Scott. Thank you very much. Thanks, Kevin.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, it’s good to see you. Man, I tell you, it was a nice win, and it’s almost like we’re watching in sports, you know, We don’t know yet if the Broncos are going to win because they’re playing right now. They’re recording that. But if they win, hey, you get to relish in that for a short time because then they’ve got the Kansas City Chiefs next week if they win. Exactly. And it’s kind of like, hey, we won this, and we all, man, awesome. But, man, many more battles are coming, aren’t they?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I mean, it’s the playbook that the anti-hunting community has been very successful on is they capitalize even off of a loss to generate funds and to recreate their message and to figure out and strategize what worked for them, but mostly what worked against them so they can turn around and modify their objectives and their efforts. As we saw over the course of the last several days at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, you know, right after the election on November 5th, the commission voted on the East Slope Mountain Lion Management Plan at the commission meeting in Lamar. That was the week after. We had two victories the month of November that nobody thought we’d get either one of them. We knew that if we won on November 5th, that we would win. at the commission meeting for the East Slope plan. We knew that if we lost on November 5th, then inevitably we would have lost on the East Slope plan. But the antis doubled down to the point to where when we won twice and kicked the heck out of them, I mean, to the point to where… they were reeling and they lost some of their employees and they lost some of their support and some of their donors and and then they just started to rebuild up but what they’ve done is they’ve rebuilt their armament by further lies and deceit and fallacies and falsehoods even more uh substantial and extraordinary than what they did in the entire campaign yeah and that was still substantial yeah and now they’ve just built up about you know they said this last meeting uh while we lost 55 to 45 percent that was a mandate for the people of colorado to voted no on or voted yes on proposition 127 that they want you the commission to be able to do their work for them that they couldn’t get done well i don’t know where the heck you guys are from but you know 55 to 45 is much much different than even on the wolf deal that was 50.9 to 49.1 And I tell you what, that’s a landslide in today’s political environment. It is. By 10 percentage points, and then they say, no, that’s not what those people meant. They wanted you to do this.
SPEAKER 13 :
And it wasn’t like some come from behind. The way I remember it, we were never behind.
SPEAKER 11 :
Not the night of the election. The night of the election, yeah. There was a lot of consternation and woulda, shoulda, coulda thinking before the election. But, you know… There was a lot of things that played into our victory then that we knew that we had to figure out a way to capitalize on because they weren’t going to stop. As soon as the election was done, if they would have won, they would have moved to something else. Now that they lost, they’re still trying to get that through the process. You know, the gal that was running the Cats Aren’t Trophies campaign, Samantha Miller, now she’s working for the Colorado Chapter Sierra Club. And then Julie Marshall, who claims to be this public information officer that worked underneath the MoMA administration for the old Division of Wildlife, she’s taken over Cats Aren’t Trophies. But just the lies that they do, they spew and they actually believe them. And now they’re even turning around and trying to utilize some of our argument and twist it so the commission is more maybe acceptant to maybe those philosophies or ideologies.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. And we were talking before recording this just about sort of the foundation of what we’ve all done and what you’ve been the spearhead for relating to the movement itself to really continue to to remember that this is just the first step, that this isn’t something that ends after this election, that we have to continue to be vigilant. Maybe talk about that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I mean, the continue to be vigilant deal, that’s one reason why we’re set up here at the show. I mean, John Kirk’s been more than accommodating for us the last couple years with the ISC show. And we leave here, and we’re going to Reno, and then we’ve got some people that are going to be in SCI down in Nashville. We’ll be out in Utah for the Western Hunt Expo. We’ll be at the Mile High Expo in April at the Gaylord. The vigilance of making sure that we stay in the eye and in the voice of people and making sure that they’re part of the equation in continuing messaging and buildup. One of the most frustrating things that we did in this entire deal was trying to get… people on board well now we’ve got them on board yeah uh i mean if you look at our facebook and instagram you look at our following you look at the viewership you look at what we’ve created just recently starting our own podcast yeah it’s not for anything other than spreading the word and keeping people engaged because to be honest with you i don’t have the time or the intestinal fortitude or the bandwidth or the resources to build up what we’ve already built up once We have it here. We’ve got an army. We’ve got a team. We’ve got a philosophy, and we’ve got a message to be able to support the science. We don’t just stop, go into the shadows, and then turn around and try to build it up the next time. No, we have to continue marching forward just like the antis have done. But what they’ve done is hold together a small rag-tag bunch of individuals. And if you look, and this is just a comparable analysis, The first announcement of our podcast that we just did recently this week had 141,000 views on Facebook. The first announcement. Yeah. Cats Aren’t Trophies is doing one as well. They’re doing a podcast. They had five views. Five. Right. 5 to 141,000. We want to capitalize on the momentum that we built and make sure that, you know, this entire industry has the ability to be able to continue to participate and be part of solving the problem.
SPEAKER 13 :
Wow. Dan Gates is with us also. I’m so used to Kevin being here at the show. I didn’t even mention Kevin Flesher also. I’m so used to Kevin looking over and just seeing him. But Kevin Flesher is here with us as well. So, Dan, what is the message now, so to speak? I mean, you know, if you look at your last couple of podcasts, what are we trying to get out right now as we speak?
