ORCHARD, Colo. – As part of the annual Operation Dry Water campaign, Jackson Lake State Park and Colorado Parks and Wildlife will join in the nationally coordinated effort to educate boaters about the dangers of boating while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The mission of Operation Dry Water is to reduce the number of alcohol and drug-related accidents and fatalities on the water.
Operation Dry Water weekend, July 5-7, is the national weekend of amplified recreational boater outreach, education and coordinated enforcement surrounding boating under the influence. Alcohol use continues to be the leading known contributing factor in recreational boater deaths and a leading contributor in boating accidents. Jackson Lake State Park and Colorado Parks and Wildlife are reaching out to our community to encourage those who will be spending time on the water to engage in safe boating practices, which includes keeping alcohol off the boat for both operators and passengers.
“Recreational boating is an activity enjoyed by people and families nationwide. Our goal is to not only educate boaters on the dangers of drinking alcohol and boating, but also to remind them of other safe boating practices, such as enrolling in a boater education course and always wearing a life jacket,” said Jackson Lake Senior Ranger Luke Stucker. “Alcohol impairs judgment and reaction time on the water even more so than it does in a car because of the added stressors of sun, heat, wind, noise and the vibrations of the boat. Jackson Lake State Park and Colorado Parks and Wildlife want everyone to have a great summer on the water, and to do that boaters must remain sober and alert while underway.
As part of Operation Dry Water weekend recreational boating safety volunteers, in collaboration with law enforcement in every U.S. state and territory, will be out at marinas and on the water educating boaters about safe boating practices and removing impaired operators from our waterways.
Jackson Lake State Park and Colorado Parks and Wildlife are asking boaters to enjoy this boating season and help keep everyone safe by not drinking alcohol while on the water, or operating a boat after you have consumed alcohol. Use of both legal and illegal drugs also impairs judgment and reaction time and makes it dangerous to operate a boat. In 2018, 494 impaired operators were removed by law enforcement across the country during the Operation Dry Water three-day weekend.
Boaters can learn more about boating under the influence by visiting https://cpw.state.co.us/ or operationdrywater.org. Operation Dry Water is coordinated nationally by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Colorado State Track & Field Championships take place this weekend, May 16-18, at Jefferson County Stadium, Sixth Avenue and Kipling Street in Lakewood.
A variety of athletes from the I-70 Corridor will be in attendance. The area athletes competing and their event(s) schedules are:
DEER TRAIL
• Sophomore Conner Price: 3,200-meter run finals, 5:50 p.m., Thursday, May 16, 5:50 p.m.; 1,600-meter run finals, 12:20 p.m., Saturday, May 18.
BYERS
• Senior Brady Shelley: Triple jump, 2:30 p.m., Thursday, May 16; long jump, 10 a.m., Saturday, May 18.
Arapahoe County District 3 Commissioner Jeff Baker and Arapahoe County Sheriff Tyler Brown will host a public meeting for I-70 Corridor residents starting at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, May 23, at Kelver Library, 404 E. Front St., Byers.
Topics to be discussed include public safety, the county’s aging jail and courthouse, and plans for a new sheriff’s substation and county services satellite office in Byers.
WHAT: First meeting of the Arapahoe County Long Range Planning Committee – an advisory task force guiding the Board of County Commissioners on future county needs.
WHY: The committee will review the fiscal situation of the county along with recommendations on how to meet critical public safety needs posed by aging facilities at the Arapahoe County jail and courthouse. The committee also will review transportation needs.
WHO: 25 residents, business leaders and nonprofit representatives from the county.
WHEN: May 14, 2019, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE: CenterPoint Plaza, 14980 E. Alameda Drive, Aurora
Calling a turkey is much different than being called a turkey. In fact, it’s much harder to call a turkey than I ever dreamed because the birds are really smart.
Thanks to what we learned about the wild, upland ground bird in our Rookie Sportsman Program (RSP) classes in April, my daughter, Natalie, and I have a much deeper appreciation for wild turkey and are more excited than ever as we prepare to go seek them out on what will be our first-ever hunt.
And in the future, I will be less likely to call anyone a turkey, unless they are exhibiting the brains and instincts of these large, intelligent birds.
Natalie and I learned all this and more from our Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) instructors in our RSP classes in April. And we are eager to get out of the classroom and into the wild to test our new knowledge.
We are members of CPW’s 2019 RSP class and we’ve been learning everything we must know before actually venturing out with our CPW wildlife officer/mentor.
Our training started with firearm safety and classes on how CPW uses hunting as a wildlife management tool. Finally we were schooled in turkey-hunting strategies to ensure we have a safe, fun and successful first hunt.
An assortment of calls used to lure wild turkeys.
On Friday, April 10, Natalie and I joined other RSP members at CPW’s Southeast Region office in Colorado Springs for the Turkey Hunting 101 class.
Retired Air Force Col. Willie Kalaskie, now chairman of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), led the class, with help from CPW Area Wildlife Manager Frank McGee, who sponsors the RSP class.
