My day job has me managing about 5.5 million acres of Great Basin and Mojave Desert, but my off time has me managing about 500 acres of private located on the southwestern tip of the Colorado Plateau, as I have been actively doing for about 30 years. The private is why I am here. We (I) manage oak savannah, aspen forest, and pine-spruce-fir forest for sheep grazing and hunting with a focus on restoring and maintaining historic disturbance regimes. We tried timber, but there is no market for the species we would want to harvest. Unfortunately, we deal with a lot of trespass, poaching, vandalism, and theft. We also prevailed in some litigation brought by a former forest service employee a few years ago. So for the past few years my focus is investigation and prosecution of trespass, which is where the larger than desired investment in trail cameras comes from.
The cool thing is that getting in to the Cuddeback world has already introduced me to some really good folks who have the same goals as I; to provide memorable hunting opportunities to folks with disabilities, especially veterans. This came from numerous and repeated unpleasant experiences with able bodied southern Utah hunters who lack ethics, skill, and morals. I am getting a bad reputation among the locals, and I really very much enjoy it.
I have one food plot that I hunt over of a little over a half acre and try to keep something growing in it year ‘round. I know some of you guys from another forum and that prompted me to join here. I’m always interested in learning new things about food plots. I’m looking forward to an exchange of ideas and experiences.