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, the biggest thing is to make sure that people don’t take it for granted that our victory was just one battle. It was just one battle. And the war continues, you know. Immediately thereafter the election, while we were doing our stuff at the commission meeting on the East Slope Mountain Land Management Plan, there was already conversations about fair chase and about trophy hunting and about utilizing of collars and tracking devices and GPS devices on dogs. That was already part of the conversation. They just carried it over from a two week loss. if you looked at what they did in Arizona, different groups, same mentality, same message. They immediately put out a petition to turn around and ban the utilization of any dog for any sort of sport hunting that is considered part of game management. Didn’t matter if it was quail, didn’t matter if it was for coyotes, didn’t matter if it was raccoons or hounds for lions and bobcats. They went to the commission there for the Arizona Game and Fish Commission. Howell for Wildlife and the Conserve and Protect Arizona group, came together, had about 60 people testify on that day. It wasn’t even on the agenda that day, but they had already submitted the petition. But the sports community came out in full force to say, look, when this is on the agenda, this is what you’re going to expect times 10. And I think that those sort of feelers that the anti-groups kick out are things that they see, okay, They want to capitalize off the people that voted for Proposition 127, even though they lost, and try to get that same sort of enthusiasm to another state. New Mexico doesn’t have the ballot initiative process like what we do for citizens petitions, but they do have the General Assembly that’s not very favorable. And they’ve actually taken some hunting privileges and game management privileges away in New Mexico. We expect that during this legislative session, there’s probably going to be something else that falls in New Mexico. You’ve got Arizona that’s having their issues. Montana’s reached out to us individually. Wyoming has reached out. Idaho, Nevada, Utah, the hound hunters there. I mean, we’ve even had North Dakota and South Dakota representatives reach out to us going, how did you? How can we emulate and what can we do to duplicate and replicate what you guys did? Because we’re not prepared in our state. Yeah. And the biggest thing that we did with CRWM when we challenged ourselves to be able to take this on is we had already had CRWM formulated six years prior to the ballot initiative. Mm-hmm. And so when all these organizations and states and entities are reaching out going, how do we do this? Well, you better formulate something. Right. You got to start now because it’s coming. Yeah. Whether it’s a coalition, whether it’s an individual effort from an individual organization, you better have it built when they get there because when they don’t, it’s like that. It’s like that three little pigs fairy tale when we were growing up. The one guy built the straw house, but the other guy built the brick house in preparation because he saw everything else get burned down, blown down, or whatever. And the brick house is what turned around. And it’s a good analogy because we’re still dealing with wolf issues here. Build up a brick house first.
SPEAKER 13 :
and then when they come they have a harder time turning around and knocking it down yeah wolf deal man yeah i just said that the the little pigs we feel like the little pigs yeah i’m telling you what i think that one reward is up to a hundred thousand dollars on that on that one wolf on that one i’ve seen some things with kids missing kevin i’ve seen some things you know a lot less than that and yet there’s a hundred grand for a war yeah
SPEAKER 11 :
And a lot of that comes out from, you stop and think, them trying to make an example and set a point. They want to turn around and set the tone and narrative that this is as important as anything wildlife related in the state of Colorado, period. And they want to set it for everybody. And look, people will disagree with our position, CRWM, or maybe my personal position. I don’t like the wolf being here, but the people voted on it. And if I’m going to turn around and prop up the statistics on 127 by 55 to 45, I have to recognize that we lost that election. Now, if we want to reverse it, that might be a challenge. If we want to turn around and go through court, that might be a challenge. But in the meantime, I don’t like it. But in the meantime. It does us no good for our side when you look at social media and you look at all the outreach that we have available to us. For guys to get on there and turn around and say, shoot, shovel, shut up. We need to turn around. You see a wolf, you shoot a wolf. Okay, well, I tell you what. The $100,000 reward is nothing like the fine on the federal side of shooting in endangered species.
SPEAKER 04 :
And your hunting privileges and the confiscation of all the assets.
SPEAKER 11 :
And your house and everything. I mean, you cannot afford. Right. And if you think, which is funny to me, when somebody turns around and puts their name on there, whether it’s Bart Smith or Alan Jones or whatever it might be, and if they’re on there, I apologize, I just pulled those names out.
SPEAKER 06 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
But if they just put their name on there and then say, we should shoot this. That means, you know, you’re not helping the cause, but you’re darn sure not helping your own cause. Right. And I think that, you know, like the grip and grin photos that we do in the social media stuff, I’m not opposed to people turn around and posting about their great experience and what they did with their kids and what they did in the field and, you know, the endurance that they had to, you know, engage in for 20 days on a sheep hunter. I don’t have a problem with that. But the trophy hunting side of what the general public looks at… is something we had to fight that cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars and inevitably millions of dollars during Proposition 127, during the campaign. Because we’re not talking to us three. We’re not talking to the majority of the people at this sports show. We’re not talking to the majority of the hunters. We’re talking to the non-hunter. The non-hunter cannot disseminate or decipher the difference between what’s hunting, trophy hunting, what’s poaching, what’s hunting. And then when you look at fair chase components, A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. Well, a video is worth a million.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
And if you turn around and take the clip that was important to you and you put it out there and it’s watched by somebody that actually voted no on 127 or that was supportive of science-based wildlife management, but then they see something and they take it out of context that was part of the message of the opposition, of the proponents of the measure.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
This is what all these heathen bastards are really doing.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 11 :
We don’t need that sort of substantiation. When somebody makes a quote about shoot, shovel, and shut up, those things do not help anything to get people on our side and people in the middle to understand that we are supportive of science-based wildlife management, that we’re 1,000% supportive of the North American model of wildlife conservation, and we have to be able to prop that flag up Because I’ve said it many, many, many times, it’s undeniably the most successful emulated model of wildlife management on the planet. And grip and grin photos and little taglines out of people’s comments on different things do nothing for the cause and do nothing for the effort to be able to sustain it.
