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Elk Hunting Legend Wayne Carlton Joins Team Elk

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

MISSOULA, Mont. --(Ammoland.com)- Elk hunting legend, game call innovator, outdoor personality and Hunter’s Specialties pro staffer Wayne Carlton is the latest esteemed hunter to join the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation as a feature member of Team Elk.

RMEF recently launched the Team Elk concept to help capture the spirit of all RMEF members, now more than 180,000 strong, working together for a common goal–ensuring the future of elk, other wildlife and their habitat.

“Every member of RMEF is a member of Team Elk,” said Steve Decker, vice president of marketing for RMEF, “and feature members are those who are especially passionate about RMEF and well positioned to communicate our message to large audiences. Wayne is an avid conservationist, has a long history with RMEF and he enjoys a huge fan base. We’re proud to have him out there representing Team Elk.”

Other feature members include country music stars Easton Corbin and Craig Morgan, baseball hall-of-famer Goose Gossage, NASCAR personality Kerry Earnhardt, professional bull riding champions Dustin Elliott and Austin Meier, football legend Walt Garrison, hunting pros Lee and Tiffany Lakosky, Kristy Titus and others.

Along with his Team Elk contemporaries, Carlton will lend his name, fame, appearances and audience reach to help advance the RMEF cause.

A Florida native and veteran turkey hunter, Carlton moved to Montrose, Colo., in 1976. It was there that he began adapting his turkey-calling prowess for pursuit of elk. Along the way, he pioneered the first diaphragm elk call. Carlton began marketing the calls in 1983 and since then has developed many innovative calling devices and hunting products. As a member of the Hunter’s Specialties pro staff, he continues in product development and hosting seminars nationwide to demonstrate the latest in calling and hunting techniques.

Carlton, an inductee to the Bowhunters Hall of Fame, is a devoted conservationist and a life member and former director of both RMEF and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
RMEF is leading a conservation initiative that has protected or enhanced habitat on over 6 million acres–an area larger than Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains national parks combined. RMEF also is a strong voice for hunters in access, wildlife management and conservation policy issues. RMEF members, partners and volunteers, working together as Team Elk, are making a difference all across elk country. Join us at www.rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

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Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

MISSOULA, Mont. --(Ammoland.com)- Elk season is over, leaving you with another autumn’s worth of memories.

While you’re reminiscing, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation asks you to think about the country where you hunted, how it’s changed through the years and how it’s likely to change in the future.

Here are RMEF’s Top 5 signs that your elk hunting area may need more intensive habitat stewardship:

1. Habitat Fragmentation–Poorly planned subdivisions and ranchettes are eliminating or cutting off key habitat, particularly winter range and migration corridors.
2. Weeds Amok–Knapweed, yellow starthistle, leafy spurge, cheatgrass and other invasive weeds are consuming the West. These noxious exotics kill or displace native forage that elk and other grazing species depend on for forage.
3. Sick Forests–Years of fire suppression and lack of forest management have resulted in dense, choked timber stands piled high with deadfall. These conditions lead to massive beetle infestations, threaten catastrophic wildfire and offer little benefit, other than escape cover, for elk. Yet overgrown, undermanaged forests are becoming more rule than exception.
4. Vanishing Meadows and Aspen Stands–Fire suppression has also allowed pinyon, juniper, fir and other evergreens to overtake meadows and aspen stands. The resulting shade shrivels understory plants, cutting available forage for elk by up to 90 percent.
5. Lack of Water–Because of persistent drought in much of the West, many traditional watering holes are drying up earlier in the year. Elk are forced to abandon historic ranges and follow the water to survive.

Excessive predation by wolves and other predators is exacerbating these problems in many areas.

Since launching in 1984, RMEF has helped address these and other habitat issues on more than 6 million acres. Stewardship projects include weed treatments, prescribe burns, forest thinning, constructing guzzlers and restoring riparian areas, land acquisitions, conservation easements and more.

RMEF also is involved in legal efforts to manage and control wolf populations.

“RMEF members, volunteers and partners are making a difference but there is still much work to do,” said David Allen, RMEF president and CEO. “We invite everyone who cares about elk, elk country and elk hunting to join us.”

For membership information, visit www.rmef.org or call 800-CALL-ELK.

About the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:
RMEF is leading a conservation initiative that has protected or enhanced habitat on over 6 million acres–an area larger than Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain and Great Smoky Mountains national parks combined. RMEF also is a strong voice for hunters in access, wildlife management and conservation policy issues. RMEF members, partners and volunteers, working together as Team Elk, are making a difference all across elk country. Join us at www.rmef.org or 800-CALL ELK.

Filed under: Conservation News by Ammoland No Comments »