Special Award for Jim Bulger
Jim Bulger, Hunter Outreach Program Coordinator with the Colorado Division of Wildlife has been honored with the 2006 Boone and Crockett Award. Now in its 18th year, the award is sponsored by the Boone and Crockett Club in cooperation with the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies for outstanding achievement in promoting and encouraging programs in outdoor ethics.
“This is a tremendous honor for Jim and a tribute to the work he has done with hunters for the last five years,” said DOW Director Bruce McCloskey, while honoring Jim at the Oct. 5th Wildlife Commission workshop in Rifle. “The DOW is thankful to have someone of Jim’s dedication working for us.”
The Hunter Outreach Program teaches novice and inexperienced hunters — of all ages — the knowledge, skills, ethics, and traditions of hunting. Through workshops and clinics, seminars, group and ‘mentored’ hunts, the program appeals to diverse interests, backgrounds, and levels of ability. It is designed to make the most of a youth’s or woman’s hunting pursuits, and to help them take the first steps toward becoming a part of our shared hunting heritage and tradition.
The program provides opportunities for Colorado’s youth hunters to participate in big game hunts , weekend waterfowl hunts, and upland bird hunts, including pheasants and turkeys. Each hunt is organized and supervised by Outreach Program certified Huntmasters and volunteers. Youth hunters are treated to an ‘experience of a lifetime’ that includes firearm safety training, field safety, hunting skills and techniques, and hunter ethics and responsibility. Youths, between the ages of 12 and 17, are eligible to participate in the program. A parent or legal guardian must accompany the youth hunter on the hunt. This is to ensure that the youth leaves the experience with family support to continue hunting in the future.
A youngster’s first hunt can be the beginning a lifelong pastime, presenting opportunities to learn about and experience the out-of-doors. The participants and mentors follow a few, basic guidelines to ensure an ethical and safe experience. All youths who have participated in a youth hunt are strongly encouraged to return for one of several “work hunts” where the participants spend the day cleaning up a State Wildlife Area or private property where a youth hunt has taken place in order to instill a sense of giving back to the resource.
Jim also heads the Women Afield program that is dedicated to teaching Colorado women the outdoor skills found in the shooting sports, hunting, and fishing. Participants begin their personal adventure by attending an educational seminar or clinic and later they ‘take to the field’ to apply new-found skills and knowledge on one of several women-only hunting or fishing adventures! The most popular are the skeet and trap shooting days and the planted-bird pheasant hunts.
In just five years since its inception, Jim Bulger has built the Hunter Outreach Program into one of the hallmark programs at the Division of Wildlife. This past year Colorado youths participated in over 1,100 hunt days including hunts for elk, deer, turkeys, pheasants, ducks and geese. In addition, hundreds of women participated in sport shooting and pheasant hunts throughout the state.
These programs owe their success to the outstanding personal effort and outdoor ethic that Jim invests in his work. Jim’s personal ethics and commitment to Colorado’s hunting heritage is contagious and has a profound affect on everyone who participates in his program. He demands nothing less from his volunteer Huntmasters and helpers.
Volunteers are essential to the Hunter Outreach Program’s mission of promoting and teaching safe, ethical, and responsible hunting to those who have never before hunted. Outdoor Ethics is the core value upon which the Hunter Outreach and Women Afield Programs were built. These programs go beyond simple skills and knowledge by developing a commitment to ethical behavior and to the future of our hunting heritage.
AFWA represents fish and wildlife professionals in the 56 states and territories, and the federal agencies of the United States. The Association also represents many provinces of Canada and Mexico. Its core functions are inter-agency coordination, legal services, international affairs, conservation and management programs, and legislation.
The Colorado Division of Wildlife is the state agency responsible for managing wildlife and its habitat, as well as providing wildlife-related recreation. The Division is funded through hunting and fishing license fees, federal grants and Colorado Lottery proceeds through Great Outdoors Colorado.