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Colorado Youth Outdooors and Colorado Pheasants Forever partner to provide an upland bird hunt for the CYO Adventure Series

In October, 2011; CYO and Colorado Pheasants Forever along with Colorado Parks and Wildlife held a pheasant hunt for Adventure Series CYOers at the Wellington State Wildlife Area. Several birds were harvested and everyone involved had a great day. This partnership provides an excellent example of how organizations work together to increase hunter outreach and education.

Stan Barthlama and Colorado Pheasants Forever provide frequent programs that introduce youth and their parents to pheasant hunting throughout the State of Colorado. To learn more about the programs of Colorado Pheasants Forever and Nothern Colorado Pheasants Forever; use the links below.

Colorado Pheasants Forever                            Northern Colorado Pheasants Forever

I hope our first quarter newsletter finds everyone in good spirits.  With so much going on at CYO we are excited to send out our first qrtly newletter  “Relationships”.  This word covers our mission, our method of doing business and our interest in keeping the family of CYO informed.

We hope you enjoy this and future publications.  We are open  to your comments and wishes of that which could be included in this newsletter.  Enjoy the update and as always

Enjoy your families, enjoy our outdoors and God Bless

Bob

Regional Outdoor Education Center Update

Capital Campaign Launched

September 1^st 2011 marks the official date of our Capital Campaign for CYO’s first Regional Outdoor Education Center.  The project begins with the acceptance of a generous property gift from the Louis Swift Estate most commonly referred as Swift Ponds.  Next in line, the acquisition of the remaining land located in the interior of the property  purchased using gift funds from the Gates Frontiers Fund.  From here work really ramped up with the permitting process and Phase I building completion.  In fact with just over 3 Million invested CYO appears to be off and running.  So your question is probably, with so much already taking place why are we just now announcing a Capital Campaign.  Good question and here’s the answer.  With Colorado Youth Outdoors being a relatively new organization we felt the need to demonstrate progress and commitment to the project before formally announcing a campaign.  We divided the complete project into two phases.  Our goal was to complete phase I without a campaign to further test the viability and need of such a facility.  The response was fantastic and now we are on to phase II.

Phase II of the outdoor education facility will include completion of another fishing dock, bathroom and smaller shelter pavilion.  Our trap and archery ranges will also receive a face lift with a 950’ earthen berm surrounding 3 sides of the fields. New buildings include an indoor rim-fire range and a 9,000 sq ft multi -purpose classroom complex.  Phase II includes other large ticket items for infrastructure and upgraded roadways on County Road 34.

The needs for phase II are large but just like phase I we will break up tasks where it makes sense so we can complete details of phase II independent of one another.  Hopefully this plan will allow for construction and completion at a rate that parallels support.  We need to raise a total of Just over 5 million with 3 ½ million of that identified as cash support needs.  For the next two years we will be reporting on progress and hope by keeping everyone in the loop we will identify new support and expand our donor base.

Once just isn’t enough.

The first few weeks of the fall session is a time to get to know the new class and try to connect names with faces.  Some of the names and faces are quite familiar as they are returning CYO participants from last spring or fall.  How cool is that?!  Coming back for more is a testament that the programming is fun, rewarding and best of all a worthy time spent with one another.  Asking several of our returning participants what brought them back and here is what they said.

“We got used to Wednesday evenings being our time together so we just kept it rolling”

“It became clear that we were not going to find another program and facility like this so we just re-upped”

“We wish the program was longer so instead of wishing we just joined again and made it longer”

“Its about the time we get together and if we don’t set up a night we don’t get together, CYO makes this happen for us”

Good stuff gang and for those of you who participated in the early years you knew us as a several year program.  Often we are asked why it isn’t as long as it used to be.  The issue is that with time comes attrition and with attrition there becomes a real challenge to justify programming for so few.  Our answer is exactly what these folks have figures out….you are welcome to participate as many times as you wish.  We promise to always have a new wrinkle or two within each 12 week session.

Wide Interest in using the Outdoor Education Facility

Owning and Operating the Outdoor Education Facility now for 3 years has provided some valuable information for us.  One area of information that we obtain is the broad array of qualified groups using our facility.  In fact over the 3 years CYO has supported over 10,000 guests visiting the property through over 50 different non profits.  Obviously the facility is being constructed for the primary purposes of CYO programming but the fact that this facility has so much more capacity presents CYO with the opportunity to share the gift with so many.

Experiencing such a high interest in use solidifies our passion of how needed these types of facilities are in regions such as this.  In fact, this facility and its opportunity to support the type of programming and activities it does tells us that this just may be a template of success for future facilities in other regions of  the state.  Future facilities like this would definitely enhance the growth of CYO programming in other regions.  One can only imagine the expanded use as more and more of these types of facilities were brought on-line.

We are fortunate to have such a fine facility and the opportunity to share.

Tom Knapp coming to The Maverick

As if the Maverick wasn’t exciting enough!  This year our participants and guests are in for a real treat with the announcement from CZ-SA  their amazing trick shooting host The One The Only Mr. Tom Knapp will be joining all of us for this year’s Maverick.  If you have not seen Tom’s show you have no idea what trick shooting looks like.  History is rich with fantastic marksmen and women such as the great Buffalo Bill Cody, the amazing Annie Oakley and now we get to see the latest in this rich heritage Mr. Tom Knapp.

Tom will be performing for our Saturday guests with the addition of a public venue.  Tickets will be going on sale soon after the new year for the fortunate few who get to attend this awesome show.  Of course this show is included in our team guests package and yes is included in the CYO participant volunteer day.  Wow, Mr. Tom Knapp part of CYO’s fundraiser.  Now even more FUN in our FUNdraising!

Thank you CZ – USA

Adventure Series

The Many Colors of Orange

This story begins and ends with our favorite topic; RELATIONSHIPS.  CYO’s Adventure Series provided for a great story for a father / son from Berthoud High.  Tyler and Randy Parker attended CYO in the Spring 2011 session.  Having attended all 12 weeks, the pair qualified to sign up for one of the many Adventure Series events made possible by CYO.  The Adventure event for the Parkers was the Antelope Hunt provided by Comanche Wilderness Outfitters.

Those who have hunted antelope know how challenging this hunt can be.  It can be even more challenging when its your first antelope hunt with two tags to fill.  Just to spice it up a little how about adding the challenge of having to be home by 4:30pm in order to be ready for prom that evening!  This is exactly the stage set by Tyler and his dad for their first antelope excursion.  We will not bore you with the details of how they belly crawled for miles and the distance they had to make the shots at but what we will tell you is that Tyler outshot his dad in bagg’in his game. What a fantastic day it was in the pair harvesting their antelope but the clock is ticking.  Having both animals down by 10:30 am afforded the two a chance to take some pics, throw some high fives and take proper care of the game.

Once loaded and heading North for a couple hours it was time to put the pedal to the medal.  Tylers adrenaline was still flowing as he was planning for the 2^nd half of his day.  That night it was Homecoming at Berthoud High and as determined as Tyler was not to miss hunting he was even more so in having a fantastic night with his date and friends.   A quick shower, some Brute cologne and his mothers hand in straightening out his tie, it was out for the night for Tyler. What a day / night for Tyler and by the looks of things Tyler started his successful day with orange and ended his successful day with an even prettier shade of orange.

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