SPEAKER 04 :
One of the things that we do still have a fight with that I think the people in the middle would have some concerns about is what the governor is talking about doing and protecting those wolves in the sense of how much it’s going to cost with the range riders and all of the other things that they’re proposing. Is that another aspect of this that we can say, hey, listen, this isn’t just putting wolves back into the field, but now we’re having people and taxpayer money to essentially protect them. And is that something people should be concerned about?
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, I think as this program continually goes, if you look at it, I mean, it’s $4 million to $5 million over budget right now. I was with like 10 wolves on the ground with seven survivors after a variety of different things. And the thing that I want to stress, and for those that haven’t listened to commission meetings or paid attention to the General Assembly and so forth, wolves die naturally. Lions die naturally. Elk and deer die naturally. What sportsmen and women do is provide a component of – Funding, management, and also the trickle-down economic side that goes into the entire state. Last two months ago, I guess, in the last month, it was determined that hunting and fishing to the state alone was a trickle-down effect of $7.25 billion. If you start taking that stuff out… And the taxpayers have to pay for it. Look what taxpayers are having to deal with right now. Just on lying, non-lethal preparation and mitigation efforts without management for sportsmen. Yeah. But sportsmen, it’s not sportsmen dollars that are paying for it, but it’s sportsmen time and effort. Because even though the money can’t come out from the game cash fund, from the wildlife side of it, for the management… The efforts put together by the employees that have to go out and do the work takes time away from the other 961 species of wildlife while wolves turn around and get pedestalized and a lot of other things are being neglected or marginalized. And I think that those things, to the general public, probably went in our favor coming up against Proposition 127 because I interviewed myself. A lot of people in Denver, young men and young women, people with families that said, why do we even get a chance to talk about this? I mean, you know, I don’t want a landscape guy doing brain surgery. Right. I want experts to turn around and do – the work of our wildlife management and resources yeah the problem is the things that become so politicized right and they become so agenda driven and people need to turn around and speak up and and and i know that parks and wildlife officials have have a gag order on them so to speak they can’t they can’t talk about things unless they’re told to talk about them or unless it falls within the confines of what they’re doing they can’t do any op-ed pieces No, but you look at what happened on 127. Look what the Colorado Wildlife Employees Protection Association did. That’s what I mean.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
You know, they came out and they turned around and supported the efforts that we were doing on 127. Look at the Denver Post editorial board came out. We formulated a movement to where people needed to speak up about what was right and what was wrong, not just what somebody wanted or not what something was going to happen to turn around and try to take something away.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah. Wow, interesting. Again, if you’re just joining us, we are recording here at the Denver International Sportsman’s Expo. We’re playing these a few days later. Dan Gates is with us, Colorado’s responsible for wildlife management. What’s your podcast’s name?
SPEAKER 11 :
It is Through the Gates, and it’s subtitled To Save the Hunt.
SPEAKER 13 :
Okay, Through the Gates.
SPEAKER 11 :
Through the Gates, and you’ll be able to find that on every platform. You can also go to our website. at SaveTheHuntColorado.com, and you can find the podcast on there. Click it on there. It’ll take you right to the episodes. We’ve had a really good response over the first two episodes. We’re going to try to do updates and infotainment-type stuff a couple times a week and then a couple times a month have longer versions, but it’s to express the needs, the wants and desires of the general public to get the information about the maintaining science-based wildlife management. Now, that’s going to come from biologists. It’s going to come from legislators and administrators, and it’s going to come from boots-on-the-ground people. We’ve already recorded a few episodes with some former game wardens with Colorado Parks and Wildlife that have spoken very freely. Oh, really? Yeah. Which is on you. That’s good. You said retire. Yeah. And we’ve got the former… State Director for USDA Wildlife Services, Martin Lowney, that’ll be on here in the month of January. Martin has a plethora of 37 years experience. He recently retired in 2024, but he was part of this whole wolf debacle. And Martin pretty much kind of… Spells it out. I won’t say spills the beans, but he spells it out. And, you know, we had Jan Demoski on. Oh, yeah. And we’ve got some other great guests that are coming up. But it’s not to turn around and try to sell a product or a destination. It’s to create that campaign that we talked about of holding the line and making sure that we don’t have to rebuild an army in six months. Yeah. And in 10 months or 12 months. We want to talk about the issues and the efforts. And it’s not even competing with anything except for the fact that we’re just trying to get people to stay motivated enough to say, well, I didn’t know that. Right. Because before, it was taking us four to five weeks to get information to somebody. And then there was no follow-up to anything. I mean, it’s like, okay, well, I heard about that, but had anybody heard about that? And so while social media is kicking out a lot of information, it’s not in the weeds to the point. It’s more on the surface and on the periphery. So we hope that we can provide the public with what they want. And after doing 86 podcasts myself or everybody else over the course of the last 14, 15 months, I know how to talk. I don’t know how to run a podcast. But we got some really good support. And I want to give Bobby Marshall with the Mountainside podcast a plug because he’s helping us out and kind of getting us up and running to where it looks like it’s not a bumbling Neanderthal sitting there turning around trying to do something. Like my show. You know, Scott makes it look so easy.
