Salida Gunshop Podcast // Amendment 83 // Nov 3, 2026 Ballot

If You're Pro-Science and Anti-Hunting: Salida Herbalist Katie Surber on Amendment 83, Food & Hormones

A Salida clinical herbalist, big game hunter, and game warden’s daughter on why wildlife biology, women’s physiology, and local food security all start with real science.

Watch on YouTube (39:10)

Katie Surber is a clinical herbalist and hunter who has owned Copper Kettle Apothecary on West First Street in Salida for more than six years (a neighbor in the same building as Salida Gunshop). Before she unlocks her shop door in the morning, she often walks the mountain timber with a shotgun and a foraging bag, checking which wild medicinal roots are ready to harvest and looking for dusky grouse. She also grew up with wildlife management at the family dinner table: her father, Jim Aragon, served for 35 years with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and Colorado Parks and Wildlife as District and Area Wildlife Manager, earning Conservationist of the Year honors and a National Wild Turkey Federation Wildlife Officer of the Year nomination.

In this conversation at Salida Gunshop, Katie breaks down how women’s hormone cycles interact with recoil and the nervous system, why vegans and hunters rely on each other for local food security in a high-mountain desert, why feeding a hungry bear during a drought gets that bear put down, and why she backs Colorado’s Amendment 83.

“If you’re pro-science and anti-hunting, that one’s a hard one for me to align mentally because there’s a lot of science saying that hunting is a valid way of managing wildlife.”

Katie Surber VIDEO 0:30

Start here: the cold open

In the opening 38 seconds VIDEO 0:00, Katie shares a lesson from growing up with Salida’s game warden. When drought hits the high country, empathetic people sometimes want to leave food out for hungry bears. Yet desensitizing a wild bear to humans is how a bear becomes a neighborhood safety hazard that wildlife officers are forced to put down. Good intentions without a firm grasp of wildlife behavior and habitat limits can wind up getting the animal killed. See our clip breakdown in How a “Loving Heart” Gets a Colorado Bear Put Down.

Hormones, recoil, and the nervous system in the field

Many women walk into Katie’s apothecary after feeling rushed or dismissed at a doctor’s office, while their social media feeds flood them with generic advice to “balance your hormones” VIDEO 1:47. As Katie points out, the human body has more than 50 hormones, and “estrogen” alone describes the effect of four distinct hormones VIDEO 2:30. Before anyone buys an herbal supplement online, she tells them to check whether an influencer’s Linktree is just a funnel to a multi-level marketing company, and she urges women to get a proper medical diagnosis whenever symptoms aren’t safe to experiment with VIDEO 3:05.

That same respect for physiology shapes how she trains and hunts: “Long range for luteal and mag dumps for ovulation” VIDEO 5:51. Recoil, high mountain wind, and elevation register as physical stress on the nervous system. During her luteal or menstrual phase, rather than forcing her body to power through high-stimulation drills, she slows her breathing down, focuses on deliberate form, packs warming proteins and a hot pack into the woods, and gives herself grace to sit in the sun and observe VIDEO 6:37 VIDEO 13:13.

Vegans, poachers, and food security in a mountain desert

Katie hunts for dinner and winter sustenance, noting that one adult big game harvest provides months of clean nourishment for her family and neighbors VIDEO 8:05. She also highlights how restrictive regulated hunting actually is: one elk license allows one elk, the hunt ends the moment a tag is filled, and most hunters come home empty-handed while their license fees fund wildlife conservation for everyone VIDEO 10:54.

When someone in her circle is breastfeeding a baby who cannot have dairy, the first person Katie calls for whole-food recipes is her vegan friend VIDEO 21:42. And when non-hunters or vegans describe the reckless behavior they dislike seeing in the outdoors, Katie hears something specific: “I think to me, a lot of vegans are describing the type of hunter they don’t like. And I’m hearing them describe a poacher” VIDEO 35:21. Ethical hunters and wildlife officers despise poaching just as much. In a high-altitude desert where backyard gardens aren’t producing in February, she wants both hunting and gardening protected so communities have as many local food pathways as possible VIDEO 22:44.

Growing up with Salida’s game warden and why Amendment 83 matters

Around the Aragon family dinner table, Katie watched state wildlife officers weigh every management choice against the Colorado Parks and Wildlife mission statement: perpetuating the state’s wildlife resources and inspiring future generations to serve as active stewards VIDEO 23:57. She recalls how her father solved two problems at once when one local landowner had a beaver threatening to flood his driveway and another rancher down the road was desperate for water retention: instead of killing the beaver, her dad trapped it alive and relocated it to the dry ranch VIDEO 29:38.

Holding up a free copy of the CPW regulations brochure, Katie also addresses why Amendment 83 protects “traditional methods” alongside sound scientific management VIDEO 30:20. Specifying traditional methods keeps legal, CPW-regulated tools like archery, rifle, shotgun, muzzleloader, and rod and reel in place while preventing future technology abuses, such as someone sitting on a couch in New York City with a VR headset flying a weapons-enabled drone onto a Colorado mountainside VIDEO 30:51. Read our dedicated clip guide in Why Amendment 83 Says “Traditional Methods”, explore our full Amendment 83 explainer, and see how hunters fund recovery for rare species like the black-footed ferret in Vote Yes on 83 for the Animals.

How to vote on Amendment 83

• Amendment 83 adds the constitutional right to hunt and fish in Colorado and requires 55% of the vote to pass BLUE BOOK.
• Mail ballots must be received by 7:00 PM MT on Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026. Do not mail a ballot this close to Election Day; use an official drop box.
• Find your nearest drop box or voter service center at GoVoteColorado.gov, run by the Colorado Secretary of State.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold open: feeding drought bears and pro-science vs. anti-hunting
• 0:38 Meet Katie Surber: Copper Kettle Apothecary, herbalist and hunter
• 1:35 Women’s hormones, medical dismissal and when to get a diagnosis
• 5:49 Long range for luteal, mag dumps for ovulation: cycles and the nervous system
• 7:53 Hunting for dinner: grouse before work, wild turkey and how restrictive tags are
• 11:57 Hunting through motherhood, cycles and the mental load on moms
• 18:09 How women get started in hunting and why vegans care about food security
• 23:07 Amendment 83: growing up with Salida’s game warden, CPW and traditional methods
• 32:03 Drought bears, poachers vs. hunters and Katie’s 3 takeaways

Katie Surber Episode FAQ

Transparency note: Copper Kettle Apothecary is a neighbor in the same building as Salida Gunshop on West First Street in Salida. Nothing in this episode or article is medical advice or intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness. Timestamps link to the uploaded episode (39:10).