Kalaskie noted most hunters come to Colorado to seek big game but there are many other great opportunities to hunt here including wild turkey.
“Colorado is a hooves and horns state,” he said. “(But) we’re trying to grow turkey habitat every year.”
We learned about the NWTF and how it has conserved 15 million acres of habitat in the U.S.
“Hunting and habitat go hand-in-hand,” Kalaskie said. “You can’t have quality hunting without quality wildlife habitat.”
And we were reminded how the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson acts have used sportsmen’s dollars to save our wildlife from extirpation, the wild turkey included.
An assortment of calls used to lure wild turkeys.
There were approximately 10 million wild turkeys in North America before European migration. But that number fell to 30,000 by 1930 as logging and mining destroyed habitat and unregulated harvest decimated turkey populations.
Thanks to wildlife management efforts by CPW’s predecessor agencies, and funding from the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937 (an excise tax on firearms and ammunition), turkey numbers rebounded to 7 million turkeys across the U.S. by 2013.
“Hunters funded this restoration,” Kalaskie told us.
After the history lesson, we got down to biological business. We learned about spurs, snoods and dewlaps. We learned that female turkeys can sometimes have a beard and that many hunters are obsessed with finding one. (It sounded like a circus sideshow: See the bearded female turkey!)
We learned the wild turkey is the largest North American game bird with excellent eyes and hearing, but a poor sense of smell.
“You’ll never successfully stalk a wild turkey,” Kalaskie said. “You have to call them to you.”
That’s why turkey hunters wear camouflage in the field and often use decoys, blinds and bird calls.
Natalie Duncan, 14, examines turkey feathers during a Turkey Hunting 101 class that was part of CPW’s Rookie Sportsman Program which introduces newcomers and novices to Colorado’s outdoor opportunities including hunting, fishing, camping and hiking. Natalie is taking the class with her father, Travis Duncan, who is a CPW public information officer.
Kalaskie brought an array of turkey calls that he demonstrated and allowed us to try. The wooden box call was easiest to operate. He also had slate calls which make sound by drawing a peg or striker across a dry surface. He also had a more sophisticated diaphragm call you position in your mouth to use.
We listened to different types of turkey calls: Clucks, putts, hen yelps, tree calls, cutting, hen assembly calls, fly down cackles, kee kee calls, hen purr calls and, of course, gobbling – the vocalization a male tom turkey uses in the spring.
“The sound we all wait to hear,” Kalaskie said.
He had a gobbler shaker call as well and this proved to be a big hit with my daughter.
“I would have annoyed my parents so much with that call when I was a kid,” DWM Cassidy English said as my daughter shook the call near my ear. “Just like that.”
We also learned that besides our shotguns, we really needed turkey vests to have a good hunt.
“It’s got pockets for calls and strikers and a padded seat,” AWM McGee said. “That can help keep you warm too. If you’re sitting on the cold ground, you’ll have a hard time staying out for very long.”
Contrary to big-game hunting, turkey hunters aim for the head and neck when using a shotgun. Before going out in the field, hunters should “pattern” their shotguns, meaning they should practice shooting targets with the kind of ammunition they intend to hunt with to see how it performs and make adjustments if necessary.
“You might find with a particular gun, your pattern [of shotgun shells] might open up too much and you won’t be effective at a certain distance,” McGee said.
Both Kalaskie and McGee said they were big fans of using blinds, especially with young kids.
“Kids have a hard time sitting still,” McGee said. “It doesn’t take much movement at all for a turkey to bust you.”
Willie Kalaskie, chairman of the Pikes Peak Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, holds a turkey decoy and stands near a hunting blind as he teachers Turkey Hunting 101 class at the CPW Southeast Region office in Colorado Springs.
Turkeys sleep in a roost tree at night to avoid predators, so hunters scouting out an area will often try to set up their blind ahead of time, based on where they think the flock might choose to feed.
We also learned many hunters use decoys, but if you’re using a tom decoy, be mindful of how you place it to avoid potential accidents from other hunters stalking your decoy.
“You want a tom decoy facing your blind,” Kalaskie said. “Chances are a hunter won’t shoot a turkey from the back.”
It was a lot of information to digest, but Natalie and I are excited to see how much we remember when we go turkey hunting in May with our assigned mentor, CPW DWM Logan Wilkins.
You will read all about it in the next installment of “Field Notes of a Rookie Sportsman.”
Travis Duncan is a public information officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in Denver. Travis has lived in Colorado 17 years and loves the outdoors. If you have a question, please email him at
CALENDAR
Here’s a few opportunities to engage the sportsman or sportswoman in you:
Annual Pikes Peak Birding & Nature Festival – Prairie to Peak Colorado Springs (mid-May) Field trips, seminars, tours and events are happening throughout El Paso, Pueblo and Teller counties. Festival field trips will visit migration hot spots such as Bear Creek and Fountain Creek Regional Parks, Lake Pueblo State Park, Manitou Lakes, Chico Basin Ranch, Pinello Ranch and other locations searching for common and unexpected birds alike. Registration is required for some of the events. For more information, see the Pikes Peak Birding and Nature Festival website.
