Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

Load Carrier Series

This series of guest blog posts introduces individuals and organizations that MYSTERY RANCH proudly partners with and supports. While we specialize in backpacks built for fire, military, hunting and mountain missions, these organizations carry the load in other ways. Their missions are to heal, protect, preserve, educate and bring awareness to causes that need all of our support.

-MYSTERY RANCH

Guest Post by Katie McKalip and Caitlin Twohig, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

At Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), hunting and fishing isn’t what we do – it’s who we are. BHA celebrates the great American tradition of testing your personal boundaries amid the solitude of the wilds. BHA members understand the urgent need to speak up for those irreplaceable places and experiences if we want that kind of opportunity for future generations.

Wilderness forms a key part of America’s outdoor legacy. For this reason, BHA welcomes the opportunity to partner with Mystery Ranch to promote values shared by BHA members and Mystery Ranch customers – and we are honored to be a beneficiary of Mystery Ranch’s “5% for 50 Years” program, which recognizes the importance of wilderness lands to our hunting and fishing traditions.

Recently, BHA members across the country have been instrumental in the creation of:

• the Hermosa Creek Wilderness in Colorado
• the Columbine-Hondo Wilderness in New Mexico
• the Pine Forest Range and Wovoka wildernesses in Nevada

In addition, we recently helped conserve:

• 67,000 acres that were added to the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in Montana
• 660,000 acres of public lands in Montana via the North Fork Watershed Protection Act

Thanks to Mystery Ranch’s support, BHA will be able to continue our work to conserve the lands, waters, wildlife habitat and fisheries found on wilderness-quality lands in the United States.

Photo courtesy of Backcountry Hunters & Anglers

One recent success was a unanimous vote by the U.S. Senate to designate as wilderness 275,000 acres of prime big-game habitat and healthy fisheries in Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds region, permanently conserving these sweeping landscapes and safeguarding an outdoor heritage relied upon by Idahoans and other Americans for generations.

Getting Congress to agree on anything these days – much less unanimously – is rare, but the stakes were high in the case of the Boulder-White Clouds. A diverse coalition of boots-on-the-ground citizens had united to advocate for the region’s conservation.

Sportsmen were key in advancing the Boulder-White Clouds wilderness bill. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers consistently pushed for Congress to undertake legislative action to sustain the region.

“When I was growing up, my family relied on the Boulder White-Clouds region for our time afield,” says Ian Malepeai, co-chair of BHA’s Idaho chapter, who now lives with his own family in Boise. “Generations of Idahoans continue to access this quintessentially Western landscape for hunting, fishing, hiking and simple solitude. The fact that its conservation has resulted from a collaborative, grassroots movement by folks who appreciate and value all that it offers gives me hope for my kids and grandkids – and moves me to offer thanks to our elected officials for their commitment to Idaho’s outdoor traditions.”

Learn how you can support Backcountry Hunters & Anglers >

View our Marshall and Metcalf hunting packs – both named for Wilderness Areas in Montana: