• Contributions to the CBA (serving as an officer, other CBA leadership roles, committees, seminars, and articles written for the Colorado Bowhunter); and,
•  Involvement in bowhunting and archery outside the CBA; and,
• Demonstration of sportsmanship; and,
•  Success in the field with emphasis on hunting in Colorado.
  *to learn more about criteria, please click here

Rick has been a member of the CBA for nearly 40 years and has been bowhunting for nearly 60 years beginning with hunting rabbits with a bow when he was 7 years old.  He took his first deer with a bow at age 16.  He joined the Pope & Young Club as an Associate member in 1974 and has been a Senior Member since 1993.

Rick has served a valuable role over many years representing the CBA on the western slope.  With our monthly Board meetings held in Denver, members in the west have, at times, voiced a feeling of being disconnected from the inter-workings of the CBA. To help, Rick has consistently done his part to assure and show members that the CBA represents all Colorado Bowhunters. Rick served the CBA as an Area Representative for over 15 years.  During this time he led multiple CBA sponsored events and activities in the Glenwood Springs area. He has hosted numerous 3d shoots and most recently worked very closely with CPW to plan the layout of the Cameo range complex near Grand Junction.  

In 2010, Rick took on the leadership role of Award Banquet Chairman and hosted a very successful, sold-out event at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.  He then stepped up and served as on-site coordinator for the CBA’s 50th Anniversary Awards Banquet in Grand Junction in 2019.  Today, Rick continues to invest even more of his time in the CBA as he presently serves as the CBA Regional Director for the West Region.

Rick is a well-traveled bowhunter and has leveraged his relationships with outfitters to secure several hunts for auction at annual CBA award banquets.  The Newfoundland Moose hunt he secured in 2014 continues to this day raising over $12,000 for the CBA to date!

Throughout the years Rick has been recognized in a number of ways for his contributions to the CBA.  He was the 40th bowhunter to complete the CBA Big 8 and did so in 2001.  He has been awarded the CBA Western Region Area Representative of the year in 2005, 2011, and 2018 and entered the CBA Hall of Fame in 2018.

Rick’s success with a bow is exceptional.  Not only has he taken the Colorado Big 8, but he lacks only another Bighorn Sheep to complete the Big 8 a second time.  He has also hunted extensively across North America in twelve states and three countries as well as making a trip to Africa. In doing so, he has taken over 40 big game animals outside Colorado and 22 of the 29 North American Big Game animals have fallen to his arrows with 21 Pope & Young record book entries.

I’m sure you’ll agree that it is easy to see why Rick was selected to receive the CBA’s highest honor.  But even with all the volunteer work and all the bowhunting success, it is Rick the person; his conduct in the field, his respect for fellow hunters and landowners, and his mentorship to many junior bowhunters that truly sets him apart as an exceptional role model for others.

 We congratulate Rick for all his accomplishments and earning the Bowhunter of the Year award for 2019 – even if he did have to wait an extra year to learn of his recognition.