'Our elk needed help'

Gary Finney and Robert Roman were returning from a snowmobile trip in the St. Joe River drainage when the pickup they were in began to slide. 

There were no guardrails and the black river loomed at the bottom of an embankment on one side of the road. A rocky escarpment rose in a gray wall on the other. 

“I was in two-wheel drive and we must have hit some ice or something,” Finney said. 

The pickup whipped in a loop, bounced left and right on the frozen road and, after some white-knuckle maneuvering by Finney, came to a stop on the rocky shoulder.

The men stepped out of the cab into the wintry evening to evaluate what happened. 

After a long silence interrupted only by the din of frigid river water rushing past and below them, Roman came to a conclusion. 

“I guess that turned out about as good as it could have,” he said. 

They returned to the cab of the pickup and with headlights illuminating the road, drove downriver, past Avery, and home to Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls respectively. 

Finney and Roman are the faces of the Coeur d’Alene chapter of the Foundation for Wildlife Management (F4WM), an Idaho Fish and Game endorsed group that seeks to stabilize wolf populations and increase elk hunting opportunities in Idaho and neighboring states. 

Roman is the president of F4WM and Finney is the VP. 

The Coeur d’Alene chapter’s annual fundraising banquet is April 5 at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, and Finney and Roman need volunteers to help at the banquet, as well as donations to support the group’s efforts. 

“We need people to help set up tables and chairs and to volunteer at some of the games and events,” Finney said. “We can always use donations and new members.” 

There’s a perk to volunteering: Hunting stories and outdoor adventures (and misadventures) percolate like a pot of coffee whenever the two men —  and other foundation members —  get together. 

Growing up in North Idaho, Finney and Roman enjoyed the same passion for the out-of-doors most of their lives.  

Finney’s uncle started water skiing on Lake Coeur d’Alene in the 1920s before the sport was invented elsewhere. 

His relatives are known for boat building, a still-popular commercial endeavor in and around Coeur d’Alene.  

After graduating from Coeur d’Alene High in the 1980s, Finney took his talents to the mountains chasing deer and elk, with some of his trophies landing in the record book and on the walls of his Coeur d’Alene home. 

“That’s probably my most prized set,” Finney said of one particular mule deer with chandelier antlers mounted in the basement of the home he built above Lake Coeur d’Alene in the 1980s — and where he still lives. 

The deer is featured in the book, “Idaho’s Greatest Mule Deer,” by author Ryan Hatfield. 

Roman’s dad left dairy farming in Wisconsin when Robert was four. The family settled south of St. Maries where Roman spent his childhood trapping mink, muskrats and bobcats. After graduating from St. Maries High School, Roman went to the mountains too, as part of the timber industry, eventually owning his own logging company.

Despite spending a lot of time in North Idaho’s backcountry, Roman and Finney had not met until about a decade ago. 

Elk and wolves brought them together. 

When endangered species status was lifted on gray wolves in Idaho in 2011 and the management of wolves was taken over by IDFG, the state opted to manage wolves as big game animals similar to black bears and mountain lions. IDFG adopted wolf trapping and hunting seasons. 

Roman quickly earned a reputation as someone who could catch the large canids. 

“I decided to throw my hat in the ring because our elk needed help,” Roman said. 

Finney did not have much trapping experience, but he heard about his River City neighbor who was adept at catching wolves. 

“My brother called Robert to get some trapping pointers,” Finney said. 

He wanted to tap into Roman’s knowledge of wolves. 

“I was like, who are these guys calling me?” Roman recalled. 

Always ready to help out a fellow outdoor enthusiast, Roman and Finney became friends, sharing their knowledge of the mountains, animals and hunting grounds that both had grown to know intimately.  

Since joining F4WM and rising to the ranks as “head cooks and bottle washers,” as they call themselves, both men spend much of their spare time in the spring raising money, helping at banquets across the state and spreading the word about their group. 

Being the president and vice president of the foundation allows Roman and Finney endless hours of volunteer work but they take the responsibilities in stride. 

“It takes a lot of our time, but we love doing it and it is for a good cause,” said Finney, who regularly drives to fundraising banquets as far away as Salmon and southern Idaho, usually returning home the same night, often around 4 a.m.

“I have yet to sleep in a hotel room,” he said. 

He, Roman and fellow members spend the hours after a banquet stacking chairs and tables, picking up and cleaning up. 

They can always use another helping hand, they said. 

“Stop in to this year’s banquet, win a prize, share a story and help us out,” said Finney. “Many hands make light work.” 

SIDEBAR: 

The Foundation for Wildlife Management’s fifth annual Coeur d’Alene fundraising banquet is Saturday, April 5 in the Jacklin Building at the  

Kootenai County Fairgrounds. Tickets cost $55. Pre-register on the foundation website at f4wm.org and click “Events.” Doors open at 3 p.m. Dinner is at 5 p.m., with auctions, games, raffles and drinks throughout the evening.