The 2005 licenses are out.

Hunting licenses, that is. 'Course, we already knew that, because they sent out emails over a week ago letting all in the outfit know the drawings were done.

Sort of a "Get ready. The public's going to be calling you."

And they have. Started last week, the day we had our CWD update meeting in Central City. Come walking into the office, and there's a crowd of people gathered around a desk, rapidly thumbing through notebooks of computer printouts.

Outfitters. Checking to see how many of their clients got lucky this year. Only now, now that they know who drew and who didn't, can they start really making plans. Which wilderness camp will we need to pack into? How many horses will we need? How many tents, cooks and guides? How can we take care of all six elk hunters when we also have two sheep hunters at the same time?

Big business for them, and big decisions. Kinda the way it is when you only have three months to make the income that has to carry you through the rest of the year.

But for the plain folks, it's pretty much the same. Just on a smaller scale. Two of the hunters who called today (one in-state, one Kentucky) had no idea what they had just drawn. They knew these were hard licenses to draw (one elk, the other deer), so they just assumed it would make a great hunt. But they didn't know the country at all. They applied, like any lottery, not really expecting to win.

But hopeful, just the same.

And now they've got it. Maybe not once-in-a-lifetime hunts, but certainly only two or three-in-a-lifetime hunts. And they don't know where to go. Where's the public land? What ranchers will let you on, and who won't? Is it rough enough to bring horses (Actually, it's too rough for horses, sir.) Who to call. What maps to buy.

So they call us. A half dozen just today. The nonresidents were most appreciative. Suspect they don't expect that kind of help from public servants in their own states.

But the last call of the day was the most interesting. Most enjoyable. My old research partner that I just mentioned a few days ago. The boys were little kids in grade school the last time we visited. Yeah, I'd seen his name mentioned once, when he headed a project in this state. And he'd seen mine when this was in the news.

And now, here he is calling just days after I mentioned him. Wonder if his ears were burning. (Actually, no. But he's got a deer license in my country for this fall.)

And he's done well. A top administrator for a major, national project. Not far from where a couple of you live. Which is a little weird, when you think about it. In university, he was the one who just wanted to hurry out of academia and get a wildlife job. And I was the one interested in all the hard science. Funny how things turned out.

I'll bet it's been decades since he picked up a wild scat.