Salida Gunshop Podcast // Amendment 83 // Colorado Wildlife

Colorado Voted for Wolves. Combat Vet Explains What Most People Don't Realize: Mike Herne on Ballot-Box Biology and Amendment 83

Twenty years in the U.S. Army infantry, 33 months in combat, and why a Fort Carson bowhunter says Colorado’s 2020 wolf vote was the wake-up call that led to Amendment 83.

Watch on YouTube (54:30)

In November 2020, Colorado narrowly passed Proposition 114, marking the first time in American history that voters used a ballot initiative to force a state wildlife agency to reintroduce an apex predator over the objections of field biologists. Retired 20-year U.S. Army infantryman, bowhunter, and fly angler Mike Herne sat down with Josiah and Adam at Salida Gunshop to talk about what that vote set in motion for wolves, ranchers, and Colorado’s thriving moose herds, and why Amendment 83 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

“Did anybody ask those wolves if they wanted to get ripped out of their home in northern BC or Oregon? They voted to have those wolves stolen from wherever they lived. They were happy there. They had homes. They had families there. And they got ripped out of there and brought here like a commodity. And now they’re dying.”

Mike Herne VIDEO 0:00 VIDEO 24:48

From the 173rd Airborne to bowhunting Colorado elk

Growing up in rural dairy and farm country in upstate New York, Mike enlisted in the U.S. Army during the height of the surge, completing basic training and Airborne jump school at Fort Benning before serving with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy VIDEO 1:09 VIDEO 3:15. Over a 20-year career that included three combat deployments totaling 33 months (15 months, 12 months, and 6 months), he returned to Fort Benning as an infantry drill sergeant VIDEO 0:38 VIDEO 5:48.

At Fort Benning, military base hunting programs reintroduced him to the woods, where he taught himself to bowhunt whitetails and call wild turkeys VIDEO 6:22. For a combat veteran, bowhunting engaged the same quiet, mission-focused clarity: “The way that your mind works in combat is very similar to hunting because you’re not thinking about the bills you got to pay. You’re not thinking about any of the BS of daily life” VIDEO 6:38. The first time he heard an elk bugle on video, he requested orders to Fort Carson solely so he could bowhunt Rocky Mountain elk, calling in and harvesting his first over-the-counter bull at 25 yards during his very first Colorado season VIDEO 8:31 VIDEO 11:25.

What 20 years in the infantry taught him about the backcountry

After carrying heavy rucks on 18-kilometer movements along the Afghan-Pakistani border, Mike says the biggest difference between military operations and solo backcountry hunting is that there is no resupply helicopter when you make a mistake in the timber VIDEO 16:30 VIDEO 17:04. He distinguishes between discomfort and true survival, and he never steps off the road without four essentials in his pack: two Bic lighters for fire, a reliable way to filter and purify water, snacks, and a trauma kit centered on a tourniquet for life-and-limb emergencies VIDEO 15:35 VIDEO 18:50.

Did anybody ask the wolves? Prop 114, moose herds, and Prop 127

When Proposition 114 appeared on the 2020 ballot, Mike remembers educated, non-hunting friends asking him how to vote because the ballot language made forced wolf reintroduction sound harmless VIDEO 20:47. Instead of allowing wolves that were already naturally entering Colorado to establish themselves gradually, the state spent millions of taxpayer dollars tranquilizing, netting, and caging wolves in Oregon and British Columbia and dropping them into Colorado VIDEO 25:11. Many of those translocated wolves have since died or been lethally removed after preying on livestock VIDEO 24:48.

Mike also points to what larger northern wolves mean for one of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s greatest conservation success stories: the Shiras moose. Today, anglers and hikers regularly spot moose in drainages like Eleven Mile Canyon where they never saw them five years ago, a recovery that unchecked apex predator introductions put directly at risk VIDEO 26:42. The silver lining of the 2020 wolf vote, he says, is that it woke up Colorado’s outdoor community in time to defeat the Proposition 127 mountain lion hunting ban in 2024 VIDEO 24:06.

The fly fisherman in the Tesla and the “deadbolt on the door”

Looking ahead to November 3, 2026, Mike describes Amendment 83, the constitutional right to hunt and fish, as putting a deadbolt on the front door of Colorado conservation VIDEO 43:04:

“You install a deadbolt on your door. Is that deadbolt going to keep somebody out that’s bound and determined to break into your house? No. But is that deadbolt going to give you some time to figure out how to deal with the threat? Yes. Getting the constitutional right to hunt and fish established in Colorado is going to add an extra hurdle. They are going to have to get through a lock on a door.”

Mike Herne VIDEO 43:09

He also emphasizes that hunters cannot pass Amendment 83 alone. Driving down Highway 50 toward the Arkansas River, he passes fly anglers in Teslas and mountain bikers heading to high-country trailheads VIDEO 39:15. Whether someone carries a bow, a fly rod, or a trail-running pack, their access to public lands, clean rivers, and healthy bighorn sheep, elk, and moose herds is funded by hunter license dollars, conservation groups like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Wild Sheep Foundation, and the 11% federal Pittman-Robertson excise tax on firearms and ammunition VIDEO 47:00 VIDEO 52:21. Read more in The 11% Gun Tax, Ballot-Box Biology with Martin Lowney, Registered to Hunt, But Not to Vote?, and our full Amendment 83 explainer.

How to vote on Amendment 83

• Amendment 83 would make Colorado the 25th state with a constitutional right to hunt and fish, and it needs 55% of the vote to pass BLUE BOOK.
• Mail ballots must be received by 7:00 PM MT on Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026.
• Find your nearest drop box or voter service center at GoVoteColorado.gov.

Suggested Gear: Backcountry Elk Camp and Survival Essentials

In the episode, Mike breaks down how 20 years in the Army shaped his backcountry pack list: clean water, a tourniquet, a way to make fire, and dependable elk calling gear.

Sawyer Personal Water Filtration Bottle with Inline Filter

Mike’s top backcountry rule: always carry a reliable way to filter mountain water so you never get sick miles from the truck.

$43.91

Shop

Adventure Medical Kits Trauma Tourniquet

Compact trauma tourniquet for the life-and-limb emergency kit Mike carries on every solo hunt.

$25.99

Shop

Wayne Carlton's Calls Qwik Bugle Mac Daddy Combo Elk Call

Combo elk bugle tube and diaphragm system for calling bulls into bow range in the September timber.

$25.79

Shop

BOG Hunting Aluminum Stay Day Pack, Flat Dark Earth

Lightweight aluminum-stay hunting day pack built to carry heavy loads comfortably across steep basins.

$238.95

Shop

Prices and stock checked on pyrost.com Oct 26, 2026 and can change.

Chapters

• 0:00 Cold open: did anybody ask the wolves?
• 1:09 Marines vs. Army, Fort Benning, and the 173rd Airborne
• 4:54 How combat turned into hunting
• 15:24 What the Army taught him about the backcountry, and the gear he never leaves behind
• 24:24 Did anybody ask the wolves? Prop 114, moose herds, and Prop 127
• 31:50 Amendment 83: the Constitutional Right to Hunt and Fish
• 36:53 The fly fisherman in the Tesla: the votes that conservation needs
• 43:04 The deadbolt: what Amendment 83 does and doesn’t do
• 45:31 Conservation vs. preservation and Pittman-Robertson funding

Mike Herne Episode FAQ

Quotes are from the episode; timestamps link to that moment in the video.