Castleton Ranch’s mentored hunting program teaches the art of the elk harvest.
A small group of people huddle in a stand of aspens. The woods crackle with energy. A herd of elk meanders into the clearing before the people, mere feet from where they sit. They can hear the autumn leaves crunch beneath the elk hooves. A man sends out a call, and the elk respond, coming ever closer. Suddenly, a bull ascends the rise in their direction. It bugles, a high- pitched scream that echoes through the woods. It turns broadside and pauses. A rifle shot rings out, and the elk scatter. The bull drops to the ground. A boy beams, his rifle perched on a log. This is his first hunt.
The boy was hunting on Castleton Ranch’s vast, 7,000-acre parcel at the head of the Ohio Creek Valley through the ranch’s mentored hunting program. A partnership between Castleton’s owner, Glenn Dubin, and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the hunts provide guidance and opportunity to people who would like to learn how to hunt but don’t necessarily have the resources to make it happen on their own. The idea for the program was born from conversations between Craig Jackson, Castleton’s ranch manager, and Brandon Diamond, the area wildlife manager at the CPW’s Gunnison Office. “We were trying to find a means of managing the number of elk and dispersing them across the ranch. They are a blessing in a lot of cases, but they can also be detrimental to fences, and with uncontrolled grazing, they can put more pressure on the land than we would like,” said Jackson.
With Dubin’s blessing, Jackson floated the idea of creating a program that not only allowed people to come into the ranch to hunt but also taught them how to hunt responsibly. Diamond and the CPW were immediately on board, and a few months later, the first hunts were held in the fall of 2020. In 2025, out of 80 applicants, approximately 15 to 20 individuals were invited to participate, with priority given to local youth, novice hunters, women, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and other groups with limited access. The ranch also facilitates hunts for the Wounded Warrior Program, the Adaptive Sports Center, the Catch a Dream program, and other entities representing people with specific needs.
Program organizers recognize that for folks without a background in the outdoors, the sport of hunting can be difficult to learn. Many hunters grew up in households where hunting was commonplace, thus having built- in mentorship through family members. Castleton’s program creates an all-encompassing framework that allows people without that background to gain access and receive the guidance necessary to learn the many facets of the sport. This, in addition to the exhilarating opportunity to experience what it’s like to be in the woods, up close and personal with the elk.
Jackson and other hunt organizers prefer to use the softer term, “harvesting,” when referring to hunting and killing elk. More than harvesting an animal, said Jackson, “We are about the experience, being among the elk, being with the elk, listening to them, seeing what their world consists of; seeing the babies and the breeding process and seeing how the herd functions. Ninety-five percent of the people who have participated have never been that close to a herd of elk that large. They almost forget that they’re there to harvest an animal. They are overwhelmed with what’s taking place in front of them, with the noises and vocalization, the smells.”
For both the ranch and the CPW, the mentored hunting program also provides a unique and equitable means of managing the elk herds that reside on private land within the Ohio Creek Valley. At any given time, Castleton Ranch harbors around 700-900 head of elk, and the program enables the ranch to manage its resident herd and maintain a sustainable population of elk, while also dispersing the herds across the ranch, thus preserving their natural habitat and minimizing their impact on both the habitat and ranching operations. Public access and engagement with the land are other major goals of the program.
Residents of the Gunnison Valley enjoy some of the easiest access to public lands and the natural world in the country. But over the last couple of decades, large parcels of private land have impacted access to adjacent public land. These private lands also hold large populations of elk. The mentored hunt program provides a means for Dubin to share the land with the community, allowing groups of people each year to access and enjoy this unique property and all it has to offer.
“The philanthropy that he extends and his desire to see this ranch as a leader in the community, the growth of the herd, and the landscape of this ranch, is what he [Dubin] wants,” said Jackson.
A lot of training has to happen before mentees are allowed to hunt. Along with the required hunter’s safety course that all hunters must complete, mentees must participate in a full-day orientation facilitated by the CPW in Gunnison, which teaches participants not only about hunting but also about theelk and their habitats. Emphasis is placed on animal habitats and conservation, as well as land ownership and the role that private landowners can play in managing elk herds and preserving the land in its natural state, allowing the animals to thrive.
After that, program participants must then attend four or five shooting sessions, where they learn how to properly sight-in their rifles and practice target shooting. On the final day of testing, mentees are evaluated on the accuracy of their shots. They must achieve adequate scores to demonstrate that they can execute humane kills effectively in the field. After passing this final test, they are invited to participate in a hunt on the ranch.
The hunts begin in early September and run through October, allowing mentees to experience being close to elk during the rut — elk mating season — when the animals are most active and vocal. Participants are given multiple chances to harvest an animal successfully. Afterward, the real work begins when mentees are taught how to field dress, quarter, and hang the meat. They are even offered a class on how to prepare the meat and given a few elk recipes. At the end of the season, the ranch invites newly christened hunters to gather and talk about their experiences. Jackson said that more than simply hunting an animal, participants talk about the emotional impact of hunting.
“For some of these people, it’s the first animal they’ve harvested, so it’s an emotional experience. They talk about the adrenaline they experience just encountering the elk at such close range, the gratitude for the animal that sacrificed its life, and the opportunity to come in and do this in a controlled environment,” said Jackson.
As the Gunnison Valley has experienced significant growth over the past couple of decades, the changes in the orientation of private versus public land have impacted the wild animals living in the area. Large parcels of private land have provided a safe haven and habitat for herds of elk, but for local hunters, it can be a double-edged sword.
“Over the past twenty years or so, there’s been a lot of mumbling that private landowners, both in this valley and over in the CB area, have a tendency to harbor elk, and I wanted to dispel that rumor. Through this program, we are bringing the public in. In addition to that, the hunts [have] started pushing the elk back onto public property. I’ve had multiple people say to me that they really appreciate the hunt because it does displace elk onto public property,” said Jackson.
The mentored hunting program at Castleton Ranch is the first of its kind in the state. When it comes to allowing inexperienced hunters to access private land, even under the supervision and guidance of the CPW, the landowner assumes all liability.
Jackson hopes that the program at Castleton can serve as a model for other landowners, demonstrating that it is possible and can be a mutually beneficial experience for both the landowner and the community.
“I’d like this program on this ranch to be the cornerstone, not only in the Gunnison Basin, but across the southwest corner of the state, to show that people are capable of running programs that are free of injury and that are beneficial to these communities that we live in.”
Above all, the mentored hunting program is about helping people experience something they’ve always dreamed of doing.
The young boy who harvested the bull came as part of the Catch a Dream program, a nonprofit that provides hunting and fishing experiences for children with
life-threatening illnesses. Under normal circumstances, mentees are only allowed to harvest cows as a means of keeping the cow- to-bull ratio in check, but due to the boy’s circumstances and the advanced level of his leukemia, Dubin allowed him and his family to go on a bull hunt.
“They flew into Gunnison at 3 p.m. and the bull was on the ground by 5:30 p.m.,” said Jackson. After that, the family of five from Arkansas spent the remainder of their stay fishing, horseback riding, and enjoying the sublime treasures of the Gunnison Valley. Jackson, who has became friends with the family, said that the family relayed having become closer since their son’s diagnosis and their experience in the valley.
“I wanted that experience for that boy to be a lifelong dream and one that his family got to share in,” said Jackson, adding, “He is still with us and fighting the fight.”