SPEAKER 04 :
But, you know, it’s not. There’s a lot of.
SPEAKER 13 :
No, it is. You know, but we’ll try to, you know, ask you a day about kind of how long your clip deal is. Because, I mean, I’d love to do some clips here. And, man, we’ll certainly do all we can for you, too. Because that’s been the whole day of my show. Because, I mean, you know, they have these partners in the outdoors meetings in the mountains, right? And I used to come back and tell different directors of CPW and different people that would listen. that like, okay, y’all go have all these meetings, but you come back with nothing to disseminate. How do we get that information?
SPEAKER 11 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 13 :
So hopefully, you know, between us, we can get it all figured out, man.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I think between some of the industry leaders, between some of the government officials, you know, I was fortunate enough to be asked on multiple occasions post the 127 election. I went to the National Assembly of Sportsmen’s Caucuses in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, late November. I was asked to go down there and speak to legislators from around the country. And… spoke on behalf of the Wildlife Council concept, spoke on behalf of what we did for 127. I’ve been asked to go to Reno to the Wild Sheep Foundation meeting or convention next week and to speak and to be participating at different levels. The Western Hunt Expo, the Mile High. I mean… We do so much on the grassroots statewide level. I know. The Congressional Sportsman’s Foundation, Sportsman’s Day at the Capitol, our involvement at the commission. We are the only organization in the state that still has full-time lobbying representation for sportsmen and women at the state capitol. All that takes funding. Right. But more importantly, it takes engagement to where people feel like that they want to fund. And I got to mention, I didn’t think that it would take off as much as what it has. But like with our booth here, last year we were here and we were trying to promote this. Now, it was way early in the process. We were still on the title board last year. And people said, oh, that’s never going to happen. Or, oh, well, good luck. I guess you’re going to lose another one. Overwhelmingly, the people that have come by the booth this trip, They’re like, man, thanks a bunch. High fives. Let me donate. Can I get a shirt? Will you take a picture? We want to support. How do we get involved? What’s your website? Your podcast? Pretty impressive that in a year’s time that we created something where everybody said, well, you guys are screwed, to, hey, thanks for not getting screwed, and what do we need to do to help?
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And the number of people that have come to talk with us, too, to say the threat is real. Yes. That we won this one, but we now recognize that this isn’t over.
SPEAKER 11 :
I think one of the things that really, really made a difference, too, was in the city and county of Denver, we flopped about 14 percentage points over the Wolf deal and same in Boulder. We lost them still, but we flipped them to 127 in our favor. The Ordinance 308 and the Ordinance 309, the fur ban and the slaughterhouse ban that the city and county of Denver people could vote on just by itself, rose awareness about, wait a minute. They’re going to tell me I can’t buy fishing lures and I can’t get a cowboy hat and I can’t go to the Indian market and march powwow. And then they want to turn around and take my food service away, even though, I mean, not everybody eats lamb.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
But I tell you what, I did a survey with a bunch of young women in downtown Denver after a Rockies game in September. And I’ve told this story several times on different podcasts. But when I mentioned Ordinance 309 to those young ladies, like 25 of them in different bunches, and I just walked up to them and said, can I buy you a beer or a drink? I just want to ask you some questions to see if the polls that we had conducted were similar to what these women were coming up with.
SPEAKER 06 :
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER 11 :
And when I mentioned a slaughterhouse, they said, oh, I don’t know. And I said, well, that’s the largest lamb slaughterhouse in the western United States. It’s a food processing facility. Yeah. 105, 145 people work there, and it’s been there for 70 years. And then the girls, all of them, every single one of them, which I didn’t know this was a trend, every single one of them said lamb. You mean like at Papadeau’s or at Elway’s or at Shanahan’s or at the Buckhorn? They want to stop lamb? I said, yeah. All of these women were voting for Kamala Harris. All of these women were voting no on 308, 309, and 127. So just because people live in Denver and just because they have political backgrounds on a national scale that are different, they still understand, don’t mess with me. Don’t mess with my friend. Don’t mess with my grandpa. Don’t mess with the history and the tradition and the heritage and leave all of this stuff to the experts.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
