This May, you could be the proud owner of a brand new 18 Explorer Triton bass boat powered by a union-made Mercury engine. The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance has teamed up with Triton to deliver this water-ready boat and matching trailer, valued at approximately $25,000, to one lucky member of the USA. 

As a USA member, you are automatically qualified to win, but time is running out.  Just click here and enter your information for a chance to chase bass this spring in a brand new boat brought to you by the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance and Triton!

One of the best things about long hours spent waiting for that elusive buck or a tug on your line are the stories you get to share with your pals afterwards.  As a member of the USA, your group of hunting and fishing buddies is now a whole lot bigger, and we want to help you get connected by sharing your favorite stories from the woods and water.

And when you send us a story about your experience hunting, fishing or recreating outdoors, you will be automatically entered in a drawing for a brand new Beretta AL391 Urika2 Gold 12 gauge shotgun, valued at $1,450.00. 

Not only does the AL391 Urika2 Gold look sharp with a game scene engraved in gold on the receiver, but its gas operation system makes it one of the fastest, easiest and smoothest handling semiautomatic shotguns on the market today. 

In addition to the chance to win this brand new shotgun, your story could be featured on the USA website, in the USA e-newsletter or in our soon-to-launch USA tabloid.

As an avid hunter or angler, you probably have countless tales to tell.  But to help jump-start your memory, we’ve put together the following list of story ideas:

  - Your most challenging hunting or fishing experience

  - Your trophy buck, duck, trout or bass…or any other fish or game

  - Your biggest blunder while hunting or fishing

  - Your most intense or bizarre moment in the field or on the water

  - Your very first harvest

  - Your favorite camp story

  - Your outdoor conservation efforts

  - Your favorite moments hunting, fishing or recreating outdoors

If you’re worried that you’re not the best writer or don’t have the best spelling or grammar, don’t be.  We can help you with that part.

Requirements:  To be included in the drawing for the Beretta AL391 Urika2 Gold, you must be a member of an AFL-CIO affiliated union, a USA member and at least 18-years-old by the time of the drawing.  Your story must be at least 300 words, and it must be submitted electronically by May 31, 2008.  The drawing will take place on or about June 6, 2008, and the winner will be notified shortly thereafter.  Any and all taxes as well as fees related to the transfer of the AL391 Urika2 Gold will be the sole responsibility of the promotion winner.

Click here to submit your story or visit the USA website (www.UnionSportsmen.org) before May 31, 2008 to send in your story and enter to win a new shotgun.

I knew I shouldn’t have turned around! I had just backed into a patch of oak brush, hoping Kyle could coax the 6x6 elk into shooting range. Kyle Bell, the owner of Folsom Outfitters, was cow calling from the back side of the oak brush about 40 yards to my rear.

I heard something moving behind me, but the 6x6 was going to come around the patch of oak in front of me, so I had to be still. At first I thought it was one of the many bears Kyle’s hunters take every year.  When it quit moving and began breaking branches, it occurred to me that it could be the 6x6 we had been working earlier. When I heard a bugle behind me, I was convinced. I turned and kneeled to see under the brush. I thought the bull was close enough to shoot, but only if I could get an arrow through the brush.

To my horror, I saw Kyle behind me doing his thing. "Had I screwed up again?" I just knew the bull coming from the front would be around the brush, looking at me with no cover between us. I didn’t even need to turn-he bugled in the meadow, confirming my fear.

My New Mexico archery hunt began the day before. Kyle and I (pictured with Kyle on the left and Ron on the right)  were getting into position for a 6x6 that morning when a fog bank that would’ve made any Londoner proud rolled in from the south. It was the remnants of a hurricane that blew up the Baja Coast and southern California. Everything disappeared. We couldn’t see 20 yards ahead. 

The second morning started as dark as the first. By first light, Kyle and I were sitting on the point where we had seen the bull the day before. After about 20 minutes, Kyle spotted the 6x6 below us with a cow leading the way. They were close to a trail at the bottom that would bring them right to us if we could coax them up.  Kyle moved 60 yards to the edge of the mesa, spraying elk scent as he went, and began cow calling. I got on a small rise and knelt on my 60-year-old knees in the scrub brush 15 yards from the top of the trail. I thought it was too close, but that was the only place I could see the top of the trail. 

Kyle cow called for a long 20 or 30 minutes. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get up. It was a good setup, and Kyle said it had worked in the past, but not today. Kyle rejoined me, and we snuck to the rim and laid on a flat rock to peek over with binoculars. 

While lying there, we heard a noise where Kyle had been. We looked up to find a different 6x6 looking at us.  The bull looked hard over the bench we were on but couldn’t find the cow. He sniffed the air, then turned and walked away.

"Damn," I said aloud. We moved off the rim and toward the flats of the mesa top. There were patches of oak brush here and there. We finally spotted the bull’s antlers above a patch of oak about 40 to 50 yards to our right. Kyle took off at a run to get behind him and around the other side of the brush, and I followed. When we stopped, Kyle bugled, and the bull answered 200 yards to our right. Kyle told me to find a spot on the other side of the oak brush patch. I picked a nice spot and backed in, listening to Kyle call. The bull was no longer answering. After a couple minutes, Kyle moved to his right and started busting brush. I turned around thinking the first bull was behind me. Kyle bugled, and the bull bugled back from about 80 yards in the meadow that would have been in front of me had I not turned around.

