"I think it's great to see elk; it's just fun," the 12-year-old Wheatridge resident said from the back of a safari-style truck at the 1,500-acre Elk Research Institute south of Hesperus Friday morning.

Sonny was one of 30 youths spending the weekend at the institute, where research director Barry Dyar was teaching the group valuable wildlife lessons and getting some free labor out of the deal.

Dyar opened the institute in 2003 on a forested parcel owned by the Colorado State land board with the goal of eradicating chronic wasting disease or CWD, in America's elk herds.

"I think about two-thirds of these animals were born here at this facility," Dyar said.

"The prevailing thought is that the disease and the animals couldn't coexist, but we don't believe that to be true. It may be prevalent, but the herd can survive. The question is, how much value does the herd have with that disease? What concerns me the most is this can cross species, including into cattle and into humans. And that's why we're working so hard to find solutions," he said.

The disease can be detected only by analyzing the brain of animals that died from it. No test exists to detect the disease in living elk. Dyar and his staff keep tight control over the herd so that they are able breed the animals to be genetically free of chronic wasting disease and so that they can replicate the resistant DNA in future herds. Doing so means deciding which bulls will mate with which cows, and that's where Dyar employed the assistance of his young visitors.

Dyar said he wants to mate only about six or seven bulls during this fall season, which means about 70 2- and 3-year-old bulls need to be kept away from potential mates.

During the weekend, each youngster took turns shooting a tranquilizer dart gun at a designated bull. Then Dyar and volunteer scientific director Bill Hobson cut away the young bulls' antlers with a saw. The youngsters kept the antlers of the animal they shot.

"That was really, really cool - I've never done anything like this," said 13-year old Raymond Seratt of Deer Trail, Colo., after he expertly placed his dart directly into the shoulder of a 400-pound bull.

Dyar said by removing the antlers, the bulls won't be able to compete for cows against the larger animals selected for breeding this year, but each may play a more prominent role in coming years.

"The bulls that still have theirs will run them out of the herd so they won't breed. So we know those genetics won't get put back into the herd until we're ready for that," he said.

Watching as Raymond's bull staggered away, a fresh scar marked the spot where a handsome rack sprouted just moments before. Dyar said the healthy animal and his trimmed cohorts still have scientific value despite their forced celibacy.

"We don't know enough about this bull," Dyar said.

"He's young, and we want to evaluate him more over the next few years. This is a superior animal, and we want to keep him in our herd. We may breed with him later on, and we may find he has some genetic combination later on. But we also may never breed with him. It's a scientific process."

Dyar said the program that brought the weekend's young visitors is an increasingly valuable component of the institute's ongoing effort to expose the next generation to wildlife-conservation practices. In addition to the dart-gun adventure, the kids also took the Colorado Division of Wildlife's hunter-safety course, shot rifles and shotguns, and learned tracking and survival skills.

"We want to try to educate the young people about CWD, what we're trying to do to combat it and how it's part of the overall picture to practice good conservation for our wildlife. The younger generation seems to think a long hike is from one end of the mall to the other topped off with some video games. We want to get these kids out and let them experience the outdoors and understand some of the real threats to our wildlife," he said.

After the kids leave the ranch tonight, Dyar's work will continue at the Elk Research Institute as it does year-round. The institute also maintains an 80-acre facility southeast of Durango where staff members track conception rates, gestation periods and conduct artificial insemination and other calving procedures that can't be done on the larger outdoor tract.

The nonprofit institute, which includes three full-time staff members including Dyar, operates on a $460,000 annual budget that is funded by grants, donations and sponsorship programs like this weekend's youth outing.

He said the institute operates independently of the DOW and other government agencies, but he hopes the science conducted by the institute will be part of a larger solution to eliminate chronic wasting disease.

"Our organization is not about telling anybody how to manage wild herds," he said. "We are interested in the pure science of this to better understand this rare genotype to try to understand to make these animals available for more research and study."

Dyar said this herd has one of the best health certifications in North America.

"Our mission is to produce more of these disease-resistant animals and help with other studies that look at these animals further and understand the role these genetics play," he said.

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