That research on my own gave me some confidence. maybe some pleasure and foresight of what was yet to come because I thought, if I talk to 25 young more affluent, $80,000 to $150,000 a year young women in downtown Denver that are voting for Kamala Harris and voting no on all three of these other deals, I think that the anti-community, the pro-animal future, and the Cats Aren’t Trophies and the animal welfare action with Wayne Pacelli, I think that they bit off more than they could chew, which was obvious by the outcome of the vote.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, sure, sure. I know your time’s short, but real quick, commission meetings just finished up over the last couple of days. Agonizing. update kind of what those were about and kind of I want to get everybody we can. It seems like most of them are at noon. I’m on air noon to one. Yeah. So I hate that. But first of all everybody can attend those needs to ride whether virtually or what.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well I tell you what Scott there’s nothing. The sense of urgency has never been more important than right now. You know, we always do the cry wolf syndrome. No, but this is – there was 160-some-odd people that testified from the anti-side at this past commission meeting. There was less than 40 sportsmen and women. Now, 40 sportsmen and women is about 10 times more than what we used to get. But the antis have felt so empowered over this that they’ve rallied the troops and they’ve turned around and they used me as a specific target, like I’m the antichrist. And they want to come out 100% against the cause. But we do need to belly up to the bar. We need to turn around and show up or they’re going to put up. And so this last commission meeting on Wednesday and Thursday, the 8th and 9th of January, set the tone and narrative for the March commission meeting. and the May Commission meeting and what they want to turn around and try to accomplish because they’re hearing so much backlash and influx from the opposition, our opposition. They’re concerned citizens of the state of Colorado, but they’re misguided and they’re misinformed and they’re agenda-driven. And so sportsmen and women, if they really want to see what is going on, they need to pay attention about the wolf issue. They need to pay attention about the mountain lion issue, the trophy hunting issue, the fair chase issue. There is a talk about a complete furbearer hunting ban. That would be beavers, because the governor wants a beaver management plan. That would be Red Fox. I mean, there was a guy, Mark Searles, with Project Coyote, who was on the Cats Aren’t Trophies board, who made a bunch of cartoons about me during the campaign. I mean, he’s with Project Coyote. They want to turn around and prohibit or restrict, significantly restrict, the harvest of coyotes. Go back to that deal. They don’t want us to tell, they want bag limits and they want quotas. There’s no biological fact to any of this. It’s just we don’t like you doing it. You shouldn’t be able to do that. Now there’s a talk about the commercialization side of things because they’ve interpreted commercialization under the North American model to extend over to fur bearers. But they fail to realize or at least talk about that there’s exemptions and exceptions in the North American model for fur bearing animals because they are fur bearing animals. That has been written in stone since we’ve actually started doing North American model laws, rules, and regulations of the 1880s, 1890s. Now it’s been codified under the model, but they forget to say that because it’s not as flashy. It doesn’t go along with their narrative. So people need to fully understand that everything that’s going on now forward is whatever direction they can get traction on. This fair chase component, well, we don’t think you should be hunting mountain lions or bobcats or any animal with hounds because it goes against fair chase. Okay, well, so does bird hunting there. So does waterfowl or rabbit hunting or anything else. Because I don’t know how you guys are, but when I was a kid and I had beagles and we were chasing rabbits. Maybe it was 200 yards. Maybe it was 300 yards. Maybe it was 400 yards because I couldn’t keep up with the darn beagle. That’s no different than a hound today with a lion. I know guys that have bird dogs that that bird dog might turn around and run like a bat out of hell and get three or four or 500 yards and then point and hold up and just wait there. Now, without a GPS tracking device, you don’t even know where that dog is. It’s not like he’s waving a red flag in there. That is no different than a mountain lion or a bobcat.
SPEAKER 04 :
And if you read the law… That they were trying to enact with the cats. Yes. It didn’t say just cats. No.
SPEAKER 11 :
It was all collared animals. Yes. And that’s what people have to fully understand is if they can get a little bit of a victory, if they can get a little bit of a chink in the armor.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep. They just need to get those hands in the door. They think they can open the door all the way.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah. I mean, if…
SPEAKER 04 :
there’s talk for a minute because if i can find this thing really quick it’s worth reading yeah and i’ll spend the extra time to turn around and read no it’s completely true and and that’s i mean and even in their losses they’re looking at places where they think that they’ve still got the ability to raise an argument with the commission so that the commissioners change the will of the people i mean that that’s that’s the way they that’s how they operate because they’re always going to take the no is not the answer. That it’s just another way that they need to change. I was listening to the radio as this was going on and listening to a couple of the individuals who were being interviewed about why they were in favor of this. And like you nicely said, Dan, about them being dishonest. I mean, it was just so blatantly obvious the motivation by these folks. They want to stop All hunting.