"Well, you’ve got another story to tell how you screwed up," I thought bitterly. Now, I had to turn back around without the bull seeing me. I turned my head, and sure enough, there he was. Kyle cow called, and the bull looked to my left in the direction of the "cow." Seeing my opportunity, I began turning. The bull noticed, so I froze. Kyle cow called again and the bull looked to my left and took a few steps ahead. I turned a little more. 

We continued this two-step a few more times as he drew closer. By the time I got turned around, the bull was 40 yards to my left, and I was stuck in a sitting position with my left leg pinned beneath me. The bull challenged Kyle with a deep chuckle that sent snot blowing and dripping from his mouth. I drew my bow, but the bull turned and took two steps toward me. I couldn’t shoot with him looking straight on, but I couldn’t hold the draw much longer. Kyle cow called again, and the bull turned to the left and kept walking. I let the bow down to redraw. Now, he was fairly close to the brush and nearly downwind-I would have to take a moving shot.

I centered the 30- and 40-yard pins fairly low and tight behind his shoulder. I moved my aiming point just in front of his shoulder and released. I couldn’t see the arrow’s flight, but I heard the wonderful "punkin thumpin" sound as it hit the bull. He spun and ran 40 yards, stopping when Kyle cow called. Then he turned and walked toward the backside of the oak brush. I looked with my binoculars to see where I hit him. I was shocked to see blood pumping out both sides. He stood there a minute before slowly walking around the brush and out of sight.

Kyle busted through the oak with a full smile and pounded me on the back in congratulations as I sat there shaking with knees-knocking. We waited 30 minutes before trailing him about a mile. He bedded down once before dropping off the top of the mesa and heading into a pine grove and his final resting place. 

As we took care of the elk, we saw that I hit about a half-inch behind his heart. Had we waited an hour, we may have found the bull where he first bedded, but as Kyle said, we had the added adventure of trailing him. It was a great hunt full of ups and downs. 

Now more than ever, I’m convinced that elk are truly an impressive animal and tough as nails.

 

Ronald Ghighi (pictured above)   is a retired member of UA Steamfitter Local 353 and resides in Washington, Illinois.  Ronald began archery hunting in 1968 and took a 5x5 elk with his bow twelve years ago in Montana. His Folsom elk hunt took place in September 2007.  Ronald joined the USA because he loves to talk to people about hunting and thought the USA web forums looked like fun.  He found the forums "to be like the rest of the world-diverse.  Lots of different ideas and thoughts.  That’s what keeps the word turning."  Click here to check out the USA forums.  

Whether you’re a do-it-yourself kind of sportsman or prefer to hire a guide, you may have dreamed of going on a big-game hunt out West, hunting fair chase on public land for mule deer, elk or bighorn sheep. Fortunately, there is still considerable opportunity for out-of-state sportsmen to buy tags, and Western hunting seasons are often long, spanning several weeks in many area.

Idaho’s Great Burn Roadless Area 

Much of the reason sportsmen continue to experience quality hunting seasons in the West is the existence of unroaded lands. Officially known as "inventoried roadless areas" by the U.S. Forest Service, these backcountry areas are defined as national forest lands that contain more than 5,000 contiguous acres that have never been roaded or developed. Our remaining backcountry roadless areas provide prime habitat to many fish and wildlife species and crucial hiding cover for big-game animals such as elk and bighorn sheep.

While roads are important and necessary to provide sportsmen with access to areas where we hunt and fish, excessive roads can increase elk and mule deer vulnerability, resulting in an imbalance in male-to-female ratios and a reduction in mature bucks and bulls. Increased vulnerability usually results in shorter seasons and fewer available tags. Case in point: between 1969 and 1989, the elk season in Idaho’s Targhee National Forest was reduced from 44 days to five largely due to increased road construction and reduced hiding cover. While the season since has been lengthened, a return to the 44-day seasons might never occur.    

Thirty-eight states and Puerto Rico contain roadless areas, totaling 58.5 million acres of inventoried backcountry.  Most of these backcountry areas are located in the Rocky Mountain West and Alaska.

Currently, all backcountry areas outside of Alaska are managed under a law called the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule, which seeks to conserve backcountry values while managing the lands for a variety of uses, such as tree thinning to reduce the threat of forest fire near communities.

Two states, Idaho and Colorado, have petitioned the Forest Service to develop new rules and management guidelines for roadless areas in their respective states. Consequently, the Forest Service has been working with these states to develop roadless rules that attempt to meet state interests in the management of roadless backcountry areas.

Few states offer more hunting opportunities than Idaho and Colorado, and few have more backcountry.  With 4.4 million acres of roadless lands, Colorado offers over-the-counter elk tags to out-of-state sportsmen. Idaho, with 9.3 million acres of backcountry, provides over-the-counter deer tags to visitors wishing to hunt trophy Gem State mule deer and whitetail bucks. 

The hunting opportunities that these Western states provide to sportsmen are irreplaceable, and future management of these national forest lands can make or break wildlife’s ability to survive and flourish.  For these reasons, the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) has been informing and involving individual partners in the Colorado and Idaho roadless rules.  Public comment opportunities exist so citizens can offer input on proposed changes in land management. Sportsmen must voice their opinions on the value of habitat and our sporting traditions to ensure that these backcountry areas are managed in a way that considers the needs of hunters and anglers.

By Joel Webster, TRCP Policy Initiative Manager

To learn more or get involved, contact Joel at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (406) 360-3904.

Have you been involved in TRCP conservation issues or in conservation projects in your own community.  If so, we’d like to hear about it.  Please email Kate Cywinski with a short description of your efforts.