Twenty years ago, I had the privilege of first crossing paths with Durango resident David “Elkheart” Petersen at a public meeting of the Colorado Roadless Areas Review Task Force in Pueblo. David was a Task Force member and board chair of Colorado Backcountry Hunters & Anglers at the time.
During the meeting I emphasized the importance of roadless areas for big game habitat and backcountry hunting. David thanked me for speaking and later asked if I’d join the Colorado BHA chapter board. On July 22, 2006, I started volunteering as co-chair and have kept at it for approaching 20 years now.
My first experience chasing gobblers was during May 2008 in Southwest Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, with David. We heard one gobbling tom. It’s an explosive vocalization that David says is “at once high-pitched, deep-throated, melodic and maniacal, with emphasis on the last quality.”
“Colorado’s southwest corner is home to some of the highest, wildest public lands wildlife habitat in Colorado and the country,” I wrote in a 2016 Colorado Outdoors story (“Mountain Merriam’s (Turkey) Hunt”). The San Juans encompass not only the largest designated wilderness area in the southern Rockies, the 500,000-acre Weminuche Wilderness, but also one of the largest roadless areas, the 107,886-acre Hermosa Creek Watershed.
Which is why this region has always been my go-to for both turkey and elk hunting. However, the Trump administration is in the process of rescinding the 2001 Roadless Rule, which has prohibited road construction and timbering on 58.5 million acres of our national forest lands nationwide. Over 99% of the public comments submitted oppose the Trump administration’s plan to rescind the Rule.
“Public lands … are under coordinated assault,” I wrote in a September 2025 Durango Herald opinion piece. “From sweeping executive orders promoting energy ‘dominance’ to secretive agency directives expanding oil and gas leasing, we’re in the midst of a wholesale attack on public land protections nationwide. The ‘multiple use’ doctrine has been weaponized to mean one thing: corporate use.”
The San Juan Mountains encompass a place so wild and beautiful that President Theodore Roosevelt protected it in 1905 by creating the 1.8-million-acre San Juan National Forest. “I think Teddy Roosevelt must be tired from rolling over in his grave,” U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich said, about Trump administration efforts to open protected public lands to resource extraction.
“We are seeing the newest wave of attacks – a systematic dismantling of the mechanisms of protection and funding that safeguard the places we value as public landowners,” BHA President and CEO Ryan “Cal” Callaghan said. “The recession of the Roadless Rule jeopardizes … our best non-Wilderness backcountry habitats.”
As Heinrich and Cal know well, public lands are not a left or right issue; they’re an American issue. This is our national heritage. Now that spring turkey hunting has started, I’m chasing toms in the San Juan National Forest once again. Over the years I’ve contributed 13 Colorado Outdoors stories about turkey hunting that are all available online.
For starters, consider Googling: “5 Tips for Hunting Merriam’s Turkeys” and “5 (More) Tips For Hunting Merriam’s Wild Turkey.” However, be aware that backcountry turkey hunting requires stout legs and lungs, as my 2024 and 2025 turkey hunting statistics indicate – 2024: 7 days/85 miles/56 hours/7 close encounters/1 shot opportunity; 2025: 3 days/35 miles/24 hours/5 close encounters/2 shot opportunities.
“Like most successfully evolved prey species these big birds are survival specialists,” David Petersen explains in his book Going Trad: Out There With Elkheart. “Their bulging, side-set eyes constantly scan for danger in all directions.” Hence, with each close encounter you can flip a coin to determine if the hunter gets the drop on the gobbler or vice versa. Perhaps most important, David adds, “If you’re not trying to protect habitat and improve it and increase it, then you’re working against yourself as a hunter.”
David A. Lien of Colorado Springs is a former Air Force missile launch officer and author. In 2014, he was recognized by Field & Stream as a “Hero of Conservation” and urges action at backcountryhunters.org/get-involved/take-action. This is his opinion and not that of any other group or organization.