SPEAKER 11 :
I mean, that is their goal. All of it. All of it. So, I want to read this real quick. And I want to read the whole thing because I don’t want to give them any more credit than credits do. But it’s Cats Aren’t Trophies. And if anybody wants to follow them, it’s worth following them because this is the tone and narrative that they’re going to continue to try to set. But this is the email that they sent out just the day after the commission meeting last week. So it says Prop 127 failed in the November elections, but it’s clear that voters didn’t thumb their nose at the idea of protecting big cats. Rather, they wanted us to take the matter to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife and to the decision makers at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission. We listened, and we are pursuing reform through that channel with vigor. Already, we are seeing a new atmosphere at the commission with more animal welfare advocates and fair chase hunters participating in the public deliberations about policy. On January 8th and 9th, CATS volunteers flooded the CPW Hunter Education Building for a commissioner meeting with mountain lions, bobcats, commercial fur trapping, and wolves on the agenda. I sat next to Brenda Lee of the Colorado Bear Coalition who remarked, I have never seen this room so packed with people. 169 people signed up to testify in person or virtually, and we far outnumbered the trophy hunters of lions, fur trappers, and wolf haters. They were prepared with science, reason, and purpose. One by one, CAT supporters spoke to support commissioners Jack Murphy and Jessica Boullieu as they were wrongly being sued by Safari Club for an opinion piece calling to vote yes on Prop 127. It was clear that the commissioners appreciated the show of support, and we are standing up to the bullies and the trophy-hunting clan and the dog hunters, and the commissioners now see that they’ve got support to more freely express our views. Now, that goes on from there. But it gives you the context that you and I and everybody in this arena here that has a booth is under attack in some form or fashion because they have felt empowered. They go on to say down through here, it just says, I mostly wanted to thank every single one of you CATS members and also for writing the most exquisite speech as well as sending letters of support. We are making progress. We are a true coalition. with all voices of unison walking together and building partnerships still many members of cats didn’t directly participate but now that you see that so many others did it is time to join us get engaged the fight for our native cats and all other wildlife species is at our doorsteps and is by no means over we are working together yep that’s it right there that’s right that’s their email yeah i mean now there’s more to it but yeah but i tell you what Any listener on your show or anybody that’s come to our booth or anybody that follows us on social media and sees what we’re trying to do. I would just I would beg. But I’m getting to the point where I almost need to shame. Because I heard some things on Friday when I was running the booth over there. Yeah, those people need to show up to the commission meeting. I’m like, well, you’re one of those people. Who are those people? Because we’re already showing up. And so I would like to turn around and challenge everybody. And I’ve said this on multiple podcasts over the last 14, 15 months. If every single sportsman or woman would take eight hours a year And I’m not talking about banquets and fundraisers and going to a shotgun shoot or something. Take eight hours a year and actually volunteer for the fight. Maybe that’s two hours at a commission meeting. Maybe that’s writing four letters. Maybe that’s getting some people together. Eight hours a year, one day a year, essentially. Maybe it’s busted up in four days or maybe two days or maybe one. But if they would do that, times a million sportsmen and women in the state of Colorado, you’d have eight million volunteer hours for the fight. Not for the conservation, not the support, but for the fight. If we can’t afford eight hours a year to do what we all advocate for and that we spend probably 30 to 40 hours looking at preference points and all the other stuff and where we’re going to hunt and what season we’re going to go and what new gear I’m going to get and I’m going to shoot my bow. We spend more time in preparing for the hunt than most people ever do the hunt. Right. If we just spent eight hours a year, maybe we wouldn’t have to fight so hard and people wouldn’t have to turn around and listen to me and you gripe about it. Right.
SPEAKER 13 :
if you’re just joining us dan gates has been with us uh colorado’s responsible wildlife management hey check out the new podcast through the gates uh to also stay in touch with save the hunt colorado.com uh of course we would love for you to stay in touch with us here at sports from colorado radio as well and we will try to keep you informed of all the things and we will certainly try to keep dan on as frequently as he can and uh updating us on things but And we do want to thank everybody, Dan. And we’ve said this before with the Prop 127. We kind of had a good ground game. You know, people that came to different things with Will at Davis Tent and put out yard signs, different things like that. And I do think that made a difference, you know.
SPEAKER 11 :
Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
And talking to a lot of people, too, that weren’t hunters and trying to get them to understand that it wasn’t necessarily about a mountain lion hunting.
SPEAKER 11 :
Right.
SPEAKER 13 :
It was just about the whole foothold that they would get on it. And, man, I see. And so many people saw through that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, completely. These subject matters, these topics we could talk on and on and on because you see how things have culminated for the better. The ground game that we had was undeniably and remarkably not expected by the opposition, by the proponents of 127. They were really blown away by the fact that we were able to turn around and unite and not vilify each other and that we could collaborate and that we could fundraise and that we could turn around and actually put a visual component of the ground game together through the yard signs, through the billboards, through the public interactions, through all the podcasts and through everything that we did that they didn’t have, although they were trying to duplicate, but they didn’t have the people to do it. And so kudos goes out to the sportsmen and women of the state of Colorado because not only did they come together, but a lot of our friends and family and sportsmen from around the country. We took donations in from 50 states. 72% of all money that was raised came from sportsmen and women, not dark money like what the opposition said. Sportsmen and women that have the vested interest in Colorado. They either are from Colorado, they hunt Colorado, they want to hunt Colorado, they buy preference points annually, they’ve got property here, they’ve got business relationships here, they’ve got family here. Non-residents are just as much invested as residents. And I understand the resident component, but I want people to really realize 72% of the money came from non-residents to turn around and support this. Now, there’s more non-residents than there is residents. But to break that barrier, that’s something that’s never been done. in a ballot initiative history and we should commend the non-residents to help us continue that fight because every other state is going to have to have non-residents on their side at one point in time you know as we move forward at different levels yeah we’re good and i love my t-shirts and sweatshirts with your face on it now real quick
SPEAKER 13 :
Did you ever really think there would be mugs with your mug, there would be T-shirts, there would be sweatshirts with Dan Gates on them?
