Chukar Club honors two Legacy members

Chukar hunting pioneer Steve Erb and Carson Valley Chukar Club charter member Phil McKinnon received 2024 Legacy Awards at the 37th annual dinner on March 2.

Both men received Legacy Belt Buckles and certificates to recognize and commemorate their dedication to Nevada wildlife. 

“We had over 450 attendees at our dinner this year despite a full on blizzard and raised over $130,000 for youth in wildlife and outdoor conservation,” said club spokesman Stacy Trivitt.

Born in Fallon in 1939, Erb was one of the first people to hunt chukar in Nevada.

“He recalls hiking for hours in the Reese River area when they finally found a covey of chukar,” Trivitt said. “It was their first time ever seeing a chukar and he has now spent a lifetime chasing them and working to improve their habitat.”

Erb worked for the Anaconda Mine and the phone company.  During that time he hunted chukar in Yerington and he introduced last year’s Legacy Award winner Dave Sharp to chukar hunting.   He moved to the Carson Valley in 1969 and worked for the phone company and also joined the fire.  They raised their two kids, John and Julie, in the Carson Valley and both of their children are vital members of our community to this day.   

“Steve was involved with the Chukar Club right from the start when Lance Modispacher was raising chukar and a group of hard core locals thought it might be nice to improve the local chukar population,” Trivitt said. “They decided to raise funds for raising and releasing chukar by hosting an annual dinner.  He was involved with preparing the food with Dave Sharp and they would prepare the tri-tip and beans in his garage and load up the chairs and tables and deliver it all to the event.”

Erb was involved in helping the kids at China Spring raise chukar and helped plant chukar in Yerington, the Pine Nuts and even by boat at Topaz. The club then shifted the emphasis from planting chukar to habitat development and youth involvement in the outdoors.

Trivitt said Erb was a dedicated volunteer.

“Perhaps his great achievement was getting other people involved in chukar hunting,” Trivitt said. “Steve was able to convince and mentor many of the valley’s legendary chukar hunters.  In those days, the Carson Valley was known for fanatical chukar hunters, many of whom were influenced and mentored by Steve. Many of us hunt areas to this day that were discovered by Steve and the early chukar pioneers of the Carson Valley.”  

McKinnon might be more famous for working his way from teacher to principal of Carson Valley Middle School over the course of his 31-year career with the Douglas County School District.

A graduate of Cal Poly with his undergrad degree with a master’s degree from Northern Arizona, he and Charlotte married in 1959 in Las Vegas and moved to the Carson Valley in 1960. They raised two kids, Julie who was the Valedictorian of her class and Roger, a state wrestling champion.  Charlotte remembers upon moving to Nevada, Phil drew a deer tag right away and harvested a buck and brought it home in their Volkswagen Beetle.

McKinnon recalls that a group of Carson Valley hunters enjoyed hunting chukar so much that they decided to try and establish a good population of local chukar and that was the catalyst to start the Chukar Club.  

“The experiment didn’t work because the birds developed a virus, but it did give birth to the Carson Valley Chukar Club which has now raised well over a million dollars for wildlife habitat and funding for youth in the outdoors,” Trivitt said. “Phil was involved with the club for three decades doing whatever was necessary to raise funds for this important endeavor.”

Some of McKinnon’s teaching occurred out in the world, where he hunted with his students.

“Phil took a lot of kids hunting that ended up being incredible chukar hunters in the valley,” Trivitt said.

Dave Mauk, another founding member and local chukar hunting legend, was one of those students Phil took hunting.  

Another was John Hillenbrand, who is president of the club.

“The seeds Phil has planted continue to grow,” Trivitt said. “In addition to his students, he took other teachers hunting and taught them how to be mentors as well.”