John was born in Auburn, Alabama (War Eagle!), and raised in northern Alabama. “I began fishing before I can remember with my father and grandfather,” he said. “I would spend as many summer days as possible with my grandfather, fishing for bass and bluegill on Kentucky Lake. Man those were the days!” John attended Auburn University and Colorado Mesa University and then worked in the ski/bike/outdoor industry for 18 years.
He started hunting later in life, after asking his dad what he wanted to do for his 60th birthday, which turned out to be elk hunting in Colorado. “Seeing elk on almost every bike ride, I guessed I could at least give him a place to start,” John added. “I figured since I would be out there, I might as well walk around with a bow, which always seemed cool to me, just in case. I joined a local archery league to make sure I knew how to shoot and, lo and behold, I’ve been hooked ever since. I have only ever hunted with a bow. I imagine I will and should diversify, but I just really enjoy shooting archery.”
John primarily hunts and fishes in the Gunnison Basin, with the occasional fishing trip elsewhere in Colorado. “I have archery hunted for elk and deer to date, and by hunted I mean aimlessly wandering around in the high country with a bow and pack,” he said. “I hunted the last few seasons for grouse as well and wow is it fun, especially since I get to actually shoot an arrow at something. I fish for all species of trout in all variety of water. From floating the Gunni to backpacking to high mountain lakes, I love fly fishing.”
During 2015, he joined BHA. “I went to a BHA hunting film fest in Gunnison,” John said. “I bought raffle tickets, grabbed a BHA journal, won a pair of binoculars, joined as a member and have been impressed with the organization ever since.” “I recently left the ski industry and now am proud to be working for the town of Crested Butte,” he added. “I am incredibly lucky to call Crested Butte my home for the last two-and-a-half decades.”
Chris was raised in a little logging town in the coastal range of California. “When I was in junior high I’d come home from school, dump my books, and wander off into the woods ‘till after dark,” he said. “From high school on I worked after school - but they were always outdoors jobs.”
He hunted black-tail and mule-deer with his grandpa, dad and brothers when he was young, and fished with his grandpa and grandma before that. “When I was a little older it was all about wild pigs. Then I moved to Colorado and added elk to the menu,” Chris added. “Eventually, with the ‘coming of age’ of my first son (i.e., getting his hunter education card), small game and turkeys crept their way into my life.”
Chris joined the United States Marine Corps (USMC) in 1982, working/serving as an armorer and marksmanship instructor. He extended his service twice more in the Marine Corps Reserves before hanging up his dress blues in 1994 as a staff sergeant. During the early 1990s he moved from California to Colorado “for more breathing room.”
“I went to Western Colorado University (then Western State College) and got a degree in biology,” he explained. “Kicked around the woods doing seasonal work for Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) for about a decade - some of the best stuff you could get ever get a paycheck for; trapping bears, tracking lynx, searching for wolverines - then hired on permanent in 2000. Salida was my first duty station, but I hopped back over the hill to Gunnison in 2004, where as a game warden I worked to hold the ‘thin green line’ in the Elk Mountains for the next 17 years.”
The first gun Chris ever owned was a muzzleloader pistol he bought at about 13 years old. “I have a couple others now, but they mostly live in the closet,” he explained. “I prefer packing my break-action single-shot 12 gauge (aka, ‘The Mule’) and I have a few recurves that are addicted to grouse, but a none-too-fancy 30.06 Savage does most of the heavy lifting around the place.”
“Now, just about anything I can draw a tag for is welcome to join my family at our table - though no critters out there should panic at that - I eat my share of tag soup, to be sure,” Chis added. “I’m a cold-mountain-stream, beaver-pond-brookie, high-mountain-lake cut-throat fly-fisher mainly, but I can be coaxed out to big flat-water or farm-ponds for pretty cheap.
Through luck and diversity, I mostly manage to keep the freezer more half-full than half-empty.”
Chris retired from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) in 2021 and is “enjoying the ‘sporting life’ at a leisurely glide - fishing on a whim and blacking out August - November on the calendar with a single word: ‘Hunt.’” He lives in Gunnison with his wife Sonja and two fledging sons, Jake and Joey, but is contemplating significant time afield to accomplish a retirement goal of hunting small game in all 50 states.
In addition, near the close of his career as a game warden, Chris started adult-hunter mentoring. “I’d take on a few mentees each season, and found it terrifically rewarding both professionally and personally,” he said. “Guiding a never-hunted-before to their first harvest is an incredible journey, and one that I intend to continue on.”
Chris joined BHA pretty early on, some 15 years ago. “A co-worker had told me about it, then he went to a Rendezvous and came back with a ‘Public Land Owner’ tee-shirt and that iconic bear-paw hat,” Chis said. “I was like ‘Ya, I’m with that’ and got a family membership.”
Derek was born and raised in northeastern Wisconsin along the shores of Lake Michigan. He started gun deer hunting at age 12 and began archery hunting not long after. “I was fortunate to have many uncles and cousins who hunted when I was growing up and they taught me foundational skills,” he said. “That said, a lot has been self-taught—with lots of mistakes along the way! My brother is my primary hunting partner and has been a great mentor, even though he’s three years younger (don’t tell him I said that).”
Over the years Derek has steadily expanded his hunting portfolio to include turkeys, rabbits, squirrels and a “bit of dabbling in waterfowl.” He hunts with a compound bow, rifle and shotgun. “I’m a very casual angler but do like the simplicity of Tenkara-style fly-fishing,” he added. Derek studied economics and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “I worked for the government in DC before deciding it wasn’t for me,” he said. “Now I’m a researcher and writer for a global consulting firm, currently focused on climate change and corporate sustainability.”
Since moving to Colorado, Derek has been working on building his mountain hunting skills, mostly chasing elk with a bow, but also mule deer and dusky grouse when he stumbles into them. “I really love archery elk hunting. September in the mountains with bugling bulls is something special,” he added. “Mule deer, too, when I can get a tag, along with turkeys and grouse. Looking forward to pulling an antelope tag … A bit of trout fishing in the summer as well.”
His youngest daughter is very interesting in fishing—including ice fishing—so spending more time on the water with her is a priority. This past fall Derek also made a trip back to Wisconsin to hunt public land whitetails and small game. “The deer hunting was unsuccessful, but it was great to be back sitting twenty feet up in a red oak,” he said. “I did bring home some gray squirrels, though! I miss chasing those ‘tree ninjas.’”
Derek lives in Gunnison. “We moved from Wisconsin in large part because of the incredible access to public lands, and we’re fortunate to have so many opportunities here to hunt, fish, camp, hike, mountain bike and ski,” he explained. Derek first heard about BHA from his brother and joined in 2017.