SPEAKER 11 :
And I did not design any of that. I walked into the house mid-campaign. My wife was wearing a hoodie with my face on it. And for anybody who wants, they can go to save.colorado.com to get one. but but i walked in i said i said what the heck is that and she said well luke and bob came over that and i said who is bob and she said well that’s the guy running our our shopping cart i said we have a shopping cart so they did all this stuff behind the scenes and and within the first month we sold about 400 of those darn hoodies and t-shirts with my face on them and they just started to try to escalate a little bit and then they did the mugs and they did some other stuff and i’m That is not why we did this, but every single dollar. But it’s been cool. It has. It’s been cool, but it shows buy-in. When we went to the state capitol on October 18th and did the rally down there prior to the election, It was emotional for me because of the type and the amount of people that were there. But to look down from the podium of the steps of the west side of the Capitol and have legislators lined up behind me and have commissioners lined up and sportsmen and women lined up and then hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of sportsmen and women down below some with their dogs and me calling out. what organizations or what avocation there was, elk hunters and bow hunters and turkey hunters and hound hunters. And to see the people that were there supporting the cause, science-based wildlife management, and the North American model, and then looking through the crowd and seeing… multiple dozens of hoodies with my face on them. That would be emotional for me, too. I’m thinking, what the heck did we create? Because this is just really weird.
SPEAKER 13 :
You know, I’ve told you this real quick in closing. I’ve told you this before, man. I mean, you know, yeah, it took a lot of people, and certainly we couldn’t thank everybody enough, but you also got to have a strong leader and somebody that’s good at articulating the whole message, and Man, I’ve never met anybody better than you at that.
SPEAKER 05 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 13 :
Because, I mean, to hold your emotions in with stuff. Right. Because most of us just get ticked at some point and just want to blow up, you know. And you certainly have that capability if somebody wants to pull that string. Yeah. But, you know, but to do it from just, man, to keep your composure and just, you know, your professional way. And I told you just the other day when you walked in, Bob Roshad, the first time to the studio, dude, I was like – This guy scares me to death. Yeah, but just, man, I’ve never met anyone, man, that can articulate like you can the message and different things. So I know we wouldn’t be in that celebratory mood here about Prop 127 without you.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, I joke about it, and I appreciate the compliment and the kind words. You know, you can shine up a dull penny. But if you don’t continue to polish it, it’s going to get tarnished. And I’m trying to make sure that we don’t get tarnished as an organization. And I’ve got to thank the support from guys like you and many other sportsmen and women. But the volunteers that have stepped up in this entire process just showed up out of nowhere. You know, 22-year-old girls that… That one little girl. I say little girl. She’s a young… She’s a bad… She’s very cool. What’s her name? Jessica Whitaker. I’m going to call her out because if she listens to this, I mean, she is phenomenal. I mean, this girl’s about four foot tall, and I mean, you would not want to mess with her. No, she’s a firecracker. She’s a sports lady. She helped us with signage, and she’s just really… just a gem.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 11 :
And some of the other young ladies that have stepped up to help us up on all of our outreach and stuff. It’s so enthusiastic and invigorating to see young women feel like that they needed to follow a leader of a gray-grizzled, bearded old guy that was trying to do something. But we spoke for them on behalf of them, and they felt like that they could jump onto that bandwagon. And I tell you what.
SPEAKER 04 :
That’s what we need.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, and it’s dozens and dozens and dozens. And I just can’t thank the community enough for the support because while we started the campaign, We needed help. We couldn’t do it alone. And the organizations, entities, businesses, politicians, commissioners, sportsmen and women, everybody. It took everybody to turn around and make a team. But there’s no free agency like there is in football. So we need to keep the team together. And we need to make sure that we are solid and that we’re consistent in our message to make sure that we keep moving the needle and trying to thread it.
SPEAKER 13 :
Yeah, absolutely. Well, Dan, appreciate your time. Appreciate you guys very much.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thanks, Dan.
SPEAKER 13 :
Look forward to future with it, working with you. And, man, let’s keep winning. Appreciate it. That’s a good feeling.
SPEAKER 11 :
I’ll get you on my podcast, and we’ll make a store out of me. There you go. There you go.
SPEAKER 13 :
Once again, we did this recording here at the International Sportsman’s Expo. Once again, it is Through the Gates for Dan’s podcast, and we’ll keep you more informed about that. Dan will be on with us. We’ll share some clips from that from time to time as time allows as well. We’ve got to take a quick break, and we’ll be back with more of Sportsman of Colorado Radio right after this. Thanks for being with us today for Sportsman of Colorado. Again, if you came in a little bit late and heard all the noise in the background, that was a conversation we had with Dan Gates at the Denver International Sportsman’s Expo. And by the way, Dan has a great podcast that I’d love for you to tune in. It’s called Through the Gates. And you can get that anywhere you get your podcast. And you can also check out SaveTheHuntColorado.com. And a quick reminder. The Mile High Hunting Fish Expo is back. And that is April 11th through the 13th. We’ll be getting Phil and Abe on with that and telling you what’s going to be coming up with that expo. But we are looking forward to a great time there once again. It’s at the Gaylord Hotel, April 11th through the 13th. You can get your tickets now. And a lot of exciting things that we’ve improved from last year, which was an awesome show for our first show. So it’s the Mile High Hunting Fish Expo, April 11th through the 13th. Go to milehighhuntexpo.com to get your ticket. So thanks for being with us today. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend. Leave it right here on KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 01 :
At Roof Savers Colorado, we are about more than roofs. We are about helping you make the best decisions with the right information. Being a homeowner isn’t getting any easier or cheaper, and neither is getting your roof the solution it needs. Deductibles are going through the roof, and with every passing year, insurance covers less than the one before. Due to a record amount of hailstorms recently, insurance companies have started limiting your coverage and pulling out-of-states entirely. We know the industry. With over 3,000 roofs under our belts and 23 years of experience, Dave Hart and his team are ready to complete a free roof inspection and discuss the option that is best for you. Don’t wait. Policy renewals are increasing by as much as 50%. Now is the time to get the solution you need. Call Roof Savers Colorado today at 303- 710-6916 or go to roofsaversco.com. That’s 303-710-6916 or go to roofsaversco.com to schedule your free inspection and start saving your roof today.