Welcome Back Turkey Vulture Day
Castlewood Canyon State Park, Franktown (mid-May) Nothing heralds the return of spring to Castlewood Canyon State Park more than the sight of turkey vultures circling high above in search of food. To honor this annual natural event, come join us for Welcome Back Turkey Vulture Day. Castlewood Canyon, located five miles south of Franktown, boasts the largest summer roost of turkey vultures in Colorado, with up to 100 birds some seasons.
Enjoy activities for all ages, including: a TV Dinner (hamburgers and hotdogs), face painting and a storyteller. Naturalist-led hikes will take visitors to spots where one can get a better view of these majestic birds. Learn how TV’s employ the 3 P’s to survive and help us humans lead better lives. Curious why they are bald and fly “wobbly?” Come to Welcome Back Turkey Vulture Day to answer this and more.
15th annual Ute Mountain Mesa Verde Birding Festival
Cortez, May 8-12 The diverse landscape of the Four Corners region is home to more than 180 species of birds. Proceeds from the annual festival support the Cortez Cultural Center.
Saturday, May 18 Learn how to target walleye and crappie at one of Colorado’s top reservoirs. This class will be held at Jumbo Reservoir near Julesburg and give you some basic techniques for targeting warm water fish around the country.
DENVER – Colorado Parks and Wildlife is looking to involve the public in an interactive conversation and invites anglers to participate in a public meeting on May 16 at the Chilson Recreation Center in Loveland, 700 E 4th St., from 6-8:30 p.m.
Anglers in Northeastern Colorado will be adjusting to changes in lease status at select reservoirs, including the loss of the Lonetree Reservoir lease, in the coming months. Topics of the meeting will include resource-related issues, the status of leases at select reservoirs, as well as key fishing issues and initiatives, in Northeastern Colorado.
The public meeting will allow interested parties the opportunity to learn more about the status of pertinent reservoir leases as well as the chance to discuss fishing related issues. The meeting will begin with a presentation from CPW staff, followed by an open house question and answer opportunity where anglers will be able to discuss key topics with CPW aquatic biologists.
“This is an opportunity to hear directly from our anglers about the issues that are important to them,” said Jeff Spohn, senior aquatic biologist with CPW. “We are looking forward to providing people the chance to ask specific questions about fishing issues and reservoir leases in Northeastern Colorado, and to get answers directly from our aquatic biologists.”
Who: Colorado Parks and Wildlife
What: Public Meeting for Anglers
When: May 16, 6-8:30 p.m.
Where: Chilson Recreation Center in Loveland,700 E 4th St.
For more information about fishing in Colorado, please visit the CPW website.
The Ports-to-Plains Alliance urges you to consider attending the Eastern Colorado Truck Parking Workshop scheduled for Tuesday April 30th from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm in the East Auditorium of the Colorado Department of Transportation located at 2829 W. Howard Place, Denver, 80204. Whether you are involved in freight movement, part of a local government team, an economic development professional, a business leader or and interested individual, please consider participation.
One does not have to look very far to see this growing issue. What are the solutions and opportunities that those solutions may create for your community? Attached are an event flyer and the agenda.
The purpose of this workshop is to identify current truck parking challenges and develop an action plan for strategies, policies, and projects that will address our challenges. The workshop will be facilitated by FHWA’s Resource Center.
Please come prepared to brainstorm around the following key questions:
What – What solutions and actions are needed?
Where – Where are the greatest needs and opportunities in Eastern Colorado?
How – How can technology, policy, and infrastructure solutions address parking needs? How can public and private organizations help move solutions forward?
Who – Who should be involved to implement solutions? Which public and private partners and organizations can help champion local actions?
The workshop will be held on Tuesday April 30th from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm in the East Auditorium of the Colorado Department of Transportation located at 2829 W. Howard Place, Denver, 80204. Parking is available in the surface lots or garage behind the building. Please plan on arriving early to check in with the front desk as we have a hearty list of attendees and join us for coffee and rolls.
BYERS — The Byers boys picked up two wins in the 2A Region 7 Tournament March 1-2 and advanced to the 2A Great Eight at the Budweiser Event Center in Loveland this Thursday.
The 16-6 green-and-white is seeded No. 6 and will take on third-seeded Fowler at 1:15 p.m. March 7. The winner will play either No. 2 Yuma or seventh-seeded Denver Christian in the championship semifinals Friday. The championship game is slated for 6 p.m. Saturday.
AURORA — Wins by the Strasburg boys in the Patriot League consolation semifinals and fifth-place game last week propelled them into one of the last four spots in the 3A 32-team state bracket. The red-and-black, the No. 29 seed, will travel to Colorado Springs on Friday for a 6 p.m. tip-off against fourth-seeded The Vanguard School.
Revisit www.i-70scout.com for postseason updates. The other two teams in Region 4 are 13th-seeded Colorado Springs Christian and No. 20 Gunnison. The winner of Friday’s games will play on Saturday for the right to advance to the 3A Great 8 on the campus of the University of Denver March 7-9.