SPEAKER 13 :
Well, it’s that time of year again for two familiar words, diet and exercise. And not just for us, but for our pets too. Hey, this is Scott Whatley and from my friends and my vet, Lone Tree Veterinary Medical Center, here are a couple of cold weather tips to help your pets maintain a healthy weight and activity level all winter long. Number one, don’t overfeed your pet. Feed only the daily amount of your pet’s food recommended by your veterinarian and avoid feeding human food and snacks altogether. Extra calories can add up fast for our pets and just a few extra pounds on a pet can result in obesity. Number two, keep your pet physically active. Even on the coldest days, play with your pet and give it a chance to move around and have fun and burn off some energy. Whether outdoors or indoors, your pet will be healthier and happier with the attention and exercise daily playtime provides. If you need help starting your pet on a healthy plan this year, just call them 303-708-8050. That’s 303-708-8050. You can also read more about diet and exercise for pets on our blog page at LoneTreeVet.com.
SPEAKER 12 :
Here’s why you need personal injury attorney Kevin Flesch on your side. He understands the way the jury thinks. In the context of a personal injury case, you’ve been hurt by someone else’s negligence. The idea is that you’re going to try to recover so that you can get back to where you were just prior to that incident occurring. What that really means from a jurist’s perspective is that you’re going to be asking them to award you money. So when we talk about fairness, we’re talking about six people that you don’t know. Those six people view the evidence and make a unanimous decision that will decide what the fair value is. When you’re the one who’s hurt, you have a good idea of what you think it’s worth. The question is, can you persuade those other individuals whom you don’t know and were witnesses to believe that’s what the case is worth? Kevin Flesch understands the way the jury thinks. Call now for a free consultation. 303-806-8886.
SPEAKER 13 :
The Outdoorsman’s Attic is Colorado’s very own outdoor gear consignment store. From live bait to lanterns, firearms to ammo, packs to sleeping bags, all the fishing gear you could ever hope for. And if you need some decoys for the waterfowl season, stop into the Outdoorsman’s Attic. Hey, this is Scott Whatley here again for my friends at the Outdoorsman’s Attic, and they’ve got hunting, fishing, and camping gear with huge savings up to 70%. You’ll find new and pre-owned items to choose from, and since the inventory changes daily, hey, this is a store you need to stop in at least a couple of times a week Reviews. Here’s what a few of their customers have said. Cody says, hey, two floors of pure outdoorsman paradise. Mickey said, I love this place. Great small business, family owned and run. Lots to look at and good prices. Amy says, if you need good camping and outdoor gear, go here first. Support a local small business. Such great finds. Everyone is so nice and helpful. So save big, get to the outdoorsman’s attic today on all of your outdoor gear. 2650 West Hampton Avenue in Sheridan. Tell them Scott sent you.
SPEAKER 04 :
If you’re in the market for a new rifle for the big game season or a new shotgun for some doves or upland game birds, head on over to The Gun Room. Kevin Flesch here from Sportsman of Colorado inviting you to visit Denver’s oldest gun dealer, and that’s The Gun Room at 1595 Carr Street in Lakewood. They offer buy, trade, consignment, transfers, and appraisals. And if you purchase a gun, we’ll cover your background check fee. It’s The Gun Room, 1595 Carr Street. Tell them Sportsman of Colorado sent you.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 13 :
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SPEAKER 14 :
Hey, Dan. You know, our jobs are pretty different. I’m a baseball announcer. You’re an attorney and a talk show host. Yeah, but we do have something in common. Really? What’s that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Our favorite car dealer, Len Lyle Chevrolet.
SPEAKER 14 :
Yeah, definitely not your typical dealership. That’s so true, Jack. No high-pressure sales tactics. They respect your time. And when you have two jobs, that’s important. You know, I’d recommend Len Lyle Chevrolet to anyone. And with their low overhead, that means… Lower prices.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we really do have something in common.
SPEAKER 14 :
Len Lyle Chevrolet. Go east and pay the least. Chevy. Find new roads.
SPEAKER 07 :
Riding an e-bike will make you feel like a kid again. Just try it. Hi, I’m Randy Curranci, 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 :
If you’re looking for great quality eye care, look no further than Stack Optical. Hey, this is Scott Whatley, and for over 20 years, Allen Stack has been taking care of our optical needs. At Stack Optical, they handle all of your eyewear needs with glasses, prescription glasses, shooting glasses, sunglasses, contacts. eyeglass repairs and yes even eye exams and those eye exams are only 69 and if you’ve been told you’ve got a complicated prescription that’s just one of the specialties at stack optical at stack optical they have their own on-site lab and in most cases you can have your new glasses in just two to three days stack optical 2233 south monaco parkway free and up-close parking Call them today, 303-321-1578. That’s 303-321-1578. Or visit stackoptical.com. And remember, at Stack Optical, you’ll see the difference.
SPEAKER 10 :
You’re listening to KLZ 560 AM, your home station.
SPEAKER 09 :
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.
